Early Christian History
LDS Film Festival 2013
While the Sundance Film Festival gets all the press, Utah County is also home to the LDS Film Festival. Â I reviewed the schedule, and thought I would point out a few films that sound interesting at the Scera Theater in Orem, Utah. Wednesday – Opening night
The Worth of $ouls
“Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God†(D&C 18:10).  But how much is a soul worth?  Freakonomics tries to answer the question. For those of you unfamiliar with Freaknomics, it was originally a book written by two Steves: Dubner and Levitt. Levitt is an economist for the University of Chicago […]
Reassessing the Birth of Jesus
In a 2010 article in BYU Studies, Professor Jeffrey R. Chadwick of BYU made the case that Jesus was born in December of 5 BC. In the most recent issue of BYU studies, professors Lincoln Blumel and Thomas Wayment review Chadwick’s article and make the case that “his handling of certain ancient sources, including the […]
Questions for Mormons
Most of the people who come to my blog are Mormons, but there are some that aren’t. Â I have been surprised that my 3-year old post on the Trial of Joseph’s Assassins has suddenly developed a spirited discussion. Â I want to keep that post on topic, so I have decided to move some of the […]
BYU Education Week Recap 2012
Well, I’m conferenced out now.  I attended BYU Education Week for the first time (though my wife has been going for years), and wanted to give a few impressions following my Sunstone and FAIR Conference posts. I was frankly astonished at how enormous BYU Education Week is. It dwarfs these other two conferences in size. […]
New Theories on the Crucifixion
With Easter upon us, I wanted to talk a bit about the death of Christ. Â Traditional images of the Crucifixion look similar to this one (pictured on the left.) Â National Geographic has put together 10 videos in a 3-DVD set called Science of the Bible that looks into various aspects of the life of Jesus. […]
Were Jesus and Mary Married?
The Da Vinci Code created a bit of a stir in making the claim that Mary Magdalene and Jesus were married. Â How do LDS handle the issue? Â Dale Bills, a spokesman for the Church, said in a statement released Tuesday, 16 May 2006: The belief that Christ was married has never been official church doctrine. […]
Smearing Mary Magdalene
March is Women’s History Month.  In celebration of that, I wanted to talk about Mary Magdalene.  I really enjoyed a documentary from National Geographic called “The Real Mary Magdalene.”  It’s a fantastic video, part of a 3 DVD set of Science of the Bible (it’s on disk 3),  and gives some really cool insights into this […]
