J. Spencer Fluhman, associate professor of history at Brigham Young University. Professor J. Spencer Fluhman delivered an excellent devotional talk at the LDS Business College some time ago (I recall encountering this article for the first time back in 2014, when I believe it was delivered) that is worth reposting here. (Hat tip to Dan Peterson … Read more
“Printing Plates of Facsimiles of Papyrus Drawings, Nauvoo, IL, early 1842” (http://josephsmithpapers.org) In his March 2015 letter to the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints appealing his excommunication, John Dehlin claims there has been a “recent admission” on the part of the Church “that the Book of Abraham is not … Read more
The Qumran text 1QS, otherwise known as the Rule of the Community (Serekh ha-Yaḥad), has an interesting depiction of two “spirits,” the spirits of light and darkness (רוחות אור וחושׁכ), that, the text explains, were created by God, “making them the cornerstone of every deed” (1QS III, 25). Of these two spirits, the text explains, … Read more
Dale Morgan, 1914-1971. Lowell Dale Morgan (who commonly went by simply Dale Morgan) was an American historian (and former Mormon) who influenced such authors as Juanita Brooks and Fawn Brodie. Morgan left behind an interesting collection of personal letters and correspondences that has been published by Signature Books. In reading through his letters, I was struck … Read more
Caspar David Friedrich, Der Mönch am Meer (1807). The sea is calm tonight. The tide is full, the moon lies fair Upon the straits; on the French coast the light Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand, Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay. Come to the window, sweet is the night-air! … Read more
Michael Conway, writing for The Atlantic, has some excellent observations on “[s]ingle-perspective narratives” in historiography, which he claims “do students a gross disservice.” Conway, using the recent controversy over the movie Selma‘s portrayal of Lyndon B. Johnson and other films on historical figures as his catalyst, explains the perils of boiling down history into reductionistic … Read more
Professor Joshua Berman Joshua Berman, a professor of Bible at Bar-Ilan University and at Shalem College in Israel, and a research fellow at the Herzl Institute, has authored an excellent article in the Jewish online magazine Mosaic on the question of the historicity of the exodus account in the Book of Exodus. I had the … Read more
The following notes come from Paul Sanders in his volume The Provenance of Deuteronomy 32 (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1996). For the record, here is Deuteronomy 32:7–9, 43 (NRSV): 7 Remember the days of old, consider the years long past; ask your father, and he will inform you; your elders, and they will tell … Read more
This quote from Andrew Steane is insightful. Atheists fear that theism is oppressive because it sets an all-powerful judge over us. Obviously, all good things can be abused, but theism is not oppressive when it connects God profoundly to weakness, not power when it comes to personal relationships. It does include judgement, because caring about … Read more
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland had some wise words in his April 2014 General Conference address. Sadly enough, my young friends, it is a characteristic of our age that if people want any gods at all, they want them to be gods who do not demand much, comfortable gods, smooth gods who not only don’t rock … Read more
I continue to enjoy Andrew Steane’s new book Faithful to Science: The Role of Science in Religion. Below is another part of his book that I found particularly insightful. Faith is also central to science. This is not only in the obvious (and important) sense that scientists have to talk to and trust one another, but … Read more
Here is a collection of more quotes from Andrew Steane’s excellent book Faithful to Science. (See also here and here.) Miracles are events that break the rules, but not in an arbitrary way–––they are pointers to a larger set of rules (p. 95). Compare this with these remarks from the LDS Bible Dictionary. Miracles should … Read more
The British physicist Andrew Steane has this to say about questions. Questions should not be dismissed or discouraged, but sometimes answers have to be postponed, because the student has to first acquire the necessary conceptual apparatus in order to understand the very language of the answer. . . . [O]ne wants the student to . … Read more