For specific reasons, I’ve lately been watching certain online debates — something that I haven’t previously been able to take the time for. In the introduction to one of those debates, the host quoted a passage from C. S. Lewis that, to the best of my recollection, I’ve never encountered before. (Actually, I probably have, since I’ve read very nearly everything that’s been published of Lewis’s work, if not indeed everything, including his letters. But, if I’d read... Read more
Viva la revolución! Many of us, I realize, seek escape in the movies that we watch. I understand that. So do I, very often. And neither of the films below is going to be nearly as fun as Captain Marvel. That’s the simple fact. But this is a vastly important and even urgent topic, and these films need to be seen by many, many, many people: “Unplanned Helps Pro-Lifers Tell the Truth about Abortion: Seeing the truth about abortion... Read more
I’m looking forward to this. All events, I’m told, will take place at the Poway California Stake Center, 15750 Bernardo Heights Parkway, San Diego, California. In the meanwhile, you might enjoy this brief video about the full-scale replica of the Tabernacle of Moses that was built by the Huntington Beach California Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for their 2016 Tabernacle Youth Camp: The Tabernacle of Moses 1 And the Lord spake unto... Read more
In some respects, it seems obvious to me, we live in an increasingly mad world, one in which ideology demands that we ignore the evidence plainly before our eyes and reject what all sentient human beings before us have known to be true (and obviously true). This is certainly the case with respect to what some have taken to calling “neurosexism.” The following article, by an internationally respected neuroscientist at the University of California, Irvine, considers a... Read more
Here’s some news from the world of the past: “Pompeii ‘fast food’ bar unearthed in ancient city after 2,000 years: Thermopolia used by poorer residents with few cooking facilities, archaeologists say” “Mysterious 4,000-year-old lost city discovered” Please note, by the way, that — in the article above — archaeologists have found the city but they don’t know its name. “Temple Palace of Ramesses II Unearthed in Abydos” “Etruscan Tomb Unearthed in Corsica” ... Read more
Matthew 16:21-23 Mark 8:31-33 Luke 9:22 1. It’s easy to condescend to the early apostles. After all, they just didn’t get it. Right? I’ve heard such sentiments expressed more times than I can count. Nevertheless, it’s probably worth remembering, in this context, that they were called to be the Savior’s first disciples and witnesses and that . . . well, we weren’t. Do we have any reason to believe that we would... Read more
I published the column below in the Deseret News on 5 September 2013. It seems to me worth revisiting this topic, since the successor of Brigham Young and his associates will be presiding, conducting, and speaking at the annual conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints this coming weekend. But was Brigham Young the legitimate successor to the Prophet Joseph Smith? Consider this evidence: One of the most consequential meetings in the history of... Read more
“The fate of our times,” wrote the great pioneer German sociologist Max Weber, “is characterized by rationalization and intellectualization and, above all, by the disenchantment of the world.” Weber’s notion of “disenchantment” — he seems to have borrowed the term (in German, Entzauberung, which could more literally be rendered as something like “demystification” or even as something rather barbarous, like “demagicification”) from the famous poet and playwright Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805) — has become quite famous. It refers to the... Read more
My wife taught at Cairo American College (CAC) for four years while we lived there just after our marriage. The school is actually located some miles to the south of Cairo, in the once small and leafy suburb of Digla/Ma‘adi. The campus was open; I regularly used its (air-conditioned!) library to study. (I was a graduate student in Middle Eastern Studies at the American University in Cairo at the time.) For three of our four years, we lived... Read more
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New Testament Notes 161-163
Matthew 17:1-9 Mark 9:2-10 Luke 9:28-36 Compare Matthew 3:17; Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22; 9:37; John 12:28-30 In Matthew 16, Jesus promised to give Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven. In Matthew 17, Peter, James, and John — acting as the First Presidency of the Church — received them. As one of the the Church’s New Testament manuals for college-age students explains, “These keys include the power to administer the ordinances of salvation in a manner... Read more