I’m using portions of Munther A. Younes, Tales from Kalila wa Dimna: An Arabic Reader (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1989) as material for one of my classes. The Kalila wa Dimna is a collection of animal fables, the core of which derives originally from India. It was translated into Middle Persian and then famously rendered from Middle Persian into Arabic and probably supplemented with an undetermined number of original Arabic tales by Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ (d.... Read more
I published the column below in the Provo Daily Herald around 29 April 1999: “Among the existing heretical sects,” wrote the Catholic scholar Franz Agricola in 1582, “there is none which in appearance leads a more modest, better, or more pious life than the Anabaptists. As concerns their outward public life, they are irreproachable: no lying, deception, swearing, harsh language; no intemperate eating and drinking; no outward personal display is found among them, but humility, patience, uprightness,... Read more
We and our visiting friends attended church this morning and then had lunch today with friends who live here in Phoenix and dinner with family who live in Mesa. It was, in other words, a very good day. My wife and I have lately been reading a passage every night from a volume that we acquired a few weeks ago at a book exchange party: A Year with C. S. Lewis: Daily Readings from His Classic Works.... Read more
I’m on the road, and I think that I neglected to call attention to this book review, which appeared in the pages of Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship on Friday: “Discipleship of Yesterday for Today” Review of Eric D. Huntsman, Becoming the Beloved Disciple: Coming unto Christ through the Gospel of John (Springville, UT: CFI, an imprint of Cedar Fort, 2018). 176 pages. $19.99. Abstract: What does the Gospel of John say about discipleship? Does early Christian discipleship... Read more
I’ve always wanted to visit Sedona, but somehow, prior to today, I never had. It’s a gorgeous place, though a bit crowded with heavy traffic on this long holiday weekend. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my razor, which remains, accordingly, just as dull was it was before. (Much like me, I suppose.) On the positive side, though, I was neither sucked into a vortex nor abducted by UFO aliens. And I didn’t buy a single crystal. ... Read more
I share a few more notes here from a significant article that a longtime friend of mine wrote nearly a quarter of a century ago: Bart J. Kowallis, “In the Thirty and Fourth Year: A Geologist’s View of the Great Destruction in 3 Nephi,” BYU Studies 37/3 (1997-1998). Dr. Kowallis begins his article with a three hundred year-old traditional oral account of the enormous volcanic eruption that occurred off the northeastern coast of Papua New Guinea. But it’s not... Read more
Yesterday, I cited an account, gathered by Russell Blong, of a catastrophic volcanic eruption (“The Time of Darkness”) that occurred off the northeastern coast of Papua New Guinea roughly three hundred years ago: See “Geology and Third Nephi (1): The Time of Darkness (A)” Here’s another item that I’ve drawn from that significant article from more than two decades ago, Bart J. Kowallis, “In the Thirty and Fourth Year: A Geologist’s View of the Great Destruction in... Read more
I first met Bart Kowallis when we were freshmen living in Hinckley Hall on the campus of Brigham Young University. Our paths diverged thereafter. Whereas I went on to an infamous career of malicious lies and character assassination, Bart chose the road of decency and respectability and genuine scholarship, first earning a Ph.D. in geology from the University of Wisconsin and then teaching, researching, and writing in his field as well as holding important administrative positions at Brigham... Read more
On the flight from Salt Lake City to Phoenix last night, I began reading David Brooks, The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life (New York: Random House, 2019). It looks to be an extended argument for, and reflection on, the importance for a good life of strong commitments to one or all of these four things: A vocation A spouse and family A philosophy or faith A community Reading the opening pages, in which... Read more
I wrote this column for the Provo Daily Herald in October 1998: “A single death is a tragedy,” said Josef Stalin. “A million deaths is a statistic.” But a visit to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, gives the lie to the Soviet dictator. A million deaths is a million tragedies. And the losses continue. Given the intellectual leadership of the Jews in Europe and, now, in the United States, we must ask ourselves what great art... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In