I hope that I’ve made it clear enough and mentioned often enough that I found the pre-1978 priesthood ban baffling and, to say the least of it, awkward, and that I was absolutely delighted when it was rescinded. The day that I heard about President Spencer W. Kimball’s priesthood revelation — I was in Zollikofen, Switzerland, at the time, slowly returning from six months in the Middle East — was one of the happiest days of my life. I... Read more
This article went up earlier today on the website of the Interpreter Foundation: Reprint: “I Will Bless thee and Make Thy Name Great”: Sacralizing Names and Spaces as a Function of Etiology in the Abrahamic Narratives,” written by Matthew L. Bowen: Part of our book chapter reprint series, this article originally appeared in Abraham and His Family in Scripture, History, and Tradition, edited by Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, John S. Thompson, Matthew L. Bowen, and David R. Seely. For more... Read more
Once again, on the unchanging website of the Interpreter Foundation, Jonn Claybaugh has provided a concise set of notes for students and teachers of the Sunday School curriculum of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: Come Follow Me — Old Testament Study and Teaching Helps (2026): June 1-7: Ruth; 1 Samuel 1-7 — “My Heart Rejoiceth in the Lord” I’m offering another reminder of the Interpreter Foundation conference on the Small Plates of Nephi that will convene... Read more
“Was Persecution in Missouri Inevitable?” The latest installment in our Becoming Brigham series is now available online (at, of course, no charge). This episode — the eighteenth — features the Latter-day Saint historian Dr. Matt Godfrey. We’re making every effort to interview premier authorities on the issues that we’re investigating, and to base the content of our series on their work. Some years ago, I was irritated by a gratuitous insult to my faith in Thomas Cahill’s otherwise interesting... Read more
The seventeenth installment of the Becoming Brigham series runs not quite eighteen minutes. Today, being the Sabbath, would be a perfectly appropriate day on which to watch it: Was Zion’s Camp Formative or a Failure? Also, the 47-second “teaser” for the eighteenth installment of Becoming Brigham is up on line for your viewing pleasure: Was the persecution in Missouri inevitable? And did you know that you can subscribe to Becoming Brigham at no charge? Just go to the official... Read more
I’m generally tired enough on transoceanic flights that I’ve given up trying to do any serious reading while we’re in the air, and today’s flight was no exception. So I watched four — count ’em, four! — movies on the way home from England: Song Sung Blue, starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson. I wasn’t particularly thrilled about seeing this one, but my wife started to watch it so, since I like to discuss movies with her, I chose... Read more
A new article has appeared in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship 69 (2026): 1-22. It is “Joseph Smith and the Twin Priesthood Keys of Authority and Knowledge,” and it was written by Matthew Scott Stenson: Abstract: This article proposes that priesthood keys are of two general categories: 1) keys of authority and 2) keys of knowledge. The keys of authority are the type most often discussed in meetings and classrooms, and thus, are relatively familiar. However,... Read more
This little article of mine appeared in Meridian Magazine a few hours ago: “Stepping into Moses’ Shoes and Joshua’s Divine Commission.” It’s striking that, even many centuries after the passing of the great leader of the Hebrew exodus out of Egypt, Jesus described the leaders of Israel of his own day with reference to Moses: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat,” he said at Matthew 23:2 — though not exactly with approval. I want to remind... Read more
This article went up today on the website of the Interpreter Foundation: Reprint: “Ḥesed and the Redemption of Abraham,” written by Jennifer C. Lane: Part of our book chapter reprint series, this article originally appeared in Abraham and His Family in Scripture, History, and Tradition, edited by Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, John S. Thompson, Matthew L. Bowen, and David R. Seely. For more information, go to https://interpreterfoundation.org/books/abraham-and-his-family. “Twenty years ago, I explored the redemption of Abraham in the context of covenant... Read more
Almost all of our group headed to the airport at Heathrow very early this morning. But my wife and I didn’t. We’re staying just a few extra days. So we caught a Great Western Railroad train that headed out of London to Reading, then on to Taunton and, via Exeter St. David’s and Newton Abbot and Totnes, to Plymouth, in Devon. In Plymouth, we picked up a rental car and drove about ninety minutes to two hours to Newquay... Read more
Select your answer to see how you score.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In