In the 173rd scripture roundtable posted by the Interpreter Foundation, Daniel Peterson, Martin Tanner, and Bruce Webster focus on Alma 36-39, the chapters covered in lesson 29 of the 2016 Gospel Doctrine manual.   Posted from San Diego, California     Read more

    We drove through Las Vegas today.  Although, having lived for much of my life in both Utah and California and having family in both places, I once drove through Las Vegas a very great deal, it’s been several years since I’ve done that.  I’ve flown into and out of the city several times in the meanwhile, but you see the city differently when you approach it by car from the north.   Judging by the billboards along I-15, I conclude... Read more

    I would like to wish everyone out there a happy Pioneer Day.   I’ve thought from time to time about the significance of the pioneer experience for the culture and faith of today’s Latter-day Saints, and here’s one thing that occurs to me:   That process of crossing the plains built a sense of “peoplehood” that has, historically (and, I hope, still today), made membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints distinctly different from membership... Read more

    Just so you know:   https://www.amazon.com/Temple-Ancient-Restored-Mount-Zion/dp/1890718440/ref=redir_mobile_desktop?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0   Posted from Cedar City, Utah     Read more

    We’ve been down in Cedar City for the Utah Shakespearean Festival, which is one of the very greatest things in the state and in the region.  In fact, it’s a national treasure.   We’re veterans.  We’ve attended every year for something like a quarter of a century.  Maybe a bit longer.   Yesterday, we saw The Cocoanuts (a stage version of the old Marx Brothers movie) and The Three Musketeers.  It was, shall we say, a rather light... Read more

    A (to me) somewhat surprising discovery at the very heart of our galaxy:   http://astronomynow.com/2016/07/20/x-marks-the-spot-at-the-centre-of-the-milky-way/   Posted from Cedar City, Utah     Read more

    As a footnote to my post of a couple of days ago, here’s something with which I largely concur:   http://www.nationalreview.com/article/438255/donald-trump-republican-party-not-conservative   Also:   “Four Truths about the Party of Trump”   And an article with which I’m far, far more simpatico than I wish I were:   “The Magical Thinking of the Trump Movement”   And, while I’m not at all convinced that he’s anything remotely like the successful businessman that he claims to be, Mr. Donald... Read more

    Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture actually published not merely one review of Adam Miller’s Future Mormon: Essays in Mormon Theology yesterday, but two:   http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/beyond-agency-as-idolatry/   Posted from Cedar City, Utah     Read more

        The latest installment of the biweekly Hamblin-Peterson column in the Deseret News is now up:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865658616/Swedish-city-has-long-religious-history.html   Posted from Cedar City, Utah     Read more

    I suspect that this is grandstanding by the plaintiffs’ attorney:   http://fox13now.com/2016/07/22/lds-church-president-thomas-s-monson-subpoenaed-for-deposition-in-sex-abuse-lawsuits/   I expect that he wanted publicity for his case (and, just possibly, for himself).  And he’s getting it.   I don’t much like playing along, but, if you don’t know about this, you quite possibly should.  Some of the more hostile critics of the Church and of Mormonism are already celebrating and salivating.   Posted from Cedar City, Utah     Read more