Continuing with a manuscript of mine:   There still existed a large Jewish colony in Mesopotamia, in the area to which the Jews had been carried off during the so-called “Babylonian captivity.” As already mentioned, the captives had pros­pered there, and most of them had chosen to remain in comfortable exile even when the road to return was entirely open. They enjoyed a flourishing intellectual life and maintained relatively close con­tact with their fellow-believers in and around Palestine.... Read more

    I think that this is a very important little essay:   “Is Ideology Becoming America’s Official Religion?”   Let me apply it to the senatorial candidacy of Judge Roy Moore in Alabama:   Two prominent Latter-day Saints have recently indicated their views on Judge Moore:   “Romney on Moore: ‘No majority is worth losing our honor, our integrity'”   “GOP Sen. Jeff Flake writes check to Democrat opposing Roy Moore”   Governor Romney’s comment drew intense fire from... Read more

    I admire the legal profession.  I nearly decided to go to law school myself, and, even now, I occasionally experience wistful regrets that I didn’t.  The study of the law seems to me, at its best, a remarkable kind of training in logic, reasoning, the sifting of evidence, and precise expression.  And the practice of the law can occasionally even be noble.   Of course, I probably would have made relatively little money at it.  I would have... Read more

    For Day 5 of the “Light the World” initiative:   “Honor thy father and mother”   ***   Pentatonix does “Mary, Did You Know?”   ***   Here’s a column that I wrote for the Deseret News just before Christmas 2012:   His first wife, Mary, died after a miscarriage.  His second wife, Fanny, died in a freak household fire.  Trying to save her, he himself was burned so badly that he couldn’t attend her funeral and, for... Read more

    “Christians, have we understood the great responsibility that we have taken on before God through baptism? Have we come to know that we must conduct ourselves as children of God, that we must align our will with the will of God, that we must remain free from sin, that we must love God with all our hearts and always patiently await union with Him? Have we thought about the fact that our heart should be so filled with... Read more

    Continuing with a manuscript that I’m actually working on currently:   What really interested the earliest rabbis was the collection and organization of the so-called “oral law,” the traditions that had already been gathering about the text of the Torah for centuries. This was the next layer, the next level of sediment in the mounting deposit of what would come to be modern rabbinic Judaism. It culminated in the completion of the Mishnah, around the year 200 A.D.... Read more

    “I syng of a mayden” is a Middle English poem, perfectly suited to the Christmas season, that was written around AD 1400.  I give you, first, the original.  You’ll understand most of it if you pay close attention.  But I’ve followed that up with a modern English version, just in case:   I syng of a mayden That is makeles, king of alle kinges to here sone che chees. He cam also stille Ther his moder was As... Read more

    There’s a campaign brewing:   “Former LDS bishop calls for church leaders to stop interviewing teens about sexual practices”   I’ve read online complaints about sex-related questions in bishops’ worthiness interviews for quite a few years now.   I have to say, though, that I never experienced anything like the “predatory” questioning — to borrow a term used in the article (by someone with whom I agree) — that’s alleged by some critics of the Church.  Nor did my wife.... Read more