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***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Two new items appeared today in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship<\/em>:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Val Larsen<\/span><\/a>, \u201cJosiah to Zoram to Sherem to Jarom and the Big Little Book of Omni\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Abstract:\u00a0<\/strong>The first 450 years of Nephite history are dominated by two main threads: the ethno-political tension between Nephites and Lamanites and religious tension between adherents of rival theologies. These rival Nephite theologies are a\u00a0Mantic theology that affirms the existence of Christ and a\u00a0Sophic theology that denies Christ. The origin of both narrative threads lies in the Old World: the first in conflicts between Nephi and Laman, the second in Lehi\u2019s rejection of King Josiah\u2019s theological and political reforms. This article focuses on these interrelated conflicts. It suggests that Zoram, Laman, Lemuel, Sherem, and the Zeniffites were Deuteronomist followers of Josiah. The small plates give an account of how their Deuteronomist theology gradually supplanted the gospel of Christ. As the small plates close, their last author, Amaleki, artfully confronts his readers with a\u00a0life-defining choice: having read the Book\u00a0of\u00a0Mormon thus far, will you remain, metaphorically, with the prophets in Zarahemla and embrace the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ, or will you return to the land of Nephi and the theology you believed and the life you lived before you read the Book\u00a0of\u00a0Mormon?<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Steven L. Olsen<\/a>, \u201cMuch More than a Reader: The Latest in Chiastic Studies for Interested Scholars and Lay\u00a0Readers\u00a0Alike\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Review of\u00a0Chiasmus: The State of the Art<\/em>, edited by John\u00a0W.\u00a0Welch and Donald\u00a0W.\u00a0Parry (Provo, UT: BYU Studies and Book\u00a0of\u00a0Mormon Central, 2020). 358 pages. $24.68, paperback.<\/span><\/p>\n Abstract:\u00a0<\/strong>This collection of essays represents the latest scholarship on chiasmus. They were selected from papers delivered at an academic conference at Brigham\u00a0Young University in 2017. Articles reflect both \u201cthe state of the art\u201d and the state of the technique in chiastic studies.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n ***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I don\u2019t believe that I had ever paid any real attention to Mr. Jonathan Neville until I was told that he had been repeatedly attacking the Interpreter Foundation and me, personally.\u00a0 I still don\u2019t read his blogs or his books.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I\u2019m just not interested in Heartlander theories.\u00a0 Truth be told, I\u2019m not overly interested in questions of Book of Mormon geography at all<\/em>.\u00a0 That is to say, I have opinions \u2014 I\u2019m comfortably inclined toward a limited Mesoamerican model, although I\u2019m not wedded to it \u2014 but I\u2019ve seldom if ever written on the subject.\u00a0 (Which, by the way, leaves me puzzled as to why I\u2019ve become a principal whipping boy for Mr. Neville, who seems to be obsessed by Book of Mormon geography in general and the location of the Nephite Cumorah in particular.)<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Once I noticed Mr. Neville\u2019s propensity to demonize those who don\u2019t share his geographical theories, however, I began to realize that he poses a very unfortunate potential threat to the peace and unity of the Saints.\u00a0 And his curiously urgent need to attack me over and over again has also been brought to my attention.\u00a0 I\u2019ve learned approximately everything I know about him from the invaluable Neville-Neville Land<\/em> blog, which follows his writing pretty closely and quotes him extensively.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n His attacks on me and on the Interpreter Foundation continue:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe identity of Peter Pan, and other issues Jonathan Neville is wrong about\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n By the way, my wife and I saw the newly-released Benedict Cumberbatch film\u00a0The Courier<\/a><\/em>\u00a0last night.\u00a0 It was excellent.\u00a0 But it does make me think that Mr. Neville may have exaggerated just a tiny bit when he suggested that I enforce my \u201cM2C dogma\u201d like an old Soviet commissar.\u00a0 Among other seemingly significant differences that might be mentioned, I don\u2019t wield the coercive power of the state, I don\u2019t own a prison, I don\u2019t run a system of death camps, I don\u2019t maintain a staff of secret police, I don\u2019t threaten dissidents with guns, I\u2019m not secretly deploying nuclear weapons, and I don\u2019t starve or kill or even torture people.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Incidentally too, although I wouldn\u2019t be surprised to learn that the estimable \u201cPeter Pan\u201d is somebody with whom I\u2019m acquainted, I don\u2019t know his (or her) identity, and I have absolutely no connection with the Neville-Neville Land<\/em> blog.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n ***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Finally, as I\u2019ve recently been doing, I share with you links to a few articles previously published in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship<\/em>:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Paul Y. Hoskisson, \u201cWas Joseph Smith Smarter Than the Average Fourth Year Hebrew Student? Finding a Restoration-Significant Hebraism in Book of Mormon Isaiah\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Abstract:\u00a0The brass plates version of Isaiah 2:2, as contained in 2 Nephi 12:2, contains a small difference, not attested in any other pre-1830 Isaiah witness, that not only helps clarify the meaning but also ties the verse to events of the Restoration. The change does so by introducing a Hebraism that would have been impossible for Joseph Smith, the Prophet, to have produced on his own.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Morgan Deane, \u201cA Vital Resource for Understanding LDS Perspectives on War\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Review of Duane Boyce,\u00a0<\/em>Even Unto Bloodshed: An LDS Perspective on War\u00a0(Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2015). 