My friend Scott Gordon, president of FairMormon, shared this article with me about an important milestone in the history of scholarship:   Peer reviewed studies soon to be replaced by CAPS LOCK   Many of my internet and email critics will feel themselves vindicated.  Mostly, beyond their sheer and entirely understandable scorn for Y’r Humble Servant, these are opponents of Mormonism and of my defense of Mormonism. But the Trumpists who’ve recently been writing to me with powerful rebuttals... Read more

    I still have about ten minutes, so . . .  Happy St. Patrick’s Day, Brother Joseph!   http://www.irishcentral.com/news/irish-roots-of-mormon-founder-joseph-smith-discovered-100251279-237361951.html   Thanks to Cody Quirk for reminding me of this article.   Incidentally, on Dr. Ugo Perego (who spoke at our Interpreter symposium on science and Mormonism over the weekend), see here:   http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/author/ugop/     Read more

    The eloquent discussion in Mosiah 5, today’s reading, of taking upon ourselves the name of Christ and becoming his children — that is, members of his family and his true disciples — before the Day of Judgment has always spoken powerfully to me:   For how knoweth a man the master whom he has not served, and who is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart?  (5:13)     Read more

    We enjoyed a BYU concert tonight by Wu Man, one of the world’s leading players of the pipa.  The pipa is a stringed instrument that originally came to China from Persia and that is akin to the Arabic ‘ud — which is perhaps why I felt so completely at home with the evening’s music — as well as to the lute (which derives its name from the Arabic for “the ‘ud” [al-‘ud]) and, more distantly, to the guitar, and,... Read more

    I used to read articles pretty regularly from Dr. Paul McHugh, but hadn’t seen anything from him in years.  In fact, oddly enough, I thought of him about a week ago, wondering where he had gone.   Thanks to David Wills, a reliable Australian source of good reading, for calling my attention to this interesting and timely article:   Transgenderism: A Pathogenic Meme     Read more

    But with Christ, we have access in a one-to-one relationship, for, as in the Old Testament, it was more one of worship and awe, a vertical relationship. The New Testament, on the other hand, we look across at a Jesus who looks familiar, horizontal. The combination is what makes the Cross. Bono     Read more

    Merrick Garland’s “Moderation”   “The Senate Should Not Act on President Obama’s Supreme Court Nomination”   In the meantime, who would a President Trump nominate to the Supreme Court?   http://spectator.org/articles/65018/who-would-donald-trump-appoint-supreme-court   We have literally no clear idea at all.   Trump in 2016!  He’ll do something to America!     Read more

    He has, absolutely, beyond reasonable doubt, coarsened political speech in the United States.  And now he seems to be encouraging thuggish violence:   Los Angeles Times: “Trump’s endorsement of violence reaches new level”   “Donald Trump: ‘Never said’ I would pay supporters’ legal fees”   I’m astonished, genuinely astonished, that apparently otherwise decent people can look upon this with benign indifference, let alone support it.   And here, unsurprisingly, is another healthy and related development:   “Hactivist Group Anonymous... Read more

    My Thursday Deseret News column for the week:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865650218/Is-the-Bible-more-like-Platos-or-Copernicus-books.html     Read more

    In today’s reading, Mosiah 4, we continue with King Benjamin’s remarkable address.   I’ll single out four passages (from among many) that I really like:   1.   I love the exhortation to humility in verse 9.  It seems particularly apt in a time and a society in which many seem to think themselves wiser than God, if that poor wretch even exists:   Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that... Read more