An interesting and informative piece about a pivotal dispute in Indiana:   http://www.firstthings.com/article/2015/06/the-power-elite   Posted from Washington DC     Read more

    Today, I’m commenting upon 1 Nephi 4.   The story of Nephi’s beheading of Laban is a fairly horrifying one — almost as much so as Abraham’s near-sacrifice of his own son Isaac (Genesis 22:1-19).  And it’s perhaps especially uncomfortable in light of the stories and images currently coming out of the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS, or ISIL), which beheads innocent people in order to make sick and nihilistic public statements.   There’s no point... Read more

    “There is superficial conflict but deep concord between science and theistic religion, but superficial concord and deep conflict between science and naturalism.”   (Alvin Plantinga, Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion, and Naturalism)   Posted from Washington DC   Read more

    I’m not sure that I called attention to this item from the Interpreter Foundation’s blog when it appeared:   http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/saved-by-charis-a-review-of-relational-grace-the-reciprocal-and-binding-covenant-of-charis/   So I’m doing it now.   Posted from Richmond, Virginia     Read more

    Some of you have, no doubt, heard of the so-called Letter to a CES Director, a compendium of criticisms of the claims of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that has achieved unmerited high status in the minds of more than a few formerly believing members of the Church.   Very few reputable scholars have paid any attention at all to this phenomenon, but, because it’s damaged testimonies, the Letter merits a response.  Here’s a site created by... Read more

    It’s a traditional time of year for lists.  So here’s one:   http://www.livescience.com/53198-top-weird-science-in-2015.html   Posted from Richmond, Virginia     Read more

  The eminent Austrian-American sociologist of religion Peter Berger takes an interesting look at the two terms:   http://www.the-american-interest.com/2015/12/23/judeo-christian-or-abrahamic/   Posted from Richmond, Virginia     Read more

    It has been insightfully said — by me, and (I believe) by somebody else — that the old FARMS was an internet organization avant la lettre, which is to say before such a thing was really possible.   Only now has the technology caught up with the vision.   The Interpreter Foundation is one manifestation of that.  And so, now, is Book of Mormon Central:   https://www.facebook.com/bookofmormoncentral/videos/1542563949399402/?pnref=story   Posted from Richmond, Virginia     Read more

    My friend and colleague Ralph Hancock has established a Facebook group that some of you might find of interest:   https://www.facebook.com/groups/1527203430925305/?pnref=story   Posted from Richmond, Virginia     Read more

    There is so very much that could be commented on in this chapter, and I hope that some of you out there will take those things up.   In the meantime, it being late out here in the East, I think I’ll content myself with one aspect of the chapter — a limit that, anyway, conforms to the rule that I’ve set myself for this project.   Isn’t it wildly implausible that, having just being rebuked by an angel from... Read more