Sic Et Non

  For my own undoubtedly dishonorable purposes, I’m extracting here some more of the passages that I marked during my recent re-reading of Elizabeth Lloyd Mayer’s posthumously-published 2008 book Extraordinary Knowing: Science, Skepticism, and the Inexplicable Powers of the Human Mind.  And, to reorient those who may be reading, I once again cite the brief […]

  The Interpreter Foundation continues to generate substantial materials for interested audiences.  Here are two recently posted specimens: (1)  “Not by Bread Alone Episode 1: Stories of the Saints in the DR Congo,” by Jeffrey M. Bradshaw For more information on the “Not by Bread Alone: Stories of the Saints in Africa” series, go to […]

  Two new articles went up at noon on Friday on the website of the Interpreter Foundation.  I hope that you will enjoy them: “Trees and the Love of God,” written by David M. Belnap and Nalini M. Nadkarni Abstract: Trees play real and metaphorical roles in the beliefs and holy scriptures of many world religions, […]

  Two more items have appeared on the website of the Interpreter Foundation.  They are: Conference Talks: Clothed with Glory: Sacred Vestments and the Restoration, from the 2018 Temple on Mount Zion Conference Matthew Roper spoke on “Clothed with Glory: Sacred Vestments and the Restoration” at the fourth Temple on Mount Zion Conference, held on […]

  We entered Queen Charlotte Sound this morning and sailed until we reached the town of Picton.  Today marked the very first time that I have set foot on New Zealand’s South Island.  I’ve seen the South Island once before, from Wellington across the Cook Strait on a clear day.  But I’ve waited a long […]

  Newly posted on the website of the Interpreter Foundation: Nibley Lectures: Come, Follow Me Book of Mormon Lesson 8 “O How Great the Plan of Our God!”:  2 Nephi 6-10 During 1988, 1989, and 1990, Hugh Nibley taught Honors Book of Mormon classes for four semesters at Brigham Young University. The lectures were video-taped […]

  We missed Auckland today.  A mechanical problem with one of our ship’s lifeboats — which was used as a “tender” to transport passengers in the Bay of Islands — prevented it from being raised back into position for departure.  And, of course, the ship was not allowed to set sail without its full complement […]

  My friend Professor Louis Midgley has had a life-long love affair with New Zealand and, being here once again, it’s very easy to remember and to understand why. We arrived today at the Bay of Islands, on the northeastern coast of the North Island.  Most specifically, our ship dropped anchor just off Waitangi, where […]

I return briefly to Elizabeth Lloyd Mayer’s posthumously-published 2008 book Extraordinary Knowing: Science, Skepticism, and the Inexplicable Powers of the Human Mind, which I recently re-read while flying over the Pacific.  And, just to refresh memories, I again cite here the brief bio that appears at the end of that volume: Known as Lisby by […]

  As discomfiting as it certainly is to our critics, the Interpreter Foundation continues to produce materials for the Latter-day Saints and for any who are interested in the Restoration, and to do so at an alarmingly non-glacial pace.  Here are the most recent publications from the Foundation: “Second Nephi as a Legal Document,” written by […]

  We began the day with almost all of our group taking a multi-hour minibus tour of mostly eastern Sydney, looking at the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the magnificent Sydney Opera House and including really good fish and chips and shrimp, followed by gelato, at Bondi Beach. As I sit down to commence writing this […]

  Amazingly, something new has appeared on the website of the Interpreter Foundation!  It is “Conference Talks: Consecration and Sacrilege in Early Rabbinic Judaism” Avram Shannon spoke on “Consecration and Sacrilege in Early Rabbinic Judaism” at the fourth Temple on Mount Zion Conference, held on Saturday, 10 November 2018 in the Tanner Building at Brigham […]

  Just in case anybody is out there who (a) might be interested and (b) is or will be in the vicinity of Sydney, Australia on the relevant date:  It seems that I’m likely to be doing a fireside there on Thursday, 22 February 2024.  I’ll try to post confirmation of this in the next […]

  On the flight from Honolulu to Sydney, I watched the 2015 film In the Heart of the Sea, about the disastrous final voyage of the Nantucket whaling ship Essex, which served as the inspiration for Herman Melville’s great novel Moby Dick.  The movie was a box office bomb.  I honestly don’t know why that […]

  Here are some notes about certain of the witnesses to the Book of Mormon — both official and unofficial — that I’ve drawn from the fourth chapter of Richard Lyman Bushman’s book Joseph Smith’s Gold Plates: A Cultural History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2023): Emma viewed herself as one who had never left […]

  I sometimes encounter the complaint from some atheists that they don’t even desire immortality because, they say, eternal life would be unendurably boring.  I don’t take the complaint very seriously.  On any given day, if I were to be told that I could choose between my life ending at midnight, on the one hand, […]

  The standard view of the origins of the Polynesians, and specifically of the Māori of New Zealand, is that they derive from the Lapita civilization of Melanesia and Micronesia.  Here is a passage from Māori History: A Captivating Guide to the History of the Indigenous Polynesian People of New Zealand (2022), apparently written by […]

  “Temple Themes in the Book of Abraham,” written by Stephen O. Smoot Abstract: The Book of Abraham is replete with temple themes, although not all of them are readily obvious from a surface reading of the text. Temple themes in the book include Abraham seeking to become a high priest, the interplay between theophany […]

  Conference Talks: The Symbolism of the Cupped Hand in Ancient Egypt and Israel: Iconography, Text, and Artifact, presented at the Interpreter Foundation’s 2018 Temple on Mount Zion Conference by Stephen Smoot Stephen Smoot spoke on “The Symbolism of the Cupped Hand in Ancient Egypt and Israel: Iconography, Text, and Artifact” at the fourth Temple […]

  Two books particularly stand out for having opened my mind to the possible reality of such things as clairvoyance (aka “remote viewing”), telepathy, and even communication with the dead via mediums.  None of these is essential to my worldview or my faith.  (If anything, indeed, spirit mediums seem to be antithetical to my doctrinal […]