The Interpreter Radio Show

[_Gadianton]

Some submissions I reject outright; they never make it to the peer-review process for any number of reasons.

...fringe anti-Mormons who don't have academic credibility...

What was Wyatt's Phd in again?

[_Tom]

What they want is Taves. Someone who has essentially ported in a compatible theology and dressed it up as "Religious Studies." Transubstantiation of the Gold Plates. Then DCP et al. can say, "Well, we don't exactly agree, but you can see that Religious Studies scholars do take this seriously as a real experience."

Well, you don't need to Catholicize the plates to accept that the witnesses had religious experiences. BFD!

Bingo. I’ve been reliably informed by the film’s assistant super grande burrito that the following have now been interviewed:

Richard L. Anderson
Susan Easton Black
Don Bradley
Richard Bushman
Terryl Givens
Matt Roper
John Turner

In my professional estimation, the producers need to interview approximately 2.5 non-LDS historians to counter the faith-promoting rumors spread by Black. Who’s next? I recommend Spencer Fluhman, Steven Harper, Jeff Meldrum, Stan Larson, Warren Aston, Jerry Bradford, Bill Hamblin, Patrick Mason, Philip Jenkins, Nathan Hatch, Mark Noll, Kathleen Flake, Phil Barlow, Laurie Maffly-Kipp, Stephen Prothero, Randall Balmer, Alan Taylor, Brent Metcalfe, MormonThink, Loftes Tryk, Sandra Tanner (she’s a mainstream anti-Mormon), Kishkumen, Korihor, John Hamer, Grant Hardy, D. Michael Quinn, and Dan Vogel.

[_Philo Sofee]

In my professional estimation, the producers need to interview approximately 2.5 non-LDS historians to counter the faith-promoting rumors spread by Black. Who’s next? I recommend Spencer Fluhman, Steven Harper, Jeff Meldrum, Stan Larson, Warren Aston, Jerry Bradford, Bill Hamblin, Patrick Mason, Philip Jenkins, Nathan Hatch, Mark Noll, Kathleen Flake, Phil Barlow, Laurie Maffly-Kipp, Stephen Prothero, Randall Balmer, Alan Taylor, Brent Metcalfe, MormonThink, Loftes Tryk, Sandra Tanner (she’s a mainstream anti-Mormon), Kishkumen, Korihor, John Hamer, Grant Hardy, D. Michael Quinn, and Dan Vogel.

It would also be a most interesting challenge for them to look deeply within their own biases if they were to interview those like Lee Smolin, Carlo Rovelli, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Michael Shermer, Deepak Chopra, Brian Cox, Leonard Susskind, Leonard Mlodinow, Paul Davies, Brian Greene, Sean Carroll, Roger Penrose, and Fred Alan Wolf. The only reason I present this list is due to Peterson saying they are trying to make a serious and fair film. If he would quit Donald Trumping this and just tell the truth about what they are doing, I wouldn't have anything to add, other than then it's just mere fluff faith promoting drivvle with the objective already done, and now it's time to draw the circle around the arrows on the side of the barn and bear testimony about God's truth, and Joseph Smith's perfect bullseyes.

I think it would be utterly fascinating to get Biblical scholars in there and then ask well, for crying out loud, Why don't you join the truth? What is it that is fundamentally stopping them?

[_Tom]

The other night I happened to hear the latest broadcast of the Interpreter Radio Show. Here are the highlights:

00:00:31-00:00:44: Complete radio silence.

00:00:44: Terry Hutchinson, whose connection to the Interpreter Foundation is unclear, suddenly breaks in to introduce the program. He announces Dr. Peterson, Dr. Gee, and Kevin Christensen as the other hosts.

00:01:44: Dr. Peterson admits that he doesn’t remember the Interpreter website address. For the record, it's http://www.mormoninterpreter.com.

00:03:11: Hutchinson notes that R. Draper and M. Rhodes are working on a BYU New Testament commentary on Hebrews, J. Welch is working on a Matthew volume, E. Huntsman is working on John, and J. Gee is working on James.

00:05:56: Dr. Peterson claims that the BYU New Testament commentary series “rectifies” “a bit” the impression that Latter-day Saints don’t actually care about the Bible.

00:10:39: Speaking about 2019, Dr. Peterson says we can look forward to “more [Interpreter] articles." He confesses that the Interpreter Foundation hasn’t done a major conference in a long time, but he says that he’d like to hold a conference featuring scientists who will speak of doing science as a religious experience or religious enterprise. (I'd suggest a 2019 conference featuring scientists—including several from the Discovery Institute and BYU—advocating the Intelligent Design theory, including a paper positing that Intelligent Design wins the Cambrian Explosion debate by default and a paper dismantling Darwin's "house of cards.")

