*** Well, we’re back from the premiere of Undaunted: Witnesses of the Book of Mormon. It went very well, I think. The large theater at the SCERA Center for the Arts has something on the order of 750 seats, and I overheard someone (someone who would know) say that all but 72 seats had been sold — which seems to mean that the theater was 90%+ sold out. And that would be consistent with my own impression: ... Read more
*** In conjunction with the premiere, tonight, of the Interpreter Foundation’s new docudrama Undaunted: Witnesses of the Book of Mormon, I’m scheduled to do an interview with Doug Wright of KSL Radio (1160 AM) at roughly 2 PM today. (Probably a few minutes after 2 PM, I suppose, because of the news break?) I’m assuming that it will be a live interview, but I’m not absolutely certain of that. *** Another new article has just... Read more
*** I’ve been reading somewhat about Martin Luther of late — chiefly in two very readable and readily accessible biographies of him: Roland H. Bainton’s classic Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther (1950) and Eric Metaxas, Martin Luther: The Man Who Rediscovered God and Changed the World (2017). I like this passage of counsel from his collected Tischreden or “Table Talk”: Do not be disturbed by people to whom Christ is just a joke... Read more
*** I had a good time this evening delivering a private lecture as part of the Cruise Lady “Learn Our Religion” series up in West Jordan. I gave it the title “Prelude to the Reformation,” but it was the first half of a two-part presentation on Martin Luther. In the lecture tonight — which, I think, is eventually supposed to be posted online somewhere, though behind a pay wall — I concentrated on the religious and political... Read more
*** I would like to remind you of the premiere, this coming Friday evening — 4 March — of the Interpreter Foundation’s new docudrama Undaunted: Witnesses of the Book of Mormon. It will be shown as part of the 2022 LDS Film Festival at the SCERA Theater in Orem, Utah. Undaunted differs from the Witnesses theatrical film in several important respects. For one thing, it includes not only dramatic scenes (some borrowed from Witnesses, but others created... Read more
*** Cody Quirk has kindly brought to my attention a report in the Salt Lake Tribune indicating that the professional ex-Latter-day Saint podcaster John Dehlin makes at least $236,000 per year for his efforts. Clearly, I chose the wrong line of work. *** I was very surprised and even moved at Saturday Night Live‘s opening segment this past weekend: Ukraine Cold Open – SNL And I was also surprised and moved to... Read more
*** From The Wisdom of Near-Death Experiences, by the British intensive-care nurse and researcher Dr. Penny Sartori: An account related to Dr. Sartori by Lyon White, of Sussex: “My mother Peggy, whilst in the latter stages of Alzheimer’s disease was no longer able to converse with any coherency at all. Her conversation consisted of what could only be described as ‘gobble-de-gook’. She had a spell in hospital. On one particular visit she was lying on the... Read more
*** Some time back, I read Geraint F. Lewis and Luke A. Barnes, A Fortunate Universe: Life in a Finely Tuned Cosmos (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016). Here are just a few of the passages from the book that I marked for future use: Consider gravity. Newton described gravity with his famous ‘inverse square’ law: any two masses attract each other, with a force that decreases with the square of the distance. Einstein’s General Theory of... Read more
*** “Ukrainian prayers of faith: Watch CNN footage of citizens praying in public square” Over the past couple of days, I’ve posted blog entries here that, among other things, have alluded to religious dimensions of the struggle between Russia and Ukraine. I’m grateful to certain readers of this blog for calling my attention to a precedent for what Latter-day Saints, in particular, might expect if the Russians gain complete control over Ukraine. Here are a... Read more
*** This just in: “First Presidency Statement on Armed Conflict: Church leaders plead that “peace will prevail among nations and within our own hearts”” *** National Review: “Mitt Romney Is Entitled to His ‘I Told You So’” *** Now seems an appropriate time for me to mention, and to recommend, one of the most powerful books I’ve ever read, The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror-Famine, by the late... Read more
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