They’re not joking:   http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/03/15/bible-bonfire-isis-video-shows-christian-books-being-destroyed-adds-fuel-to-genocide-debate.html?intcmp=hplnws     Read more

    For years, critics have pointed to Joseph Smith’s use of Elijah and Elias as names or designations for distinct individuals as evidence that he was a false prophet.  After all, Elias is simply a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew name of the prophet Elijah.  In his cunning ignorance, so the argument goes, Joseph unwittingly manufactured two different individuals out of the single historical Eliyahu (אֵלִיָּהוּ).   Of course, it strains credulity — at least, it does so for... Read more

    They laughed at Louis Pasteur.   They laughed at the discoverer of continental drift.   They laughed at Einstein.   They laughed at Bozo the Clown.   Being laughed at doesn’t mean you’re not ridiculous.   Of all the book reviews that I’ve written, this one — published fully a quarter of a century ago — remains one of my very favorites, if only because the book to which it responds ranks among the worst books that I’ve ever... Read more

    In an event on the BYU campus sponsored by the Interpreter Foundation, BYU Studies, the BYU College of Humanities, and the BYU Department of Linguistics and English Language, Professor Royal Skousen and Dr. Stanford Carmack will address the topic of “Editing Out the ‘Bad Grammar’ in the Book of Mormon.”   Admission is free.  Further details can be found here:   http://byustudies.byu.edu/content/special-feature-17     Read more

    I doubt that Governor Romney would succeed.  But he would, if he were somehow elected, make a very good president.   He’s not as conservative as I am.  But he’s far more conservative than either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton.   And he’s a good man.  Honest.  Competent.  An adult.   A third-party candidacy, though, would probably fail.  Even Teddy Roosevelt fell short when he attempted to regain the presidency on a third-party ticket.   Another possible scenario, of course, would... Read more

      1.   Wednesday, 16 March 2016 (7 PM)   Cruise Lady Event Center 9116 S Redwood Rd, West Jordan, UT, United States (map)   “The Temple Mount: What is It, What’s On It, and Why is It So Important?”   A visit to the Temple Mount is one of the high points of any trip to Jerusalem. Thousands of years of history are still represented on and around it, but its importance is far from merely historical. This... Read more

    With his victories last night, General Zod has taken yet another major step toward the Republican Party’s 2016 presidential nomination.   In his quest to make Krypton great again, Zod will need to eliminate all terrestrial life forms.  But surely that end will justify his means.   Thus, given his claims of unspeakable personal wealth created by unparalleled business genius, perhaps it’s time for an overview of the actual record of this man who, he says, “tells it like... Read more

  Reverend Canon Arthur Peacocke (1924-2006), MBE, received his D. Phil. from the University of Oxford in 1948, followed by a D.Sc. in 1962.  He taught biochemistry at the University of Birmingham and, after 1959, at the University of Oxford.  He was ordained a priest of the Church of England in 1971, the same year that he earned a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Birmingham.  In 1982, he received a Doctor of Divinity degree from Oxford.     God is... Read more

    A man who was completely innocent, offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including his enemies, and became the ransom of the world.  It was a perfect act. Mahatma Gandhi   Read more

    I was pleased to find, in my office mailbox this afternoon, two copies of a new dual-language Armenian/English book, On This Day: The Armenian Church Synaxarion: February, translated by Edward G. Mathews, Jr., of St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in New York.   This is the latest publication from BYU’s Middle Eastern Texts Initiative (METI), which I conceived and founded.  Specifically, it’s from METI’s series of Eastern Christian Texts.   One of the non-negotiable demands that I made,... Read more