John 6:60-66   Some critics that I’ve come across seem to imagine that, if the Church were really true, people would be lined up to enter the font, nobody would ever fall away, and all customers would be completely satisfied and unfailingly enthusiastically willing to pay the price.  Everything that the Church taught would be pleasing to everybody, and instantly accepted without reservation.   The fact that the situation isn’t so, they believe (or pretend to believe) demonstrates... Read more

    The most recent instantiation of the biweekly Hamblin/Peterson column has appeared in the Deseret News:   “Exploring the Hindu scriptures known as the Upanishads”   ***   It seems, though, rather futile to write.  Why?  Because at least certain people are so determined to have me say what they want me to have said that what I actually write seems, in many cases, completely irrelevant.   For example, in response to my recent essay “Research and More Research”... Read more

    This is an absolutely fascinating but utterly horrifying article, and, although it’s a bit on the long side, I recommend it enthusiastically.  Moreover, since it appears in the New Yorker, it’s well-written and accessible:   “The Day the Dinosaurs Died: A young paleontologist may have discovered a record of the most significant event in the history of life on Earth.”   Here’s its first paragraph:   If, on a certain evening about sixty-­six million years ago, you had stood... Read more

    I’ve posted twice previously about my teacher at the Institut Dominicain des Etudes Orientales in Cairo, Egypt, Father Georges Anawati:  here and here.   He frequently had me read aloud from the texts that we were studying together.  With regard to Arabic, this isn’t quite as crazy and pointless as it may seem.   Arabic is commonly unvoweled, or mostly unvoweled.  But the vowels are important, and the reader needs to be able to provide them (if only... Read more

    Matthew 16:1-4 Mark 8:11-13 Compare Matthew 12:38-39; Luke 11:16, 29; 12:54-56; John 6:30   A generation that seeks for a sign may well be literally adulterous, as ours quite undeniably is.  But it’s certainly “adulterous” in the metaphorical sense illustrated by the Old Testament story of the prophet Hosea, who’s called — think on this, the next time you’re tempted to complain about your church assignment! — to illustrate the broken relationship between the Lord and unfaithful Israel in... Read more

    I’ve posted already about Father Georges Anawati OP, my wonderful private Islamic philosophy tutor in Cairo during my student days there.   One day, while I was with reading through a text with him at the Institut Dominicain des Etudes Orientales in Cairo, it suddenly hit me how wildly unlikely it was that the claims of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were uniquely true.  Here I was, studying the sophisticated intellectual products of one of the... Read more

    Science makes people reach selflessly for truth and objectivity; it teaches people to accept reality, with wonder and admiration, not to mention the deep awe and joy that the natural order of things brings to the true scientist.  (Lise Meitner)   I confess that I was unaware of her until very recently — which is symptomatic of the injustice of it all.   Lise Meitner was an Austrian physicist, born in Vienna, whose research concentrated on radioactivity and... Read more

    New in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship:   “Research and More Research”   Abstract: Young members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have grown up with a plethora of information available to answer the questions they may have about the Gospel. This, in turn, has allowed discordant information to cause concern in many members, ultimately drawing some away from the Gospel. In a recent address to young, married members of the Church in Chicago, President... Read more

    Matthew 15:29-31 Mark 7:31-37   This particular passage occurs only in Matthew and Mark, but it’s in the spirit of John, in a way:  Characteristically, John refers to the miracles of Jesus as semeia, or “signs.”   They’re surely not unimportant in themselves, of course, because of the direct impact they have on their recipients.  But they’re even more important — certainly for us and for their audience at the time — as pointers to God and reminders... Read more

    First, some Brigham Young University news:   “BYU Law’s pipeline to the U.S. Supreme Court continues”   A somewhat older article:   “The seven most underrated law schools: Study that judges schools based on students says BYU is a Top 20 law school”   ***   Also from BYU:   New Testament Study Helps   ***   On a recent small BYU-related controversy:   “BYU responds to DPS notice of intent to decertify University Police”   ***  ... Read more