I published the column below in the Deseret News on 3 May 2018: Until the summer of 1961, absolutely no archaeological evidence existed that would demonstrate that Pontius Pilate, a pivotal figure in the New Testament gospels, ever really existed. Some literary sources mention him — including a few brief allusions in Jewish material (e.g., Josephus) and in late Roman chronicles (e.g., Tacitus) — but no administrative records survive from him and no genuine letters of his... Read more
Just published in the Deseret News: “The mysterious 40-day ministry of Jesus after Easter” *** Bill Hamblin and I published the article below on 18 April 2015, in the Deseret News: Weary arrivals at Israel’s David Ben Gurion International Airport are occupied with passport control, luggage retrieval, customs and ground transportation. Departing travelers deal with very effective (but time-consuming and sometimes difficult) Israeli security, often catching midnight connecting flights to Europe for further morning... Read more
I hadn’t intended to return so soon to my meditations on water, but then this showed up: “Why Water Is Weird” *** It’s not only water that’s weird, though: “The Sun Is Stranger Than Astrophysicists Imagined: The sun radiates far more high-frequency light than expected, raising questions about unknown features of the sun’s magnetic field and the possibility of even more exotic physics.” *** Aieee! We’re all doomed! “This Asteroid Will... Read more
Luke 19:11-27 Compare Matthew 25:14-30; Mark 13:34 We’re more familiar with this story as the “parable of the talents” (in Matthew) than as the “parable of the pounds.” But the point is the same in both accounts. The concept of stewardship is essential, in my view, to a proper understanding of the Plan of Salvation. We’re entrusted with gifts, resources, talents (in the modern sense), opportunities, and so forth, in order to see what we’ll... Read more
Arthur C. Brooks, of the American Enterprise Institute, is a hero of mine. Here are some excellent remarks that he delivered at the BYU graduation services just a few days ago. Please watch. They last less than twelve minutes: Arthur Brooks at BYU This is the sort of thing — our current tendency to withdraw into mutually contemptuous, mutually uncommunicating, mutually demonizing “communities” — that I had in mind some weeks ago with my little blog... Read more
I posted something yesterday (“Water Worlds”) on oceans and water. And, having just flown over thousands of miles of ocean during the past few hours, and sitting now looking at the Mediterranean Sea, the topic is still on my mind. So here’s a column that I published in the Deseret News back on 20 July 2017: “Ocean, n. A body of water occupying about two-thirds of a world made for man — who has no gills.” So... Read more
Matthew 20:20-28 Mark 10:35-45 Compare Matthew 23:11; Mark 9:35; Luke 12:50; 22:24-27; 9:48; John 13:4-5, 12-17 These are powerful verses. They condemn the almost omnipresent and well nigh irresistible human anxiety about status, the perpetual quest for prestige. They offer grounds for continual self-examination: Are we doing good for its own sake, or to seem good to others? Do we care about the truth, or about academic prestige? Do we want the new car or... Read more
“Water Worlds Could Have Mind-Bogglingly Deep Oceans, New Models Suggest” This article reminds me of the cynical and quite faithless entry for ocean in Ambrose Bierce’s 1906 Unabridged Devil’s Dictionary: “Ocean, n. A body of water occupying about two-thirds of a world made for man — who has no gills.” Of course, the question suggested by the article now becomes something like “Why isn’t the earth entirely covered with water?” “Alien Water Worlds –‘Most Habitable Planets... Read more
From the official newsroom of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: “Chad Eliminates Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus: LDS Charities and partners work to eliminate the disease globally” The late Christopher Hitchens used to like to say that “religion poisons everything.” And certainly here, in the story to which I link above, is yet another redundant illustration of the truth of his statement: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is helping to make this... Read more
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New Testament Note 267
John 12:1-8 Compare Matthew 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9; Luke 7:36-50 This story raises an issue that has occupied me for years, and for which I have no neat and clear answer. The world is full of poor people, and many are malnourished and even starving. I think that starvation and malnutrition can and urgently should be ended. In this context, I think of one of my favorite charities, the Liahona Children’s Foundation. Among the many... Read more