![\"I](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2026\/01\/Becoming-Brigham-Landscape-V4-C2.jpeg\")
<\/a>You can now watch a thirty-second trailer for Episode 6 of our ongoing Becoming Brigham<\/em> series: \u00a0\u201cYoung Brigham Young,\u201d Part One<\/a>. \u00a0Of course, Episode 5<\/a> is already available, the full Episode 6 will appear on Monday, and, along with other relevant materials, all<\/em> of the episodes are accessible at becomingbrigham.com<\/a>. \u00a0Please watch, subscribe, and share.<\/p>\n Newly posted today on the long-dormant website of the Interpreter Foundation: Conversations with Interpreter<\/em>: Episode 4: \u201cNaming and Narrative Irony in Mosiah 23,\u201d with Matthew Bowen<\/a>:<\/p>\n In this episode, Avram and Thora interview Matthew L. Bowen, a professor of Religious Education from Brigham Young University-Hawaii. Bowen has published numerous studies on ancient wordplay in the Book of Mormon. Bowen discusses his study recently published in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship<\/em> which explores Mormon\u2019s use of the Hebrew root \u1e25ayil\/\u1e25\u00eal, a root that has a wide range of meanings, including \u201cwealth,\u201d \u201cabundance,\u201d and \u201carmy.\u201d Bowen argues that Mormon deploys this in a variety of ways in his portrayal of the people of Helam in Mosiah 23, providing new perspectives on the idea of prosperity in the Book of Mormon. Building off of Bowen\u2019s paper, this episode talks about how this helps us better understand other ancient aspects of Nephite culture like orality and the centrality of the Exodus narrative.<\/p>\n The full article can be read here: https:\/\/interpreterfoundation.org\/journal\/they-did-multiply-and-prosper-exceedingly-in-the-land-of-helam-naming-and-narrative-irony-in-mosiah-23<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I apologize. \u00a0In yesterday\u2019s blog post, I became so enraptured with the subject of \u201cThe Gospel Vision of the Arts\u201d<\/a> that I failed to mention that a second<\/em> Interpreter journal article had appeared just slightly after noon, in addition to Professor Kent Jackson\u2019s \u201cThe Lord Gave Cain a Sign.\u201d<\/a> \u00a0So here\u2019s my announcement of that second article:<\/p>\n \u201cWhere Will We Turn for Peace?\u201d<\/a> written by Ralph C. Hancock<\/a>, appeared yesterday at Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship<\/em> 68 (2026): 133-156, and is freely available online at the link just supplied.<\/p>\n Review of Patrick Q. Mason and J. David Pulsipher, <\/em>Proclaim Peace: The Restoration\u2019s Answer to an Age of Conflict (Provo, UT: Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2021). 290 pages. $19.99 (paperback).<\/em><\/p>\n Abstract:<\/strong> Proclaim Peace is a very timely and serious engagement with questions of peace. Consisting of roughly equal parts challenging scriptural exegesis, well-documented historical research, and earnest social activism, it may be taken as exemplary of current LDS academic opinion and institutional action on the interface between religion and politics. This work compels us to consider a critical question: Do we interpret the core meaning of peace as a temporal project of seeking justice? Or do we understand, contextualize, and moderate our passion for temporal justice relative to a promise of eternal peace? If we are intent on unifying heaven and earth, we should be careful from which direction we are working.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The \u201ctimeliness\u201d of Proclaim Peace<\/em> is certainly evident in today\u2019s news, as forces from the United States and Israel have launched strikes against the Islamic Republic of Iran and Iranian forces have responded with strikes against Israel and against other nations in the region. \u00a0I\u2019ve spent time in both Israel and Iran. \u00a0I know people who live in Tel Aviv \u00a0and Jerusalem, as well as in Tehran and Qom and Isfahan.<\/p>\n As I write, it remains to be seen how successful the US\/Israeli strikes will be. \u00a0Will they finally eliminate Iran\u2019s nuclear program? \u00a0Will they cripple Iranian military power? \u00a0Will they defang the Basij and the noxious Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps? \u00a0Will they cause the Iranian regime to collapse? \u00a0(Israeli sources and now President Trump are saying that Ali Khamenei is dead. \u00a0If true, will that be enough for the regime to fall?) \u00a0Will there be significant American and Israeli casualties? \u00a0Will Iran be able to inflict serious damage on American military assets in the region? \u00a0Will the Iranians close the Straits of Hormuz? \u00a0Will they hit American civilians and soft targets in the region? \u00a0Will there be retaliatory terrorist attacks in Europe and the United States? \u00a0If the Iranian regime falls, will it be replaced by more congenial leadership, or will Iran become more radical or fragment into civil war? \u00a0It would be really nice, sometimes, if it were foresight<\/em> that is 20\/20.<\/p>\n My wife and I participate in a (roughly) once-a-month gathering with three friends to enjoy dinner together and to discuss a book that we\u2019ve read in preparation for our meeting \u2014 sometimes a Latter-day Saint book but often not. \u00a0For tonight\u2019s gathering, we decided to do something rather different. \u00a0(For the record: The Interpreter Foundation pays for neither our copy of the book for discussion, nor our transportation to and from the gathering, nor our meals. \u00a0Why on earth would<\/em> it? \u00a0It also doesn\u2019t buy my toothpaste or my socks.) \u00a0For tonight, we\u2019re reading or listening to talks from the late President Jeffrey R. Holland, whose passing we\u2019ve mourned. \u00a0I meant to devote more time to listening and reading to his talks today than I have; instead, I\u2019ve been glued to news coverage about the news out of the Middle East. \u00a0Still, I\u2019ve listened to and read several of President Holland\u2019s talks, and I\u2019ve greatly enjoyed revisiting them. \u00a0I\u2019m going to continue to do it.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>\n
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