Sic Et Non

  A few days ago, I posted some quotations from an interesting paper that I had just read — Stephan A. Schwartz, “Nonlocality and Exceptional Experiences: A Study of Genius, Religious Epiphany, and the Psychic,” Explore 6/4 (July/August 2010): 227-236.  My doing so gave such extraordinary joy to the denizens of the Peterson Obsession Board […]

  Meridian Magazine has just posted a new article of mine entitled “The Problem of Unanswered Prayers.”  I hope that some of you will find it helpful or of interest or, at least, not objectionable. My new article could, I think, fittingly be paired with another piece that I wrote a while back, “On Choosing […]

  Somehow, I failed to call attention here to this little essay, even though it was published in Meridian Magazine a full week ago.  Incidentally, too, just to clear up any confusion, despite the title of the article (which, I admit, could easily mislead many readers) it is not an entry taken from my wife’s […]

  A reader of this blog by the name of Laralee Nelson shared a couple of links in a blog comment that, with her kind permission (and since they’re in the public domain over at FamilySearch), I’m now sharing here more generally. The first link is to the last will and testament of one Samuel […]

  These new items have appeared on the nearly comatose and virtually moribund website of the Interpreter Foundation.  Happy weekend!  We hope that you will enjoy them. “An Important Addition to the Library,” written by Kevin Christensen Review of Grant Hardy, The Annotated Book of Mormon (New York: Oxford University Press, 2023). 912 pages; $37.95 (hardcover). […]

  Conference Talks: The Two Ways in Ancient Egyptian Religion and Israelite Temple Theology, presented at the 2018 Temple on Mount Zion Conference by John Thompson The fourth “Temple on Mount Zion” Conference was held on Saturday, November 10, 2018 in the Tanner Building at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. The presentations were filmed, and […]

  I’ve been reading a small collection of essays by the late Edward O. Wilson (1929-2021), the Harvard biologist,  ecologist, and entomologist who is best known for developing the field of sociobiology:  Every Species is a  Masterpiece (London: Penguin Books, 2021).  Wilson was also, by the way, an outspoken advocate of “scientific humanism” (a term […]

  I read an interesting paper this morning — Stephan A. Schwartz, “Nonlocality and Exceptional Experiences: A Study of Genius, Religious Epiphany, and the Psychic,” Explore 6/4 (July/August 2010): 227-236 — from which I’ll share a few quoted passages.  At the time that he published his article, Stephan Schwartz was Senior Samueli Fellow for Brain, […]

  Spencer Kraus, Martin Tanner, Hales Swift, and Brent Schmidt came together for the 7 January 2024 episode of the Interpreter Radio Show, which focused on Come, Follow Me Book of Mormon lesson 5 and on evidences for the Book of Mormon.  Their conversation is now archived, freed from commercial interruptions, and made available for […]

  We participated in the first dedicatory service for the new Orem Utah Temple this morning.  Elder Hugo E. Martinez, whom we came to know just a bit during a tour of Israel many years ago (prior to his call as a General Authority), conducted the meeting, which featured a pre-recorded video message from President […]

  We held our quarterly Interpreter Foundation board meeting today — technically, it’s our annual board meeting (so, among many other things, we voted to continue our officers as they had been constituted) — and our book committee met this afternoon.  There are, I’m happy to report, some very good things on the horizon.  I’m […]

  Newly published on the website of the Interpreter Foundation: “Heavenly Ascent in Jacob’s Writings in Second Nephi: Addressing the Question of What the Plan of Salvation is in the Book of Mormon,” written by Skyler R. Smith Abstract: Heavenly ascent describes the process of an individual (or community) returning to the presence of God. […]

  Conference Talks:  Bearing Testimony in Hebrew: A Comparison of Ancient Israelite Temple Worship with Modern Latter-day Saint Testimony Meetings, presented by Ryan Davis at the Interpreter Foundation’s 2018 Temple on Mount Zion Conference The fourth “Temple on Mount Zion” Conference was held on Saturday, November 10, 2018 in the Tanner Building at Brigham Young […]

  I want to remind you of Steve Densley’s rapidly approaching fireside in the greater Houston area.  (See here for details of time and place and topic.)  In one exceptionally weird corner of the internet, of course, the reviews of his remarks are already pouring in, days before those remarks will be delivered.  I can’t […]

  These three items went up today on the website of the Interpreter Foundation: Nibley Lectures: Come, Follow Me Book of Mormon Lesson 3 “Come and Partake of the Fruit”: 1 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 […]

  We left our boat this morning and headed over the great temple complex of Karnak, where we spent a couple of hours and could easily have spent many, many, many more.  We had a very Egyptian lunch at a restaurant in Luxor called Sofra, and then our group began to split up.  Six of […]

  I want to call to your attention an upcoming fireside in the greater Houston, Texas, area.  I anticipate that those who attend will find this presentation interesting: Proving the Church is True Steve Densley, J.D. Saturday, January 20, 2024, 6:00 P.M. Friendswood Texas Stake Center 505 Deseret Drive, Friendswood, TX 77546 You are cordially […]

  Our visit to the Nubian village of Gharb Suhayl yesterday was completely different than any of our previous visits there, and I really liked it.  We landed a few hundred yards south of our previous landing spot, and never actually went to the area that we had spent our time in on earlier occasions. […]

  To the consternation of its critics, the Interpreter Foundation is not dead, nor doth it sleep.  Today, Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship published a new article entitled “The Literary Structure of Alma 17–20: A 14-Unit Chiasm,” which was written by Derek Squire: Abstract: This article is an analysis of the […]

  Another good day, at least from my perspective.  We began it with a visit to the so-called Egyptian Museum — the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities — on Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo.  Some of the rooms there have been emptied out a bit, with their objects probably having gone to the beautiful new National […]