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To the considerable irritation of at least a few extremely irritable critics, the Interpreter Foundation continues to produce.\u00a0 Here are three items that went up just today:<\/p>\n
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Come, Follow Me<\/em> \u2014 New Testament Study and Teaching Helps: Lesson 4, January 16 \u2014 January 22: John 1 \u2014\u00a0\u201cWe Have Found the Messiah\u201d<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n As he\u2019s been doing very consistently for a long time, Jonn Claybaugh yet again provides a concise set of notes for students and teachers of the Church\u2019s \u201cCome, Follow Me\u201d curriculum.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The New Testament in Context Lesson 4: We Have Found the Messiah<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n In the 11 December 2022 Come, Follow Me<\/em> segment of the Interpreter Radio Show, Terry Hutchinson and John Gee and Kevin Christensen joined together to discuss New Testament lesson 4, on John 1.\u00a0 That discussion is now available for listening at your convenience . . .\u00a0 but at no charge.\u00a0 The other segments of the 11 December 2022 radio show can be accessed at https:\/\/interpreterfoundation.org\/interpreter-radio-show-december-11-2022<\/a>.\u00a0 Moreover, the Interpreter Radio Show can be heard live on Sunday evenings, every single week of the year, from 7 to 9 PM (MDT), on K-TALK, AM 1640.\u00a0 Or you can listen to the show as it happens \u2014 no net! no rough drafts! no do-overs! \u2014 on the Internet at ktalkmedia.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Nibley Lectures: Time Vindicates the Prophets<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 Prophets and Glad Tidings<\/a><\/p>\n Between 7 March 1954 and 17 October 1954, Hugh Nibley delivered a series of thirty (30) weekly lectures on KSL Radio that were also published as pamphlets. The series, which was called \u201cTime Vindicates the Prophets,\u201d was given in answer to those who were challenging the right of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a> to call themselves Christians.<\/p>\n This lecture suggests that joy is the main message prophets bring to mankind.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Back in March and April of 2016, various media outlets cited Mr. John Dehlin, who was at the time still a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as expressing his giddy excitement about the new Broadway musical comedy The Book of Mormon. <\/em>\u00a0It had been written, of course, by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who were already well known at the time for their earlier creation of the South Park<\/em> television series.\u00a0 Mr. Dehlin was featured in the New York Times \u2014 <\/em>see \u201cTrying to Relish the Big Time, Even When It Brings a Cringe\u201d<\/a> (including a photograph of him in which he is seen beaming with delight in the audience)\u00a0 \u2014 but the remark that I most clearly recall from Mr. Dehlin seems to have appeared in an article from Fox News:\u00a0 \u201c\u2018South Park\u2019 Creators\u2019 Mormon Musical Has Some Mormons Excited, Others Suspicious\u201d<\/a>:<\/p>\n John Dehlin, 41, of Logan, Utah has already purchased his tickets to the Broadway musical and will be flying to New York with a group of 10 people (only one of whom isn\u2019t Mormon) on March 25th.<\/p>\n He says he can\u2019t wait.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m super excited,\u201d Dehlin, the founder of Mormon Stories podcasts, told FOX411. \u201cI think this is our Mormon moment. The Jews had \u2018Fiddler [on the Roof] \u2018and the Catholics had \u2018Sound of Music\u2019 and now we have this.\u201d<\/p>\n Dehlin calls himself a liberal member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose members are collectively referred to as Mormons. . . .<\/p>\n \u201cWhen a lot of my orthodox LDS friends hear that \u2018South Park\u2019 is doing a musical about Mormonism they put their hands to their head and give a deep sigh and express sadness or frustration,\u201d Dehlin said. \u201cBut my liberal friends are stoked!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n When I tracked down the piece from Fox News just now, I was quite surprised to find that I<\/em> was quoted in the article, as well.\u00a0 I had completely forgotten it:<\/p>\n Brigham Young professor Daniel Peterson began his thoughts on the play with an audible sigh.<\/p>\n \u201cThe general reaction is \u2018sigh\u2019, \u2018more of this\u2019,\u201d Peterson, who teaches Islamic Studies and Arabic at the Mormon University in Utah told FOX411. \u201cWe\u2019re sort of accustomed \u00a0to being made to look like idiots or villains so it is nothing new. You wouldn\u2019t do this to Jews, you wouldn\u2019t do this to blacks, but we\u2019re still legit to kick around.\u201d<\/p>\n Peterson isn\u2019t a champion of the Parker and Stone project and won\u2019t be flying to New York to see a performance, but he agrees with Dehlin that this could be a \u201cMormon moment.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe fact is we are a blip on the national radar screen, and there is something to be said for that,\u201d Peterson said. \u201cMy feeling is it is better from our standpoint to be talked about than utterly ignored. I would rather be mocked because it gives me a chance to explain myself.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Happily, that still expresses my view of the matter.\u00a0 In fact, all the way back in January 2011, I had already heard that Trey Parker and Matt Stone were working on a musical about the Latter-day Saints, and I wrote a column about it:\u00a0 \u201cAnti-Mormon mockery can actually lead to teaching moments.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0 I was pleased, subsequently, to see that the Church itself seemed to see things pretty much the way I did (and do).\u00a0 What happened to the other play that I mentioned, the one that supposedly chronicled the adventures of Joseph Smith up to Christmas 1825, I cannot say.\u00a0 Which doesn\u2019t displease me even slightly.<\/p>\n But why was I reminded of Mr. Dehlin\u2019s comments to Fox News?\u00a0 Please recall that he said<\/p>\n \u201cI think this is our Mormon moment. The Jews had \u2018Fiddler [on the Roof] \u2018and the Catholics had \u2018Sound of Music\u2019 and now we have this.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/a>
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