“Faith is not something that goes against the evidence, it goes beyond it. The evidence is saying to us, ‘There is another country. There is something beyond mere reason’.” Alister E. McGrath     Read more

    Martin Tanner and Bruce Webster joined together for this discussion of Lesson 6 in the 2016 Gospel Doctrine curriculum.  It’s focused on 2 Nephi 1-2:   http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/scripture-roundtable-150-book-of-mormon-gospel-doctrine-lesson-6-free-to-choose-liberty-and-eternal-life/   This is, by the way, the 150th scripture roundtable posted by the Interpreter Foundation.  The one hundred and fiftieth.  For an organization that’s supposedly been on its deathbed since shortly after its founding roughly 3.5 years ago, that’s not altogether bad.     Read more

    A few days ago, somebody I’ve known (and liked) for years (and who, so far as I’m aware, remains active in the Church) expressed — rather fiercely, harshly, and vociferously — his contempt for President Russell M. Nelson’s statement (on which, see here and here) that the still-relatively-recent policy clarification regarding children in the custody of same-sex couples came as the result of revelation.  It was, this person said, a “lie.”  Which, I guess, makes President Nelson a liar.... Read more

    The Abbey Church of Saint Foy, in Conques, France, in which the somewhat unexpected mid-eleventh-century stone-carving detail above appears, was a popular stop for medieval pilgrims who were traveling along the “Way of St. James” en route to the shrine of Santiago de Compostela, which is located in what is now Spain.  But Conques had its own intrinsic appeal, as well — most notably, the alleged remains of St. Foy, a young woman who had been martyred for her Christian beliefs in the fourth century AD.  ... Read more

    In August of 2001, my longtime friend and colleague S. Kent Brown offered this presentation at the third annual FAIR conference:   http://www.fairmormon.org/perspectives/fair-conferences/2001-fair-conference/2001-arabia-and-the-book-of-mormon     Read more

    In connection with this Book of Mormon curriculum year, I think I’ll occasionally dust off one of my relevant previous Deseret News columns.  Here, for example, is a piece about a still-relatively new book that I strongly recommend:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865631371/From-Darkness-unto-Light-takes-a-fresh-look-at-recovery-publication-of-the-Book-of-Mormon.html     Read more

    There are points here where I disagree, but this Nobel laureate physicist’s perception that “beauty” lies at the heart of both physics and the universe itself is interesting, profound, and, I think, significant in ways that even he seems not to recognize:   http://nautil.us/issue/32/space/beauty-is-physics-secret-weapon     Read more

    In the very first verse of today’s reading, 1 Nephi 22, Nephi’s brothers seek to know whether the Isaianic prophecies that he’s just read to them from the plates of brass are intended literally, physically, or whether they’re intended “spiritually,” as a metaphor.   He assures them that they will be fulfilled — and were intended to be taken — both spiritually and physically.  They will literally come to pass.   There are, of course, metaphors throughout the scriptures.  There are... Read more

    http://www.mormonnewsroom.org.uk/article/prince-andrew-thanks-mormon-helping-hands-volunteers     Read more

    The world of strict naturalism in which clever mathematical laws all by themselves bring the universe and life into existence, is pure [science] fiction.  Theories and laws do not bring matter/energy into existence.  The view that they nevertheless somehow have the capacity seems a rather desperate refuge . . . from the alternative possibility. . . .  Trying to avoid the clear evidence for the existence of a divine intelligence behind nature, atheist scientists are forced to ascribe... Read more