{"id":61484,"date":"2018-06-01T12:08:59","date_gmt":"2018-06-01T18:08:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=61484"},"modified":"2018-09-05T09:53:38","modified_gmt":"2018-09-05T15:53:38","slug":"interpreter-merely-a-blog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/06\/interpreter-merely-a-blog.html","title":{"rendered":"Interpreter — merely a “blog”?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Qasr<\/a>
At Qasr al-Yahud, the traditional site of John\u2019s baptism of Jesus. In the foreground is Israel. The bushes on the other side of the river are in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
(Wikimedia Commons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I get a kick out of the determined efforts of some critics to minimize and dismiss Interpreter<\/em> as just a \u201cblog.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Apologetics, they insist, is dead in Mormondom. \u00a0And, they triumphantly add (since at least some of this is about frank personal hostility), Daniel Peterson is a mere \u201cshell\u201d of his former self.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Well, there\u2019s no doubt that Mormon apologetics took a significant hit in 2012, with the coup at the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship at BYU.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

But FairMormon<\/a> continues to do well. \u00a0(Please mark your calendar, incidentally, for the 2018 FairMormon conference<\/a>, to be held in Provo, Utah, on 1-3 August 2018.) \u00a0And Book of Mormon Central<\/a> and the Interpreter Foundation<\/a>, both founded in the wake of that abrupt 2012 Maxwell Institute \u201cchange in direction,\u201d have been extraordinarily productive. \u00a0Together, these organizations have formed Mormon Voices<\/a>, marking a new phase in defending and commending the claims of the Restoration.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll return now to the Interpreter Foundation, in particular:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I think it quite amusing, in a world where more and more academic and non-academic publishing is moving toward online and other electronic formats, that the critics who affect to brush Interpreter off as merely a \u201cblog\u201d find themselves tacitly advocating an outmoded and increasingly obsolete understanding of publishing that recognizes only print media as genuine and authentic. \u00a0For these hidebound reactionaries, if scholarship is to count, forests must die and ink must be spilled. \u00a0Ideas and arguments and content are, in their implicit view, of little or no relevance.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even so, the Interpreter Foundation has, in fact, published eight books<\/a>. \u00a0And, moreover, every one of the twenty-eight journal volumes<\/a> that it has published thus far is available in a variety of formats, including print.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Curiously, too, for a mere \u201cblog,\u201d Interpreter has also posted online \u201cscripture roundtables\u201d<\/a> for the entire Gospel Doctrine curriculum of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a>, undertaken to create background \u201cKnoWhys\u201d<\/a> for every Gospel Doctrine lesson, produced a half-hour film<\/a> that has been featured on BYU Television, and, yes, hosted a blog<\/a>. \u00a0It has, furthermore, produced a number of videos<\/a>. \u00a0And, very<\/em> unusual for a mere \u201cblog,\u201d the Interpreter Foundation has convened a number of conferences and, since the beginning of 2018, hosted a weekly two-hour radio program<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Methinks the critics do protest too much.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Happily, too, the Interpreter Foundation\u2019s efforts continue and, if they receive sufficient support<\/a>, will continue to grow<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

You may, for example, enjoy this new Interpreter blog entry:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cElder Bruce R. McConkie\u2019s Witness of the 1978 Revelation on the Priesthood\u201d<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And here\u2019s the latest article in Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture<\/em>, which has just been posted:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Word\u00a0Baptize<\/em>\u00a0in the Book of Mormon\u201d<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 I get a kick out of the determined efforts of some critics to minimize and dismiss Interpreter as just a \u201cblog.\u201d \u00a0 Apologetics, they insist, is dead in Mormondom. \u00a0And, they triumphantly add (since at least some of this is about frank personal hostility), Daniel Peterson is a mere \u201cshell\u201d of his former […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nInterpreter -- merely a "blog"?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    I get a kick out of the determined efforts of some critics to minimize and dismiss Interpreter as just a "blog."   Apologetics, they\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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