On Saturday, our group arose early and headed first to the Shepherds’ Fields near Bethlehem — specifically to the Franciscan area.  We went into one of the caves and ended up sharing the space with a group of German Christians.  That was especially fun for me, as we joined with them to sing several Christmas carols in German and English.  (Christmas, for me, has long had a slightly German tinge.)   Afterwards we looked out over the fields... Read more

    Another selection from my notes:   Harvard psychiatrist Armand Nicholi, Jr., suggests that one motivation for Freud’s atheism may have been his overpowering desire, as an unfashionably Jewish intellectual in fin-de-siecle Vienna—where anti-clericalism and secularizing contempt for religious belief were common among the educated elite—for personal acceptance and the acceptance of his new theory of psychoanalysis.[1]   Freud’s early experiences with anti-Semitism critically influenced his attitude toward the spiritual worldview.  In Austria over 90 percent of the population... Read more

    More notes from one of my manuscripts:   This was much the same impression that his contemporaries had of Joseph, even late in his career.  “He is a man that you could not help liking as a man,” George W. Taggart wrote from Nauvoo to his three non-Mormon brothers in the fall of 1843, “setting aside the religious prejudice which the world has raised against him. . . .  Neither is he puffed up with his greatness as... Read more

    Still pilfering my notes:   The zealous Oxford polemicist for Darwinism, Richard Dawkins:  “Even if there were no actual evidence in favor of the Darwinian theory . . .  we should still be justified in preferring it over all rival theories.”[1]  Why?  Simply because it is naturalistic. C. Todd, a professor at Kansas State University, published a letter in the prestigious scientific journal Nature, announcing that “Even if all the data point to an intelligent designer, such an... Read more

    “Nephite History in Context: Artifacts, Inscriptions, and Texts Relevant to the Book of Mormon”   I’ll be interested to see how this effort goes.  Years ago, before certain employees of the Maxwell Institute (née FARMS) decided to assume control of it and to lead it in a fundamentally different direction, we had planned to compile a volume that would provide descriptions and backgrounds for the ancient. texts and artifacts that were routinely mentioned by Hugh Nibley and in other... Read more

    Continuing, from one of the manuscripts:   The second story that will illustrate the power of poets among the pre-Islamic and early Islamic Arabs occurs a few decades after the rise of Islam. But the figures involved are agreed by virtually everyone to reflect accurately the attitudes of Arabian paganism, so I use it nonethe­less. It involves two famous poets by the name of Jarir and Farazdaq, who were (often bitter) rivals throughout their lives.[1] Many other people, poets... Read more

      From one of my manuscripts:   Most of us have a feeling, deep inside, that this world isn’t all there is.  That death will not be the end.  The great English poet John Donne (d. 1631) summarized the long-standing view not only of Christendom but of the world of Islam and beyond when, in striking and memorable imagery, he wrote that All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter... Read more

    Here is what Steve Densley actually wrote in Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture:   “A few positive articles appear in the volume, but these few essays do not entirely salvage what may have otherwise been a very important contribution to the study of Mormon theology. It would have been marvelous to see a book that explored the history of Mormon apologetics, the variety of topics that have been addressed, the way in which critics have responded to apologetic arguments, and more important, the way in which apologetics... Read more

    Incarcerated by the Missouri militia at Independence on 4 November 1838, having escaped execution a few days earlier only because General Alexander Doniphan had refused to carry out the order, Joseph wrote to his wife Emma.  The letter concludes with a thoughts of his children and a heartfelt plea to Emma: Tell them that Father is yet alive, God grant that he may see them again Oh Emma for God sake do not forsake me nor the truth... Read more

    On Thursday, after visiting the Pool of Bethesda and the Church of St. Anne, our little group proceeded up the Via Dolorosa — with a stop at the Chapel of the Flagellation (on the site of the old Roman Antonia Fortress), which commemorates the torture of Jesus at the hands of the Roman soldiers who were his captors.   Then we headed out the Jaffa Gate for our hotel.   On Thursday evening, we attended a special program... Read more