We attended church today in the Salzburg Ward. It was really fun for me to again sit in German-language sacrament and priesthood meetings, as I did so many times so many years ago during my mission in Switzerland. I had the chance to speak in Arabic for a while, too; the missionaries had an investigator with them who comes from Damascus, Syria. He seems a pleasant young man. My wife and I devoted two or three hours in the... Read more
The in-person turnout for the FAIR conference in Rome a week ago was, frankly, disappointing — although, already about a day after it had concluded, I was told that its online viewership was in the range of roughly eight hundred. Attendance in person at today’s conference in Salzburg — see the program here — was probably about fifty or sixty, and the streaming audience was larger than that (although I don’t yet know how much larger it was). The... Read more
Two new items appeared today on the website of the Interpreter Foundation: ““Armed with Righteousness and with the Power of God”: Allusions to Priestly Clothing, Priesthood, and Temple in 1 Nephi 14:14,” written by Matthew L. Bowen Abstract: Nephi saw in vision that in the latter-days “the saints of the church of the Lamb” and “covenant people of the Lord” who, though scattered across the earth, “were armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory”... Read more
This morning, my wife and I walked over to the Doge’s Palace, the Palazzo Ducale, on the Piazza di San Marco, where she had booked a guided tour. The Palazzo Ducale was the residence of the Doge or Duke of Venice from its construction in 1340 until the Napoleon-induced demise of the Republic of Venice in 1797, and it is a fascinating and splendid building. Our guide was named Alessia — Alessia Carraro, I believe — and she was... Read more
There are, I regret to say, a few sad souls out there who have sought to weaponize the relatively high rate of suicide in Utah against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. If they deign to notice this article by Stephen Cranney, however, they will be sorely disappointed: “Does faith drive suicide in Utah? What the data says: It’s been surprisingly common to see this hypothetical correlation being promoted. But a closer examination of respected datasets simply doesn’t... Read more
Our group traveled from Rome to Florence this morning and, upon arrival, immediately set out in various directions on foot to see the city. My wife and I spent our time in the city’s magnificent cathedral. Truth be told, the interior is pretty open and sparse, a fact that some explain as part of the legacy of the ascetic Dominican reformer (or zealot) and martyr (or heretic) Girolamo Savonarola (1452-1498). But we enjoyed sitting in the cathedral, reading about... Read more
As the late great Ray Bradbury once wrote, something wicked this way comes. I have in mind Episode 5 Trailer | A Marvelous Work. You’ve been warned. Today was principally devoted to the spectacular Musei Vaticani, the Sistine Chapel, and Saint Peter’s Basilica. Magnificent. Probably my favorite of the very many wonderful aspects of Rome (apart now, of course, from Italy’s “Temple Square,” where we spent significant portions of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday). Our visit — led by a... Read more
This time, I think that I’ll lead off with a few items that I’ve retrieved from the Christopher Hitchens Memorial “How Religion Poisons Everything” File™. Sometimes, it’s just plain advisable to get the painful and the bitter out of the way first: “Helping Premature Babies Survive in South Africa: “This is faith in action — and the most beautiful kind of example of faith in action that I can imagine,” Elder Christofferson says” “The Church of Jesus Christ Makes... Read more
These new articles went up yesterday on the Interpreter Foundation website. My apologies for being late in calling attention to them; the eight-hour time difference between Rome and home throws me off my routine in some ways: “The Seven Women Seeking the Bridegroom: Isaiah 4:1 as Transition Point in a Redemption Allegory,” written by Jared T. Marcum Abstract: Nephi laboriously copied many of the words of Isaiah in hopes that his readers would rejoice in Christ. While Isaiah 4:1... Read more
I love Rome. And, perhaps rather curiously, it is the Christian heritage of “the eternal city” that fascinates me even more than its fascinating classical history. Here are a trio of past columns that I wrote about Rome for the Deseret News: “Why was Peter in Rome?” (https://www.deseret.com/2014/6/12/20543095/why-was-peter-in-rome/) “There is much of Christian history, in stone, in St. Peter’s Basilica: St. Peter’s Basilica ranks among the greatest and most important monuments of Christian history” (https://www.deseret.com/faith/2020/2/13/21129701/daniel-peterson-there-is-much-of-christian-history-in-stone-in-st-peters-basilica-catholic-vatican/) “Papal conclaves offer not... Read more
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