{"id":83030,"date":"2020-02-21T13:09:12","date_gmt":"2020-02-21T20:09:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=83030"},"modified":"2020-02-21T23:10:45","modified_gmt":"2020-02-22T06:10:45","slug":"first-visions-and-last-sermons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/02\/first-visions-and-last-sermons.html","title":{"rendered":"“First Visions and Last Sermons”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

James Jordan captures Joseph Smith \"backstage\"<\/a>
Joseph Smith (Paul Wuthrich) on the set of the Interpreter Foundation\u2019s Witnesses<\/em> film project. (Still photograph by James Jordan)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

It being Friday, Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship<\/em> has published yet another new article. \u00a0This one is by Val Larsen<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst Visions and Last Sermons:\u00a0Affirming Divine Sociality,\u00a0Rejecting the Greater Apostasy\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Abstract:<\/strong>\u00a0There is a\u00a0kinship between Lehi and Joseph\u00a0Smith. They are linked to each other by similar first visions, and they faced roughly the same theological problem. Resisted by elites who believe God is a\u00a0Solitary Sovereign, both prophets affirm the pluralistic religion of Abraham, which features a\u00a0s\u00f4d\u00a0\u2019\u0115l\u00f4him (Council of Gods) in which the divine Father, Mother, and Son sit. These prophets are likewise linked by their last sermons: Lehi\u2019s parting sermon\/blessings of his sons and Joseph\u2019s King Follett discourse. Along with the first visions and last sermons, the article closely reads Lehi\u2019s dream, Nephi\u2019s experience of Lehi\u2019s dream, and parts of the Allegory of the Olive Tree, John\u2019s Revelation, and Genesis, all of which touch on the theology of the S\u00f4d (Council).<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The release of a new General Handbook was a major story for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a> over the past few days:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cA Look Inside the New General Handbook for Church Leaders and Members:\u00a0Congregations of all shapes and sizes can adapt the book\u2019s principles to their needs\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cNew church handbook is online and available to all. Here are some of the changes\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s some news about two of the women leaders in the Church:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSister Eubank Encourages Women to Become Global Citizens:\u00a0Church leader speaks on Utah Valley University campus\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And I haven\u2019t forgotten that some of you are still eagerly accumulating materials for your Christopher Hitchens Memorial \u201cHow Religion Poisons Everything\u201d Files<\/em>. \u00a0So I offer these two items:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSister Bingham Observes Pilot Nutrition Program in the Philippines:\u00a0Relief Society leader ministers to Filipino families\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Bingham emphasizes Relief Society\u2019s importance in Philippines Area fight against malnutrition\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
\u00a0***<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is exciting news for those who love and\/or live in the vicinity of Brigham Young University:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBYU to build special concert hall in new Music Building on campus:\u00a0The special feature will be the first of its kind in the Intermountain West\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And here\u2019s something that invites reflection:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHow sinful is Utah? A new study says \u2018not very\u2019:\u00a0Utahns are active and sober \u2014 but also pretty vain \u2014 according to a new study by WalletHub\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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

\u00a0 \u00a0 It being Friday, Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship has published yet another new article. \u00a0This one is by Val Larsen: \u00a0 \u201cFirst Visions and Last Sermons:\u00a0Affirming Divine Sociality,\u00a0Rejecting the Greater Apostasy\u201d Abstract:\u00a0There is a\u00a0kinship between Lehi and Joseph\u00a0Smith. They are linked to each other by similar first visions, and […]<\/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":[7542,56,4985,975,380,5136,55],"class_list":["post-83030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-1-nephi","tag-book-of-mormon","tag-first-vision","tag-interpreter","tag-joseph-smith","tag-lehi","tag-mormonism"],"yoast_head":"\n"First Visions and Last Sermons"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    It being Friday, Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship has published yet another new article. \u00a0This one is by Val\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/02\/first-visions-and-last-sermons.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""First Visions and Last Sermons"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"    It being Friday, Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship has published yet another new article. \u00a0This one is by Val\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/02\/first-visions-and-last-sermons.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-02-21T20:09:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-02-22T06:10:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2020\/02\/71915862_681230195711273_2163883826000953344_n.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/02\/first-visions-and-last-sermons.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/02\/first-visions-and-last-sermons.html\",\"name\":\"\\\"First Visions and Last Sermons\\\"\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-02-21T20:09:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-02-22T06:10:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\"},\"description\":\"    It being Friday, Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship has published yet another new article. \u00a0This one is by Val\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/02\/first-visions-and-last-sermons.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/02\/first-visions-and-last-sermons.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/02\/first-visions-and-last-sermons.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"“First Visions and Last Sermons”\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/\",\"name\":\"Sic et Non\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\",\"name\":\"Dan Peterson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Peterson\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\\\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\"First Visions and Last Sermons\"","description":"    It being Friday, Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship has published yet another new article. \u00a0This one is by Val","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/02\/first-visions-and-last-sermons.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\"First Visions and Last Sermons\"","og_description":"    It being Friday, Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship has published yet another new article. \u00a0This one is by Val","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/02\/first-visions-and-last-sermons.html","og_site_name":"Sic et Non","article_published_time":"2020-02-21T20:09:12+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-02-22T06:10:45+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2020\/02\/71915862_681230195711273_2163883826000953344_n.jpg"}],"author":"Dan Peterson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Peterson","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/02\/first-visions-and-last-sermons.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/02\/first-visions-and-last-sermons.html","name":"\"First Visions and Last Sermons\"","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-02-21T20:09:12+00:00","dateModified":"2020-02-22T06:10:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045"},"description":"    It being Friday, Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship has published yet another new article. \u00a0This one is by Val","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/02\/first-visions-and-last-sermons.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/02\/first-visions-and-last-sermons.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/02\/first-visions-and-last-sermons.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"“First Visions and Last Sermons”"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/","name":"Sic et Non","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045","name":"Dan Peterson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Peterson"},"description":"\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83030\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}