One passage in Alma 14 has really stood out to me for several years now:  Alma 14:21, which describes the treatment of the prophets Alma and Amulek by the apostate people of Ammonihah.   And many such things did they say unto them, gnashing their teeth upon them, and spitting upon them, and saying: How shall we look when we are damned?   In the preceding verse, the record has told us that the mob continually hit Alma and... Read more

    The central idea of the Eastern Fathers was that of theosis, the divinization of all creatures, the transfiguration of the world, the idea of the cosmos and not the idea of personal salvation. . . .  Only later Christian consciousness began to value the idea of hell more than the idea of the transfiguration and divinization of the world. . . . The Kingdom of God is the transfiguration of the world, the universal resurrection, a new heaven... Read more

    I’m grateful to my neighbor, Dr. Lynn Dayton, for sharing this video with our high priests group today:   http://lp.hillsdale.edu/memorial-day/?utm_source=housefile&utm_medium=email&utm_content=memorial_day&utm_campaign=memorial_day_2016&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8zFIxyN-fU1AJ7F6HNTVsSEgBxIhNOk196XzKkDdRwcZjdOlY0ZrA-WTKFM-v_MNsJgOaeuid7-7pJND4UM6G8gPZFJg&_hsmi=30039141   Memorial Day Weekend has become a major time for fun and recreation and for family reunions, and I’m scarcely opposed to that.  I think, however, that we do need to devote at least a few moments to thinking about the deep and powerful meaning of the holiday.  And this video focuses on one very important aspect of... Read more

    For those who might be interested, here’s a list of articles addressing various aspects of Mormonism and science:   http://en.fairmormon.org/Mormonism_and_science   Some might find them to be useful resources, I think.     Read more

    When I first saw this headline, I thought to myself that it was most likely a case of a young Latter-day Saint’s oversensitivity.  I’ve been out and about in academia a bit myself, and have occasionally been snubbed, mocked, insulted, or otherwise inappropriately treated on account of my religious affiliation.  It’s never risen to a level, though, where I would have considered suing.   When I read this story, though, I swiftly changed my mind:   http://www.postregister.com/articles/news-daily-email-todays-headlines/2016/05/23/ex-if-tennis-star-sues-isu-discrimination#   Orin... Read more

    An interesting personal essay:   http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2016/june/nicole-cliffe-how-god-messed-up-my-happy-atheist-life.html?visit_source=facebook&start=1   May it happen again and again.     Read more

    I make a serious (and, on the whole, quite successful) effort to avoid politics on my blog on the Sabbath.   There are — blessedly — more fundamentally important things than partisan politics.  (I’m especially grateful for that fact during this dismal presidential campaign.)   But I still have more than an hour before Sunday, so what the heck.   Rachel Lu asks the interesting question, “Would Thomas More have voted for Donald Trump?” and provides her own answer... Read more

    My paternal grandparents were immigrants to North Dakota.  My grandfather from Denmark as an infant, though there’s a possibility that he was actually born in the United States.  My grandmother came from Norway as a teenage girl, alone.   Some of the Muslim immigrants to North Dakota described in this article came at about the same time as my grandparents, or even perhaps a bit earlier.   I cannot think of a good reason for regarding my immigrant grandparents... Read more

    It’s Memorial Day weekend.  So we spent the day — an exceptionally beautiful one — with other members of my wife’s family, visiting graves in Salt Lake City and up in Henefer.   I’m privileged to have known a few of them.   In honor of the holiday, I offer here a favorite (and very famous) poem by John Donne (1572-1631):   Death, be not proud, though some have called thee  Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not... Read more

    With his trademark wit, Jeff Lindsay responds to a reply to his two recent articles in Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture (which were published here and here):   http://mormanity.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-great-and-spacious-book-of-mormon.html   Sometimes, I fear that I lack the sheer capacity to become a critic of the Book of Mormon:  My credulousness is simply too weak.   (Incidentally, S. Kent Brown offers another comment on the same general topic here.)     Read more