The Interpreter Foundation Podcast

What did Brigham’s letter to the daughter he left behind reveal about how he saw himself as a substitute “father” to the Church?

Why did the unfinished Nauvoo Temple become the sharpest dividing line between Brigham Young and Sidney Rigdon?

The post Becoming Brigham Episode 35: Why not Sidney Rigdon? first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.

In this episode of Conversations with Interpreter, Kevin L. Tolley speaks about his research into temple connections in Jacob’s sermon and especially with Jacob’s use of Isaiah. Dr. Tolley, who is a Coordinator for Seminary and Institutes, has been studying the idea of temples and temple themes in especially the Book of Isaiah, and the connection between the latter part of Isaiah and Psalms and priesthood. This paper, which was presented at a conference on the small plates held in early 2026 at Brigham Young University in Provo, UT, brings that research into conversation with the Book of Mormon. Jacob, Nephi’s brother, was a priest and he gives his famous sermon in 2 Nephi 6–10 at the temple in the land of Nephi. Dr. Tolley intriguingly connects Jacob’s use of Isaiah with his priestly and temple focus.

The post Conversations with Interpreter: Kevin Tolley: Temple Themes in Jacob’s Sermon in 2 Nephi first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.

Abstract: This paper explores the oath sworn by Akish and his followers in Ether 8:13–15 as a possible remnant of ancient Sumerian legal and religious tradition. It draws on comparative evidence from early Mesopotamian oath formulae, including the Vulture Stele of Lagash and other Sumerian contractual texts. The study proposes that the structure of the oath sworn “by the God of heaven, and also by the heavens, and also by the earth” reflects a triadic invocation pattern consistent with Sumerian invocations of An, Enlil, and Ki. Modern commentators have noted Moroni’s interpretive Christianization of the Jaredite record. This analysis suggests that, beneath that redaction, the oath preserves linguistic and theological elements traceable to a Mesopotamian origin. The comparison illuminates both the antiquity of Jaredite culture and the deep continuity between Near Eastern oath traditions and Book of Mormon narrative patterns visible in the first recorded formation of a secret combination.

The post Were the Jaredites Sumerians or Influenced by Them? Evidence from the Oath of Akish first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.

Could the sentiments that “it’s cheaper to feed them than fight them” and “this is their home” exist at the same time in the same person who also called Native American life idle and refused to leave the lands in Utah?

The post Becoming Brigham Episode 34: Feed Them, Don’t Fight Them first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.

How did a stolen shirt turn a mission to the Native Americans into two decades of war?

What would Utah history have looked like if the Saints and the Utes had treated sharing and consecration as a conversation instead of a one-way religious task?

The post Becoming Brigham Episode 33: From Stolen Shirt to Open War? first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.