John 12:1-8 Compare Matthew 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9; Luke 7:36-50   One of the worries that sometimes afflicts me when I think about caring for the poor is whether an expenditure on anything else beyond absolute necessities can be justified while there’s poverty in the world.  So long as hunger exists, should there be ski boats, symphony orchestras, good restaurants, degrees in philosophy, professional sports, or art museums?  But, without such things (and the many comparable things that could... Read more

    Tanner Mangum is certainly getting some good press — for himself, of course, but also for BYU and the Church:   http://nypost.com/2015/09/13/from-mormon-missionary-to-college-footballs-miracle-worker/     Read more

    http://janariess.religionnews.com/2015/09/11/read-our-lips-no-new-mormon-hymnal/   This offers an opportunity for a little discussion here:   Are there any hymns not in our current hymnbook that you would like to see included?  (“Amazing Grace” would be one of my nominations.  “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing” would be another.)   Are there any hymns currently in the hymnbook that you don’t like and might like to see removed?  (There are several that I would banish.)   I have no problem whatever with “Praise... Read more

    An interesting little article from the Museum of Church History and Art in Salt Lake City:   https://history.lds.org/article/museum-treasures-powder-horn?lang=eng     Read more

    This was my temple during my mission in Switzerland, and it remains a significant temple for me even now.  I visit it whenever I can.   I regard it as one of the most historically significant temples in the Church, not only because it was the first in Europe but because it pioneered the use of new media for presenting some of the ordinances and for lowering the number of workers required to keep a temple functioning.  (That... Read more

    There has been in certain circles, over the past three or four years, a deliberate turning toward a form of Mormon studies that would be acceptable to neutral or secular academics.  And, of course, a decisive turning away from studies of Mormonism reflecting faith or commitment, or seeking to advocate and defend the claims of the Restoration.   Does this turning happen without implications for actual faith?  Will it have an impact, in the Mormon case, on the faith... Read more

    Einstein famously commented that the most unintelligible thing about the universe is its intelligibility. And his fellow Nobel laureate in physics, Eugene Wigner, wrote a well-known paper entitled “The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences.”   The noted biochemist Lewis Thomas was fascinated when he discovered that every species of animal to appear in the paleontological strata, as well as all those living today, is perfect according to its kind. Every type is expertly suited to... Read more

    Luke 19:11-27 Compare Matthew 25:14-30; Mark 13:34   We’re more familiar with this story as the “parable of the talents” (in Matthew) than as the “parable of the pounds.”   But the point is the same in both accounts.   The concept of stewardship is essential, in my view, to a proper understanding of the Plan of Salvation.  We’re entrusted with gifts, resources, talents (in the modern sense), opportunities, and so forth, in order to see what we’ll... Read more

    I’m very much looking forward to seeing this building when it’s complete:   http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/10/nyregion/church-rising-at-trade-center-site-will-glow-where-darkness-fell.html?_r=1   It promises to be remarkably beautiful, and I like its echo of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.     Read more

    http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2015/september/christianity-islam-saudi-arabia-uae-migrant-workers.html?paging=off     Read more