Further notes on which I’m working:   Here are some additional examples from the Qur’an of the opposition between “this world” or “this present world,” on the one hand, and, on the other, “the hereafter” (as at 10:24, 70; 12:101; 13:34; 14:27; 16:30, 41, 109, 122), between “the life of this world” and “the life to come” (10:7-8; 13:26; 14:3) or “the world to come” (17:10) or “the one to come” (16:107):   “Those who do not expect... Read more

    Some additional notes for myself about Australia, with no claim whatever to originality.  This time, I focus on biology:   Australia is very old and very remote.  It is also, as I remarked yesterday, relatively low-lying.  To sum up, it’s the oldest continent, and the flattest, and, overall, the driest.  Most of it is either semi-arid or altogether desert (e.g., the Outback), but there are alpine regions, too, and some of it (including the area where I’m currently... Read more

    Since the question is occasionally asked of me, and since it’s recently generated a weird bit of excitement among a small handful of my more obsessive and implacable critics, I think I’ll explain here what it requires to get me to come and do a fireside.  However, I’ll leave untreated the even more fundamentally important question of why anybody would want me to come for a fireside.  That remains, perhaps, one of the insoluble mysteries of mortal life... Read more

      Over the next while, I’m going to be assembling into meaningful units some of the notes that I’ve taken from a careful recent reading of the Qur’an (on which, by the way and coincidentally, I’m currently teaching a class).  Where I cite an English translation, the version that I’m citing is the Oxford edition by M. A. S. Abdel Haleem.  When I finally publish the results of my work, though, I’ll probably use my own renderings.  ... Read more

    This is, I believe, my fourth trip to Australia.  (Maybe my third.  I’ve been trying to recall.  In any case, it’s been a while since I was last here.)   It’s an interesting place.  In one sense, for somebody from the western United States, it feels very comfortable and at-home.  In another sense, it’s wildly different.   I’m making some notes to myself so that I’ll be more aware of what I’m looking at while I’m visiting.  ... Read more

    Knowing what to call the region often known as the “Middle East” is surprisingly difficult.   What is it east of?  Morocco, which many people consider Middle Eastern, is west of France.  And why should Paris and London be considered the center of the world, anyway?   And what is “the West?”  Is it a geographical region or a cultural given?  Is Australia part of it?   Of course, some don’t consider Morocco part of the Middle East.... Read more

    Early this morning, we flew northward to Cairns, and then drove from Cairns to Port Douglas.  We are, now, much closer to New Guinea than we are to Sydney or even to Brisbane.  This is an area of Australia that I’ve never seen before.  It’s tropical, and ot reminds us quite a bit of Hawaii.  Along the drive up, we stopped off at a place called Palm Cove for a bite to eat.  Absolutely gorgeous.  And a good... Read more

    One of the great things about the Interpreter Foundation is the great people who have come together to make it work.   On Friday evening, for example, my wife and I went out to dinner at Provo’s Bombay House with a couple whom we really like.  The wife, who was formerly a secretary with the old Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, now volunteers to help us send thank-you letters and provide year-end tax information to Interpreter... Read more

    A few very recent science-related items that have caught my notice:   “Want to enjoy a longer, happier life? Just keep on working: Life expectancy is rising but Britons are being encouraged to retire early. That’s both ridiculous and costly, says an expert”   Since I was a fairly young boy I’ve thought that early retirement — or retirement in general — was risky.  Not that people shouldn’t ever step away from work, but that they should continue... Read more

    It’s often said that, as we age, the time seems to go by faster and faster.   I can testify from personal experience, having long since entered extreme geezerhood, that this is true.  Not infrequently, I’ll be thinking about a film from five or ten years back only to look it up and find that it actually appeared twenty-five or thirty years ago.  And many of the allusions that I make in my classrooms now sail right over... Read more