312 pp., including appendices and index. $29.95.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Abstract: Even Unto Bloodshed: An LDS Perspective of War\u00a0by Duane Boyce is a thorough and engrossing philosophical discussion describing the failure of secular and spiritual pacifism. Boyce provides a detailed summary of secular views regarding just war and pacifism, and systematic rebuttals of almost every major pacifist thinker in LDS thought. The text is far more brief describing the LDS theory of just war, but remains an essential resource for creating that theory.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Matthew L. Bowen, \u201c\u201cHe Is a Good Man\u201d: The Fulfillment of Helaman 5:6-7 in Helaman 8:7 and 11:18-19\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Abstract:\u00a0Mormon, as an author and editor, was concerned to show the fulfillment of earlier Nephite prophecy when such fulfillment occurred. Mormon took care to show that Nephi and Lehi, the sons of Helaman, fulfilled their father\u2019s prophetic and paranetic expectations regarding them as enshrined in their given names \u2014 the names of their \u201cfirst parents.\u201d It had been \u201csaid and also written\u201d (Helaman 5:6-7) that Nephi\u2019s and Lehi\u2019s namesakes were \u201cgood\u201d in 1 Nephi 1:1. Using onomastic play on the meaning of \u201cNephi,\u201d Mormon demonstrates in Helaman 8:7 that it also came to be said and written of Nephi the son of Helaman that he was \u201cgood.\u201d Moreover, Mormon shows Nephi that his brother Lehi was \u201cnot a whit behind him\u201d in this regard (Helaman 11:19). During their lifetimes \u2014 i.e., during the time of the fulfillment of Mosiah\u2019s forewarning regarding societal and political corruption (see Mosiah 29:27) that especially included secret combinations \u2014 Nephi and Lehi stood firm against increasingly popular organized evil.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Stephen O. Smoot, \u201cVanquishing the Mormon Menace\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n A review of Mason, Patrick Q.\u00a0<\/em>The Mormon Menace: Violence and Anti-Mormonism in the Postbellum South.\u00a0New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. pp. 252 + xi, including notes and index. $31.95.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Abstract:\u00a0Patrick Mason has offered a fascinating look at the history of nineteenth century anti-Mormonism in the American South with his 2011 volume\u00a0<\/em>The Mormon Menace: Violence and Anti-Mormonism in the Postbellum South.\u00a0Situating nineteenth century Southern anti-Mormonism in its historical context, Mason narrates a vivid account of how Mormons<\/a> at times faced violent opposition that stemmed from deep cultural, religious, and political differences with mainstream American Protestants. Mason\u2019s volume is an excellent resource for those interested in Mormon history<\/a>.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Julie J. Nichols, \u201cA Modern View of Ancient Temple Worship\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Review of Matthew S. Brown, Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, Stephen D. Ricks, and John S. Thompson, eds.,\u00a0<\/em>Ancient Temple Worship: Proceedings of the Expound Symposium 14 May 2011\u00a0(Orem and Salt Lake City, UT: The Interpreter Foundation\/Eborn Books, 2014). 293pp., $24.95 (hardcover)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Abstract: This well-produced, noteworthy volume adds to the growing number of resources available to help make more meaningful the complex and historically rich experience of the temple.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Matthew L. Bowen, \u201cNephi\u2019s Good Inclusio\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Abstract:\u00a0As John Gee noted two decades ago, Nephi is best explained as a form of the Egyptian word\u00a0<\/em>nfr, which by Lehi\u2019s time was pronounced\u00a0<\/em>neh-fee,\u00a0<\/em>nay-fee, or\u00a0<\/em>nou-fee. Since this word means \u201cgood,\u201d \u201cgoodly,\u201d \u201cfine,\u201d or \u201cfair,\u201d I subsequently posited several possible examples of wordplay on the name Nephi in the Book of Mormon, including Nephi\u2019s own autobiographical introduction (1 Nephi 1:1: \u201cI, Nephi, having been born of\u00a0<\/em>goodly\u00a0parents \u2026 having had a great knowledge of the\u00a0<\/em>goodness\u00a0and the mysteries of God\u201d). It should be further pointed out, however, that Nephi also concludes his personal writings on the small plates using the terms \u201cgood\u201d and \u201cgoodness of God.\u201d This terminological bracketing constitutes a literary device, used anciently, called\u00a0<\/em>inclusio\u00a0or an envelope figure. Nephi\u2019s literary emphasis on \u201cgood\u201d and \u201cgoodness\u201d not only befits his personal name, but fulfills the Lord\u2019s commandment, \u201cthou shalt engraven many things \u2026 which are\u00a0<\/em>good\u00a0in my sight\u201d (2 Nephi 5:30), a command which also plays on the name Nephi. Nephi\u2019s autobiographical introduction and conclusion proved enormously influential on subsequent writers who modeled autobiographical and narrative biographical introductions on 1 Nephi 1:1-2 and based sermons \u2014 especially concluding sermons \u2014 on Nephi\u2019s \u201cgood\u201d conclusion in 2 Nephi 33. An emphasis in all these sermons is that all \u201cgood\u201d\/\u201cgoodness\u201d ultimately has its source in God and Christ.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n TB Spackman, \u201cUnderstanding Genesis and the Temple\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Review of John H. Walton,\u00a0<\/em>The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate<\/a>\u00a0(Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press Academic, 2009). 192 pp. $9.85.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Abstract:\u00a0Genesis 1 meant something very particular to the Israelites in their time and place. However, because that contextual knowledge was lost to us for thousands of years, we tend to misread it. Walton offers an interpretation of Genesis 1 that juxtaposes it with temple concepts, simultaneously allaying some of the scientific issues involved.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n TB Spackman, \u201cThe Old Testament and Presuppositions\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n