Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.   You do not lead by hitting people over the head — that’s assault, not leadership.   And, yes, he did eventually resign his five-star generalship and become president of Columbia University.  And then the thirty-fourth president of the United States.   He knew something, perhaps, about leadership.   Posted from Carentan, Normandy, France     Read more

    We traveled this morning to Pegasus Bridge, inland from Sword Beach, which was prominently featured in the book and the movie of The Longest Day.  British forces landed in gliders very near it, disarmed the explosive charges that the Germans had placed to destroy it and render it useless to Allied troops and armor, and held it until they were reinforced.   The bridge is still there, though it has been moved away from the river and is... Read more

    Good advice, and an interesting book recommendation:   http://www.nationalreview.com/article/447833/bible-hebrew-greek-literature-ancient-languages-sarah-ruden-face-water-translator-beauty-meaning   Posted from Carentan, Normandy, France     Read more

    I occasionally encounter very mistaken, even misleading, claims about the Church’s involvement or lack of involvement in Mesoamerican archaeology.  Here’s a relatively short article that I wrote back in 2004 that might help to shed some light on that topic:   https://publications.mi.byu.edu/fullscreen/?pub=1458&index=12   Posted from Carentan, Normandy, France     Read more

  We were just there, on the Israeli side at Qasr al-Yahud, a couple of weeks ago:   http://www.reuters.com/article/uk-israel-palestinians-churches-idUSKBN15227H   I have to say that, just at a glance, the phrase beyond the Jordan strongly suggests to me that the true baptismal site of Jesus is on the far, or eastern, or Jordanian side of the River Jordan.  (The author would almost certainly have been writing from the perspective of the Land of Israel.)   Posted from Carentan, Normandy, France  ... Read more

    On Saturday, we drove into Bayeux, where we spent considerable time looking at the very famous Bayeux Tapestry and looking about the accompanying museum.  My wife has see the Tapestry several times, but this is my first visit to Normandy.  It’s a fascinating illustrated document, 230 feet long, that was possibly commissioned either by Queen Matilde (the wife of William of Conqueror) or by Bishop Odo (William’s half-brother) to tell the story of the events leading up to the pivotal... Read more

    “Nevertheless, just as I believe that the Book of Scripture illumines the pathway to God, so I believe that the Book of Nature, with its astonishing details-the blade of grass, the Conus cedonulli, or the resonance levels of the carbon atom-also suggest a God of purpose and a God of design. And I think my belief makes me no less a scientist.” — Owen Gingerich, professor emeritus of astronomy and of the history of science at Harvard University, and... Read more

      A poem appears in two languages on the wall of the World War Two museum in Arromanche.  The last verse reads as follows:   Voir ces enfants qui rient En jouant dans la mer. Le soleil d’aujourd’hui Sèche les larmes d’hier.   And, in English,   See the children laughing And playing in the sea. Today’s sun Dries yesterday’s tears.   That’s one of the striking things about Normandy.  Today, the sites of battles are so beautifully... Read more

    A YouTube video of a March address by the remarkably prolific Dr. Matt Bowen, of BYU-Hawaii, to the B’nai Shalom of Salt Lake City:     Posted from Carentan, Normandy, France     Read more

    I mentioned yesterday that Claude Monet loved to paint the Cathedral of Rouen, but I failed to note two interesting tombs in it:   One is the burial place of Rollo (originally Hrolf, d. ca. 930 AD), the founder of the Viking dynasty that eventually became the Duchy of Normandy.  He was the great great great grandfather of William the Conqueror (aka William I of England).   The other is that of the heart of Richard the Lionhearted, or... Read more