- Hoosier on Probabilities and Biblical Studies: “Was the eponymous lamb in the Mary’s Lamb tale originally described as “little”? What was the coloration of its fleece? Why did the author choose to omit these details? Recent work on the apocryphal Mary’s Lamb tale has convincingly demonstrated its dependence on a children’s jingle popular in the twentieth century. This would, of course, provide a terminus post quem for the earliest version of the Mary’s Lamb tale. Critics of the hypothesis note that the parallels between the children’s jingle and the Mary’s Lamb tale comprise solely (a) the presence of a principal character named Mary, and (b) her ownership of a lamb. Notably, the received version of the Mary’s Lamb tale makes no reference to the diminutive size of the lamb nor the coloration of its coat, both of which figure prominently in the children’s jingle. More importantly, the Mary’s Lamb tale directly contradicts the children’s jingle regarding the proximity of the lamb to Mary. Compare the children’s jingle (“everywhere that Mary went, the lamb was sure to go”) with the clear alienation of the lamb from Mary which forms the central narrative element of the Mary’s Lamb tale. Furthermore, the children’s jingle makes no reference to any second cousin. In this essay, we argue that the parallels between the Mary’s Lamb tale and the children’s jingle are strong enough to convincingly indicate a direction of influence. The divergences are best explained by positing a significant revision of the tale (or perhaps even its original authorship) during the twenty-first century. This accounts for the divergences from the children’s jingle while retaining and explaining the convergences between the two writings. The authors’ omission of the lamb’s size and coloration in the Mary’s Lamb tale was, we propose, prompted by changing attitudes towards physical stature and skin coloration in the early twenty-first century. The lamb being “white as snow” was likely viewed as overly specific and too exclusionary in the divided racial environment of the early twenty-first century United States, thus limiting the rhetorical reach and force of the pericope. The addition of the treacherous second cousin, meanwhile, allowed the author to critique kinism, which was a growing fringe ideology during that same period. As we will demonstrate, this theory parsimoniously harmonizes… Just kidding, this is good stuff.” Mar 18, 09:21
- on Probabilities and Biblical Studies: “That’s been more or less my experience with doing philological work in my own field. You come up with the best model you can based on the evidence you have, but there’s never as much evidence as you really need, and sometimes weirdly unlikely things actually happen. The proposed solutions can be fascinating and even compelling, but the uncertainty is real. Humility about one’s own work and charity towards others’ work are needed. It’s a problem more broadly throughout the humanities. When I’m reading secondary literature, I’ll come across what are in effect statistical claims for which no thought has been given to statistically sound evidence. One way to avoid a replication crisis in your discipline is to ignore the idea of replication altogether.” Mar 18, 09:07
- on Probabilities and Biblical Studies: “This is why I majored in mathematics first. It was the only thing I could trust (then I took Set Theory and my world was blasted). Now o am somehow comfortable studying Joseph Smith in the 1820s (which can sometimes feel like Bible Studies).” Mar 18, 06:54
- on A Review: Unlocking the Chinese Realm: Apostle David O. McKay and Latter-day Saint Encounters in East Asia, 1852–1921: “Thanks for another great review. I know someone who needs this on their Christmas list.” Mar 17, 11:15
- on Did you bring an Umbrella? (Or What Did Church Lead You to Think About Yesterday, 3/15)?: “Your post reminds me of a talk by Elder Scott (To Acquire Spiritual Guidance) where he contrasted two classes (one where the teacher was humble and the other where the teacher was more in performance mode) and how God flooded him with impressions because he came ready to receive them. I’ve started taking notes more intentionally to seek to be receptive, regardless of what is happening with the speaker/teacher. It’s been a cool experience (and also helps me stay awake on those Sundays when I need a nap). :)” Mar 17, 02:36
