And, despite his superb credentials and despite his genuine attempt to be friendly and fair, he’s produced an article that I, at least, find quite depressing:   http://www.patheos.com/blogs/rogereolson/2015/06/is-mormonism-christian-long-but-everyone-interested-in-mormonism-should-read-this/   If so friendly and fair-minded a scholar fails to get us right, is there much hope that many outsiders ever will?  And is there much reason to believe that scholars writing about religious traditions not their own, and especially those remote in time and culture, ever really grasp the beliefs... Read more

    Today has been a very happy day, tinged with substantial melancholy.   We came to San Antonio to attend the temple wedding of my niece’s daughter, my late brother’s granddaughter.   I felt, in a way, as if I were representing my brother.  I miss him horribly.  I know how happy and how proud he would have been — how happy and proud I’m confident he is.  In fact, I’m representing my parents, too.  I’m the last living... Read more

    I posted an item yesterday that included a picture labeled  “The late Richard Pryor, a favorite comedian of mine, in a 1986 photo taken by Alan Light.  HIs SNL skit ‘White Like Me’ was really funny, but then, it was INTENDED to be funny.”   Responding in a comment, Andrew Hall pointed out, correctly, that “Eddie Murphy did the White Like Me sketch, not Richard Pryor.”   I was puzzled, because, although the sketch I had in mind... Read more

    The most recent installment of the Hamblin-Peterson Deseret News column is now up:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865630643/A-small-German-town-with-a-vast-history.html   Posted from San Antonio, Texas     Read more

    Elder Jörg Klebingat, of the First Quorum of the Seventy, spoke on Wednesday to an international gathering in Astana, Kzazakhstan:   http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/mormon-leader-encourages-dialogue-deeper-understanding-among-global-faiths   Posted from San Antonio, Texas     Read more

    An interesting profile of the most prominent of the so-called “New Atheists”:   http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/jun/09/is-richard-dawkins-destroying-his-reputation   Posted from San Antonio, Texas     Read more

    I just watched a fairly long item about the director of the NAACP in Spokane, Washington, on CNN, and then found that Doug Ealy had shared the article below with me on Facebook.   To my taste, it’s an extraordinarily weird story:   http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/11670528/White-woman-posed-as-black-civil-rights-leader-in-years-long-deception.html   Posted from San Antonio, Texas   Read more

    The spirit of envy can destroy; it can never build.  (Margaret Thatcher) Posted from San Antonio, Texas     Read more

    It’s that day of the week, so, of course, Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture has published a new article:   http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/a-mormon-theodicy-jacob-and-the-problem-of-evil/   Posted from San Antonio, Texas     Read more

    This article reminded me of a question that has occurred to me from time to time:   I can’t say that I “hate” any team in sports — though, at one point, the San Francisco Giants came close in my mind, and though I can’t claim to think many positive thoughts about the New York Yankees.   But that’s not the real background of my question.   I’ve never understood how an active, believing Latter-day Saint can “hate”... Read more