I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself, I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself now and then in finding a smoother pebble or prettier shell than ordinary, while the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me. Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727)   Raw and unprocessed notes from a manuscript, drawn from Allen R. Buskirk’s review of Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science... Read more

    One of the most memorable experiences of my life, and certainly of the years that I spent living and studying in Egypt, was the six months or so that I studied Islamic philosophy, one on one, with Father Georges Anawati OP (1905-1994) of Cairo’s Institut Dominicain des Etudes Orientales.   He was a wonderful man.  Once, having bought and just begun to read a book by F. E. Peters of New York University, I noticed that it was dedicated to... Read more

    Matthew 15:1-20 Mark 7:1-23 Compare Luke 6:39; 11:37-41   The scribes and Pharisees accuse Jesus of violating “the tradition of the elders,” but he one-ups them by pointing out that they and their tradition actually violate “the commandment of God.”   In the Marcan account, the Savior cites Isaiah to describe them:   He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from... Read more

    I found Anthony Standen’s Science is a Sacred Cow (1950) in the San Gabriel High School library and I read it when I was a teenager.  I’ve never forgotten it.   Anthony Standen (1906-1993), born to an American mother and a British father, received his education at the University of Oxford, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and the University of New Hampshire.  He went on to become a respected scientist, focusing on both chemistry and entomology.    In Science is... Read more

    My friend Mike Davis shared this story with me over the weekend, about archaeological findings in Israel’s Negev Desert (which doesn’t look very much like the Bay of Islands or New Zealand generally):   “1,500-year-old garbage dumps reveal city’s surprising collapse: Archaeologists thought Elusa, a popular Roman wine center, collapsed with Islam’s arrival. Its trash reveals a very different—and alarming—reason.”   And here’s another account:   “Ancient Garbage Heaps Show Fading Byzantine Empire Was ‘Plagued’ By Disease and... Read more

    I haven’t yet read this article, which appears in the journal Evolutionary Psychological Science 4/3 (September 2018): 233-244, and I have absolutely nothing invested in the validity of its specific thesis, but it makes an intriguing (albeit very surprising) suggestion and, I’m sure, will be received with universal serenity and equanimity:   “The Mutant Says in His Heart, “There Is No God”: the Rejection of Collective Religiosity Centred Around the Worship of Moral Gods Is Associated with High Mutational... Read more

    New, on the website of the Interpreter Foundation:   The Kinshasa DR Congo Temple: A Personal Perspective / Part 2: Media Session of the Kinshasa Temple Open House / March 11, 2019   And here’s a more or less geographically related story from the official Church newsroom:   “Zimbabwean Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Donate Supplies to Victims of Cyclone Idai”   ***   Interpreter’s man in China, Jeff Lindsay, holds a doctorate in chemical... Read more

  Matthew 14:22-33 Mark 6:45-52 John 6:16-21   1.   It seems fairly obvious that Peter, though a fisherman by trade and a man who spent much of his working life out in a boat on the lake, couldn’t swim.   2.   The BYU students who study in Israel have long had a traditional song that they sing when they’re in the Galilee:  “I swam today where Jesus walked.”   3.   It’s striking that even Jesus sometimes needed... Read more

    The 17 March 2019 broadcast of the Interpreter Radio Show is now available for your edification and listening pleasure. It will also be included in our podcast feed (https://interpreterfoundation.org/feeds/podcast).  The hosts for this episode of the program were Bruce Webster and Mike Parker, who discussed “Come Follow Me” lesson 14 as well as the changes that have taken place under the guidance of President Russell M. Nelson and the new temple in Rome.  You can listen to the... Read more

    I find some of the new thinking that’s going along these lines absolutely intriguing:   “Physics Is Pointing Inexorably to Mind: So-called “information realism” has some surprising implications”   Is mind an accidental by-product of random physical processes, a chance epiphenomenon, or is it a fundamental reality?   It won’t come as a surprise to many that I’m inclined to believe that intelligence is irreducible, absolutely basic.  Not derivative, but primary.   ***   I can’t remember the first... Read more