I wrote these two newspaper columns for Thanksgiving 2019: As we in the United States approach the national Thanksgiving holiday for 2019, it’s appropriate to consider things for which we should express our gratitude. Obviously, of course, there’s the good food that many of us will be eating. There are the family members with whom many of us will be gathering to share it. However, there is much, much more. Indeed, our reasons for gratitude are virtually... Read more
Four items went up today on the website of the Interpreter Foundation. Please do enjoy! Conference Talks: “Latter-day Houses of the Lord: Developments in Their Design and Function,” delivered by Richard O. Cowan This presentation, originally delivered on Saturday, 22 September 2012, traces the modern-day usage and understanding of temples from the Kirtland Temple to Nauvoo and the Salt Lake Temple. Architecture was used to teach principles. While the Kirtland Temple was preparatory (think of the vision... Read more
I reported yesterday on the efforts of a small handful of zealous critics of the Church to blame the recent mass murders in Colorado Springs on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and, specifically, on President Dallin H. Oaks, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, and the late Elder Neal A. Maxwell. I suggested that Mx. Aldrich may actually not have been motivated by pious study of relatively inaccessible remarks from the General Authorities, and now, as we... Read more
First, though, I need to announce three new items that have gone up on the website of the Interpreter Foundation: Nibley Lectures: Time Vindicates the Prophets — Rhetoric and Revelation Between 7 March 1954 and 17 October 1954, Hugh Nibley delivered a series of thirty weekly lectures on KSL Radio that were also published as pamphlets. The series, which was called “Time Vindicates the Prophets,” was given in answer to those who were challenging the right of members... Read more
As many of you are no doubt aware, about a week ago the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released a statement regarding current federal legislative efforts to frame a bill regarding same-sex marriage: “Statement on the United States Congress Respect for Marriage Act” Now, in response to overwhelming public demand — or, to put it another way, because a friend dropped me an email several days ago, suggesting that I comment on the subject in my... Read more
After our friend and her two young daughters left for home, my wife and I spent the late afternoon and early evening in nearby Arches National Park, where we enjoyed a variety of spectacular and almost otherworldly landscapes. I have to say that my adopted home state offers some truly remarkable vistas. The colors were magnificent as the sun began to set in the west; they change constantly throughout the day, making it worthwhile to come in the... Read more
A new, short video — accessible to you at no charge — went up this evening, Saturday evening, on the website of the Interpreter Foundation. I hope that you’re watching these, and that you’re sharing them with family members, friends, and anybody else who might be interested in what they have to say or who might benefit from seeing them: Witnesses of the Book of Mormon — Insights Episode 31: John Whitmer and the Plates John Whitmer was... Read more
Two new articles went up today on the website of the Interpreter Foundation: “Twenty Years After “Paradigms Regained,” Part 1: The Ongoing, Plain, and Precious Significance of Margaret Barker’s Scholarship for Latter-day Saint Studies,” written by Kevin Christensen Abstract: Twenty years ago, the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies published “Paradigms Regained: A Survey of Margaret Barker’s Scholarship and Its Significance for Mormon Studies” as its second FARMS Occasional Paper. The first part of this essay provides an... Read more
No recording was made of Royal Skousen’s remarks at Utah Valley University last weekend. But the paper on which his remarks were based is now available online at the Interpreter Foundation website, along with the slides that he used to illustrate his talk. What he had to say was both important and interesting — enough so that I, practically fresh off the plane from Cairo and feeling not only profoundly jet-lagged but under the weather with some sort... Read more
Ann Madsen, widow of the late Truman G. Madsen, passed away on 26 October 2022 at the age of ninety. Her funeral service will be held this coming Saturday. As I’ve recently had occasion to note, Truman Madsen had a crucial influence on me at a time when I was choosing the general direction of my life, and much of what I’ve done since then — much of the good, anyway, though none of the bad — bears... Read more
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