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The Interpreter Foundation has published its last articles for 2022; absolutely no more new 2022 articles will ever appear.\u00a0 I expect, therefore, that some of the Foundation\u2019s critics will stay up late tomorrow night, partying in celebration.\u00a0 Here are the two articles that finish out the year:<\/p>\n
\u201cStained Swords: A Psalm of Redemption,\u201d<\/a> written by Loren Blake Spendlove<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Abstract:\u00a0<\/strong>The author proposes a novel idea for understanding the stained swords of the Anti-Nephi-Lehies that involves repetition, parallelism, and metaphoric Hebrew wordplay.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cInterpreting Interpreter<\/em>: Stained Swords,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0written by Kyler Rasmussen<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n This post is a summary of the article \u201cStained Swords: A Psalm of Redemption<\/a>\u201d by Loren Blake Spendlove in Volume 54 of\u00a0Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship<\/em>. An introduction to the Interpreting\u00a0Interpreter<\/em>\u00a0series is available at\u00a0https:\/\/interpreterfoundation.org\/interpreting-interpreter-on-abstracting-thought\/<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n The Takeaway:<\/strong>\u00a0 Spendlove writes short, accessible abstracts that you can read for yourself<\/a>.\u00a0 [But a short summary follows. -dcp]<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n ***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Roughly nine years ago, a sublimely self-confident pseudonymous critic on a small, extraordinarily nasty, and mostly atheist ex-Mormon message board took it upon himself to prophesy:<\/p>\n \u201cBy Jan. 1, 2014 Interpreter will be dead.\u00a0. .\u00a0. \u00a0Either totally dead or down to token \u2018blog\u2019 style postings.\u201d\u00a0(Bond James Bond, 25 January 2013)<\/span><\/p>\n The Interpreter Foundation was about 5.5 months old when he pronounced his oracle.<\/p>\n I hope that \u201cMr. Bond\u201d kept his day job.\u00a0 (Actually, I didn\u2019t see anything at all from him for several years.\u00a0 Perhaps, I thought, he was totally dead.\u00a0 At the best, he no longer seemed to be up to making even token \u201cblog style\u201d posts.\u00a0 Lately, though, I think he may have resurfaced under a slightly altered pseudonym.)<\/p>\n The Interpreter Foundation was launched almost precisely 546 weeks ago. \u00a0Today marked the 545th consecutive week that it has published at least one article \u2014 which is not to mention its books, its blog, its scripture roundtables, its weekly radio programs, its film efforts, its conferences, and so forth.<\/p>\n That poor \u201cMr. Bond\u2019s\u201d prediction was proved wrong about eight years ago is entirely due to generous donations of time and labor and, yes, money from a great many people, to all of whom I\u2019m deeply grateful. \u00a0Our operation is almost entirely volunteer.\u00a0 We have no salaried employees.\u00a0 Although our bylaws allow the Foundation\u2019s top leadership to draw up to $500 annually for their services, none has ever taken any such compensation. \u00a0Nor are our authors paid. This is a labor of love, passion, and commitment.<\/p>\n If you need guidance\u00a0on how to donate to the Interpreter Foundation, you can find such information here<\/a>.\u00a0 And please don\u2019t overlook the brief discussion of AmazonSmile, which can painlessly permit you to enlist Amazon to support the Interpreter Foundation (or any other listed charity of your choice) with each book or other item that you purchase there. \u00a0In those cases, it\u2019s Amazon.com that gives the money. \u00a0There is absolutely no cost to you.\u00a0<\/em> (And, of course and for that very reason, no tax deduction.)<\/p>\n Please stay tuned.\u00a0 Will the Interpreter Foundation survive past 1 January this<\/em> time?\u00a0 Will another article appear in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship<\/em> next week?\u00a0 The tension mounts!<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n ***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I saw certain habitual critics of the Church take this story up several days ago, but I haven\u2019t thus far said anything about it.\u00a0 Happily, a reader of this blog who comments under the moniker of \u201cThe Last Danite\u201d posted the following, which, with his kind permission, I now re-post here in the main body of this blog:<\/p>\n Fun side story: The failing SLTrib attempted to generate fake outrage over a painting of Mary that the awful prudish LDS Church<\/a> Inc modified to make her more modest. The scandal was so horrifying they even had an opinion piece ready to go from resident hack Gordon Monson. However, a quick google search shows the claimed LDS censorship was actually a modification done in 1656 by the original arist. Why the reader should expect the SLTrib to do basic research is another question entirely. Don\u2019t forget to give the SLtrib your money!<\/span><\/p>\n SLTrib outrage piece:\u00a0https:\/\/www.sltrib.com\/reli\u2026<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Prepared opinion piece:\u00a0https:\/\/www.sltrib.com\/reli\u2026<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Original work:\u00a0https:\/\/www.museodelprado.e\u2026<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n The Mormon church<\/a> was stronger at four o\u2019clock Sunday afternoon than it ever will again become; the remarkable will and organizing force of the dead leader [Brigham Young] departed with him, and have been transmitted to none other in his church; and we may now watch with complacency, if not with joy, the gradual disintegration of the whole Mormon fabric. \u2013 Salt Lake Tribune, 1877<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n ***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMost of All, I Am Offended as a Muslim: On Hamline University\u2019s shocking imposition of narrow religious orthodoxy in the classroom\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n I myself have used the very image discussed for my own lectures, accompanying it with precisely the same explanation about variety within Islam that was given by the Hamline professor (who has apparently now been fired).\u00a0 This is a gross injustice.\u00a0 The administration at Hamline University should be ashamed of itself.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n ***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n In the current ideological climate, diversity is all important and it\u2019s vital that college faculties and actors in television commercials and choirs and volleyball teams and presidential cabinets \u201clook like America.\u201d\u00a0 So why are people upset that a complete poseur and utter fraud<\/a> is about to be seated in the United States Congress?\u00a0 He\u2019ll be only one of 425 members in the House of Representatives \u2014 and surely at least 0.0025 percent of the American citizenry are liars, fakes, phonies, and\/or scam artists.\u00a0 Don\u2019t they<\/em> deserve representation, too?<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n ***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n And, finally, I share a trio of gratifyingly shudder-inducing links from the Christopher Hitchens Memorial \u201cHow Religion Poisons Everything\u201d File<\/a>\u00a9:<\/p>\n \u201c20,000 Handmade Christmas Ornaments Donated to Survivors of Natural Disasters:\u00a0 A project reaching across the United States shows survivors they are not forgotten\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cSouth Africa joyfully opens a season of service for Light the World initiative: #LightTheWorld events in Johannesburg, South Africa, include the theme, \u2018Come serve as He served\u2019\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n