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***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n To the probable astonishment of hundreds of millions of people worldwide, an article has gone up today in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship<\/em>.\u00a0 For those who care, this marks the 457th consecutive week \u2014 out of the 458.5 weeks since the Interpreter Foundation was launched \u2014 in which Interpreter<\/em> has published at least one new article.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Zina Petersen, \u201cNibley\u2019s Early Education\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Abstract:\u00a0<\/strong>In\u00a0this intimate glimpse of Hugh Nibley\u2019s childhood, written by his daughter Zina, we read of what it was like for Hugh to grow up as a gifted child with Victorian parents and, in turn, what it was like for Zina and her siblings to grow up as a child in the home of Hugh and Phyllis. These poignant, never-before-told stories reveal why, in Zina\u2019s words, \u201cHugh\u2019s uniqueness lay as much in his inabilities as in his abilities, as much in what he refused to learn as what he refused to allow to remain unexamined.\u201d And though it was obvious that his mind was extraordinarily sharp, we learn why \u201cit was Hugh Nibley\u2019s heart that made the difference. And it was a very good heart.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n [Editor\u2019s Note:\u00a0<\/strong>Part of our book chapter reprint series, this article is reprinted here as a service to the LDS community. Original pagination and page numbers have necessarily changed, otherwise the reprint has the same content as the original.<\/span><\/p>\n See Zina Nibley Petersen, \u201cNibley\u2019s Early Education,\u201d in\u00a0Hugh Nibley Observed,<\/em> ed. Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, Shirley S. Ricks, and Stephen T. Whitlock (Orem, UT: The Interpreter Foundation; Salt Lake City: Eborn Books, 2021), 57\u201376. Further information at\u00a0https:\/\/interpreterfoundation.org\/books\/hugh-nibley-observed\/<\/a>.]<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n ***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Interpreter Radio Show \u2014 March 28, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n The 28 March 2021 broadcast of the Interpreter Radio Show is now archived and available at no charge for your listening pleasure and edification.\u00a0 This episode was hosted by\u00a0Steve Densley, Matthew Bowen, and Mark J. Johnson. In it, they discussed the relationship of the Book of Moses to the Book of Mormon with the Interpreter Foundation\u2019s Jeff Lindsay. The second portion of the show was devoted to a roundtable discussing the upcoming Come Follow Me lesson #19 (D&C 46-48). The Interpreter Radio Show can be heard Sunday evenings from 7 to 9 PM (MDT), on K-TALK, AM 1640, or you can listen live on the Internet at\u00a0ktalkmedia.com<\/a>. Call in to 801-254-1640 with your questions and comments during the live show.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n ***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n A few weeks ago, I read Sheri Dew\u2019s 2019 book\u00a0Insights from a Prophet\u2019s Life: Russell M. Nelson<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0 Last night, I finished Rick Turley\u2019s new biography,\u00a0<\/span>In the Hands of the Lord: The Life of Dallin H. Oaks<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0 I strongly recommend both books.\u00a0 Enthusiastically.\u00a0 They gave me even greater appreciation and understanding for these two remarkable, estimable men.\u00a0 (I would be less than honest, though, if I failed to admit that, without intending to do so, they always left me with at least some feelings of inferiority and underachievement.\u00a0 President Nelson and President Oaks are astoundingly hard workers and amazingly accomplished.). They also shed considerable light on episodes in the history of the Church during the time that I\u2019ve been around, which I enjoyed.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n ***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n And now, once again, I share a few links from a previous volume of Interpreter<\/em>:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Daniel C. Peterson, \u201cOn Being a Tool\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Abstract: Members, missionaries, and apologists must never lose sight of the fact that the gospel isn\u2019t merely about abstractions and theoretical principles. It\u2019s also, and most importantly, about people, about people with their own life stories, fears, hopes, and questions. Thus, if we want to be optimally effective, we must listen to people, understand them, and craft our message to reach them individually, where they are. The Interpreter Foundation is committed to helping with this task, but it cannot replace personalized instruction and caring.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Robert A. Rees, \u201cJoseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, and the American Renaissance: An Update\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Abstract:\u00a0This is a follow-up to my article, \u201cJoseph Smith and the American Renaissance,\u201d published in\u00a0<\/em>Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought\u00a0in 2002.1<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0My purpose in writing that article was to consider Joseph Smith in relation to his more illustrious contemporary American authors \u2014 Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel\u00a0Hawthorne, Herman Melville, and Walt Whitman. In that article I tried to demonstrate that in comparison with these writers, Joseph Smith did not possess the literary imagination, talent, authorial maturity, education, cultural milieu, knowledge base, or sophistication necessary to produce the Book\u00a0of\u00a0Mormon; nor, I argued, had he possessed all of these characteristics, nor was the time in which the book was produced sufficient to compose such a lengthy, complex, and elaborate narrative. This addendum takes the comparison one step further by examining each writer\u2019s magnum opus and the background, previous writings, and preliminary drafts that preceded its publication \u2014 then comparing them with Joseph Smith\u2019s publication of the Book of Mormon. That is, each of the major works of these writers of prose, fiction, and poetry as well as the scriptural text produced by Joseph Smith has a history \u2014 one that allows us to trace its evolution from inception to completion.