My man Plutarch is pretty awesome.  He is interested in all kinds of things, everything from discussing how young men ought to be taught how to properly and beneficially read poetry (lest they be sullied by the fake hocus-pocus crap and salacious stuff) to the parallel lives of Demosthenes and Cicero.  He is also an astute commentator on religious things.  He is a philosopher, in the sense that he lives a philosophy (an eclectic [Middle] Platonism), and he is a priest of Apollo at... Read more

This year has been a great year for FPR. We’ve been blessed with the addition of FIVE new permabloggers: aliquis, BHodges, Enoch, MormonDeadHead, and oudenos. We were also thankful to have BiV as a guest. It has also been a year where many members of our team have been blessed personally, in their families, and professionally. All in all, we have a lot to be grateful for around here. We are also thankful for our readers, new and old, who... Read more

I love Christmas. I love the chance we have to celebrate our relationships and take the time to think of and give to those close to us. I could listen to Christmas music all year. I freely admit to not liking Santa, however. More precisely, I think the “Santalogical” problems far outweigh the excitement that children have as they wait for reindeer to alight on the roof and a fat mystical man to come through the chimney (or through the... Read more

Starting today we will have a number of posts about Santa Claus. If you have something that you would like to add to this series, let me know in the comments. Here is my attempt. Merry Christmas. I like Santa Claus. He is not real, but he has spiritual significance for me. In this way, Santa is like Job. I do not think that Job was a real person, but I do think that Job is one of of the... Read more

The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c <td style='padding:2px 1px 0px 5px;' colspan='2'Jesus Is a Liberal Democrat www.colbertnation.com Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog</a> March to Keep Fear Alive Stephen Colbert channels Hugh Nibley. Merry Christmas! Read more

December 16 marks my 5 year anniversary on the bloggernacle. It all started on a December morning in 2005 at Utah Valley State College. I walked into the adjunct instructor workroom and was greeted by my colleague John Crawford. John and I talked a good bit in that room at different times over the years. We had also team taught a class together. That morning John asked me if I wanted to join a blog he had started. It was... Read more

These days I am reading for my comprehensive examinations and almost daily I come across something that makes me silently chant the refrain:  There is nothing new under the sun.  Well yesterday’s discovery was a real head scratcher and one that might cause some blushing for those with tender ears and modest tongues.  So for those whose eyes cannot bear the sight of things unsightly I forewarn you: stop reading. For the titillated: read on. Sometimes you hear slang and... Read more

President Packer has been the focus of a lot of online discussion in the wake of his recent General Conference address. Rather than enter that fray, I want to bring up an Elder Packer quote from the early 80s which, in my view, continues to be misunderstood by some well-meaning members and critics of the church: “A testimony is to be found in the bearing of it!” I have a few peripheral reasons for bringing this talk up, including my... Read more

Forgive me for posing a question, and having no answer whatsoever, but was doing some reading this morning about initiation rituals into adulthood, which lead me to wonder about the LDS “age of accountability.” Anecdotally, I’d say that the most common age for the entrance into adulthood is around the ages of puberty, from 12-14. The obvious bodily changes and sexual maturation signify the time to be inducted into adulthood. In modern societies, with the delayed childhood that modernity introduced,... Read more

If we don’t celebrate Christmas, the terrorists win. While it seems that the terrorists may have won in 2005 at FPR, we’ve had a good number of excellent Christmas contributions. In celebration of this season, we’d like to offer some reflections of FPR bloggers, many who are no longer with us, on Christmas. 2010 Mary Knew! Stop Asking Stupid Questions! 2009 The Magic of Christmas and the Enchanted Mormon Worldview 2008 Christmas and Mary Reading the Christmas Stories: What is... Read more