In the meantime, an immensely rich civilization—rich in every way—had been created. A bare bones description of this vast realm and of the marvelous art and architecture, literature, music, philosophy, and science that it produced would far exceed the space available in this book. It seems to me, however, that a good method of giving at least an impression of the riches of Arabic civilization, and of the broader Islamic civilization to which it belongs, is to suggest... Read more
It used to be that scientists and those influenced by them viewed the world as an assemblage of interlocking gears, a machine. This was the time of the Enlightenment and of “Rationalism.” The machine simply had to be disassembled and its various constituent parts examined, and then everything would be both understood and easy to control. René Descartes (1596-1650) certainly viewed reality as somewhat machine-like, and the physics of Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) seemed to solidify the picture.... Read more
I offer here three quotations from Ronald E. Romig, Eighth Witness: The Biography of John Whitmer (Independence, MO: John Whitmer Books, 2014), on two distinct topics. The first two relate to seer stones, a topic that, while it’s certainly not a major theme of the theatrical movie, is alluded to at several points in the Interpreter Foundation’s Witnesses film project: Influenced by Joseph Smith’s use of a seer stone, some of the Whitmers acquired similar stones. ... Read more
But the emphasis of the ‘ulama’ on law and on behavior came, in the eyes of some highly committed Muslims, to seem a mere concentration on the externals, on the letter and not the spirit of Islam. They yearned for a more personal and warm relationship with God than plain obedience to a law code could possibly supply on its own. Among these pious Muslims were the Sufis, the Islamic mystics, who were more concerned with contemplative or introspective... Read more
Continuing with some passages from Geraint F. Lewis and Luke A. Barnes, A Fortunate Universe: Life in a Finely Tuned Cosmos (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016): “Our models are mixtures of well-tested theories, reasonable assumptions and guesses; as Richard Feynman [d. 1988; 1965 Nobel laureate in physics] noted, ‘it is not unscientific to make a guess.’ Science happens when we ask the Universe whether we guessed right. Otherwise, the experimenter is doing little more than stamp collecting, and the theorist... Read more
Sigh. My late friend Bill Hamblin and I sometimes fantasized about starring someday in an autobiographical film entitled Bill and Dan’s Excellent Adventure in Anti-Mormon Zombie Hell. So many oft-repeated arguments against the claims of the Restoration were demolished generations back but just keep coming at us. They’re rather like undead zombies who’ve been shot between the eyes but don’t falter even a step in their slow though brainless advance. Roughly thirty-five years ago, perhaps a... Read more
In the middle of the eighth century, a revolt commenced in far-off Khurasan, in the area of what is today Afghanistan or eastern Iran. This was an area occupied largely by non-Arabs, who resented their second-class status within the empire. The revolutionaries also appealed to the Shiites by claiming that they were acting on behalf of an unnamed member of the Prophet’s family. Pious Muslims flocked to the black banners of the rebels, hoping for an overthrow of... Read more
A new article for Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship has gone up on the website of the Interpreter Foundation. This one is by John Gee. “Jesus’s Courtroom in John” Abstract: John Gee gives us a sketch of the divine judgment as presented in the gospel of John. “In John’s gospel, the individual is the defendant; Jesus is the judge; the devil is the prosecuting attorney; and the Holy Ghost is the defense attorney.” Somewhat surprisingly,... Read more
16 September 2020: “Utah health officials report 747 new COVID-19 cases — highest daily increase since July” 17 September 2020: “Record 911 COVID-19 cases in one day a ‘wake-up call’ for Utah: Utah governor also calls spike ‘a red flag warning’” 18 September 2020: “Utah topples daily record with 1,117 new COVID-19 cases: Governor calls high number ‘alarming’” From the Deseret News: “In our opinion: Utah’s COVID-19 surge is unacceptable: Humans tend to tire quickly.... Read more
The Arab expansion continued in the early years of the High Caliphal Period. Muslim soldiers moved up the valley of the Oxus River into Central Asia, and continued their march across North Africa into Morocco, where they conquered and converted the tribal Berbers. Thus, the entire northern coast of the African continent, once a stronghold of Christianity and the home of such major Christian figures as Tertullian and St. Augustine, fell under Muslim control. In the year 711,... Read more
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