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A new beginning, and the end of an era

A new beginning, and the end of an era

Last updated on: January 1, 2026 at 10:56 pm by Dan Peterson

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A new beginning, and the end of an era 2026-01-01T22:56:10-07:00 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.

First of all, I wish everybody out there Happy New Year and a wonderful 2026.

And I express regret for having, once again, missed a golden opportunity: Places such as Korea and Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia entered into 2026 a day earlier than the place where I’m currently located. I should have asked them for a report from the New Year. To be in possession of solid information about 2026 while still demonstrably positioned in 2025 would have been a coup of dramatic proportions, and my failure to avail myself of the opportunity to obtain such information is an intelligence failure that I already greatly regret.

These are some of the areas that will now be able to access the new Interpreter Insights Podcast, at no charge. (Wikimedia Commons public domain image) For mysterious reasons, a shadowy Australia appears to have been positioned between Canada’s Maritime provinces, Greenland, Iceland, and the British Isles. It is thought by some that this move may be a preparatory step toward an imminent joint Australian-American invasion of Canada, Greenland, and Denmark.

I would like to call your attention to the inaugural (and introductory) episode of a new podcast from the Interpreter Foundation. This particular episode runs about eleven minutes in length: The Interpreter Insights Podcast — January 1, 2026: The Interpreter Insights Podcast

In the inaugural episode of The Interpreter Insights Podcast, our hosts Terry Hutchinson and Martin Tanner discuss the new podcast, its focus and format. The audio track is also included in our podcast feed (https://cms.interpreterfoundation.org/feed/podcast).

The Interpreter Insights Podcast is a weekly discussion of matters of interest to the hosts and guests of the show. The views expressed on Interpreter Insights are those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Interpreter Foundation, nor should statements made on the show be construed as official doctrinal statements of the Church.

We’re hoping that this podcast will find an interested audience, perhaps even an audience that is distributed around the world — something that is certainly feasible today with remarkable ease and at a remarkably low cost: Consider this, from Meridian Magazine: “A Surprise We Can’t Explain and Meridian’s Top 15 Stories Readers Loved Most”

The Interpreter Foundation’s central headquarters building. If finances allow, we may launch a renovation project this year. Initial plans call for installing tinsel in the window; surplus tinsel is currently available at substantially discounted year-end (and, to some degree retrievable at no cost from landfills). Just visible in the distance to the left, with red walls, is one of our principal branch offices. (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

Nearly thirteen years ago, a sublimely self-confident pseudonymous critic on a small, extraordinarily unpleasant message board mostly populated by ex-Latter-day Saint atheists took it upon himself to prophesy. His prediction went as follows:

“By Jan. 1, 2014 Interpreter will be dead. . . . Either totally dead or down to token ‘blog’ style postings.” (Bond James Bond, 25 January 2013)

The Interpreter Foundation was about five and a half months old when he pronounced his oracle.

I’m reminded of a characteristically gracious editorial that appeared in the Salt Lake Tribune in 1877, shortly after the death of Brigham Young:

The Mormon church was stronger at four o’clock Sunday afternoon than it ever will again become; the remarkable will and organizing force of the dead leader departed with him, and have been transmitted to none other in his church; and we may now watch with complacency, if not with joy, the gradual disintegration of the whole Mormon fabric.

I am reliably informed that the last Latter-day Saint turned off the (gas lamp) lights and quietly shut the doors on approximately 22 May 1882.

I hope that “Mr. Bond” kept his day job. (Actually, I didn’t see anything at all from him for several years. Perhaps, I thought, he was “totally dead.” At best, he no longer seemed to be up to making even token “blog style” posts. Then he resurfaced two or three times under a slightly altered pseudonym. Since that time, though, he has gone quiet. As Shakespeare’s Prince Hamlet said, the rest is silence.)

The Interpreter Foundation was launched almost precisely 703.5 weeks ago. Last Friday marked the 701sr consecutive week that it has published at least one article — which is to say nothing of its books, its blog, its scripture roundtables, its weekly radio programs (which have now, as of today, become its podcasts), its film efforts, its conferences, and so forth. Tomorrow, Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship will publish for its 702nd consecutive week.

That poor “Mr. Bond’s” prediction was proved wrong precisely twelve years ago today is entirely due to generous donations of time and labor and, yes, money from a great many people, to all of whom I’m deeply grateful. Our operation is almost entirely volunteer. We have no salaried employees. Although our bylaws allow the Foundation’s top leadership to draw up to $500 annually for their services, none has ever taken any such compensation. Nor are our authors paid. This is a labor of love, passion, and commitment.

Please stay tuned, though. Will the Interpreter Foundation survive past this evening? Will another article actually appear tomorrow in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship? The tensions mount! The suspense is well-nigh unbearable.

I want, by the way, to thank those who responded to my modest little Facebook fundraiser on behalf of the Foundation. For reasons that are unclear to me, my attempts to call attention to it via Facebook appear largely to have gone unreceived and, hence, unnoticed. Plainly, either the Facebook ecosystem has changed or I never really understood it in the first place. (Most likely the latter.). I’ll need to get on top of that. Happily, though, where for several weeks it seemed that my relatively small goal for the fundraiser would remain unmet, in the end generous people came forward and the target was actually exceeded. Thank you! And thanks to those who gave through the Interpreter Donation page itself, or via other means!

A part of the greater St. George area, with the 1877 St. George Utah Temple, brilliantly white, at roughly the center of the photograph (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

It’s difficult for me to grasp the fact that President Jeffrey R. Holland is gone, that his voice has been stilled. He will be missed. I will miss him. The Deseret News ran some (to me, moving) photographs of his interment service in St. George earlier today, under the title “President Holland laid to rest as New Year rings in with rain in St. George: President Dallin H. Oaks and other leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ join family and friends in paying respects to the late apostle”

Posted from Palm Springs, California

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