The intensity surrounding this recent scandal du jour seems to have largely subsided. Those — including myself — who trusted and revered the Church’s leaders prior to the Washington Post‘s exposé still trust and revere them. Such folks faithfully paid their tithes to the Church, and they still do. Those who despised the Church before the Post article appeared continue to despise the Church. They withheld their tithes, and they still do. But I’ve recalled a little... Read more
I published the article below exactly eight years ago today in the Deseret News, on 29 December 2011. Curiously, it fits pretty neatly into the curriculum schedule right now, when we’re again about to commence a year dedicated to the Book of Mormon: We’re approaching the new year, and a new gospel doctrine curriculum year devoted to the Book of Mormon is almost upon us. So, with that flimsy justification, let’s look at the transition, roughly 65 B.C., between two... Read more
One of the high points of our recent visit to Richmond, Virginia, was taking a little girl to her very first movie theater, where we watched Frozen II. We weren’t sure how she would handle it, and there were moments before the previews when she was running around so much, and was so unwilling to sit still, that I was afraid that the experiment would need to be abandoned. However, once things got going, she was enthralled. Of course,... Read more
I’ve been very delinquent in posting the link for this article, which went up on the Interpreter Foundation website all the way back on Monday last: Science & Mormonism Series 1: Cosmos, Earth, and Man: Joseph Smith and Modern Cosmology Part of our book chapter reprint series, this article by Ron Hellings originally appeared in Science & Mormonism Series 1: Cosmos, Earth, and Man (2016). Abstract: In this chapter, physicist Ron Hellings takes a look at some of the teachings of... Read more
Although I did see Cats last night — and forfeited some needed sleep in order to do so — I’m really not in a terribly dyspeptic mood. I had some quite nice hours earlier today. But I’m sitting down, now, to deliver yet another negative review: As I write, I’m sitting in the Staples Mill Amtrak Station in Richmond, Virginia. We came down from Washington DC via Amtrak and we’re now returning to Washington DC via... Read more
Both of them are genuine, passionate cinéastes, and one of their passions is bad movies. So they had been trying for days to persuade me to go with them to see Cats. I wasn’t interested. I like funny-bad movies as well as the next guy. Probably more so. But movies that are simply bad? Not so much. I said No. They persisted. Finally, as a compromise, they suggested a really late showing last night of the... Read more
Two new items appeared in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship today. The first was written by Matthew L. Bowen: “He Knows My Affliction: The Hill Onidah as Narrative Counterpart to the Rameumptom” Abstract: The toponym Onidah, attested as the name of a hill in Alma 32:4, most plausibly derives from Hebrew ʿŏnî /ʿōnî/ʿônî (ʿonyî, “my affliction”) + yādaʿ/yēdaʿ (“he knew,” “he knows”) — i.e., “he has acknowledged my affliction” or “he knows my affliction.” This etymology finds support in the context of the Zoramite... Read more
My wife and I have spent some of our time over the past few days trying to work out a little year-end business deal in such a way that any profit that it generates won’t all go to the federales. Which, naturally, has put me in mind of a classic Beatles song — to which you can listen by means of the link given above: Let me tell you how it will be There’s one for you,... Read more
As we approach the New Year, this column, which Bill Hamblin and I published in the Deseret News several years ago, might be of interest to a few: January, the first month of the calendar year, most likely takes its name from the ancient Roman divinity Janus, who was believed to be the gatekeeper of heaven. More generally, he was the god of doors, gateways (including city gates), and boundaries, and thus of beginnings and transitions, as... Read more
An extract from a conversation that occurred about two hours ago at a McDonald’s drive-through in Richmond: Me: And we’d also like a couple of chocolate milks. McDonald’s: A couple? Me: Yes. A couple. McDonald’s: Two? Three? Four? How many? Me: Two. McDonald’s: Okay. Then two. Me: Yes. Two. I found the exchange fascinating, and I want to follow up with an informal and quite unscientific survey: What does the expression a couple mean to... Read more
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