The Interpreter Foundation Podcast

How did Brigham Young’s determination to never again be driven out of his home collide with Native peoples who were being pushed off the rivers and valleys of Utah?

Why did a church that sent missionaries to Native Americans so early still end up building forts and fighting battles?

The post Becoming Brigham Episode 32: Religious Kindred but Savage Enemies? first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.

In the August 27, 2026, 2026 episode of The Interpreter Insights Podcast, our host Terry Hutchinson interviews the President of The Interpreter Foundation, Dan Peterson, about the Interpreter Foundation's past year and upcoming projects.

The post Interpreter Insights Podcast — August 27, 2026 first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.

How did Brigham Young’s rejection of his father’s harsh discipline shape daily life and family rituals in the Lion House?

In what concrete ways did women such as Eliza R. Snow exercise leadership and autonomy under Brigham Young?

Why do the historians argue that judging Brigham Young solely by modern standards risks missing both the complexity of his character and the reasons so many people willingly followed him?

The post Becoming Brigham Episode 31: Lives of Their Own first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.

This episode of Conversations with Interpreter explores Spencer Kraus’s article, “A Closer Look at Transliteration in Divine Translations.” Kraus picks up the question about transliterated words like ziff in the Book of Mormon. Because the Book of Mormon was translated by “the gift and power of God,” it can raise questions about why words like this appear in the Book of Mormon. Kraus convincingly argues that the distribution and types of words that appear in the Book of Mormon are in continuity with transliteration patterns in other ancient texts. As part of this we talk about the implications of Kraus’s research for understanding the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith’s translation project in general.

The post Conversations with Interpreter: Spencer Kraus: Transliteration in the Book of Mormon and Other Translations first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.

Abstract: Sidney Sperry identified 2 Nephi 4:15–35 as “Nephi’s Psalm.” Using form-critical analysis, Matthew Nickerson classified it as a personal lament psalm. In this article, I build on biblical turns of phrase, imagery, symbolism, and the archaeological record established by previous scholarship to demonstrate how verses 32–35 constitute Nephi’s movement through gradations of increasing holiness in the temple. Nephi’s movement also exemplifies the use of thematic and rhetorical intensification, a method used by biblical poets. The ordered presentation of temple elements through those four verses suggests intentional artistry rather than random borrowing and affirms the literary sophistication of the Book of Mormon. This article adds to the substantial body of work demonstrating that Book of Mormon authors possessed a sophisticated command of Hebrew literary conventions.

The post Progressing through Gradations of Holiness in the Temple: 2 Nephi 4:32–35 as a Hymn Inspired by Ritual first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.