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I\u2019m pleased to report that, as of now, the Interpreter Foundation\u2019s movie Witnesses<\/em>\u00a0is scheduled to open on the weekend of 4-5 June (and, in at least some locations, on 2-3 June, as well) in\u00a0 fifty-seven theaters located in eight states \u2014 Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas, and Utah.\u00a0 We have just added a large number of theaters, many (but not all) of them in Arizona.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Please have a look at the witnessesfilm.com<\/a> website to see whether or where it will be playing near you and to purchase tickets \u2014 and to request it for your community if it\u2019s not<\/em> currently scheduled for showing near your home.\u00a0 And please tell your friends and relatives about the film.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n ***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n A new scripture roundtable has been made available (at no charge) on the website of the Interpreter Foundation\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Audio Roundtable:\u00a0Come, Follow Me<\/em>\u00a0Doctrine and Covenants Lesson 22\u00a0\u201cAnxiously Engaged in a Good Cause\u201d<\/em>: D&C 58-59<\/a><\/p>\n The discussants in the Interpreter Radio Roundtable for\u00a0Come, Follow Me<\/em>\u00a0Doctrine and Covenants Lesson 22,\u00a0\u201cAnxiously Engaged in a Good Cause,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0on D&C 58-59, were Bruce Webster, Kris Frederickson, and Mike Parker. This roundtable was extracted (and freed from commercial interruptions) from the 18 April 2021 broadcast of the Interpreter Radio Show. The complete show may be heard at\u00a0https:\/\/interpreterfoundation.org\/interpreter-radio-show-april-18-2021\/<\/a>. The Interpreter Radio Show can be heard Sunday evenings from 7 to 9 PM (Utah time), on K-TALK, AM 1640, or you can listen live on the Internet at\u00a0ktalkmedia.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Also new on the website of the Interpreter Foundation, from Jonn Claybaugh:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Come, Follow Me<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 D&C Study and Teaching Helps: Lesson 22, May 24\u201330: D&C 58\u201359 \u2014\u00a0\u201cAnxiously Engaged in a Good Cause\u201d<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n ***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n However, lots and lots of good stuff has already appeared on the Interpreter website.\u00a0 Here are a few pieces from the past:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Daniel C. Peterson, \u201cIt Took a Village to Prepare for the Restoration\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Abstract:\u00a0\u201cNo man,\u201d wrote the early seventeenth-century English poet John Donne, \u201cis an island entire of itself.\u201d Likewise, nothing in human history springs entirely from a vacuum, ex nihilo. Even the Restoration, although it was initiated by God and is orchestrated in the heavens, draws on resources created by previous generations of men and women. We are borne on a tide of scriptural texts and freedoms bequeathed to us by our ancestors, whom we should not forget.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Gerald E. Smith, \u201cImprovisation and Extemporaneous Change in the Book of Mormon (Part 1: Evidence of an Imperfect, Authentic, Ancient Work of Scripture)\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Abstract:\u00a0Joseph Smith made various refining changes to the Book of Mormon text, most of them minor and grammatical in nature. However, one type of textual change has been virtually unstudied in Book of Mormon scholarship:\u00a0<\/em>extemporaneous change\u00a0that was present the moment Smith dictated the original text to his scribes. This type of change appears to have been improvisational, a fix or repair made in the middle of a thought or expression. I study these improvisations in depth \u2014 where they might appear historically, their purpose, and their authorship \u2014 in two articles. The evidence points to ancient authors and editor-engravers whose extemporaneous changes appeared during the early layers of the Book of Mormon\u2019s construction. In this paper, Article One, we study the improvisations found in the quoted ancient texts of ancient prophets, then in the embedded texts of authors who improvise, and finally in the improvisational narratives of the major editor-engravers \u2014 Mormon, Nephi, and Moroni. The findings tell us much about the Book of Mormon as scripture, and about the construction and compilation of scripture by ancient editors and authors.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Gerald E. Smith, \u201cImprovisation and Extemporaneous Change in the Book of Mormon (Part 2: Structural Evidences of Earlier Ancient versus Later Modern Constructions)\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Abstract:\u00a0Joseph Smith made various refining changes to the Book of Mormon text, most of them minor grammatical in nature. However, one type of textual change has been virtually unstudied in Book of Mormon scholarship:\u00a0<\/em>extemporaneous change\u00a0that was present the moment Smith dictated the original text to his scribes. This type of change appears to have been improvisational, a fix or repair made in the middle of a thought or expression. I study these improvisations in depth \u2014 when they appeared historically, their purpose, and their authorship. The evidence of Article One points to ancient authors and editor-engravers whose extemporaneous changes appeared during the early layers of the Book of Mormon\u2019s construction. But how were these improvisations affected by later contributors? In this paper, Part 2, we study the improvisational work of Moroni as compiler, finishing-editor, and conservator, and of Joseph Smith as modern translator. The findings tell us much about the Book of Mormon as scripture, and about the construction and compilation of scripture by ancient editors and authors.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n A. Keith Thompson, \u201cThe Council of Fifty and Its Minutes: A Review\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Review of Matthew J. Grow et al., eds.,\u00a0The Joseph Smith Papers: Administrative Records, Council of Fifty, Minutes, March 1844\u2013January 1846<\/em>\u00a0(Salt Lake City: The Church Historian\u2019s Press, 2016). 525 pp. + introduction, appendixes, reference material, index, etc. $59.95.<\/span><\/p>\n Abstract:\u00a0The publication of the Council of Fifty minutes is a momentous occasion in modern studies of Mormon history<\/a>. The minutes are invaluable in helping historians understand the last days of Joseph Smith and his project to establish the Kingdom of God on the earth. They offer an important glimpse into the religious and political mindset of early Latter-day Saint leaders and shed much light on events once obscured by lack of access to the minutes. The Joseph Smith Papers Project has outdone itself in its presentation of the minutes in the latest volume of the series. The minutes are essential reading for anyone interested in early Mormon history.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n