Rather oddly, one of my readers, responding to yesterday’s blog entry “Will all 150 of your relationships end if Yellowstone erupts?,” has written to inform me that the study of the geology of Yellowstone is a branch of science, and not a subdivision of theology. I suppose that he thought me confused on that matter. He also shared three links with me in order to make me aware of a proposed drilling project that was already mentioned in... Read more
I’ve occasionally been criticized for my disinclination to treat online relationships, virtual communities, and social media friends as the equivalent of friends, communities, and relationships in the face-to-face real world. That disinclination has become apparent to a few when, on three or four occasions, I haven’t reacted as some have thought I should to some situation of an online acquaintance. (I think that I’ll leave it at that. My critics will simply have to exploit what I’ve said... Read more
We’re entering into the holiday season. Several houses in my neighborhood have had Halloween decorations up for at least a week or two now. To my horror, I’ve also seen a few Christmas-themed commercials on television. But I guess that’s alright, more or less, because some of you are, no doubt, already beginning your Christmas shopping. So it’s time for me to remind you of something important: More and more, for good or for ill,... Read more
President Russell M. Nelson has announced that 2020 will be a special bicentennial year commemorating the First Vision of Joseph Smith, and that the annual general conference for April 2020 will be unlike any general conference that we’ve ever seen before. Beyond that, alas, he was tantalizingly unspecific. As I say, I’ve been re-reading the novella Siddhartha, by the German-born writer Hermann Hesse (1877-1962). Here, in my translation from a German edition published somewhat enigmatically by “Will Jonson... Read more
In a blog entry posted on Monday (“Lunch with the Turkish consul general”), I recounted a story as it had been told to me about something that happened at the opening plenary session of this year’s annual meeting sponsored by Brigham Young University’s International Center for Law and Religion Studies. The ICLRS, as I understand it — and I’ve been peripherally involved with it for some years, including attendance and occasional formal participation in its meetings both... Read more
My wife and I attended a marvelous concert this evening by the remarkable Emmy Award winning, two-time Grammy Award-winning, six-time Tony Award-winning singer and actor Audra McDonald. It was in the concert hall of the still new multi-venue Noorda Center for the Performing Arts at Utah Valley University. The concert was superb, focused almost entirely on “the American musicial theater songbook,” and the hall is wonderful. It’s extremely nice to have such a place within less than ten minutes’... Read more
I’ve been re-reading the novella Siddhartha, by the German-born writer Hermann Hesse (1877-1962). Here, in my translation from a German edition published somewhat enigmatically by “Will Jonson and Dog’s Tail Books” in the United Kingdom, is a passage that struck me last night, in which the title character, Siddhartha, addresses Gotama, the Buddha. Siddhartha’s lifelong friend and follower, Govinda, has just become a disciple of the Buddha, but Siddhartha has been unable to take that step: Everything... Read more
When I heard, on Sunday night, that Donald Trump had decided to clear United States troops out of the way of a Turkish invasion of northern Syria, I was — to put it very mildly — not pleased. While I can certainly understand the desire to pull American soldiers out of harm’s way, as well as the need to reduce American expenditures in a region that ought, really, to do more to defend itself, I fear that... Read more
Thanks to the inquiry of a reader, I now realize that I didn’t give the title of the remarks that I’ll be delivering when I speak this coming Sunday, 13 October 2019, in Cedar City, Utah. My subject will be “Idle Tales”? The Witness of Women The fireside will begin at 7 PM on Sunday evening, at the chapel located at 800 South Laurie Lane (800 South and Westview Road). When this event was set up, the... Read more
I’m just back from having lunch on the campus of Brigham Young University with His Excellency Can Oğuz, the consul general of the Republic of Turkey in Los Angeles. He has been in town since Friday for the annual meeting convened by BYU’s International Center for Law and Religion Studies. (On Saturday and Sunday, those typically in town have a dinner up at Sundance in the mountains, attend the Tabernacle Choir broadcast and the Sunday morning session of... Read more
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