For years, many have claimed that hard neuroscientific data has proven that humans don’t actually have free will.   Now, though, that supposed proof doesn’t look even remotely so secure:   http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2016/02/a-neuroscience-finding-on-free-will.html   This is really important.     Read more

    In August 2005, John Clark, Wade Ardern, and Matt Roper presented the following interesting material to the annual FAIR (now FairMormon) conference:   http://www.fairmormon.org/perspectives/fair-conferences/2005-fair-conference/2005-debating-the-foundations-of-mormonism-the-book-of-mormon-and-archaeology     Read more

    Just in case anybody out there has even a flicker of interest:   I’ll be speaking tonight in West Jordan, Utah, on the topic of “Who’s Who and What’s What in the Middle East.”  I plan to present a basic introduction to the various groups and factions (e.g., Iranian, Arab, Turk, Sunni, Shi‘i, ISIS, al-Qa‘ida, the Kurds, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Muslim Brotherhood, the Wahhabi movement) that are always in the news.  They’re not always clearly explained in media accounts,... Read more

    And now, yet another buried boat has been found, though this one is somewhat smaller than that of Khufu and appears not to be a royal vessel:   http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/archeologists-find-rare-4500-year-old-egyptian-funerary-boat-180958020/?utm_source=facebook.com&no-ist   (Thanks to Jabra Ghneim for alerting me to this.)     Read more

    Isaiah can be confusing, daunting, intimidating.  But his eloquence astonishes, and he’s remarkably quotable.  Which is why he’s the most quoted prophet in the New Testament.  And in the Book of Mormon.  And in the Dead Sea Scrolls.  He is, as Elder Bruce McConkie once termed him, “a prophet’s prophet.”   There are many interesting aspects to today’s reading, 2 Nephi 15 (= Isaiah 5), but I’ll pick up briefly on just a few.   1.   The idea of comparing... Read more

    “The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.” Samuel Johnson         Read more

    An article from Taylor Halverson in today’s Deseret News:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865646705/The-Book-of-Mormon-and-the-modern-day-Tyndale-moment.html     Read more

    I’ve long felt that food is an important part of a culture, so, in my Humanities 242 classes (“Introduction to the Humanities of Islam”), I’ve always offered extra credit for (among other possibilities) experiencing and writing something up about cuisine from the Islamic world.   There’s always been Bombay House in Provo, which my wife and I like very much (though it isn’t precisely on target for my classes), and there have been various restaurants in Salt Lake City... Read more

      Nicol Sorenson-Legakis reminds me that it’s that day of the year when I need to remind you of the greatest movie ever made.  I know my duty, so here’s something from a blog entry that I first wrote several years ago:   Groundhog Day is the greatest movie ever made. And I’m not the only one who thinks so: “A Movie for All Time,” by Jonah Goldberg Of course, that’s not denying that there are some other... Read more

    Some further reactions to Iowa’s caucus results:   *  The odds are now very good that the Republican nominee will be a Cuban-American.  That’s really interesting.   *  I would be happy with either Senator Cruz or Senator Rubio.  (I was aware of both, and supported both, when they were first running for the Senate.)   *  I tend to lean toward Senator Rubio, I think, because I believe he’s more electable at this point.  Senator Cruz has... Read more