The estimable Robert Boylan calls our attention to a rather combative title and a short but nice little paper from the estimable Blake Ostler:   http://blakeostler.com/docs/logicalincoherence.pdf   Posted from Jerusalem     Read more

    An interesting argument from Stephen Smoot:   http://www.plonialmonimormon.com/2017/05/a-tale-of-two-smiths.html   Posted from Jerusalem     Read more

    “Anybody who has been seriously engaged in scientific work of any kind realizes that over the entrance to the gates of the temple of science are written the words: ‘Ye must have faith.'” Max Planck (d. 1947)   Posted from Jerusalem     Read more

    This article recounts some fascinating history that I had never heard before:   When Europe Loved Islam   Posted from Jerusalem     Read more

    “If they had connived a scheme, and Christ had not been raised from the dead, where would have been the hardest place on the face of the earth to convince anyone?  In Jerusalem.” Josh McDowell    Posted from Jerusalem   Read more

    After the usual very early start, we first visited the traditional site of Jesus’ baptism by his cousin, John.  Called Qasr al-Yahud, it’s much more attractive to me than the (more beautiful but likely inauthentic) alternative site at Yardenit, to the north.   Then we went to the spectacular desert mesa of Masada, where the last hold-outs in the First Jewish Revolt ultimately committed suicide rather than be taken as Roman slaves.     After that, lunch and... Read more

    I find him concerning on many levels, but Mr. Trump’s judicial nominations continue to be very good:   https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/07/us/politics/trump-lower-court-nominees-conservatives.html?smid=pl-share&_r=0   Posted from Jericho, Palestine     Read more

    From my perspective, the two most intellectually interesting non-teaching units currently at BYU — by far — are the International Center for Law and Religion Studies, housed in the J. Reuben Clark Law School, and the Wheatley Institution.   Here’s an important article from Elizabeth Clark, who is prominently affiliated with the former:   http://www.nationalreview.com/article/447363/jehovahs-witnesses-russia-ban-extremist-religious-freedom-trump-administration   Posted from Jericho, Palestine     Read more

    A fine article by my favorite American Catholic archbishop:   (Re)Building the Kingdom: Secularism, Christianity, and Cultural Renewal   Posted from Jericho, Palestine     Read more

    Remarkable findings, if true:   https://www.newscientist.com/article/2130266-early-earth-was-covered-in-a-global-ocean-and-had-no-mountains/   Posted from Jericho, Palestine     Read more