Yesterday, during Sunday school, we read these words from Mosiah 10:12-17 (among many others):   The Lamanites, we’re told, held to “the tradition of their fathers, which is this—Believing that they were driven out of the land of Jerusalem because of the iniquities of their fathers, and that they were wronged in the wilderness by their brethren, and they were also wronged while crossing the sea; and again, that they were wronged while in the land of their first inheritance, after they had crossed the sea.... Read more

    A member of my tour group in Israel — I don’t recall who it was — asked me, at one point while we were walking along, to explain the difference between the terms Near East and Middle East.  The question came at an awkward time, and, anyhow, I decided that it was something that the whole group should hear.  But things came up and I never got back to the issue.   So I’ll attempt an explanation now,... Read more

    Videos of the presentations given at the Interpreter Foundation’s 2016 conference on science and Mormonism — which was held on 12 March — are now available online for free viewing: http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/events/2016-second-interpreter-science-mormonism-symposium-body-brain-mind-and-spirit/conference-videos/ We hope you’ll enjoy them. Posted from Richmond, Virginia     Read more

    Dylan Zwick kindly calls the following talk to my attention:   Subject: “An intimate God: the new American search for near-magical supernatural presence” Speaker: Prof. Tanya Luhrman When: Thursday, May 19th at 7:30 PM Where: Gore School of Business Atrium and Auditorium, Westminster College The talk is free and open to the public. More information about it can be found here – https://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/events/details?event_id=20068 A preview of the talk can be found here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DloTO-SwFZA   I’ll still be in the east on Thursday... Read more

    “No two persons ever read the same book.”  (Edmund Wilson)   Posted from Richmond, Virginia     Read more

      A couple of weeks ago, we stood (once more) at al-Maghtas, the traditional site of John’s baptism of Jesus.   I like the site.  I think it’s probably the right place or, at least, not far from the right place.   I also like it for its symbolism:   Down in the Jordan River Valley, not far north of the Dead Sea, it’s very near the deepest spot on the surface of Planet Earth.  From there, one... Read more

    “Say, ‘If the sea were ink for [writing] the words of my Lord, the sea would be exhausted before the words of my Lord were exhausted — even if we brought its like to replace it.”  (Qur’an 18:109)   Posted from Richmond, Virginia   Read more

    “And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man’s hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down that the rain stop thee not.”  (1 Kings 18:44)   The Church’s “Proclamation on the Family” (as it’s commonly but not quite accurately known) was briefly mentioned in Sunday school today.  And I found myself thinking about... Read more

    I’m sure that much of the work is actually rather dull and quite mundane, but, as this article indicates, the payoffs can be remarkable:   http://www.wired.com/2016/05/franck-goddio-archeology/   Posted from Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina     Read more

    Apart from God every activity is merely a passing whiff of insignificance.  (Alfred North Whitehead)   Posted from Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina     Read more