Latest Numbers from the Interpreter Foundation

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Tom
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Re: Latest Numbers from the Interpreter Foundation

Post by Tom »

Once again, I am pleased to report the latest numbers from the Interpreter Foundation. For the first quarter of 2021, the Foundation dropped $18,676 on web design, digital publications, and set-up; $15,941.92 on book projects and conferences; $10,769.58 on "Journal Publication Expenses"; and $5,041.77 on "Journal Editing." Grand total: $54,553.00.

What is most notable here is the absence of a line expense for Book of Mormon Critical Text Project, Volume III. Through the fourth quarter of 2020, the Foundation had spent $329,289.65 on Volume III. Does this mean that the Foundation is finished funding the Critical Text Project? I cannot help but recall the urgent fundraising letter from the Foundation's chairman back in December 2014:
Owing to unwelcome external circumstances, Professor Skousen’s landmark Critical Text Project suddenly needs to find a new home and (certainly by our standards) substantial funding. He has just approached The Interpreter Foundation for help. The amount required—approximately $40,000 for a year—dwarfs anything we’ve heretofore done. But this is an opportunity for Interpreter to participate in an undertaking that will benefit the Saints and the Church for generations to come. If you would like to help with this effort, donations will need to be sent to The Interpreter Foundation by check, annotated to indicate that they are earmarked for the Critical Text Project, Volume 3.
How we got from $40,000 for a year to $329,289.65 over six years is anyone's guess. In any event, I will advise the Relief Society sister in Parowan that she can stop earmarking half of her monthly pension for Critical Text Project, Volume III. Hopefully, she will be able to buy groceries this next month.

In other Foundation news, I must report the release of a new, landmark publication entitled Nahom Knows My History: Hugh Nibley Under Observation. This wonderful 830-page book is published by the Interpreter Foundation, in cooperation with Eborn Books and Afterglow and in collaboration with Book of Mormon Central, and is made possible by the generous support of Sic et Non, FAIR, FARMS, Deseret Industries, the Church Welfare Division, the Church Correlation Committee, Church Courts of Love, [deleted] Peter Pan at Neville-Neville Land, the United Order, the Strengthening Church Members Committee, the Christopher Hitchens Memorial "How Religion Poisons Everything" File, MormonVoices, Alternate Voices, Keeping Faith at BYU, the Deseret Trust Company, ZCMI, NCMO, Ensign Peak Advisors, the Kirtland Safety Society Anti-​Banking Company, and the Swearing Elders. It is now available in softcover, digital, and audio versions, and, in June, a hardback edition. (No word, yet, on a leather edition or a sealed edition that you can read with your spiritual eyes.)

Here are the volume's contents:
Contents

Introduction – Jeffrey M. Bradshaw
Appreciation – Stephen T. Whitlock

Part 1: Portraits

Foreword: A Doorkeeper in the House of the Lord* – John W. Welch
About the Portrait of Hugh Nibley – Rebecca Fechser Everett [see here]
An Intellectual Autobiography: Some High and Low Points – Hugh W. Nibley

Part 2: Nibley, the Scholar

Nibley Centennial Lecture Series

Nibley’s Early Education – Zina Nibley Petersen
Graduate School through BYU – Alex Nibley
Hugh Nibley and Joseph Smith – Richard Lyman Bushman
Hugh Nibley and the Church – Robert L. Millet
Nibley as an Apologist – Daniel C. Peterson
Nibley and the Environment – Terry B. Ball
Hugh Nibley and the Bible: “Look! And I Looked” – Ann N. Madsen
Nibley and Folklore – William A. Wilson
Beyond Scholarship: Scenes behind the Nibley Written Legacy – John W. Welch
Hugh Nibley and Classical Scholarship – Eric D. Huntsman
“Words, Words, Words”: Hugh Nibley on the Book of Mormon – Marilyn Arnold
Hugh Nibley, Mentor to the Saints – C. Wilfred Griggs
Nibley, Egyptology, and the Book of Abraham – Michael D. Rhodes

The Scholarship of Hugh Nibley

Hugh Nibley: A Prodigy, an Enigma, and a Symbol – Truman G. Madsen
The Influence of Hugh Nibley: His Presence in the University* – Robert K. Thomas
Hugh Nibley: Scholar of the Spirit, Missionary of the Mind – Gary P. Gillum
Matthew Black and Mircea Eliade Meet Hugh Nibley – Gordon C. Thomasson
Hugh Nibley and the Book of Mormon – John W. Welch
Editing Hugh Nibley: The Man and His Legacy – Shirley S. Ricks
“A Stranger in a Strange Land”: Hugh Nibley as an Egyptologist – John Gee
Joseph or Jung? – William J. Hamblin

