Let me tell you about the blog’s title. My wife and I served as Mission Leaders in San Diego; afterwards, I had the good fortune to join the Missionary Department. One of my assignments was to visit missions and work with first-year mission presidents. We modeled different ways to help missionaries develop better teaching skills. Currently, staff members don’t work directly with missionaries. 

Without my consent, a missionary from one of my assignments uploaded a transcript of my training to the internet as the “Donaldson Papers”. Occasionally, online content gains a life of its own. I believe that explains what happened to that transcript.

However, this blog, with its familiar title, examines the language of the Restoration. I’ve learned that uncovering the origin of a word helps you understand its meaning. English is an interesting, albeit odd, language. Its origins lie in Germanic languages, slightly affected by Celtic and Norse, but significantly reshaped by French after the Norman invasion. Following that, Latin words were significantly adopted. This fusion implies that English theological terms come mainly from Germanic and Latin origins. Other terms are also derived from the early Church’s Greek language. Historical sources suggest Joseph studied, or was at least interested in studying, Hebrew, Greek, Egyptian, Latin and German. 

However, Joseph Smith noted, “Our latitude and longitude can be determined in the original Hebrew with far greater accuracy than in the English version” (History, 1838–1856, volume D-1 [1 August 1842–1 July 1843],” p. 1523, The Joseph Smith Papers). Hebrew will be my primary source for understanding the concept, but I will also use Greek, Latin and German.

These posts are my opinions, and I take responsibility completely. Although this blog aims to build faith, it’s unofficial, unaffiliated with the Church, and solely represents my research and conclusions.