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n David H. Bailey and Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, \u201cScience and Mormonism\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Editor\u2019s Note:\u00a0In celebration of the long-awaited publication of the expanded proceedings of the 2013 Interpreter Science and Mormonism Symposium\u00a0<\/em>\u2014 Cosmos, Earth, and Man\u00a0(Orem and Salt Lake City: The Interpreter Foundation and Eborn Books, 2016), we share an expanded version of the introduction to that volume in this issue of the journal. The second Interpreter Science and Mormonism Symposium, subtitled Body, Brain, Mind, and Spirit, will be held at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah in the Classroom Building, Room 101, from 8:30 am-3:30 pm on March 12, 2016. For more information about the book and the upcoming symposium, see\u00a0MormonInterpreter.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Abstract:\u00a0From the beginning, Latter-day Saints have rejected the notion that science and religion are incompatible. In this article, we give an overview of studies that have surveyed the professional participation of Mormons<\/a> in science and the views of American academics and scientists on religion in general, Mormons in particular, and why many thoughtful people in our day might be disinclined to take religion seriously. We conclude with a brief survey of current LDS perspectives on science. Our brief survey demonstrates that it is not only futile for religion and science to battle each other; it is also unnecessary.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Eric D. Rackley, \u201cLatter-day Saint Youths\u2019 Construction of Sacred Texts\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Abstract:\u00a0The texts that religious youth negotiate are often deeply embedded in their sociocultural practices, which can have profound influences on their religious literacy development, construction and manifestation of religious identities, and the development of their faith. Yet, although 85% of American youth claim a specific religious tradition, literacy research has not explored how these youth construct their views of sacred texts. In this two-year qualitative study of the literacy practices of nine Latter-day Saint youth, interviews and observations were used to explore what texts these youth considered sacred and how their views of these texts were informed by their religiocultural beliefs, values, and practices. Analyses indicate that views of sacred texts were informed by the regularity with which the youth engaged with these texts and their specific personal experiences with them. This work breaks new ground in the study of religion as social practice by exploring how religiocultural ways of doing and being influenced the development of young people\u2019s construction of sacred texts. Implications for religious instruction are provided.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Stephen O. Smoot, \u201cTelling the Story of the Coming Forth of the Book of Mormon\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Review of MacKay, Michael Hubbard and Gerrit J. Dirkmaat,\u00a0From Darkness unto Light: Joseph Smith\u2019s Translation and Publication of the Book of Mormon,<\/em>\u00a0Provo, UT, and Salt Lake City: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University and Deseret Book, 2015. pp. 256 + xvii, including notes and index. $24.99<\/span><\/p>\n Abstract:\u00a0The book\u00a0<\/em>From Darkness unto Light: Joseph Smith\u2019s Translation and Publication of the Book of Mormon\u00a0by Michael Hubbard MacKay and Gerrit J. Dirkmaat is an outstanding resource for anyone interested in early Latter-day Saint history and the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. It provides a compelling narrative about the recovery, translation, and publication of the Book of Mormon that utilizes the most cutting-edge historical scholarship available today.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Matthew L. Bowen, \u201c\u201cMy People Are Willing\u201d: The Mention of Aminadab in the Narrative Context of Helaman 5-6\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Abstract:\u00a0Aminadab, a Nephite by birth who later dissented to the Lamanites, played a crucial role in the mass conversion of three hundred Lamanites (and eventually many others). At the end of the pericope in which these events are recorded, Mormon states: \u201cAnd thus we see that the Lord began to pour out his Spirit upon the Lamanites, because of their easiness and\u00a0<\/em>willingness<\/strong>\u00a0to believe in his words\u201d (Helaman 6:36), whereas he \u201cbegan to withdraw\u201d his Spirit from the Nephites \u201cbecause of the wickedness and the hardness of their hearts\u201d (Helaman 6:35). The name Aminadab is a Semitic\/Hebrew name meaning \u201cmy kinsman is willing\u201d or \u201cmy people are willing.\u201d As a dissenter, Aminadab was a man of two peoples. Mormon and (probably) his source were aware of the meaning of Aminadab\u2019s name and the irony of that meaning in the context of the latter\u2019s role in the Lamanite conversions and the spiritual history of the Nephites and Lamanites. The narrative\u2019s mention of Aminadab\u2019s name (Helaman 5:39, 41) and Mormon\u2019s echoes of it in Helaman 6:36, 3 Nephi 6:14, and elsewhere have covenant and temple significance not only in their ancient scriptural setting, but for latter-day readers of the Book of Mormon today.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n