The latest installment of my now (alas) biweekly column in the Deseret News appeared fairly early on Thursday, though I’m now behind:   “Faith, water, food and air”   ***   An interview with Dana Pike regarding “Israel’s Kings” is now up on the website of the Interpreter Foundation:   http://interpreterfoundation.org/israels-kings-with-dana-m-pike/   ***   Is everybody aware of the Interpreter Foundation’s Gospel Doctrine Resource Index?  It’s intended for all teachers and students in the Gospel Doctrine classes of... Read more

    Curiously, I still haven’t read the entirety of Alexander Kinglake’s 1844 book Eothen; or Traces of travel brought home from the East.  But one particular passage — a fictional conversation between an English visitor and an Ottoman (Osmanli) pasha by means of a somewhat manic-depressive dragoman (an early form of travel guide and translator) — has always struck me as hilarious.  Maybe one has to have spent time in the Middle East to fully appreciate it, but the flowery... Read more

    I’ve just finished my debate here at FreedomFest 2018 with Michael Shermer, on the topic of “Is Faith Compatible with Reason?”   I was quite satisfied with the way things went.   The debate was recorded by C-SPAN BookTV.  I don’t know when it will be broadcast.   ***   I tend libertarian, mostly on economics, but I’ve never been able to sign on fully to the libertarian view of the world. Here’s a recent example of why... Read more

    Well, we’re finally in Las Vegas for FreedomFest 2018.   In fact, we’re just back from a smallish private dinner (there were about twenty of us) including such folks as John Mackay, Michael Shermer, Mark Skousen, Daniele Struppa, Deirdre McCloskey, Grover Norquist, Steve Forbes, Lisa Sparks, Larry Elder, Doug Casey, and George Will.   Needless to say, the conversation was fascinating and spirited.   And, for those who have followed George Will at all closely, it’s scarcely surprising that part of... Read more

    Continuing with my little series of posts on religion in Iran:   The central texts in the religion of Zoroastrianism are the Avesta, which includes the Gathas (the purported writings of Zoroaster himself) and which gives its name to a sacred form of the Old Persian language called Avestan, and the Yasna, the scripture.   Zoroaster (aka Zarathustra and Zardusht) addressed God as Ahura, “The Lord Creator,” and as Mazda, “Supremely Wise.”  Perpetually opposed to Ahura Mazda was Angra Mainyu, or... Read more

    We’ve just walked back from the Lowell Davies Festival Theatre, directly adjacent to the Old Globe in Balboa Park.  We saw a production of William Shakespeare’s last play, The Tempest.  It’s a favorite of ours.   This was a good, solid production, but I confess that I didn’t absolutely love it.   It was done largely in more or less modern dress, and several of the traditionally masculine roles were assumed by women.  So, for instance, the aged... Read more

    Two items from some accumulated notes for another of my manuscripts:   (1)   The English poet Rupert Brooke wittily satirized the concept of a life to come as baseless wish fulfillment in his poem “Heaven”:   Fish (fly-replete, in depth of June, Dawdling away their wat’ry noon) Ponder deep wisdom, dark or clear, Each secret fishy hope or fear. Fish say, they have their Stream and Pond; But is there anything Beyond? This life cannot be All,... Read more

    We: Dear Father, whenever the end is scheduled to be, can’t you give us an extension of time? He: Willingly. But tell me first, what will you do with it?  We: Well . . . ah . . . we will go on doing pretty much what we have been doing; after all, isn’t that why we are asking for an extension? He: And isn’t that exactly why I want to end it soon—because you show no inclination... Read more

    So it’s Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court.  I confess that I was beginning to hope for Amy Coney Barrett, but Kavanaugh will, I’m sure, be a superb Justice.  I’m pleased.   ***   Just back from Hob Nob Hill, where we had dinner with friends.  (Amazingly, notwithstanding my richly deserved reputation for perpetually seething rage and mean spiritedness, I do somehow still have friends.)  I enjoyed the food, but I particularly appreciated “Melissa,” who, my wife and... Read more

    Some more notes for The Book:   What is sometimes called “the Proto-Iranic religion” and then its subsequent derivatives, Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism dominated Iran through the Median, Achaemenid, Parthian, and Sasanian eras.  When the Sasanid dynasty fell to Arab invaders between AD 633 and AD 654, however, Iran began a gradual process of Islamization that was remarkably complete.     Today, the so-called “Twelver” or “Ithna’ashariyya” sect of Islam claims the allegiance of roughly 90% to 95% of... Read more