00:12:42: Dr. Peterson, asked about the Interpreter Foundation’s film on the Witnesses, claims that the project is coming along "pretty well.” He notes that the Foundation needs to raise a certain amount of money by April 1 (or sometime in March) in order to do on-site filming in New York, Ohio, and Missouri. Speaking about the film's content, he says that “almost 10” interviews with scholars have been conducted. He discloses that the entire cost of the film is about $1.25 million and mentions that about $350,000—some portion of which is in hand—is needed by next spring. He also asks for donations, both large and small (but mostly large).

00:14:50: Listeners are subjected to a guitar riff that breaks the Sabbath Day. Hutchinson suggests that a caller might be able to identify the song. (In making such a suggestion, Hutchinson seems unfamiliar with the profile of the show's typical listener.) For the record, it's an excerpt from Gene Loves Jezebel's song "Jealous."

00:29:43: Guest Julie Smith, who has written a book on the Book of Mark, is asked why she used a non-androcentric interpretative lens in her forthcoming commentary. She says that while she doesn’t have a problem with using the term “feminist” in other contexts or to describe herself, she sought to do a non-androcentric reading rather than a “feminist” reading per se. Her commentary asks, “What would this text look like if we didn’t read it with a male focus?” Update: this segment has caused the meltdown of one orthodox Latter-day Saint supporter of Interpreter (see here).

00:55:16: Christensen mentions that he’s finished an essay for a heretofore unpublicized “Midgley festschrift.” He doesn’t disclose the names of the other contributors, the publisher, or the anticipated publication date. However, I expect to see contributions from, among others, Rodney Meldrum, Lofte Payne (formerly known as Loftes Tryk), a token cultural Mormon, Sandra Tanner, John Dehlin, Gemli, and Ernest Wilkinson, Cleon Skousen, Sterling McMurrin, and Paul Tillich. Note: the contributions from the final four individuals will reportedly be channeled by Professor R. Skousen using Joseph Smith's chocolate-colored seer stone.

00:56:00: Speaking about the publication of his writings, Christensen quotes a science fiction writer who apparently said that publishing "is like dropping feathers down a well.” The other hosts respond with awkward silence. After Professor Gee completely misinterprets the saying, Christensen is forced to explain, thus completely ruining the quip.

01:06:10: Professor Peterson tells an ill-advised joke about a contest held by former BYU provost Bruce Hafen to provide the best definition of the word “provost.” The winning definition, according to Professor Peterson, was “the person most like Provo.” The punchline provokes a few pity laughs from the others.

On to next week!

[_MrStakhanovite]

00:14:50: Listeners are subjected to a guitar riff that breaks the Sabbath Day. Hutchinson suggests that a caller might be able to identify the song. (In making such a suggestion, Hutchinson seems unfamiliar with the profile of the show's typical listener.) For the record, it's an excerpt from Gene Loves Jezebel's song "Jealous."

dying

[_Dr Exiled]

The other night I happened to hear the latest broadcast of the Interpreter Radio Show. Here are the highlights:

[SNIP!]

On to next week!

There must be some sort of medal everyone could collectively give you for listening to this .... and taking notes ...

[_MrStakhanovite]

Also mark me down as impressed that Christensen was able to make it through a conversation without mentioning "paradigm" or "Kuhn".

[_Tom]

There must be some sort of medal everyone could collectively give you for listening to this .... and taking notes ...

I must insist that my notes are an exceedingly modest offering I wish to place upon the altar in the hope of finding favor with God and hence become sanctified and hence become a genuine Saint and hence justified and hence a God. (I could also probably find it in my heart to accept a festschrift, or even a Webfestschrift, in my honor.)

[_Gadianton]

admits that he doesn’t remember the Interpreter website address.

Huh. Doesn't remember the website address that contains the word "Mormon" thus signaling that the journal is still in apostasy? How convenient.

claims that the BYU New Testament commentary series “rectifies” “a bit” the impression that Latter-day Saints don’t actually care about the Bible

Oh? So somebody who in actuality did not believe Mormons care about the Bible has come forward since this series, and has admitted that now they do think that Mormons care about the Bible?

this segment has caused the meltdown of one orthodox Latter-day Saint supporter of Interpreter

That link was the must-read of the day for sure. Shear beauty. by the way, it did make me wonder what orthodox Muslims would think of the multi-discipline "BYU Koran" had history been a little different.

[_Kishkumen]

Fun to see DCP defend feminist scholarship.