I spoke too soon about leaving my Moorish/Arabic focus behind.  Not quite.  We spent several hours at the Palacio Real de Madrid (the Royal Palace of Madrid) today.  And, as it happens, the Palacio Real stands on the site of a ninth-century alcázar (al-qasr, “palace”) that was constructed near the town of “Majrit” by Muhammad I of Córdoba as an outpost and that was inherited after 1036 by the independent Moorish “Taifa” of Toledo.  Madrid only fell to Alfonso VI of Castile —... Read more

    A new Friday publication from Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture:   http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/understanding-genesis-and-the-temple/   Posted from Madrid, Spain     Read more

    The greatest height of heroism to which an individual, like a people, can attain is to know how to face ridicule. Cure yourself of the affliction of caring how you appear to others. Concern yourself only with how you appear before God, concern yourself only with the idea that God may have of you.   Posted from Madrid, Spain     Read more

    So now we’re past Thanksgiving.   To me, that legitimates the beginning of Christmas carols, lights, and decorations.   I’ve not been happy to see Christmas advertisements and shopping extend back earlier and earlier in the year — only 364 shopping days ’til Xmas! — often into October and sometimes even into September.  Too much exposure dulls the power of the holiday.   And I’m as likely as most to decry the commercialism and rampant consumerism that attend the... Read more

    http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/21/justin-welby-church-england-new-synod   Posted from Madrid, Spain     Read more

    http://scripturalmormonism.blogspot.com.es/2015/11/trinitarians-admitting-to-trinity-being.html   I’ve been struck in the past, and reminded of it again during this visit to Spain, by the frequency with which members of the Trinity have been depicted corporeally in Christian art — with the Holy Spirit represented by a dove, of course, and the Son being predictably shown as a human, but also with the Father portrayed in corporeal, anthropomorphic form, usually (as above) as an elderly man.  Artists have to show something, of course.  But pictorial... Read more

    http://www.ldsliving.com/When-Pres-Uchtdorf-Saved-a-Plane-Hijacked-by-Terrorists-As-Told-by-Elder-Holland/s/80579?utm_source=ldsliving&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=popular&utm_content=pop2151126   Posted from Madrid, Spain     Read more

    Fascinating analysis of recent survey data about religion in America:   http://www.nationaljournal.com/next-america/newsdesk/white-christians-dominate-gop-shrinking-among-democrats   The better we Latter-day Saints understand our changing religious, cultural, and moral environment, the better we’ll be able to function and to flourish in it.   Posted from Madrid, Spain     Read more

    In Spain, the dead are more alive than the dead of any other country in the world.  (Federico García Lorca — born 5 June 1898; executed by the Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War on 19 August 1936)   I don’t know whether García Lorca’s dictum is true or not — I’ve been in other places (Egypt, for example, and Israel and Greece and Iran and Italy) where the past is very much alive — but there’s certainly a... Read more

    A nice little piece about someone who has contributed significantly to our understanding of historical setting of the Book of Mormon:   http://www.studioetquoquefide.com/2015/11/there-are-opportunities-for-almost.html#more   I agree that plenty of non-specialists — including many people altogether outside of the academy — are capable of making valuable contributions to Book of Mormon studies.   In fact, I would say that the old Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies was founded on a recognition of that fact, and that today’s Interpreter Foundation... Read more