Mind and Cosmos

Thomas Nagel (b. 1937). I have not yet had a chance to read Thomas Nagel’s recent book Mind and Cosmos: Why the Materialist Neo-Darwinian Conception of Nature is Almost Certainly False (Oxford University Press, 2012). However, given the negative reaction of some outspoken atheistic materialists to the book, as chronicled by Andrew Ferguson at The … Read more

MormonThink: Fair and Balanced?

Are these really the best adjectives to describe MormonThink? One of the complaints I hear from the proprietors and/or supports of MormonThink is that it is unfair to characterize MormonThink as being “anti-Mormon” or as being unfair and overly critical of the Church. If you read the purpose statement on MormonThink you’ll see gratuitous (and … Read more

Words to Live By

Menander (Μένανδρος), one of ancient Greece’s greatest dramatists. Since I mentioned him in my last post, here’s one of my favorite zingers from Menander. ἄλυπον ἄξεις τὸν βίον χωρἰς γάμου. You said it brother!

Alexandrian Academia

A map of ancient Alexandria. Concerning the intellectual culture of ancient Alexandria, Peter Green wryly observes the following. Timon of Philus, a bitter lampoonist . . . wrote of Ptolemy’s Alexandrian think tank: “In the polyglot land of Egypt many now find pasturage as endowed scribblers, endlessly quarreling in the Muses’ birdcage.” . . . … Read more

Richard Bushman on Mormon Reason

Richard Lyman Bushman (b. 1931). Craig A. Evans is an evangelical New Testament scholar whose book Fabricating Jesus: How Modern Scholars Distort the Gospels I received as a Christmas gift. In his book, Evans stresses the importance of using rational argument to sustain Christian faith, particularly Christian faith in the historical authenticity of the New … Read more

A Lamanite is a Lamanite, of Course, of Course

Joseph Smith Preaching to the Indians (1890) by William Armitage. Some of the responses to the Church’s recent essay on DNA and the Book of Mormon have been rather perplexing. (The responses of certain prominent critics of the Church, who shall, for their sakes, remain nameless, were downright embarrassing.) One of the responses I’ve heard … Read more