Category: language
“Whole Worlds Are Full of His Glory”: Thoughts on a Passage from the Words of Gad the Seer
In a post on “The Words of Gad the Seer” and in a related book review for Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship, I’ve shared the dramatic…
What Does Jacob 2:30 Say About Polygamy? Is the Church’s Traditional Interpretation Wrong?
One of the many conundrums related to the controversial past practice of polygamy is the Book of Mormon’s stance on the issue. In Jacob 2, the prophet Jacob condemns the…
Mary, Mother of the Lord: Thoughts for Mother’s Day
In the final week of Christ’s life, we see more of an ongoing theme in which Christ reveals to us the importance of, and His love for, the people we…
Relational Faith: An Essential Book for Understanding “Faith” as Used in New Testament Times and for Appreciating the Restoration
There’s a new book, Brent Schmidt’s Relational Faith, that may be one of the best resources around to help Latter-day Saints and perhaps many other Christians understand and explain what…
To Bear Testimony: Insights on a Popular Latter-day Saint Phrase and Its Connections to Modern Scripture and Early Modern English
Latter-day Saints often use the verb “bear” with “testimony” when expressing their religious conviction, as in “I’d like to bear my testimony that I know that Jesus Christ lives and…
Can We Have an Honest Chat About Abortion and Race? Not With ChatGPT
Curious about the knowledge of the impressive new Artificial Intelligence tool, ChatGPT, I started my day with a question about abortion and race. This tool, now owned by…
Joshua Berman’s Ani Maamin: An Orthodox Jewish Scholar Provides Help in Keeping the Faith in the Face of Secular Bible Scholarship
During a recent trip to Atlanta, my wife and I connected two of our Latter-day Saint friends with dear Jewish friends there. Among the many topics of the evening, we…
A Sacrament Meeting Worth Shouting About
Sunday turned out to be one of the most exciting sacrament meetings I can recall. It was exciting because a wonderful young lady, a 16-year-old who came to America as…
Trying to Take the Shine off Shinehah: Vogel’s Response to a Commonly Cited Evidence for Book of Abraham Authenticity
This morning I was reading from what may be the premier work of Latter-day Saint scholarship on the Book of Abraham, the far-ranging magnum opus of Dr. Hugh Nibley with…
Geocentric Astronomy in the Book of Abraham? Dan Vogel’s Refutation of LDS Scholars
Circumpolar star trails in a long-exposure photo of several hours, showing that stars closer to Polaris move on shorter trails, thus moving more slowly. The circumpolar stars always stay…
