One of the world’s greatest social theorists and philosophers of history was the Tunisian scholar Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406), who, although he had no immediate followers or disciples and was not recognized as the genius he was for centuries after his death (and, even then, at first only by European orientalists), is often considered the founder of such disciplines as sociology.  In other words, this comment of his could have been made about himself:   “He who finds a... Read more

    Life isn’t, it turns out, infinitely malleable or adaptable.  There are limits:   “Some spots on Earth are too hostile for life”   But some spots beyond Earth may not be, which might potentially be problematic:   “Rules guarding other planets from contamination may be too strict: As more missions target the moon, Mars and other places, scientists want to update guidelines”   And then there’s this place:   “The solar system may have a new smallest dwarf planet:... Read more

    Several years ago, my long-awaited firstborn grandchild lay dying in the newborn intensive care unit (NICU) of a hospital in Orlando, Florida.  This NICU was located in a building wing that had been built through a generous donation from the Disney family and that was named after Disney and designed with incorporated images of Disney characters.  I spent many desolate hours there.  And, while there, something quite unexpected occurred to my mind:   I grew up not very... Read more

    I’ve been re-reading the Qur’an in M. A. S. Abdel Haleem’s Oxford World Classics version for Middle East Studies –  Arabic [MESA] 320, the class that I’m currently teaching on the Qur’an in English translation.  Here are a couple of similar passages that caught my attention just tonight:   This present life is merely an amusement and a diversion; the true life is in the Hereafter, if only they knew.  Whenever they go on board a ship they... Read more

    I published the article below in the Deseret News back in 2016:   In pre-modern times, some explained lunar eclipses by a supernatural dragon’s devouring the moon.  Before the identification of germs and viruses, diseases were often attributed to demonic powers.  And how did the planets move continually in their regular orbits?  Angels, it was thought, were pushing the planetary spheres.  And thunderbolts were hurled to earth by the god Zeus. Unfortunately, when natural causes were identified for... Read more

    A common accusation against apologists and apologetics is that they start with the conclusion in mind and then marshal cherry-picked evidence in order to reach that predetermined conclusion.  This, we are told, is an inversion of the “scientific process” — starting with the sought-for bottom line and forcing the evidence to fit it — and something for which the academic community has little or no patience.   This is always a danger, of course.  And it doesn’t affect... Read more

    First, a brief miscellany of links related to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:   “The willful ignorance of Jonathan Neville”   I have to admit that this second one absolutely amazes me, too:   “Heartland site in Palmyra refers people to anti-Mormon website”   I posted a link to this story a few days ago, but I’m not sure that the video was there at the time.  I any event, I didn’t see it.  Now,... Read more

    Paul Davies does not appear to be a Christian or a conventional theist in any normal sense of such terms.  He is simply someone who pays attention to the data of physics and to the conditions apparently required for the appearance of life and who finds what he has found to be rather strange.  Here’s a passage from one of his several books on the subject:   Scientists are slowly waking up to an inconvenient truth – the... Read more

    The big Middle Eastern news of the day, of course, was the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the founder and wannabe caliph of al-Dawla al-Islamiyya fi al-Iraq wa al-Sham —  “the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria” (ISIS), or “the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant” (ISIL), or as it’s known from its Arabic initials in both Europe and the Middle East, “Da‘esh.”   Incidentally, I heard somebody important pronounce the late thug’s adopted name today as... Read more

    This article appeared at very nearly the end of 2018, and we’re closing in on the prospective date of its 2019 equivalent.  Still, I thought that some might find it worth a quick read:   “Biblical Archaeology’s Top 10 Discoveries of 2018: A glimpse at the important excavation work revealed this year.”   The item in the list that most caught my immediate interest was (7), entitled “Semitic abecedary found in Egypt.”   It tells of an inscribed piece... Read more