*** We’re just back from one of the best Utah Valley events of the Christmas season — the annual music night at the spacious home of Jeri and Steve Covey (whose son Britain, by the way, was there; he will be playing for the University of Utah in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day). It was a magnificent evening, with operatic singing (including a singer affiliated with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City; another vocalist,... Read more
*** Among the chief glories of the Christmas season is its music. I’ve already shared three of my favorite pieces, appropriate to the holiday. Here, I offer a few more: First, something wonderfully beautiful, from one of the most amazing singers that I’ve ever heard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oqm-hf1LDV4 The lyrics vary. (Actually, the song was originally written in French. So part of that is simply variation in translations.) But here’s one version: 1. Whence is... Read more
*** It’s Friday, so — what a surprise! — a new article appeared today in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship. Written by Gerrit M. Steenblik, it’s entitled “Demythizing the Lamanites’ “Skin of Blackness.”” Abstract: Racial bias is antithetical to the Book of Mormon’s cardinal purpose: to proclaim the infinite grandeur of the atonement of Jesus Christ. The book teaches that the Lord welcomes and redeems the entire human family, “black and white, bond and... Read more
*** Here are five Interpreter articles from a previous number of the journal that might catch your interest: David M. Calabro, “Early Christian Temples and Baptism for the Dead: Defining Sacred Space in the Late Antique Near East” Abstract: This paper addresses the early Christian transition from temple-based Judaism to the Constantinian basilica of the fourth century. David argues that some Christians of the second and early third centuries may have had places of worship that, while... Read more
*** For several years, one of my sons wrote occasional articles for the Deseret News, along with Peterson père. Here’s an interesting and seasonally appropriate article from Peterson fils that appeared in 2010: “Telling ghost stories is a lost tradition on Christmas Eve” It seems a rather odd Christmas custom, doesn’t it? *** I thought that, at this Christmas season, some of you might possibly find these passages of interest. According to Muslim... Read more
*** The last installment of Kyler Rasmussen’s series of Bayesian reflections on the Book of Mormon and related topics went up earlier today on the website of the Interpreter Foundation: Estimating the Evidence Episode 23: On Conclusions [Editor’s Note: This is the last in a series of 23 essays summarizing and evaluating Book of Mormon-related evidence from a Bayesian statistical perspective. See the FAQ at the end of the introductory episode for details on methodology.] After summarizing the... Read more
*** Back on 3 November 2021, I posted a shocked and sad entry regarding a relatively young friend and colleague, Arthur VanWagenen of Deseret Book and Excel Entertainment, who was in the hospital in very grave condition following a catastrophic medical event. He is still in the hospital. Today, though, I’m even happier to report on his current situation than I was sad to announce his situation back then: He is up, tentatively walking without a walker,... Read more
“Suppose you were an idiot,” Mark Twain once said. “And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.” I couldn’t help but think of Mark Twain’s comment when I learned of Rep.. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s recent remarks about measures taken against COVID-19. Over the weekend, she betook herself to Twitter. “Every single year,” she wrote, “more than 600,000 people in the US die from cancer. The country has never once shut down. Not a single... Read more
*** Three new items were posted earlier today on the website of the Interpreter Foundation: Nibley Lectures: Come, Follow Me Doctrine and Covenants Lesson 18 “The Promises … Shall Be Fulfilled” (D&C 45) During 1978, 1979, and 1980, Hugh Nibley taught a Doctrine and Covenants Sunday School class. Cassette recordings were made of these classes and some have survived and were recently digitized by Steve Whitlock. Most of the tapes were in pretty bad condition. The... Read more
*** I was saddened, just now, to learn of the death of V. Garth Norman last week. He was a dedicated pioneer of modern Latter-day Saint scholarship on Mesoamerica and the Book of Mormon. More personally, he offered more than once to take me on a tour of the Parowan Gap in southern Utah’s Iron County, where he believed that some of the Native American petroglyphs represented solar and lunar calendars. Like so many things in my... Read more
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