I’m attempting to write heavily this semester, but am presenting a few public talks. These are all unlikely to be recorded, but we’ll see.  Here are three fliers.

First, at the ASU-Tempe LDS Institute of Religion,

The QR code takes you here with some recommended readings and resources.  This will provide some history, some how-to, some suggestions, and some fun examples.

 

The second one is a stake fireside in Phoenix.

I’ve written a lot about the temple and the Old Testament; in relation to temple preparation here, three parts on the genre of the temple (that’s part 1, linking to part 2 at the end), I have a whole Temple category with some really good stuff, as well as some relevant videos like this one. (And please note, I do NOT write these titles!)

Three days after that, I’ll speak at the ASU-Tempe LDS Institute of Religion again on

That is, when you turn the page from Malachi to Matthew, several centuries pass. And suddenly, we have a distinct Father, Son, and Holy Ghost;  we seemingly have a lot more emphasis and  talk about faith and grace;  we have a lot of New Testament stories that are deeply rooted in and enhanced by understanding their Old Testament context, like Jesus rebuking the storm, and the strange imagery in the Book of Revelation. Lastly, many people perceive a shift from an Angry Strict Violent Old Testament God to a Warm Fuzzy Loving New Testament God. That perception is largely due to cherry-picking. I recommend Appendix 1, “Mean, Angry Old Testament God versus Nice, Loving New Testament God” in this volume on Judeophobia and the New Testament (Amazon Affiliate link) but there are similar things online from various Jewish and Christian perspectives.

I don’t have time to cover all of those in a mere 45 minutes, but they represent the kinds of things I’m likely to talk about. This talk will model using contextual understandings to connect the Testaments more, undermine traditional misunderstandings, and help us appreciate scripture more; and all of these things together build faith.

I’m also doing a fireside in Ireland, which is unfortunately not in-person. That will largely be an updated version of this presentation. (This is from Phoenix a few years ago. I did the updated version in Boston last November, but it wasn’t recorded.)

I’ll also appear on a podcast talking about Jeremiah (will post when it’s available) and come January 22-23, I’ll be speaking at BYU’s Sperry Symposium.

Now back to writing!