This column appeared in the Deseret News on 15 November 2014:   Jesus, of course, was born and raised in Palestine. Like his apostles and earliest disciples, he was a Middle Eastern Jew. Christianity emerged from a Hebrew matrix, drawing on stories of prophets and patriarchs firmly set in the Middle East. All Christians know this, as does anybody even slightly acquainted with the Christian story. Yet we sometimes fail to understand the historical implications of Christianity’s Middle... Read more

    For specific reasons, I’m reposting this blog entry, which first appeared here on 11 October 2018:   There were times, particularly in my early graduate school days, when I thought that my having come from a completely non-academic family had worked against me.   I have friends and colleagues, themselves with strong Ph.D.s from prestigious schools, who have fathers and grandfathers and multiple siblings with professional and academic doctorates — in at least a couple of cases, with... Read more

    New, on the website of the Interpreter Foundation:   “Jesus Teaches Using Humor in John 4”: A Video Supplement for Come, Follow Me Lesson 7: “Ye Must Be Born Again”   ***   An Interpreter Radio (audio) Roundtable for Come, Follow Me New Testament Lesson 7, “Ye Must Be Born Again,” covering John 2-4, is now available online.   The panelists for this roundtable were Steve Densley, Craig Foster, and Matt Bowen. This roundtable was extracted from the 27 January 2019 broadcast of... Read more

    I published the following column in the Deseret News back on 16 March 2017:   In pre-modern times, some explained lunar eclipses by a supernatural dragon devouring the moon. Before the identification of germs and viruses, diseases were often attributed to demonic powers. And how did the planets move continually in their regular orbits? Angels, it was thought, were pushing the planetary spheres. And thunderbolts were hurled to earth by the god Zeus. Unfortunately, when natural causes were... Read more

    John 3:1-21   At least two of the most famous passages in the New Testament occur within this reading.  Take John 3:16, for example, which is familiar to every fan of American football:  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”   Here, though, are three very quick comments:   1.   The Greek word that’s translated in the King James Version as again in the phrase “born again,” is anothen (ἄνωθεν), which can also mean “from... Read more

    But first, here are two new items in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship:   “Read This Book: A Review of the Maxwell Institute Study Edition of the Book of Mormon”   Abstract: The Maxwell Institute Study Edition of the Book of Mormon is an important tool for personal and class study of the Book of Mormon. Not only does it provide a better reading experience, it has important features that enhance study.   “Feasting on the Book of Mormon”   Abstract: The Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious... Read more

    I published this article in the Deseret News on 20 April 2017:   So you’ve decided to declare yourself a prophet and to establish a new religion! In order to accomplish that, you obviously need to produce one or more revelations and to persuade others to believe in them. Historically, the typical route is to announce you’ve received at least one message from God. The procedure is straightforward: Simply say that you did — which may perhaps even... Read more

    Matthew 21:12-13 Mark 11:15-17 Luke 19:45-46 John 2:14-22   Some, particularly among Protestant commentators, say that the advent of Jesus and Christianity eliminated the need for a temple.  Priesthood, rituals, ordinances, works — none of these were necessary anymore.  But Jesus’ righteous zeal for the House of God, which, significantly, is depicted in all four of the canonical gospels, seems to suggest (along with such passages as Luke 2:49, where he refers to the temple as “my Father’s house”)... Read more

    The newest installment in my bi-weekly column for the Deseret News:   “A milestone in Latter-day Saint biblical scholarship”   ***   A deeply painful story, but beautifully treated in this article:   “A Utah Orthodox rabbi said his childhood nanny sexually abused him for 10 years. Here’s why he decided to tell his story for the first time”   Perhaps it will inspire some others to come forward, if they need to.   For some additional reading... Read more

    I share here a couple of passages from Roger Trigg, Beyond Matter: Why Science Needs Metaphysics (West Conshohocken, PA: Templeton Press, 2015), which I read and marked up some time back. Dr. Trigg, the founding president of the British Philosophical Association, was a student of the late A. J. Ayer, one of the principal thinkers of the school of “logical positivism.”  He is currently a professor emeritus of philosophy at the University of Warwick and a senior research... Read more