I’ve written previously about the rebooted film Joseph Smith, American Prophet:   “Defending the Faith: ‘Joseph Smith, American Prophet’ shares story of Restoration, to air on PBS”   For those of you who haven’t managed to see it yet, or who would like to watch it again, there will be an opportunity to view the film tonight on KBYU-TV.  I’ve seen it listed for 8 PM, Utah time, but it seems that the correct schedule puts it at... Read more

    Among other things, my wife and I belong to a monthly reading group that meets to discuss both Mormon- and (usually) non-Mormon-oriented books. Officially titled but seldom actually called the “Gadianton Polysophical Marching and Chowder Society,” it was founded many years ago by a group of young Latter-day Saint faculty and graduate students associated more or less with the University of California at Santa Barbara.  But it long ago moved to Utah (where we were invited to join it) as its... Read more

    The so-called “Red Brick Store” in Nauvoo served both as an office for Joseph Smith and the First Presidency and as a business intended to help the Prophet support his family.  (Brigham Young later recalled that it never worked very well in that regard, because Joseph gave too much merchandise away.) An incident that occurred in the store is one of many that illustrate something about Joseph’s charitable nature.  Accounts like this are helpful to keep in mind when, as often happens,... Read more

    I taught Lesson 41 from the Gospel Doctrine manual today.  Actually, what I had to say was only very loosely related, if at all, to the outline given in the lesson manual.  But it was inspired by the topic of that lesson, which is “Every Member a Missionary.”   So that topic is on my mind.  Which will explain a bit of what follows:   I ran across a Facebook item from Sister Annie LeFevre, who is serving... Read more

    Another passage from a book-in-preparation:   Furthermore, the ruling classes of Jewry, including the chief families of hereditary priests, had perished along with the temple and the state they had served. Roman administrators were busily monitoring, harrassing, and persecuting descendants of the Davidic line, including the leaders of the Sanhedrin, in order to prevent them from serving as the nucleus of any new revolt. The prophets were long gone. Only the rabbis were left to become the leaders... Read more

    This statement from the Prophet Joseph Smith has been on my mind today:   Love is one of the chief characteristics of Deity, and ought to be manifested by those who aspire to be the sons of God. A man filled with the love of God, is not content with blessing his family alone, but ranges through the whole world, anxious to bless the whole human race. History of the Church, 4:227; from a letter from Joseph Smith to... Read more

    Three more passages from a book by Alister McGrath —  an Anglican priest who holds three Oxford doctorates: a D.Phil. in molecular biophysics, a D.D. in theology, and a D.Litt. in intellectual history, and who currently occupies the Andreas Idreos Professorship of Science and Religion at the University of Oxford:   [T]his “science versus religion” narrative is stale, outdated and largely discredited.  It is sustained not by the weight of evidence but merely by its endless uncritical repetition,... Read more

    From my notes:   Jill Mulvay Derr and Karen Lynn Davidson have commented similarly upon the “simplicity and understatement” of the Joseph Smith’s 1838 autobiographical narrative of the First Vision and the circumstances leading up to it: Joseph Smith proposes simply to “present the various events . . . in truth and righteousness” [verse 2].  He begins his account not with a thundering prophetic declamation, but with simple truths, a list of easily verifiable facts—his birth, the names... Read more

    I’ve written previously about the prodigiously prolific Oxford scientist and theologian Alister McGrath, for whom I have enormous admiration.  (See here, for example.)   I’ve just begun to read Alister McGrath, The Big Question: Why We Can’t Stop Talking about Science, Faith and God (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2015).  Here are some passages from its early pages:   Science is wonderful at raising questions.  Some can be answered immediately; some will be answerable in the future through... Read more