Matthew 9:18-26 Mark 5:21-43 Luke 8:40-56   These passages are interesting, structurally, because of the way in which they enclose an account of the healing of a woman with a hemorrhage (which I’ve already briefly discussed here) within the story of the healing of the daughter of Jairus.   Quite a few years ago, I published a column in the Deseret News on Carl Bloch’s wonderful painting of the moment just before Jesus raised the little girl from the… Read more

    Seven years ago, this blog was still new.  On 23 March 2012, perhaps the worst single day of my life — in what would go on to be the worst year of my life, thus far — I posted the following words:   My dear brother — my only sibling, but, strictly speaking, my half-brother (we didn’t even share last names), though we never thought of ourselves as half-brothers — died of a sudden heart attack just a couple of… Read more

    I don’t know whether I’ve told this story here before.  Probably.  But I occasionally use this blog — sorry! — as a depository for autobiographical fragments, so I’m going to record the episode:   Once, many years ago, when we were visiting Upper Egypt — which, in local parlance, means the southern part of the country, because it’s upstream on the Nile (which flows northward toward the Mediterranean) and also, accordingly, somewhat higher than the northern area of… Read more

    The other day, I posted a blog entry about my own very occasional and very amateur (and very armchair or, perhaps better, very car-seat) interest in geology:   Plainly, one of the readers of this blog — although, like me, he isn’t a trained or professional geologist — is a much more serious amateur geologist than I am.  Here is a blog that he maintains:   Wanderlusting the Jemez: Geological adventures in the Jemez Mountains and surrounding areas… Read more

    Hot off the metaphorical press, two articles have appeared today in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship:   “An Approach to History”   Abstract: When researching and evaluating historical information, it is easy to come across things that may lead to a crisis of faith. Some of those crises may lead individuals to leave the Church and actively proselytize against it. It is much better when dealing with historical issues to approach them from a standpoint of charity,… Read more

    Luke 8:19-21 Compare Matthew 12:46-50;Mark 3:31-35; John 15:14   The take-away here, I suppose, isn’t some supposed denigration of his family, or of the family generally, but the indication that Jesus had brothers.  (Presumably half-brothers.)   This quite clearly seems to work against the idea of Mary’s perpetual virginity, which has become dogma among Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox.   We had a speaker on campus several years back, George Zervos, an Eastern Orthodox priest (I think) who… Read more

    The latest installment of my bi-weekly “Defending the Faith” column has appeared in the Deseret News:   “‘A Documentary History of the Book of Mormon’ examines primary sources”   ***   Available via the website of the Interpreter Foundation:   “Discipleship,” an interview with Eric Huntsman   ***   “Church Sponsors 11th International Art Competition : Exhibit opens at the Church History Museum in Salt Lake City”   ***   “Mormon style update: AP changes rules on referring to… Read more

      Just in case anybody out there is interested . . .   I will be involved on Thursday, 11 April 2019, in an Interfaith Panel in Poway, California.  (For those who may be unfamiliar with Poway, it’s located in San Diego County.)  The panel, which will run from 7 PM until 8:30 PM, will be moderated by Reverend Glen Larsen, of Poway Community Church, and will be held in the Poway Stake Center at 15750 Bernardo Heights… Read more

    One of my regrets is that I’ve never taken a geology class.  But the subject interests me very much — and probably for some of the same reasons that history interests me.  I recall a lengthy conversation with the late Eugene Clark in Costa Rica about his early desire to become a historian.  But he was dyslexic, and he simply couldn’t keep up with the reading that his history classes demanded of him, and that a career as… Read more