I spent the morning in the boardroom of the Church History Museum in Salt Lake City, interviewing W. Paul Reeve for our Becoming Brigham series of short documentary features. Paul just stepped down as the chair of the Department of History at the University of Utah, where he holds the Simmons Chair of Mormon Studies. He is the author of, among other things, Religion of a Different Color: Race and the Mormon Struggle for Whiteness (Oxford University Press, 2015),... Read more
My latest column for Meridian Magazine has appeared: “What Is FAIR? Inside the 2025 Conference on Latter-day Saint Apologetics” I hope that you can make it for all or part of the meetings, whether virtually or in person. Invite friends! Bring relatives! A fun time will be had by all. (Up until the final speaker, anyway.) I posted a passing comment here a few days ago in which, as I’ve done before, I wrote of the benefit of planting,... Read more
It seems appropriate to jot down some lines on my life history on a Sabbath day, so here’s a note toward my eventual autobiography (which — don’t worry! — I have no anticipation of ever publishing): Many years ago, I went down to Guatemala with a couple of others to look in on an archaeological dig that was being conducted by an expedition sponsored by Brigham Young University at a place called Piedras Negras. The site is located in... Read more
One of my recurring disappointments about our visits to Richmond is that, occupied as we always are with family matters (which, of course, is a very good thing), we’ve usually been unable to pay much attention to the astonishingly rich history here and about — both from the colonial and revolutionary era and from the Civil War, and also beyond those momentous times. Every time that we’ve driven down to Richmond from Washington DC, we’ve passed signs along the... Read more
This new article appeared just after noon today (Utah time) in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship: “Adam Clarke and Isaiah in the Book of Mormon,” written by Kent P. Jackson Abstract: A recent article alleges that in creating the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith copied Isaiah passages out of the Bible commentary of Scottish theologian Adam Clarke. The author of the article alleges that while doing so, the Prophet edited those passages based on suggestions... Read more
First of all, happy Pioneer Day! Or, if nothing else, happy Twenty-Fourth of July! It being Thursday, the Interpreter Foundation has just published another item in its reprint series, which — please recall — is distinct from its series of new journal articles, which always appear on Friday: Seek Ye Words of Wisdom: “The Lord Works from the Inside Out: “Cleanse the Inner Vessel,” written by Camille Fronk Olson: Part of our book chapter reprint series, this article originally... Read more
24 July, for people who reside in Utah and for many members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints worldwide, is “Pioneer Day.” It commemorates the entry of Brigham Young and the first group of Latter-day Saint pioneers — the advance or vanguard party — into the Valley of the Great Salt Lake on 24 July 1847 after the forced expulsion of their people from Nauvoo, Illinois, and other (mostly adjacent) locations in the eastern United States... Read more
I’m trying to find the time to get my remarks together for the upcoming FAIR conference, which I’m scheduled to deliver in the concluding session, I believe, of the final day, on Friday, 8 August. But it’s genuinely difficult. (Last night, for instance, watching K-Pop Demon Hunters with an element of my progeny cut unexpectedly into my work time.) I know what I want to say, but I’m confronting a mass of good material, and selecting from it is... Read more
A new article of mine has just appeared today in Meridian Magazine: “Facing the Silence: Why is it So Difficult to Talk about Death?” It’s partly my way of announcing that I’m likely to pass away sometime, sooner or later, within the next several decades. Maybe even today. Some will want to buy their party hats and noisemakers and fireworks now, in order to avoid the inevitable run on the store shelves when it happens. And this has just... Read more
It’s at times like this, when we’re acutely aware of our powerlessness to do anything meaningful to help, that we most starkly realize our desperate need for the only one who actually can help us: “The Words of Christ Bring Comfort and Hope to Grieving Families and Friends in Lesotho: Church and government leaders join families in finding hope in Christ at a combined funeral service in Maputsoe” “‘God is still God’ — Remembering the lives lost in Lesotho bus... Read more
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