Believe it or not, I’ve occasionally encountered an argument against Mormonism that rests on the notion that moderate wine consumption would be better for us than following the Word of Wisdom as it’s currently interpreted.   And, in fact, there have been studies suggesting that red wine, imbibed in reasonable quantities, confers cardiovascular benefits.   But is this really the case?   Maybe.  Maybe not.  The argument continues:   http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21696651-more-confusion-over-health-benefits-alcohol-wine-good-you-or-it   And, anyway, there are a whole host of reasons... Read more

    Some more Mormon musings on refugees:   http://www.authorryancjenkins.com/the-kingdom-of-god-has-no-georgraphical-boundaries/     Read more

    “I’d rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than to the faculty of Harvard University.” William F. Buckley, Jr.     Read more

    In a bid to demonstrate that she’s jus’ plain folks, Hillary Clinton joined some of the little people for a very brief but well filmed ride on the New York City subway:   http://whatstrending.com/news/21791-hillary-clinton-subway-new-york-city   I feel a mysterious need to vote for her now.   Unfortunately, though, my powers of resistance to this sort of thing are the stuff of legends, so I won’t.     Read more

    In Mosiah 26, as I’ve argued at length elsewhere, we see the rise of a church — in the sense of a volitional or intentional sub-community within the larger Nephite society — in the Book of Mormon.  And it’s clear from Alma’s puzzlement, and the need for special revelation to get him out of his quandary, that this was unprecedented.   Again, I recommend my previously published discussion of this topic:   http://publications.maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/review/18/1/S00009-5176a97bb7a9a9Peterson.pdf   I still rather like it.... Read more

    What the heck.  It being Friday, Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture — which is believed in some circles to have been on its deathbed since shortly after it was founded in the late summer of 2012 — has decided to publish a second article today:   http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/mormonism-at-oxford-and-what-it-signifies/   This has to be one of the longest, most lingering death scenes since “Liebestod,” in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde.     Read more

    It’s Friday, so here’s another article from Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture:   http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/joseph-and-the-amazing-technicolor-dream-map-part-1-of-2/   It’s free, too.  (But need I add that donations to the Interpreter Foundation are very welcome?)   If you see nothing above, please understand that the new, fancier way that Patheos displays links sometimes doesn’t show them at all.  So you can try refreshing your screen, in hopes that something will appear, or you can just go to the general Interpreter link... Read more

    I believe in the academic peer review process.  I think it very useful to both authors and editors.   I’ve undergone scholarly peer review many times myself.  Moreover, the two Mormon-related journals with which I’ve been principally connected have used the same peer review processes that are employed in academia generally.  We replicated the methods with which we’re familiar.  (The common accusation in some circles that we don’t use peer review is, like much else that critics have said... Read more

    Richard J. Mouw is an extremely prominent Evangelical academic and intellectual, a genuine friend to many Latter-day Saints, and — certainly in my experiences with him — a very good and fair man.   And he’s just published a serious article about his take on Mormon doctrine and on what he takes to be changes in the wind:   http://www.firstthings.com/article/2016/05/mormons-approaching-orthodoxy   I intend to respond to it at some length, in print, in the not-too-far distant future.  Probably... Read more

    Thanks to Charles Steinman for calling this item to my attention:   https://www.facebook.com/Channel4News/videos/10153662029821939/?pnref=story   I think it’s important that we not see Muslims only as perpetrators of violence.  In many cases — and very much so in the Middle East and other predominantly Islamic areas — they’re its principal victims.     Read more