When the first volume of the new Islamic Translation Series was published in 1997, it included my “Foreword to the Series,” which appeared for years in every one of the Series publications since that time. In part, that “Foreword” reads as follows: Brigham Young University and its Center for the Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts are pleased to sponsor and publish the Islamic Translation Series: Philosophy, Theology, and Mysticism (ITS). We wish to express our appreciation to... Read more
Last Wednesday, before we headed to the airport to fly back from Arizona to Utah (and also before we lunched at Backyard Taco in Mesa and revisited the fabulous Eddie Basha Collection in Chandler), my wife and I and our friends spent some time at Phoenix’s really good Desert Botanical Garden. It’s amazing to see the variety of cacti and agave and other plants there. Fascinating. *** Heber C. Kimball, first counselor to Brigham Young in... Read more
But, first, here’s something new from the Interpreter Foundation: “Teachings and Testimony of the First Vision: President J. Reuben Clark Jr. Teaches and Testifies of the First Vision: Part Nine of a Series Compiled by Dennis B. Horne” *** My wife and I continue to read a passage every night from A Year with C. S. Lewis: Daily Readings from His Classic Works. Here are two recent readings, both from his famous book Mere Christianity: God... Read more
I’m drawing material here from Brent L. Top, What’s On the Other Side: What the Gospel Teaches Us about the Spirit World (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2012): Modern revelation teaches us that “the spirit of man [is] in the likeness of his person” (D&C 77:2). In 1909 the First Presidency stated that the body “is only the clothing of the spirit” and that “the spirit of man is in the form of man.” We are so familiar with... Read more
The LDS Film Festival 2020 opens next week. It will run from Monday, 24 February 2020, through Saturday, 29 February 2020, at the SCERA Center for the Arts in Orem, Utah. *** One of my great regrets is that I’ve never, thus far, been able to attend RootsTech. Unfortunately, I have a job. Someday, though . . . “RootsTech is less than a week away. Here’s what you can expect this year” *** ... Read more
Here are some notes from Stephen Cranney, “”Who Is Leaving the Church? Demographic Predictors of Ex-Latter-day Saint Status in the Pew Religious Landscape Survey,” BYU Studies Quarterly 58/1 (2019): 99-108: Dr. Cranney, a researcher based in the Washington DC area who holds a dual Ph.D. in sociology and demographics from the University of Pennsylvania, points out that there is surprisingly little good data on the question. However, he finds the 2014 Pew Religious Landscape Survey helpful, and his... Read more
I published this little item in the Provo Daily Herald back on 20 October 1999. Considerable history has come and gone since then. For example, Rudy Giuliani became “America’s Mayor” a little less than two years later amid the catastrophes of 9-11 and, since then, has become a national embarrassment: Blasphemous Art in Brooklyn Stirs Controversy Religious controversies about art are hardly new. Michelangelo’s depiction of nude figures on the Sistine Chapel caused a scandal; so, presumably,... Read more
I would like to call your attention to the LDS Film Festival 2020 which opens next week. It will run from Monday, 24 February 2020, through Saturday, 29 February 2020, at the SCERA Center for the Arts in Orem, Utah. *** I share with you yet another nice little eighth-century animal fable (in my translation) from Munther A. Younes, Tales from Kalila wa Dimna: An Arabic Reader (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1989): ... Read more
I really hope that this idea will come to fruition: “Utahraptor State Park would protect discovery site of Utah’s namesake dinosaur: Lawmaker seeks $10 million to establish Utah’s 45th state park, conserve world-famous fossil treasure trove” *** “Climate change is slowly drying up the Colorado River: Average annual water flow dropped more than 11 percent over the last century due to warming” Not to worry, though. We’ll always have fossils, and plaster of Paris: “Hot,... Read more
It being Friday, Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship has published yet another new article. This one is by Val Larsen: “First Visions and Last Sermons: Affirming Divine Sociality, Rejecting the Greater Apostasy” Abstract: There is a kinship between Lehi and Joseph Smith. They are linked to each other by similar first visions, and they faced roughly the same theological problem. Resisted by elites who believe God is a Solitary Sovereign, both prophets affirm the pluralistic religion of Abraham, which... Read more
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