I first read the famous Meditations of the Stoic philosopher and Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180; reigned 161-180) when I was a teenager, and the volume has been one of my very favorite books ever since.  Here’s one of many quotable passages from it:   Say to yourself in the early morning: I shall meet today ungrateful, violent, treacherous, envious, uncharitable men. All of these things have come upon them through ignorance of real good and ill.... Read more

    At the specific request of the Deseret News, I wrote this column back in December 2010.  I include the editors’ introductory note:   LDS Church history sites that dot the eastern half of the United States all prepare for Christmas with lights, Nativity displays and other decorations. This week Mormon Times highlights Christmas at LDS Church historic sites from Sharon, Vt., to Nauvoo, Ill. Also, BYU professor Dan Peterson helps give insight to what the holiday season is like... Read more

    Several people have called my attention to this story, which is quite appropriate for the Christmas season (and will be even more appropriate for Easter):   “Age of Jesus Christ’s Purported Tomb Revealed”   “Age of ‘Christ’s tomb’ is revealed: Mortar used in the complex dates to Rome’s first Christian emperor suggesting it really IS where ‘Jesus was buried and resurrected'”   I posted the following blog entry slightly more than a month ago, but it seems worth reposting... Read more

    I’ve just come across a 1991 New York Times article about the great astronomer Allan Sandage, who died in 2010:   “Sizing Up the Cosmos: An Astronomer’s Quest”   Here’s how it opens:   “PASADENA, Calif.— In the mornings before smog dims the sky like a dirty nebula, Dr. Allan R. Sandage can stand at his office window and see, if not the beginning of the universe, or its end, at least the summit where astronomers first came to... Read more

    Continuing with my draft manuscript:   Abu Bakr was the first man to bear the title of “caliph,” to serve as the political successor of the Prophet.[1] He lived for only two more years beyond the death of Muhammad, but it was during his rule that a series of small campaigns known as the “Wars of the Ridda” reestablished the control of the new Islamic “state” over the Arabian peninsula. Just before his death in 634 A.D., Abu... Read more

    Thanks to Jaxon Washburn for reminding me of this statement, made by Elder Erastus Snow of the Council of the Twelve Apostles on 3 March 1878:   “‘What,’ says one, ‘do you mean we should understand that Deity consists of man and woman? Most certainly I do. If I believe anything that God has ever said about himself…. I must believe that deity consists of man and woman… There can be no God except he is composed of man... Read more

    From a forthcoming book. Beginning with the year AD 632, in Arabia:   Muhammad was dead. Now came the question of succession. The founder of Islam left no clear instructions on this question. Some felt that he had designated Ali, his cousin and son-in-law and one of the earliest male converts to Islam, to be his successor, but most in the community, including many whose loyalty to the Prophet can­not plausibly be denied, seem to have known of... Read more

    For particular reasons, I’ve just re-read an article by Ugo A. Perego and Jayne E. Eakins, “Is Decrypting the Genetic Legacy of America’s Indigenous Populations Key to the Historicity of the Book of Mormon?” that appeared in Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 12 (2014): 237-279.   It’s very, very good.  Those who are interested in questions surrounding the issue of Amerindian DNA and the Book of Mormon should absolutely be familiar with it.  And I’m pleased to note that... Read more

    From a rough manuscript of mine:   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 America of that period—to carry a... Read more

    I’ve been browsing a collection of sayings attributed to ‘Ali b. Abi Talib (d. AD 661), the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad and, eventually, the fourth Islamic caliph (and the figure around whom the Shi‘i form of Islam ultimately coalesced).  I selected a few of them for sharing here, in no particular order:   “If you want to know someone’s character, examine the friends he sits with.”   “There is no wealth like education and no poverty... Read more