I apparently should have given them a title, but I didn’t. So we ended up with this rather unwieldy thing: “Remembering co-author Bill Hamblin’s pursuit of sharing about the world’s religions” I’m pleased, though, that the online version of the article includes a baker’s dozen of the photographs that Bill furnished for prior columns. They were often very valuable. This is one of the respects in which my solo continuation of the Hamblin/Peterson column will... Read more
My wife and I watched the 2019 documentary Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice tonight. I’ve been a devoted Linda Ronstadt fan for most of my life — I suppose that, for a while at least, I had a crush on her — so I really, really enjoyed it. (I knew almost all of the songs by heart.) It was fun, too, to be reminded of the Los Angeles folk rock scene that was so important to me when... Read more
Surely, you’re saying to yourself, this series will eventually find an end! And, in fact, that’s what I’ve been thinking for quite some time. But interesting material continues to appear, so I press on. This may well be the last installment, of course. But I’ve thought so before . . . Anyway, the impetus for this current entry comes from a new comment from Peter J Reilly, a thoroughly non-Latter-day Saint contributor to Forbes who is a specialist... Read more
Most of you will recall this brief announcement from the end of last year’s October general conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: “President Nelson Announces Plans for Special Celebration of First Vision” I’m excited for what will be coming. All of us at the Interpreter Foundation are looking forward to this next year. *** This morning, the Interpreter Foundation launches a new series of blog entries, kindly contributed by Dennis... Read more
On this, the first day of the new year 2020, I woke up thinking of Joseph Smith’s First Vision. President Russell M. Nelson has declared this year a bicentennial, commemorating that great theophany. With that fact in mind, I reprise here a column of mine that appeared in the Deseret News on 23 March 2017: Some years ago, two Latter-day Saint writers arrived separately at the conclusion that Joseph Smith’s First Vision probably occurred on Sunday, March... Read more
I really, really dislike fundraising. More precisely, I hate to ask people for money. I’m happy to go out and encourage people to give to good causes, of course. And I have several good causes — the Interpreter Foundation is certainly way high up there on my list, as well as a principal responsibility of mine — to which I’m more than happy to call attention. But when it comes to sitting across from specific people, face... Read more
For many, tonight will be a night of considerable imbibing, of drinking unusually high quantities of alcohol. It has always seemed to me an odd way to ring in a new year. Commencing the year in a booze-induced stupor and/or with a hangover is arguably not quite consistent with a time of new resolutions for self-improvement and achievement. I realize that very many in my audience don’t drink at all. But there’s a curious subset of my... Read more
I call your attention to something that has just been posted on the website of the Interpreter Foundation: Science & Mormonism Series 1: Cosmos, Earth, and Man: The Outer Solar System: A Window to the Creative Breadth of Divinity Part of our book chapter reprint series, this article by Jani Radebaugh originally appeared in Science & Mormonism Series 1: Cosmos, Earth, and Man (2016). Abstract: In this chapter, planetary scientist Jani Radebaugh explores the creative side of our Creator with a... Read more
We’re just back from the Hale Centre Theatre in Sandy. We went out to dinner with a group of neighbors and then on to the play, which was Seussical. (Despite my continual anger, bitterness, cruelty, and misery, I’ve managed to hold on to a few friends. It’s probably my wife’s doing.) I read lots and lots of Dr. Seuss when I was small but, somehow, I had never seen Seussical before tonight. I’ll be honest: There... Read more
The 22 December 2019 installment of the Interpreter Radio Show is now available for your listening pleasure and edification, shorn of the commercial and other breaks that go with its broadcast version. The hosts were Martin Tanner and Matt Bowen. In this particular episode, Martin and Matt discuss various aspects of Christmas. Also featured was a roundtable on the upcoming Come, Follow Me Book of Mormon lesson #3 on 1 Nephi 8-10: Interpreter Radio Show — December 22, 2019... Read more
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