I’m absolutely delighted at this news, and am not altogether surprised by it: “Elder Gérald Caussé Is Called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.” I’m very sympathetic to the position taken by the Australian astrophysicist Graham Phillips in his brief essay “The Emperor’s Free Will.” The issue of free will versus determinism always puts me in mind of a familiar story from James Boswell’s 1791 Life of Samuel Johnson, in which Boswell reports an exchange with the great... Read more
Up to the Heber Valley again today and back down again. Sometimes life gets in the way of what we would prefer to be doing. But it’s a nice drive, up Provo Canyon and along the shore of Deer Creek Reservoir. So I didn’t mind that too much. A new article in our reprint series went up today on the website of the Interpreter Foundation. It is Steadfast in Defense of Faith: “Reflections on the Genesis and Evolution of... Read more
I’m up in Heber, Utah, today, far removed from my normal routine and unable to devote my full attention or time to my usual activities. So, with regard to this blog, I think that I’ll return to some of my recent reading. For a number of years now, I’ve been slightly troubled by accounts of distressing near-death experiences. They’re not many in number compared to the sea of relatively uniform and very positive NDEs reported by Raymond Moody in... Read more
I’ve shared the painting directly above several times here before. I’ve seen it in the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice, Italy. It’s part of a polyptych of four panels, entitled Visions of the Hereafter. I find the work intriguing because it seems to reflect so very accurately the descriptions of the tunnel, and of the light at the end of the tunnel, that commonly recur, though not invariably so, in modern accounts of near-death experiences. (See the narrative of Ella... Read more
I was born and raised in greater Los Angeles — and as a fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Because of business connections, my father was sometimes given excellent seats along the first-base or third-base lines at Dodger Stadium. I was definitely spoiled. (I recall going to a game once with my Boy Scout troop and, for the first time, being seated out in right field. I could barely see what was going on.) I was in the seats... Read more
The Federal Bureau of Investigation isn’t exactly ahead of the curve on this one. But it’s useful, I suppose, to make the obvious official: “Ex-marine who killed four at Michigan Mormon church was motivated by ‘anti-religious beliefs’, says FBI: Thomas Jacob Sanford, who also lit church on fire, was killed by police who responded to September shooting” (The Guardian). On the other hand, I appreciate the interfaith perspective in this article, which offers a dramatic contrast to the religious... Read more
Happy Halloween! and Happy Reformation Day! Personally, I’m hunkered down in terror. I’ve never seen such an onslaught of monsters, ghosts, and other horrors. Fortunately, I’ve been able to buy them off — thus far — with gifts of sweet things. But what will happen if I run out of offerings? Newly posted today from Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship: “‘A Voice of Warning,'” written by Daniel C. Peterson Abstract: The Restoration of the Gospel... Read more
It’s actually more than a little bit embarrassing to post the notice below. But regularly, each week, I call attention to our Thursday “reprints.” So, for the sake of consistency, I won’t make an exception this time: Steadfast in Defense of Faith: “The Covenant to Defend the Kingdom of God,” written by John Gee: Part of our book chapter reprint series, this article originally appeared in Steadfast in Defense of Faith: Essays in Honor of Daniel C. Peterson, edited... Read more
I know nothing about this story beyond what I’ve read in a Fox News article about it: “Riley Gaines and Ocasio-Cortez trade barbs as conservatives defend the former swimmer in ongoing dispute: Conservative influencer Allie Beth Stuckey joins defense of Gaines after latest social media clash.” I freely admit that there may be more to it. Here, though, I’m going to take it at face value and the Fox News report as substantially accurate. This is the part of... Read more
I spent several hours today filming a discussion for eventual use in the Interpreter Foundation’s Becoming Brigham series, which we will launch in mid-January of next year. The crew were our core filming team of Mark Goodman, James Jordan, and Russ Richins. With me, the discussants were Steve Densley, Matt Roper, Paul Fields, and Larry Bassist. Our conversation was based upon an exceptionally important article that they’ve written for Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship and that... Read more
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