…it’s just me, trying out some new WordPress themes on this site. If you see one you like (or don’t like), just leave a comment and let me know.

[UPDATED 12/06/07] I’ve also been working to redirect all AIM web traffic from the old site to the new one. If you get any broken links, please let me know.  ..bruce..

Up until now, this blog has operated as a subdirectory on another one of my domains (brucefwebster.com). However, I recently upgraded to a dedicated server for all my websites, so I have converted this blog to its own separate web site. Most of the WordPress data came over just fine; however, anyone who was previously registered in order to leave comments will have to do so again.

Other than that, things seem to have gone well. Oops. Just noticed that the blogroll didn’t come over.

I also think that I have most of the redirection working correctly and automatically; please let me know if you’re experiencing problems. Now to see if I can fix the blogroll stuff…yep, but had to bring them over manually. Since this is a trial run for setting up my other blog as its own web site, I’m glad to do all the learning on this one. ..bruce..

…you might have to leave it again. My comment spam problem went from annoying to overwhelming over the past week (700+ spam comments in just the past few days), and I simply deleted all pending comments, then installed a new anti-comment-spam filter. With luck, that will take care of the problem. ..bruce..

…I’ve just been busy for the past week. I actually have at least one post in incomplete draft form; I may tackle something else first. The challenge with discussing LDS cosmology and related doctrine is that it’s hard to pull one particular topic out of context and discuss it in isolation. I’ll try to get something up by tomorrow (i.e., later today, Wednesday). I did, however, write a lengthy response to a comment on my post about education and intellect.

In the meantime, let me recommend one of the books I’m currently reading: Muhammad, Prophet of God by Daniel C. Peterson (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, MI, 2007). I’m impressed with both the style and content of the book — accessible and yet very informative. Peterson heads up the Middle Eastern Texts Initiative (METI) at Brigham Young University, a joint effort with the University of Chicago Press to provide clear, modern, scholarly translations of classic medieval Islamic, Eastern Christian, and Jewish texts.

I can also recommend Black and Mormon, edited by Newell G. Bringhurst and Darron T. Smith (University of Illinois Press, Urbana, IL, 2006), which I just finished a few days ago. This is an outstanding, if occasionally uneven, set of essays discussing historical aspects of the LDS Church’s denial of priesthood ordination to African blacks from the late 1840s to 1978, as well as both analytical and anecdotal analysis of challenges (and blessings) faced by blacks who joined the LDS Church both before and after the change of policy in 1978. I bought it on the strength of the positive review in the current edition of BYU Studies (Vol. 45, No. 4, pp. 165 ff.); the reviewer, Emmanuel A. Kissi, is an LDS convert (and medical doctor) from Ghana who –besides his own work — serves as an Area Authority Seventy in Africa. ..bruce..

I have a tendency towards long posts, so I’ve gone through all the ones below and inserted ‘more’ tags after the first paragraph or two. In a few cases, I’ve slightly edited the entry in order to make the break more natural.  In all, it should make the blog easier to browse.  ..bruce..

I just realized after my last post that WordPress had me on Greenwich Time instead of US Mountain Daylight time. So if the posts above on the PBS show “The Mormons” appear to be out of order (and from the future!), that’s why. ..bruce..