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Studying the Pearl of Great Price, and Evolution

Studying the Pearl of Great Price, and Evolution

Last updated on: March 7, 2026 at 4:30 pm by Dan Peterson

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Studying the Pearl of Great Price, and Evolution 2026-03-07T16:30:11-07:00 Dan Peterson

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Newly up on the completely unchanging website of the Interpreter Foundation: Conversations with Interpreter Episode 6 with Stephen Smoot: “The Pearl of Great Price — A Study Edition for Latter-day Saints”

In this episode, Stephen Smoot talks about his new study edition of the Pearl of Great Price, published by Scripture Central and the Interpreter Foundation. Stephen shares why he wrote this commentary, and what he feels Latter-day Saints can learn from reading a commentary on the Pearl of Great Price. The commentary builds on years of new work in the study of the Pearl of Great Price, making it an incredibly valuable study resource. Stephen also discusses the most interesting parts of researching and writing the study edition, as well as some harder elements behind-the-scenes that were more difficult.

The full article can be read here: https://interpreterfoundation.org/books/the-pearl-of-great-price-study-edition.

In Conversations with Interpreter, we join Avram and Thora Shannon as they talk with scholars who contribute to The Interpreter Foundation through articles, book chapters, and conference presentations. Together, they explore the insights, research, and faith that inspire these contributions and enrich our understanding of the restored gospel.

Avram is an Associate Professor of Ancient Scripture at Brigham Young University, specializing in the intersection of early Christianity and Judaism. He earned a BA in ancient Near Eastern studies from Brigham Young University (2007), a master of studies in Jewish studies from the University of Oxford (2008), and a PhD in Near Eastern languages and cultures with a graduate interdisplinary specialization in religions of the ancient Mediterranean from The Ohio State University (2015).

Thora is a scholar and writer with a passion for scriptural study and education. She received a degree from Brigham University in Near Eastern Studies, where she studied Hebrew and Arabic, including a study abroad in Egypt. She has presented multiple times at BYU’s Religious Education Symposium and has appeared on the Y Religion podcast.

Weekly episodes will stream at noon on Saturdays. Short clips from each episode will post on all of our social media channels twice a week.

Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel at https://youtube.interpreterfoundation.org/ and our other social media channels on Facebook, X, Instagram, and TikTok.

“Affairs at Salt Lake City”: A 1 May 1858 cartoon from Harper’s Weekly depicting fictional officers in the “Mormon Army” (Wikimedia Commons public domain image). If you can read them, the captions are worth a look.

Have you ever wondered why the legendary Danites of Latter-day Saint and Utah history were called . . . well, Danites? (Have you ever noticed my first name?) If you haven’t yet visited the official site of our Becoming Brigham documentary series, which is becomingbrigham.com, and devotedly watched the available episodes of the series, you may soon receive an answer to your question (as here). My patience is not infinite.

Duccio di Buoninsegna (ca. 1308-1311), Jesus appears to the remaining eleven members of the original Twelve at table (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

New and up-to-date photographs of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (including the two members who have been called most recently, Elder Gérald Caussé and Elder Clark G. Gilbert) and of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles with the First Presidency are now available online. This article identifies them and gives a bit of background information about them: “New official photo of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles released: The newest photo includes Elder Clark G. Gilbert, who was called to serve as an Apostle on Feb. 11”

The massacre at Haun’s Mill, depicted here in a nineteenth-century painting by C. C. A. Christensen, occurred on 30 October 1838, three days after Governor Lilburn W. Boggs issued Missouri Executive Order 44, the so-called “Extermination Order,” in which he declared that “”the Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the State if necessary for the public peace.” (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

I liked this article by Matthew H. Solomson, who serves as chief judge of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C. and who happens, not coincidentally, to be Jewish. It was published in National Review, and I hope that you can access it. Judge Solomson is writng about anti-Semitism and about how Jews can respond practically and most effectively to it, but I think his comments relevant to Latter-day Saints, as well. Obviously, we’ve never had to face pogroms or the Holocaust, but history includes a fair amount of violent persecution and we do definitely still face widespread disdain, contempt, and derision: “Lessons for Subduing the Oldest Hatred: Forget grievance. To counteract bigotry takes a particular resolve.”

Jan Brueghel the Younger, “Paradise” (ca. 1650)
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

This article is slightly longish, but I liked it and think it of broader interest than its title alone might suggest, although the brief mention of data about the Latter-day Saints is, by itself, worth the price of admission: “What to Learn from the Decline of Young Earth Creationism.”

On a related topic, here are a few recommended resources:

Daniel Belnap’s “Epiphanies and Reasonings: Compatibility between Evolutionary Biology and Divine Creation”? It’s a review of Samuel T. Wilkinson, Purpose: What Evolution and Human Nature Imply About the Meaning of Our Existence (New York: Pegasus Books, 2024).
My article about Professor Wilkinson’s book for Meridian Magazine, entitled “How Can We Make Sense of Evolution?: A Latter-day Saint Perspective.”
My interview with Samuel Wilkinson.
My related interview with Ben Spackman, which was recorded on the same day.
Gregory L. Smith’s 2013 article for Interpreter, ““Endless Forms Most Beautiful”: The uses and abuses of evolutionary biology in six works”

Grant Wood, “American Gothic” (1930) (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

Likewise, the attention-grabbing headline for this article fails to suggest the range of topics that it addresses (and for which it supplies quite interesting data): “Most Americans Think Their Fellow Citizens Are ‘Morally Bad’”

I’m honestly not sure what to make of the research finding that — unlike those surveyed in other countries — a (bare) majority of Americans apparently regard their fellow citizens as bad people. That surprised me quite a bit, although — in our age of extreme political and ideological polarization — perhaps I shouldn’t really be very surprised at all.

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