Matthew 26:36-46 Mark 14:32-42 Luke 22:39-46 John 18:1 Compare Matthew 26:30; Mark 14:26; John 12:27; 14:31   1.   The Garden of Gethsemane isn’t and wasn’t a garden in the sense familiar to most Europeans and North Americans.  That is, it featured neither carrots, cherry tomatoes, and lettuce,  nor different varieties of roses.  It probably wasn’t very green.  It was (and is) an olive orchard.  And it was probably a favorite place of the Savior’s because the most... Read more

    President and Sister Russell M. Nelson, accompanied by Elder and Sister Gerrit W. Gong, continue their Pacific ministry tour:   “Latter-day Prophet Meets with Tongan King and Queen: President Nelson visits a kingdom rich in Church history”   In the meantime, the acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles visits the Indian subcontinent for the first time:   “President M. Russell Ballard Teaches and Inspires on His First Visit to India”     I’m pleased that the... Read more

    Sigh.  The ever-dying Interpreter Foundation — I’ve been seeing anonymous online claims again that we’re on the verge of financial extinction and that essentially nobody reads anything that we do — has just published a new article in its flagship publication, Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship:   “D&C 21, George Albert Smith, and Hugh B. Brown: A Fresh Look at Three Incidents in Church History”   Abstract. When discussions arise about the relationship between Church members and the... Read more

    John 16:29-33   Jesus is confident here that, even though the disciples will be scattered, he won’t be alone because the Father will be with him.   I think, though, that even he may have been surprised by what he would soon experience during the process of the Atonement.  Because, for a period of about twenty-four hours, from the beginning of his suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane through the culmination of his agony on the cross, the... Read more

    I’m very pleased to be able to report that my friend, former student, and former colleague at the Maxwell Institute, Dr. John Gee, has now moved from the Maxwell Institute to my own Department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages, in BYU’s College of Humanities.   Many of us have hoped for quite a few years now that Dr. Gee would be able to exit the Maxwell Institute, which has been officially uninterested since the Purge of 2012... Read more

    This has been a slightly unusual trip to the United Kingdom for us.  We don’t usually drive the motorways and back roads of England guffawing as a 2.5-year-old sings loudly along with the soundtracks of Frozen, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Mulan, Tangled, and etc.   And, today, we did our second zoo.  (We spent a substantial amount of time a few days ago at the Cotswold Wildlife Park and Gardens, in Oxfordshire.)   The Zoological... Read more

    John 15:26-27   Religious skeptics often mock the Latter-day Saint idea and claim of a spiritual witness or testimony.  That’s scarcely surprising.   What does surprise, though, is to hear such mockery from professedly believing Christians.  Have they not read these verses?  Do they not believe them?     John 16:1-4   Persecution was on its way.  But, since the disciples would soon be able to reflect that Jesus had foretold it, that persecution might actually strengthen their... Read more

    This is a remarkable article, from a Jewish journalist who just toured the Oakland California Temple, which is soon to be rededicated after a lengthy period of extensive renovations.  I recommend it to you:   “A journey into the Holy of Holies — in a Latter-day Saints temple”   Note the final paragraph of David A. M. Wilensky’s column:   “There is so much more to say about this magnificent structure. As a Jew, I experienced an exciting... Read more

    One of the complaints commonly leveled against science focuses on its tendency toward reductionism, toward leaving us with a disenchanted cosmos.  Stars are no longer gods, but spheres of burning gas.  We know about photosynthesis, but we’ve lost the dryads and hamadryads who once inhabited trees.  I’m not altogether sure that I share the complaint or even agree with or sympathize with it, but here it is in three interesting poetic expressions:   1.   Sonnet—To Science Science!... Read more

    John 14:27-31   Apart from noting that Jesus’ declaration that “the Father is greater than I” has substantial theological significance (indicating, for instance, an important distinction between Father and Son), I really can’t see, once again, how I can improve very easily on the text itself, which I offer here — for the sake of freshness — in the New International Version:   27 “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to... Read more