***   The last installment of Kyler Rasmussen’s series of Bayesian reflections on the Book of Mormon and related topics went up earlier today on the website of the Interpreter Foundation:   Estimating the Evidence Episode 23: On Conclusions [Editor’s Note: This is the last in a series of 23 essays summarizing and evaluating Book of Mormon-related evidence from a Bayesian statistical perspective. See the FAQ at the end of the introductory episode for details on methodology.] After summarizing the… Read more

    ***   Back on 3 November 2021, I posted a shocked and sad entry regarding a relatively young friend and colleague, Arthur VanWagenen of Deseret Book and Excel Entertainment, who was in the hospital in very grave condition following a catastrophic medical event.  He is still in the hospital. Today, though, I’m even happier to report on his current situation than I was sad to announce his situation back then:  He is up, tentatively walking without a walker,… Read more

    “Suppose you were an idiot,” Mark Twain once said.  “And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.”   I couldn’t help but think of Mark Twain’s comment when I learned of Rep.. Marjorie  Taylor Greene’s recent remarks about measures taken against COVID-19.  Over the weekend, she betook herself to Twitter.  “Every single year,” she wrote, “more than 600,000 people in the US die from cancer.  The country has never once shut down.  Not a single… Read more

    ***   Three new items were posted earlier today on the website of the Interpreter Foundation:   Nibley Lectures: Come, Follow Me Doctrine and Covenants Lesson 18 “The Promises … Shall Be Fulfilled” (D&C 45) During 1978, 1979, and 1980, Hugh Nibley taught a Doctrine and Covenants Sunday School class. Cassette recordings were made of these classes and some have survived and were recently digitized by Steve Whitlock. Most of the tapes were in pretty bad condition. The… Read more

    ***   In our sacrament meeting this morning — today is fast and testimony Sunday — one of those who bore testimony read a quotation that struck me deeply.  Happily, owing to the wonders of modern technology, I was able to find it within just a few seconds.  I located it as quoted in the text of a commencement address given by Elder Paul V. Johnson of the Seventy on 17 December 2011.  Elder Johnson, who was also… Read more

    ***   You might enjoy and profit from this nice summation by Jeff Lindsay, who is one of the vice presidents of the Interpreter Foundation and a co-editor of Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship:   Recent Discoveries and Advances Published by Interpreter, Part 1   ***   This looks interesting:   “The Church’s first European Christmas concert broadcast will feature founding member of Celtic Woman”   Mark your calendar for the period when the concert… Read more