***   A new article has just appeared in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship:   “Jonathan Edwards’s Unique Role in an Imagined Church History,” by Spencer Kraus Review of Jonathan Neville, Infinite Goodness: Joseph Smith, Jonathan Edwards, and the Book of Mormon. Salt Lake City: Digital Legends Press, 2021. 339 pages. $22.99 (paperback). Abstract: This is the second of two papers reviewing Jonathan Neville’s latest books on the translation of the Book of Mormon. In Infinite Goodness, Neville claims that Joseph Smith’s... Read more

    ***   On the flight from Munich, I began reading Rolf Dobelli, Die Kunst des digitalen Lebens: Wie Sie auf News verzichten und die Informationsflut meistern (“The Art of Living Digitally: How to Abstain from ‘News’ and Master Information Overload.”   He is an author — Swiss, by the way, residing in Bern — that I’ve come to enjoy, so I was happy to find this 2020 volume in a bookstore in the Berlin Airport.  This is rather... Read more

    ***   I’ve been late in calling attention to this article, which I published nearly a week ago in Meridian Magazine — whose leadership I ran into in Oberammergau just a couple of days back.  Shocking.  You can be sure  that things have gotten seriously out of hand when I’m so busy that I neglect my own self-promotion!   “What the Pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela Taught Us About Devotion”   And here are a trio of items... Read more

      ***   We left Oberammergau this morning and drove to the nearby Schloss Linderhof, the only one of his palaces that Ludwig II lived to see actually completed.  It’s a small gem, surrounded by beautiful fountains and grounds and remarkably ornate inside.  Unfortunately, the “Venus Grotto,” inspired by Richard Wagner’s Tannhäuser, is closed for repairs until sometime in 2024.   I was especially interested to visit, once again, the Maurischer Kiosk or “Moorish Kiosk,” a small structure... Read more

    ***   A new article appeared today in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship:   “An Unfortunate Approach to Joseph Smith’s Translation of Ancient Scripture,” by Spencer Kraus Review of Jonathan Neville, A Man That Can Translate: Joseph Smith and the Nephite Interpreters. Salt Lake City: Digital Legends Press, 2020. 385 pages. $22.99 (paperback). Abstract: This is the first of two papers that explore Jonathan Neville’s two latest books regarding the translation of the Book of Mormon. Neville... Read more

    ***   Sahar Qumsiyeh is an assistant professor of mathematics at Brigham Young University-Idaho in Rexburg and the author of Peace for a Palestinian: One Woman’s Story of Faith Amidst War in the Holy Land.  (The Interpreter Foundation published two reviews of her book soon after its publication.  See “Peace in the Holy Land,” by Shirley S. Ricks, and “Dehumanization and Peace,” by Kent P. Jackson.)  With her kind permission, I share here four recent entries from her... Read more