Sic Et Non

    Three new articles appeared today, Friday, in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship.  We hope that you’ll take the time to enjoy them!   “The Last Nephite Scribes,” written by Noel B. Reynolds Abstract In an earlier paper, I concluded that Lehi and Nephi were highly trained Josephite scribes and were associated […]

    First of all, just so that you’ll be aware: Interpreter Foundation Tour Announcement! The tour will run from 9 October 2023 to 18 October 2023, with an optional five-day extension running from 18 October 2023 to 22 October 2023. Please note, too, that one of our hosts on the tour, Murat Çakir, is […]

    But, first, here are a couple of items that have recently gone up on the website of the Interpreter Foundation:   “Conference Talks: The Divine Handclasp in the Hebrew Bible and in Ancient Near Eastern Iconography,” by David M. Calabro David Calabro explores what he describes as the “divine handclasp” in the Hebrew […]

    Two new items have gone up today on the website of the Interpreter Foundation:   Come, Follow Me — Old Testament Study and Teaching Helps: Lesson 41, October 3–9: Isaiah 58–66 — “The Redeemer Shall Come to Zion” Once again, Jonn Claybaugh has generously supplied a concise set of notes for students and teachers […]

    Gee but it’s great to be back home.Home is where I want to be.I’ve been on the road so long my friend.And if you came alongI know you couldn’t disagree.It’s the same old story:Everywhere I go,I get slandered, Libeled,I hear words I never heardIn the Bible.   Paul Simon’s lyrics actually apply remarkably […]

    When we arrived here on Monday afternoon, my wife and I and my two visiting Utah cousins had an early dinner at the Farmhouse at Roger’s Gardens in Corona del Mar.  Only my second time, I think.  Maybe my third.  (My wife had been introduced to the place by friends, and she introduced […]

    Newly posted at 7 PM Utah time on Saturday:   “Witnesses of the Book of Mormon — Insights Episode 23: Why did Martin Harris Join So Many Churches?“ Martin Harris was away from the church for many years before finally returning. Critics have tried to use the fact that he joined other denominations as […]

    Three new items appeared today in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship.  As with all such articles, they are made freely available to anybody who might be interested:   ““For Their Good Have I Written Them”: The Onomastic Allusivity and Literary Function of 2 Nephi 25:8,” written by Matthew L. […]

    Something new has gone up on the website of the Interpreter Foundation:   Conference Talks: “Edfu and Exodus” (John Gee) In this essay John Gee draws a connection between the Egyptian “Book of the Temple” and the book of Exodus, both in structure and topic, describing the temple from the inside out. Gee […]

    On several occasions over the past few years, in various venues — see here, for example — I’ve published a list of four books that I recommend as a kind of “basic  packet” for people struggling with their testimonies, and I’ve explained that I think it important to preemptively strengthen faith as well […]

    Today’s reading in the new issue of BYU Studies was Stephen O. Smoot and Kerry Muhlestein, “Prophets, Pagans, and Papyri: The Jews of Greco-Roman Egypt and the Transmission of the Book of Abraham,” BYU Studies Quarterly 61/2 (2022): 105-134.  Stephen O. Smoot holds a master’s degree in Near and Middle Eastern Civilizationsf rom […]

    But first, I’ve been really busy of late, and I haven’t called attention to the newest of our short Witness-related videos.  It went up, as they always do, at 7 PM on Saturday evening, Utah time.  And, as they always are, it’s free.  Here it is:   “What Else Did the Witnesses See?” […]

    Just this morning, my wife and I received news of the death of a relatively young friend who has been living in southern California.  It was not unexpected.  In fact, over the past week or two we’ve been, in the odd way that happens in cases of prolonged and painful terminal illness, many […]

    I had an enjoyable time last night participating in a panel at Brigham Young University.  Camrey Bagley Fox (who played Emma Smith in Witnesses), and Mark Goodman (the director of Witnesses) and Russell Richins (the producer) and I (executive producer) took questions after a showing of the film in the Education in Zion […]

    It being Friday, another new article (this one a book review), has gone up in the pages (literal and virtual) of Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship:   “Examining the Origins of Temple Worship,” written by John Lynch Review of Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, Freemasonry and the Origins of Latter-day Saint Temple Ordinances (Orem, UT: […]

    Conference Talks: “The Ark and the Tent: Temple Symbolism in the Story of Noah” (Jeffrey M. Bradshaw) Jeffrey M. Bradshaw compares Moses’ tabernacle and Noah’s ark, and then identifies the story of Noah as a temple related drama, drawing of temple mysticism and symbols. After examining structural similarities between ark and tabernacle and […]

    All the way back in 2016, I posted the following here on this blog:   Encouraged by my wife, I’ve been enjoying the Anglo-American miniseries The Crown.  And, I must say, I’ve been enjoying it very much. For someone who is both an Anglophile and a passionate lover of history, it’s a feast. And, […]

    My father was born one hundred and nine (109) years ago today.  He’s been gone now for somewhat more than nineteen years.  But I’m thinking about him today, and I wanted to use this opportunity to commit a small handful of anecdotes about him to writing.  As I’ve said on prior occasions here, […]

    I’ve just published a new item in Meridian Magazine that some of you might find worthy of a glance: “Why We Can’t Simply Dismiss the Book of Mormon Witnesses”   Another item that went up today on the Interpreter Foundation website is this one: “Nibley Lectures: Time Vindicates the Prophets — The Prophets […]

    I would like to call your attention to an event — a special showing of the film Witnesses, accompanied by questions and answers and discussion — that will be held on the campus of Brigham Young University in Provo this coming Friday evening.  Admission is free, and there is abundant public parking that […]