Part 3: Nibley, the Man

Selected Tributes at the Passing of Hugh Nibley

A Brighter Light – Zina Nibley Petersen
Memories of a Special Occasion – Rebecca Nibley
Remarks – Alex Nibley
In Memoriam HWN – Michael Draper Nibley
Called in a Council of the Prophets: The Mission of Hugh Nibley – Thomas Hugh Nibley
Remembering My Father – Christina Nibley Mincek
A Tribute to My Father – Paul Sloan Nibley
Hugh Nibley’s Articles of Faith – John W. Welch
Funeral Service for Hugh W. Nibley – Dallin H. Oaks
The Woman behind the Man: A Look into the Life of Hugh Nibley’s Widow – David Johnson
A Mighty Kauri Has Fallen: Hugh Winder Nibley (1910–2005) – Louis Midgley

Personal Stories, Perspectives, and Reminiscences

The BYU Folklore of Hugh W. Nibley – Jane D. Brady
Hugh Nibley, World’s Worst Politician – Alex Nibley
Hugh Nibley and Me – Don Norton
Reminiscences of Nibley – Stephen D. Ricks
Hugh Winder Nibley: The Man, the Scholar, the Legacy – Gary P. Gillum
*Appears in John M. Lundquist and Stephen D. Ricks, eds., By Study and Also by Faith: Essays in Honor of Hugh W. Nibley on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday, vol. 1 (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1990).

Further information about the book is available here.

Eborn Books has 490 copies left in stock, so I suggest acting now.
“But if you are told by your leader to do a thing, do it. None of your business whether it is right or wrong.” Heber C. Kimball, 8 Nov. 1857
Lem
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Re: Latest Numbers from the Interpreter Foundation

Post by Lem »

Tom wrote:
Fri Apr 09, 2021 4:21 pm
...What is most notable here is the absence of a line expense for Book of Mormon Critical Text Project, Volume III. Through the fourth quarter of 2020, the Foundation had spent $329,289.65 on Volume III. Does this mean that the Foundation is finished funding the Critical Text Project? I cannot help but recall the urgent fundraising letter from the Foundation's chairman back in December 2014:
Owing to unwelcome external circumstances, Professor Skousen’s landmark Critical Text Project suddenly needs to find a new home and (certainly by our standards) substantial funding. He has just approached The Interpreter Foundation for help. The amount required—approximately $40,000 for a year—dwarfs anything we’ve heretofore done. But this is an opportunity for Interpreter to participate in an undertaking that will benefit the Saints and the Church for generations to come. If you would like to help with this effort, donations will need to be sent to The Interpreter Foundation by check, annotated to indicate that they are earmarked for the Critical Text Project, Volume 3.
How we got from $40,000 for a year to $329,289.65 over six years is anyone's guess. In any event, I will advise the Relief Society sister in Parowan that she can stop earmarking half of her monthly pension for Critical Text Project, Volume III. Hopefully, she will be able to buy groceries this next month....
Wow, Tom. Is this the first quarter missed in six years since the Interpreter started paying for Volume 3? Do you think it is related to the multiple retractions recently posted? The planned parts of volume 3, including the official retractions, haven't all been published yet, If I recall correctly.
Tom
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Re: Latest Numbers from the Interpreter Foundation

Post by Tom »

Lem wrote:
Fri Apr 09, 2021 6:40 pm
Tom wrote:
Fri Apr 09, 2021 4:21 pm
...What is most notable here is the absence of a line expense for Book of Mormon Critical Text Project, Volume III. Through the fourth quarter of 2020, the Foundation had spent $329,289.65 on Volume III. Does this mean that the Foundation is finished funding the Critical Text Project? I cannot help but recall the urgent fundraising letter from the Foundation's chairman back in December 2014:
How we got from $40,000 for a year to $329,289.65 over six years is anyone's guess. In any event, I will advise the Relief Society sister in Parowan that she can stop earmarking half of her monthly pension for Critical Text Project, Volume III. Hopefully, she will be able to buy groceries this next month....
Wow, Tom. Is this the first quarter missed in six years since the Interpreter started paying for Volume 3? Do you think it is related to the multiple retractions recently posted? The planned parts of volume 3, including the official retractions, haven't all been published yet, If I recall correctly.
Lem, yes to your first question. I don't know the answer to your next question. There is a possibility that the Foundation is continuing to fund the Project but has simply reclassified the expenses as "Book Projects and Conferences" in the latest statement.
“But if you are told by your leader to do a thing, do it. None of your business whether it is right or wrong.” Heber C. Kimball, 8 Nov. 1857
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Kishkumen
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Re: Latest Numbers from the Interpreter Foundation

Post by Kishkumen »

I am excited about this forthcoming Nibley volume!
“If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don’t have to worry about the answers.”~Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow
Lem
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Re: Latest Numbers from the Interpreter Foundation

Post by Lem »

Tom wrote:
Fri Apr 09, 2021 7:11 pm
Lem wrote:
Fri Apr 09, 2021 6:40 pm

Wow, Tom. Is this the first quarter missed in six years since the Interpreter started paying for Volume 3? Do you think it is related to the multiple retractions recently posted? The planned parts of volume 3, including the official retractions, haven't all been published yet, If I recall correctly.
Lem, yes to your first question. I don't know the answer to your next question. There is a possibility that the Foundation is continuing to fund the Project but has simply reclassified the expenses as "Book Projects and Conferences" in the latest statement.
That's a good point, thank you Tom, I missed the $15,940 in the new category.
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Doctor CamNC4Me
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Re: Latest Numbers from the Interpreter Foundation

Post by Doctor CamNC4Me »

Kishkumen wrote:
Fri Apr 09, 2021 7:35 pm
I am excited about this forthcoming Nibley volume!
I wonder if they'll include his literal brush with Hitler as told in his biography?

