Sic Et Non

  Some notes about the astonishing turn of events in Syria: Russia is a big loser in this story.  Vladimir Putin invested a great deal in supporting Bashar al-Assad’s regime.  For one thing, he was interested (as Soviet leaders and czars have been since Peter the Great) in acquiring a warm-water naval port.  Latakia, on […]

The news out of Syria is stunning.  The fall of Damascus and the collapse of the Baathist government there came swiftly, and what it will all mean very much remains to be seen.  I will certainly shed no tears over the departure of the Assad regime, and what I’ve heard from the head of the […]

  The Christmas season is a busy one.  Especially, perhaps, in the United States, where commercialism drives both it and us, and where it falls during a frenetic period known as “the holidays,” preceded by Halloween and Thanksgiving and succeeded by New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day (to mention only a few of the […]

  Two new articles went up today (Friday) on the website of the Interpreter Foundation.  The first of them represents the 646th consecutive Friday on which a new article has appeared in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship: “What Can Artificial Intelligence Tell Us About the Literary Skills Needed to Dictate a […]

  In my opinion, Giving Machines definitely represent one of the most brilliant ideas that I’ve ever encountered with regard to Christmas.  They are a fun way to focus on giving during this season, rather than only on eating, drinking, and getting.  They are convenient, and fun for children.  They offer small and reasonable but […]

  My wife and I took our core film production and film distribution and film bookkeeping group out to dinner last night, both for Christmas and to celebrate the near-conclusion of the dramatic-film portion of our overall Six Days in August project.  (One more contract is awaiting completion.  The others have been signed.  And then […]

  Unfortunately, today’s blog entry needs to be largely devoted to the proverbial notion that a lie can travel half-way around the world before the truth can even get its boots on.  (Appropriately enough, the saying is commonly but, it seems, falsely attributed to Mark Twain.). My boots are now laced up, so it’s time […]

  Newly posted on the website of the Interpreter Foundation:  Interpreter Radio Show — November 24, 2024, including The Book of Mormon in Context for Moroni 10 During the 24 November 2024 episode of the Interpreter Radio Show, Steve Densley and Scripture Central’s John Thompson hosted special guests Brant Gardner and Jeff Lindsay for a […]

  The following note went out to several Interpreter Foundation mailing lists yesterday: This coming Tuesday is Giving Tuesday, when the hearts of many (in the United States, at least) turn to charity or, anyway, to tax deductions. We know that there are thousands of worthy causes out there, and we hope that none of […]

  We’re just back from a showing of Home Alone with our granddaughter.  It was hilarious.  But I’m thinking much more of the audience that were there with us in the tiny theater.  There were several little kids who were about our granddaughter’s age, and they had already met this morning during an activity in […]

  A new article appeared this afternoon in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship: “What Happened to Nephi at the Camp of the Broken Bow? A Book of Mormon Mystery,” written by Godfrey J. Ellis Abstract: Nephi started as the youngest son of Lehi and Sariah and ended up as the king […]

  I wish a Happy Thanksgiving to all of my fellow Americanos out there.  And — why not? — I hope that all of you non-Americans have a good day, too! I published this article, entitled “The miracle of Thanksgiving pies,” in the 23 November 2017 issue of the Deseret News: “If you wish to […]

  I published the Thanksgiving column immediately below in the 24 November 2011 issue of the Deseret News.  Perhaps you might find something in it of value: Autumn harvest festivals were and are common across Europe, and, as every American schoolchild once learned, our modern Thanksgiving celebrations descend from a meal shared between Massachusetts Pilgrims […]

  I published the following column in the 14 November issue of the Deseret News: As we in the United States approach the national Thanksgiving holiday for 2019, it’s appropriate to consider things for which we should express our gratitude. Obviously, of course, there’s the good food that many of us will be eating. There are the […]

  I’ve long felt that American Thanksgiving tends to be a somewhat forlorn and relatively neglected holiday.  Falling between the fun of the costumes and candies and houses of horror associated with the entirely desacralized holiday of Halloween and the weeks of carols and festivities (and unrelenting commercialism) of the partially desacralized Christmas, it tends […]

  Yesterday evening, we met friends for dinner at Maria’s Mexican Grill in South Jordan — this was our first time there, by the way, and, for whatever it may be worth, I thought my food was unusually good — and then we headed up together to Symphony Hall in Salt Lake City.  We arrived […]

  FAIR is a largely volunteer organization, and sometimes real life gets in the way of getting certain things done.  I’m pleased, however, to see that this important presentation has finally gone up online:  “Church Finances in Context: An Overview of History, Law, and Recent Controversies,” given by Aaron Miller at the 2024 FAIR Conference This […]

For whatever it may be worth, today is the sixty-first anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.  And of the death of Aldous Huxley.  And of the passing of C. S. Lewis.  My life has been affected by all three of these men.  The Catholic philosopher Peter Kreeft wrote a book inspired by […]

  I liked this article in the Deseret News that was written by the invaluable Jacob Hess — and not merely because it cites, well, me:  “‘I’m genuinely interested in your answers’: When pretended curiosity becomes a weapon to undermine faith: The image of an earnest truth seeker invokes feelings of reverence in modern society. Little […]

  By the way, Six Days in August is still playing in four or five theaters through this Thursday, and will survive in two more — in Pocatello and, I believe, in Kaysville — over at least this coming weekend.  We’re also arranging some private showings.  (My wife and I will be involved with one […]