The exchange between Dr. Phillip Jenkins and Dr. William Hamblin came to an end and then flared up again today.  Remember that everything marked “Jenkins Response” is a post from Professor Hamblin, while everything marked “Jenkins Rejoinder” is a post from Professor Jenkins:   Jenkins Response 13: Recap   Jenkins Response 14: The Real Problem   Jenkins Response 15: Pottery 2   Jenkins Rejoinder 8: Farewell   Jenkins Response 16: Refusing to Read   Jenkins Rejoinder 9: He’s... Read more

    Hope and change!   http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/White-House-Lit-Up-With-Rainbow-After-Same-Sex-Marriage-Ruling-310199591.html     Read more

    “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” Martin Luther King, Jr.       Read more

    Several years ago, I wrote the article on Allah for the Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World, and, now, I’ve revised that article for the Encyclopedia‘s forthcoming second edition.   Today, I gave final approval to a very short sidebar that will accompany my main entry.  This is how it reads:   The Throne Verse The Qur’an’s famous Throne Verse (2:255) offers a fine summary of basic Islamic teaching regarding God.  “Allah! There is no god but... Read more

    Just so people will know:   Disqus seems to be having technical difficulties. (At least with regard to my blog, but presumably more generally.)  These problems been mounting for at least a couple of days, and have suddenly become worse.  I’ve brought this to the attention of people at Patheos, but I don’t know when things might be rectified.   In the meantime, I’m unable to manage comments reliably, and sometimes unable to manage them at all.  And... Read more

    If you want to think about something that’s really, really, really big — much bigger, even, than our galaxy — here’s a possibility:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rENyyRwxpHo   And it’s interestingly presented.  You’ll like it.     Read more

    New, this week, from Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture:   http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/a-response-to-denver-snuffers-essay-on-plural-marriage-adoption-and-the-supposed-falling-away-of-the-church-part-1-ignoring-inconvenient-evidence/   It’s Friday, after all.  Surely you can’t be surprised that there’s a new article from the Interpreter Foundation today.   Read more

    Luke 11:1-4 Compare Matthew 6:9-13   Probably the best Mormon discussion of “The Lord’s Prayer” is to be found in John W. Welch’s 1998 Illuminating the Sermon at the Temple and Sermon on the Mount: An Approach to 3 Nephi 11-18 and Matthew 5-7, reissued in 2010 as The Sermon at the Temple and the Sermon on the Mount: A Latter-day Saint Approach, which is a substantial revision of his 1990 The Sermon at the Temple and the Sermon on... Read more

    Mr. Obama told us that he intended to “fundamentally transform the United States of America.”   I’ve always told people that one of the most important things about choosing a president is the kind of Supreme Court justice that will be chosen by that president.  Presidents serve for four, or eight, or (at most) just under ten years, but justices of the Supreme Court can serve for decades, and their decisions can fundamentally transform wide swaths of American... Read more

    http://fornspollfira.blogspot.com/2015/06/is-numismatics-academic-discipline.html     Read more