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On a Prophet and an Antichrist

On a Prophet and an Antichrist

Last updated on: August 16, 2024 at 12:50 pm by Dan Peterson

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On a Prophet and an Antichrist 2024-08-16T12:50:05-06:00 Dan Peterson

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The gold foundation plates of Darius the Great, found at the Apadana in Persepolis in a stone box. (Image from Book of Mormon Central)

Here’s the link to a newly published article in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship: “Did Korihor Usurp the Words of Zeniff?” written by Elliott Jolley

Abstract: The Book of Mormon contains several instances where a speaker or author in the Book of Mormon quotes a previous one. This article presents one such example: It appears that Korihor usurped the words of Zeniff, quoting some of them for his own purposes. The context of this reference to Zeniff’s words lies in Korihor’s claims that the Nephites were in bondage to the priests, just as the Lamanites wanted to bring Zeniff’s people into bondage. The connections between these two passages cross multiple generations and narrative events internally, and multiple pages of translated, dictated manuscript by Joseph Smith. It provides yet another example of the authenticity and complexity of the Book of Mormon, revealing the subtle rhetorical devices of the Book of Mormon, and further revealing the devices of an anti-Christ.

And here is the link to a handy and user-friendly summation of it: “Interpreting Interpreter: Zeniff Qua Korihor,” written by Kyler Rasmussen

This post is a summary of the article “Did Korihor Usurp the Words of Zeniff?” by Elliott Jolley in Volume 62 of Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship. All of the Interpreting Interpreter articles may be seen at https://interpreterfoundation.org/category/summaries/. An introduction to the Interpreting Interpreter series is available at https://interpreterfoundation.org/interpreting-interpreter-on-abstracting-thought/.

The Takeaway: Jolley argues that Korihor expropriates the words of Zeniff in an attempt to undermine the people’s trust in the legitimate priests of the church, suggesting that they, like the Lamanites in Zeniff’s day, sought to glut themselves on the labors of the people.

Newly married, Brigham Young and Mary Ann Angell Young walk home together in a scene from the forthcoming Interpreter Foundation film “Six Days in August.”

I spent several hours yesterday interviewing LaJean Purcell Carruth, up in Salt Lake City, at a beautiful house whose owner, a longtime friend, kindly made it available to us for the purpose. Russ Richins and Mark Goodman, two of the three core members of our team of filmmakers, were there to capture it all. Afterwards, my wife and I drove her back to her own home in Logan, taking time along the way for fresh fruit from Pettingill’s Fruit Farm, in Willard.

Dr. Carruth’s efforts to create more accurate transcripts of nineteenth-century documents relating to Latter-day Saint history is based upon her unrivaled knowledge of the shorthand of the period. They are of fundamental importance. She has been particularly focused upon Brigham Young, working carefully through literally thousands of pages of his words, and has come to love and respect him. (As she has put it to me, while others know a great deal about Brigham Young, she knows Brigham Young.) We wanted to get her insights into the man, to preserve them and to make them available to the public.

Those who are interested in a taste of what she has to say should see her remarks at the 2023 FAIR conference: ““His Accuracy was not What it Ought”: Comparing George D. Watt’s Original Shorthand Record to his Published Transcripts in the Journal of Discourses.” They are available both in the form of a transcript for reading and in video form for viewing.

There was a man named George Watt
Who could improve Brigham Young, so he thought.
So he took out words here,
And he added words there,
And his accuracy was not what it ought!
– LaJean Purcell Carruth

We also met with Richard Lambert, whom we likewise hope to interview for insights regarding his ancestor Brigham Young. Brother Lambert has been deeply involved in organizations for the descendants of both Brigham Young and Wilford Woodruff, as well as in the Ensign Peak Foundation (formerly the Mormon Historic Sites Foundation), and he personally owns the home in Port Byron, New York, where Brigham Young lived before he gathered with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The logo of the Interpreter Foundation

A new article also went up yesterday on the never-changing, virtually comatose website of the Interpreter Foundation: “Hugh Nibley Observed: The Woman behind the Man: A Look into the Life of Hugh Nibley’s Widow,” written by David Johnson:

“In a little green house one block south of BYU campus lives the widow of well-known Latter-day Saint historian Hugh Nibley. Phyllis Draper Nibley, now seventy-nine years old, has lived in her Provo home for fifty years. She was born nearby in Salt Lake City, August 2, 1926, in the home of her aunt.”

Part of our book chapter reprint series, this article originally appeared in Hugh Nibley Observed, edited by Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, Shirley S. Ricks, and Stephen T. Whitlock. For more information, go to https://interpreterfoundation.org/books/hugh-nibley-observed/.

Moreover, an audio recording of the presentations given on Saturday afternoon by Royal Skousen and Stanford Carmack — respectively, ““The Innovative and Revolutionary Book of Mormon Critical Text Project” and “The Archaic Language of the Original Book of Mormon” — is now available on the website of the Interpreter Foundation. So are the images that they shared with the audience in the Gordon B. Hinckley Building on the campus of Brigham Young University. The quality of the recording starts out rather poorly — be warned! — but the problems are very quickly resolved. Full video recordings of the two presentations, created by Russ Richins and Mark Goodman and James Jordan, will eventually be posted on the Interpreter website.

These were informative presentations. And, although they’re more than a little recondite, the findings that they convey are also very important. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and believers — and students — of the Book of Mormon even more generally owe Royal Skousen and Stanford Carmack a debt of gratitude for the massive and painstaking work that they have done. Few will ever be aware of that debt, but it remains nonetheless.

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