Some of you may have missed an article by Dr. Gregory L. Smith that was published early on in the history of the Interpreter Foundation and of Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture.  In case you’re interested, though, I recall it to your attention:   ““Endless Forms Most Beautiful”: The uses and abuses of evolutionary biology in six works”   To give you a flavor of it, here is the article’s opening paragraph:   For many, evolutionary biology ranks... Read more

    I published the column below on 26 October 2017 in the Deseret News:   Many years ago, I was accompanying a group of Latter-day Saint tourists in Egypt.  At one point, our local guide took us to a restaurant on an island in the Nile River near Aswan.  Suddenly realizing where we were, I pointed excitedly to some ruins at the southern end of an adjacent island, exclaiming to my puzzled companions that it was one of the... Read more

    Matthew 23:37-39  Compare Luke 13:34-35   “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!  Behold, your house is forsaken and desolate.  For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”   If Jesus is, as... Read more

    Today being Friday, a new article has (of course) appeared in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship, and I hope very much that you will enjoy it:   “Joseph Knew First: Moses, the Egyptian Son”   Abstract: After about 1500 years of slumber, ancient Egyptian was brought back to life in the early 19th century, when scholars deciphered hieroglyphs. This revolutionary success opened the door to a reevaluation of history from the viewpoint of ancient Egypt. In the... Read more

    Further conflicts are ahead as the trivial and outmoded concept of religious liberty clashes with the new Prime Directive:   “Mirror image: What if an evangelical politico doxed gay protesters at Family Research Council?”   “For your 2020 agenda: The Democrats’ Equality Act sets up a religion-news sleeper issue”   “Not Getting Your First-Choice Gay Wedding Cake Is Nothing Like Getting The Measles: A New York Times op-ed suggests allowing any religious liberty claims opens the door to spurious... Read more

    I published this column in the Deseret News back on 21 January 2016:   Many assume, and some triumphantly boast, that the scholarship of the past 150 years has gutted the New Testament gospels and their story of Jesus. And no wonder: Popular articles and documentaries appear every year — often at Christmas and Easter — suggesting that Christian belief rests more on mythology, even on flat-out historical fabrication, than on genuine history. Moreover, a small but noisy... Read more

    Matthew 22:23-33 Mark 12:18-27 Luke 20:27-40 Compare Matthew 22:46; Mark 12:34   The point of the exchange recorded in these passages is obviously not about marriage as such.  Rather, the Sadducees were using a highly unusual story (which happened to involve marriage) in order to demonstrate, by their lights, the absurdity of the idea of resurrection.   Still, critics of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have sometimes used this exchange, and specifically Christ’s comments in... Read more

    Now available via the website of the Interpreter Foundation:   An interview with Jennifer Champoux: “Why Does Latter-day Saint Art Matter?”    ***   In other news related to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members:   “Latter-day Saint Teen Shot Twice After Rushing Gunman at Colorado School Shooting”   “Fine-Tuning: Church Updates Guidelines for New Hymnbook and Children’s Songbook Submissions”   “Latter-day Saints Around the World: Country Newsroom Websites, May 8, 2019”  ... Read more

    I couldn’t possibly agree more strongly with this 2015 article from the Australian Broadcasting Network:   http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/religionandethicsreport/the-need-for-faith-literacy-in-an-increasingly-religious-world/6685616   I’ve devoted much of my career to the cause of increasing interreligious understanding — including my conception and founding of BYU’s Islamic Translation Series and the Middle Eastern Texts Initiative as a whole, with which I was affiliated until I was ousted from it back in 2012; my teaching at BYU, which focuses on Islam and the Middle East; two... Read more

    Matthew 21:33-46 Mark 12:1-12 Luke 20:9-19   Cornerstones serve no vital structural function in modern building.  Indeed, they’re often added very late in the construction process, during purely ceremonial events.  In premodern times, though, the cornerstone was used to align the other foundations and walls, etc., of a new structure.  It was placed at the very beginning of construction and served as a point of reference for the workers, from which they took their bearings.  Thus, cornerstones had... Read more