Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Latter-day Saint
Still Moving Forward with the “Witnesses” Project

Still Moving Forward with the “Witnesses” Project

Last updated on: October 3, 2020 at 2:20 pm by Dan Peterson

Still Moving Forward with the “Witnesses” Project 2020-10-03T14:20:55-06:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Michael Zuccola as the young David Whitmer in the forthcoming Interpreter Foundation theatrical film, “Witnesses.” (Still photograph by James Jordan)

My wife and I have just returned from a private showing of the latest director’s cut of the Interpreter Foundation’s Witnesses theatrical film, at the home of its producer. The director and the other principal member of the project’s cinematographic inner circle were also there.

I was very pleased. Plainly the film has profited from the discussions and comments that followed its prior screenings. Some things have been cut, some things have been added, and, overall, I think the narrative flow is much improved. (Telling a story that involves four principal protagonists over the space of more than half a century is a complex undertaking and a challenge.)

A few small things remain to be done with respect to the theatrical movie before it goes for color standardization and sound sweetening — a brief but significant bit of additional filming will actually occur tomorrow (Thursday), for a scene that we’re adding — but we are now beginning to turn our serious attention to the next phase of the overall effort, the documentary. Things are really beginning to take gratifying shape.

***

Speaking of David Whitmer:

A friend of my wife’s passed on to me a chapter from Edward L. Hart, Mormon in Motion: The Life and Journals of James H. Hart (1825-1906) in England, France, and America (Windsor Books, 1978). Included in the chapter is James Hart’s description of his two interviews in Richmond, Missouri — on 21 August 1883 and 10 March 1884 — with David Whitmer, who was, by this point, the last surviving witness to the golden plates of the Book of Mormon.

Edward L. Hart (1916-2008), who was educated at the University of Utah and the University of Michigan before earning a D.Phil. in 1950 as a war-delayed Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University in England, was a poet and writer who taught for many years in the Department of English at Brigham Young University. I knew him only slightly in person, but many Latter-day Saints will be familiar with the hymn “Our Savior’s Love,” for which he wrote the text that Crawford Gates set to music. Somehow, until Professor Hart mentioned it to me, I had managed not to notice the obvious fact that the three verses of “Our Savior’s Love” are very deliberately trinitarian — or, if that word puts you off, that they treat, in succession, all three members of the Godhead.

I like what Professor Hart has to say about his ancestor’s account of his visits with David Whitmer:

The reasons for the importance of James H. Hart’s interview with him are fourfold: first, James H. Hart was undeviatingly honest, as attested by every page of his journal; second, a keen and accurate observer, he took shorthand notes***** at the time of the interview; third, he wrote up his notes into full accounts within a few days while memory was fresh; and forth, David Whitmer himself read the accounts and “fully endorsed [them] as a correct expression of his sentiments.” (215-216)

* A handwritten note from my wife’s friend at the top of photocopied pages 216-217 reads: “I believe it was Taylor method. His son Charles also did his journals in that shorthand.”

I’ll be sharing some items from James H. Hart over the next few days.

Uncategorized

Book of Mormon

Book of Mormon Witnesses

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Interpreter Foundation

Previous Post

September 30, 2020

Revision 5.17 "What the West Owes the East" (The Arts)

Next Post

October 1, 2020 English "Science" and German "Wissenschaft"

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What Christian group emphasizes "The Inner Light" as guidance from God?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Baptists Methodists Pentecostals Quakers