I’ll be working my way through John D. Barrow, The Book of Universes: Exploring the Limits of the Cosmos (New York and London: W. W. Norton and Company, 2011). At the time he wrote the book, Dr. Barrow was a professor of mathematical sciences and the director of the Millennium Mathematics Project at the University of Cambridge, in the United Kingdom. When I was a school kid, we all knew that there was absolutely nothing remarkable about... Read more
“Interpreter Radio Show — March 29, 2020” You can now listen to the 29 March 2020 broadcast of the Interpreter Radio Show at your convenience and free of charge, shorn of commercial and other breaks. The participants on Sunday, 29 March 2020, were Martin Tanner and . . . well, I guess I might as well just blurt it out: Martin Tanner and Daniel Peterson. During the first hour of this particular episode, they discussed near-death experiences with... Read more
Still working my way into Bruce Rosenblum and Fred Kuttner, Quantum Enigma: Physics Encounters Consciousness, 2d ed. (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2011): The relevance of quantum mechanics is, in a sense, more immediate than Copernican or Darwinian ideas, which deal with the far away or long ago. Quantum theory is about the here and now. It even encounters the essence of our humanity, our consciousness. Why, then, hasn’t quantum mechanics had the intellectual and... Read more
From Susan Easton Black and Larry C. Porter, Martin Harris: Uncompromising Witness of the Book of Mormon (Provo: BYU Studies, 2018), 252-253: While the principal target of Painesville [Ohio] Telegraph editor Eber D. Howe’s 1834 book Mormonism Unvailed — the father of all anti-Mormon books — was plainly Joseph Smith, Martin Harris was a “close second.” Mentioning Martin Harris by name fully sixty-six times over the course of his book, Howe singled Harris out as “the next personage [after Joseph Smith]... Read more
It’s time for me to begin extracting notes from certain Islam-related books in order to move forward with a substantial and much-delayed writing project of mine. I begin with Gilles Kepel, Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam, translated by Anthony F. Roberts (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, Harvard University Press, 2002). At the time of writing, Gilles Kepel was Professor of Middle East Studies at the Institute for Political Studies in Paris. I start with an insightful passage... Read more
A preliminary partial draft of one of my manuscripts-in-progress: In 1848, the year before he died, Oliver Cowdery received rebaptism into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at Kanesville, Iowa. “I feel that I can honorably return,” he told the high council there. “I have sustained an honorable character before the world during my absence from you. This though a small matter with you, is of vast importance.”[1] Before an audience of approximately two thousand,... Read more
Matthew Wheeler kindly called my attention to this item: “Malaysia’s Queen is cooking for frontline workers during the coronavirus outbreak: She’s treating hospital workers to a well earned meal” Doug Ealy called this one to my notice: “Israel delivers 3,000 more COVID-19 test kits and 50,000 masks to Palestinian Authority” *** I’ve shared this favorite passage from the Qur’an on several prior occasions, but it occurs to me to share it yet again: ... Read more
Up now on the website of the Interpreter Foundation: “Teachings and Testimony of the First Vision: Pure Apostolic Witness and Testimony of the First Vision”: Part 20 of a Series Compiled by Dennis B. Horne Hales Swift: “The Gospel of Jesus Christ in the Words of Jesus (3 Nephi 27)” A Video Supplement for Come, Follow Me Book of Mormon Lesson 14: “He Shall Rise … with Healing in His Wings” (Easter) Jonn Claybaugh: Come, Follow Me — Study... Read more
Yes, I’m enough of a troglodyte to have read Jonathan Wells, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Darwinism and Intelligent Design (Washington DC: Regnery, 2006). Jonathan Wells is a Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute in Washington. He earned a Ph.D. in religious studies at Yale University with a focus on historical reactions to Darwinism, and then proceeded to earn a second Ph.D. in molecular and cell biology from the University of California at Berkeley. Here is a passage... Read more
Herewith, I offer two additional passages — reports from actual “experiencers” — that I’ve extracted from J. Steve Miller, Near-Death Experiences As Evidences for the Existence of God and Heaven: A Brief Introduction in Plain Language (Acworth, GA: Wisdom Creek Press, 2012): I saw a bright light, and on my way there I heard beautiful music and I saw colors I’d never seen before. The light . . . was of a kind that I’d never seen... Read more
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