New, in the pages of Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture:   “Why Did Northern Israel Fall to the Assyrians? A Weberian Proposal”   It’s Friday, after all.   “This article is centered on possible causes for the fall of Israel and, secondarily, Judah. The topic is not new. The very destruction of these ancient kingdoms may be the cause for the production of much of the Biblical literature that drives our interpretive enterprise. My proposal is that Max... Read more

    I share here quotations from an account of an experience reported by Ian McCormack, a native of New Zealand, who, at the age of twenty, was stung four times by a school of box jellyfish while scuba diving on the reefs off of Mauritius, an island in the Indian Ocean.  His account is included in John Burke, Imagine Heaven: Near-Death Experiences, God’s Promises, and the Exhilarating Future That Awaits You (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2015):   Then a brilliant... Read more

    In the Christian Science Monitor:  “The conservative Christian college where Muslims feel welcome: Being a tiny minority in a community can amplify differences. But at BYU, a common history of being the ‘other’ leads to a learning atmosphere of empathy.”   ***   I share with you some further passages that caught my attention in John L. Esposito and Dalia Mogahed, Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think (New York: Gallup Press, 2007):   a full third... Read more

    Some of you may be interested in a lecture to be presented in West Jordan, Utah, on the evening of Thursday, 15 November 2018, by Steve Densley, of the Interpreter Foundation.  His topic will be “The Ancient Temples of Egypt””   https://www.cruiselady.com/learn-our-religion-lecture-series/   My wife and I were with Brother and Sister Densley in Egypt a few months ago.  He is quite well informed on his topic.  And you may know him from his superb monthly hosting of... Read more

    Here are some notes from a rough and only partially finished manuscript:   Another indication of the Prophet’s sincerity is the striking fact that his own family manifestly believed him.[1]  “The parents and all living brothers and sisters of Joseph Smith believed his account of his visions.  In fact, the two grandparents still alive in 1830 also believed.”[2]  For example, the Joseph Smith Sr., the Prophet’s father, traveled two hundred miles—a significant and taxing journey in the frontier... Read more

    I can say with regard to parting with our friends, and going ourselves, that I have been near enough to understand eternity so that I have had to exercise a great deal more faith to desire to live than I ever exercised in my whole life to live. The brightness and glory of the next apartment is inexpressible. It is not encumbered so that when we advance in years we have to be stubbing along and be careful... Read more

    For the 28 October 2018 edition of the Interpreter Radio Show, Steve Densley, Craig Foster, and James Goldberg joined for a discussion of new Interpreter articles, church history,  and — in something of a first for the program — literature and poetry (particularly James Goldberg’s own).  A recording of the show, shorn of commercial breaks, is now available online, at the website of the Interpreter Foundation:   Interpreter Radio Show — October 28, 2018   ***   From southern... Read more

    I share with you an additional passage that caught my notice in John L. Esposito and Dalia Mogahed, Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think (New York: Gallup Press, 2007):   The heightened sense of the West’s threat to political freedom and to Islamic identity has likely reinforced the desire for Sharia.  Recourse to Sharia, the blueprint for an Islamic society, provides a centuries-old paradigm.  Thus, however different and diverse Muslim populations may be, for many, Sharia... Read more

    The headline is slightly misleading, since only President Russell M. Nelson and Elder Gary E. Stevenson are actually interviewed in this particular video clip:   “Latter-day Saint Prophet, Wife and Apostle Share Insights of Global Ministry: President Nelson says process of Church restoration continuing”   It’s an interesting conversation, though.  I especially enjoyed the last portion of it.   “We’re prophets to the whole word,” says President Nelson.  I can’t recall a president of the Church of Jesus Christ... Read more

    Over the next while, at intervals, I’m going to extract some marked passages from John Burke, Imagine Heaven: Near-Death Experiences, God’s Promises, and the Exhilarating Future That Awaits You (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2015).  I hope that you’ll enjoy them as I have.   If you read history, you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. . . .  Aim at Heaven and... Read more