- on Did you bring an Umbrella? (Or What Did Church Lead You to Think About Yesterday, 3/15)?: “Your Packer quote seems transposed or adapted from McConkie’s Seven Deadly Heresies https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/bruce-r-mcconkie/seven-deadly-heresies/ “We come into these congregations, and sometimes a speaker brings a jug of living water that has in it many gallons. And when he pours it out on the congregation, all the members have brought is a single cup and so that’s all they take away. Or maybe they have their hands over the cups, and they don’t get anything to speak of. “On other occasions we have meetings where the speaker comes and all he brings is a little cup of eternal truth, and the members of the congregation come with a large jug, and all they get in their jugs is the little dribble that came from a man who should have known better and who should have prepared himself and talked from the revelations and spoken by the power of the Holy Spirit. We are obligated in the Church to speak by the power of the Spirit. We are commanded to treasure up the words of light and truth and then give forth the portion that is appropriate and needful on every occasion.”” Mar 16, 20:19
- on Did you bring an Umbrella? (Or What Did Church Lead You to Think About Yesterday, 3/15)?: “What I thought about was how easy it was to help the Primary kids not be distracted by the one child who has a lot of trouble sitting still (at that moment kept running up to the chalkboard at the front and writing on it, followed by a mad dash of the a Primary Presidency counselor). I saw the kids were watching the chaos, and simply moved myself to the back half of the room and said, Stand Up, turn around, and let’s sing this way. And they did, just fine. No more distraction. Of course, these were 3-6 year old children, so I didn’t draw the comparison to Joseph and Potiphar’s wife, but *I* thought about it. (While I’ve got your attention, I notice the Church Newsroom is utterly silent on the devastating fires in Nebraska… one of which, if maps and past news reporting about the north half of Garden County being almost entirely owned by the Church through Farmland Reserve, is correct, must have affected an awful lot of future Bishops’ Storehouse beef. Why no news?)” Mar 16, 19:51
- on Did you bring an Umbrella? (Or What Did Church Lead You to Think About Yesterday, 3/15)?: “While discussing Joseph, it occurred to me that we usually think about him mostly as a divine interpreter of dreams, but what people in Egypt noticed about him was his management skill. While Moses’ prophetic calling was to lead the Hebrews out of Egypt, Joseph’s calling was to help Egypt thrive despite a famine, even though pharaoh was not a particularly righteous ruler.” Mar 16, 19:30
- on A Review: Chosen Land: How Christianity Made America and Americans Remade Christianity: “American is not necessarily Christian nation. The native americans were here thousands of years ago. They weren’t Christian. The Europeans brought Christianity. Some assert that the founding fathers were Christian. But many were not. Jefferson edited the NT to takeout the miracles. Many were Unitarian theists. They clearly wanted separation between religion and government. President Oaks wants religious freedom. Freedom from government interference. Others want freedom from religion. A government that is free from religious interference. Theoretically the 2 should be allies. But the bone of contention is social issues. Religion wants a say in areas it has no business being in. And secularists are too strident. Right now the conservative religious right has the edge. An amoral President is pandering the conservatives. He’s stacked the Scotus with political hacks. And has a rubber stamp Congress. Hopefully, the pendulum will swing back. America the beautiful is multicultural.” Mar 16, 10:50
- on Latter-day Saint Where’s Waldo and Stephen Biesty Cross-Sections: “The historian/illustrator David McCaulay published some amazing books that illuminate historical activities and explain how things work: gothic cathedrals, Medieval castles, ancient Rome, etc. They are very enlightening. They demonstrate the power of illustration. Years ago, in college, I was interested in social history. At the time the field was in its infancy. Since that time, a wide variety of fields have expanded our knowledge of how people lived, including archeology, nutrition, engineering, etc. AI will help bring these diverse studies into a coherent whole. And AI illustrations will certainly be an important ingredient in this activity. What did ancient Rome look like What did Medieval London look like. We need to remember that AI is in its infancy. What is possible in the future is pretty unimaginable. We will move past slop.” Mar 16, 06:36