- Doc
Hugh Nibley claimed he bumped into Adolf Hitler, Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, Gertrude Stein, and the Grand Duke Vladimir Romanoff. Dishonesty is baked into Mormonism.
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Everybody Wang Chung
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Re: Latest Numbers from the Interpreter Foundation

Post by Everybody Wang Chung »

Doctor CamNC4Me wrote:
Fri Apr 09, 2021 8:22 pm
Kishkumen wrote:
Fri Apr 09, 2021 7:35 pm
I am excited about this forthcoming Nibley volume!
I wonder if they'll include his literal brush with Hitler as told in his biography?

- Doc
That’s right. I remember Nibley claimed he once met Hitler coming out (or going in) of a bathroom in Germany.

It sounds very Paul H. Dunnish to me.

Good Lord!
Last edited by Everybody Wang Chung on Sat Apr 10, 2021 1:03 am, edited 3 times in total.
"I'm on paid sabbatical from BYU in exchange for my promise to use this time to finish two books."

Daniel C. Peterson, 2014
Lem
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Re: Latest Numbers from the Interpreter Foundation

Post by Lem »

Doctor CamNC4Me wrote:
Fri Apr 09, 2021 8:22 pm
Kishkumen wrote:
Fri Apr 09, 2021 7:35 pm
I am excited about this forthcoming Nibley volume!
I wonder if they'll include his literal brush with Hitler as told in his biography?

- Doc
I can only imagine. :roll: I only got to the second paragraph of Tom's autobiography link for Nibley when I read this:
As an infant I entertained an abiding conviction that there
were things of transcendent import awaiting my attention.
Dear god. Well, that explains a lot about the arrogance of mopologists.
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Dr Moore
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Re: Latest Numbers from the Interpreter Foundation

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Everybody Wang Chung wrote:
Sat Apr 10, 2021 12:18 am
That’s right. I remember Nibley claimed he once met Hitler coming out (or going in) of a bathroom in Germany.
Alright, I'll play.

As an undergrad student (early 1990s) I met Hugh Nibley, in his office, entirely by accident, in the Harold B. Lee library.

You see, I had gotten turned around after going to the bathroom, looking for a study room where fellow students and I had been studying. A door appeared around one corner, and it looked like the right place, so I opened the door and walked right in. Well, I was in a good mood that day, so I more like whooshed in, like Kramer entering Seinfeld's place. And there was Hugh, sitting behind a small desk in a small office, looking up at me. I couldn't tell if his look was puzzlement or annoyance. I didn't really look at him for more than a moment, as my eyes were instantly distracted to the piles of books and papers on his desk and floor space - like piled so high that I just wondered how it all stood in place. So I took it all in in a few seconds, looked back at him and simply said, "oh gosh, I'm sorry!" To which Hugh Nibley replied, "hrmmphh." And then I closed the door and wandered through the library to find my friends. None of them believed I'd just met Hugh Nibley.

ETA: I looked online and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Nibley says that "Retiring from a staff position in 1975, he continued working as a professor emeritus until 1994. He maintained a small office in the Harold B. Lee Library, working on his magnum opus, titled One Eternal Round, focusing on the hypocephalus ("Facsimile 2") in the Book of Abraham."

If only I knew then what I know now, I might have been brave enough to ask him the King's Name!!!!!! Damn.
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Everybody Wang Chung
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Re: Latest Numbers from the Interpreter Foundation

Post by Everybody Wang Chung »

Nibley, in addition to having seen Hitler, almost single handedly caught the highest ranking Nazi. I kid you not:

“The book opens with a contrast between “two zealous young preachers” in the southern part of Germany – Hugh Nibley and Adolf Hitler. Intriguingly, Nibley was convinced that he once had a passing face-to-face encounter, during his missionary service, with the future Fhrer.

Subsequently, figures such as Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, and Gertrude Stein made cameo appearances, and Nibley was able to spend considerable time with Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovitch Romanoff, the head of the exiled Russian imperial family. He also believed that he caught a late glimpse of Martin Bormann, the highest ranking Nazi leader whose postwar fate remains obscure. Unfortunately, though, whoever the man was, he eluded Nibley’s attempt to capture him“


https://latterdaysaintmag.com/article-1-1943/
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