Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Latter-day Saint
Stunning man-made beauty in the midst of stunning natural beauty

Stunning man-made beauty in the midst of stunning natural beauty

Last updated on: June 15, 2022 at 3:31 pm by Dan Peterson

Stunning man-made beauty in the midst of stunning natural beauty 2022-06-15T15:31:14-06:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

An aerial photograph of the Wieskirche, near Steingaden, Bavaria, Germany
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

***

Here are some new items that have recently gone up on the website of the Interpreter Foundation:

Nibley Lectures: Time Vindicates the Prophets — Introduction

From 7 March 1954 to 17 October in 1954, Hugh Nibley delivered a series of thirty weekly lectures on KSL Radio that were also published as pamphlets. The series, called “Time Vindicates the Prophets,” was given in answer to those who were challenging the right of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to call themselves Christians.

All thirty recordings are available immediately in the Complete Bibliography for Hugh Nibley (CBHN) at https://interpreterfoundation.org/bibliographies/hugh-w-nibley/lectures/

I’m really excited about having these lectures up online. They are superb, thought-provoking, and, I think, important. Nibley at his best. I once listened to all of them on cassette tapes while doing a solo drive from our home in Orem to a destination in Berkeley, California. I finished the last of them mere minutes before reaching the end of my drive.

Audio Roundtable: Come, Follow Me Old Testament Lesson 26 “Thy Kingdom Shall Be Established for Ever”: 2 Samuel 5–7; 11–12; 1 Kings 3; 8; 11

The Interpreter Radio Roundtable for Come, Follow Me Old Testament Lesson 26, “Thy Kingdom Shall Be Established for Ever,” on 2 Samuel 5–7; 11–12; 1 Kings 3; 8; 11, features Bruce Webster, Mike Parker, and Kris Frederickson. It was extracted from the 15 May 2022 broadcast of Interpreter Radio, but the complete show may be heard at https://interpreterfoundation.org/interpreter-radio-show-May-15-2022/. In fact, now that you’ve mentioned it, the Interpreter Radio Show can be heard live each week on Sunday evenings, from 7 to 9 PM (MDT) on K-TALK, AM 1640. If that fails, or if, for some reason, that option is repugnant to you, you can listen live on the Internet at ktalkmedia.com.

Come, Follow Me — Old Testament Study and Teaching Helps: Lesson 26, June 20–26: 2 Samuel 5–7; 11–12; 1 Kings 3; 8; 11 — “Thy Kingdom Shall Be Established for Ever”

Jonn Claybaugh has kindly contributed another of his concise notes for the students and teachers and families who are following the Sunday curriculum of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

***

My ongoing angry obsession with the FX/Hulu miniseries Under the Banner of Heaven has manifested itself most recently in the fact that McKay Coppins has just published a very good essay in The Atlantic about that recent production by Dustin Lance Black and Andrew Garfield. I must be extremely upset:

“Under the Banner of Hulu: A buzzy new true-crime series advances an old, insidious idea—that Mormons are a threat to the American project.”

***

And I’ll probably be incensed and obsessed with this one, too!

“Ex-FLDS Women Describe Horrific Loss Of Freedom, Eventual Escape In ‘Keep Sweet’”

***

These articles represent a thoroughly lamentable trend:

“Pro-Abortion Rights Protesters Interrupt Joel Osteen Church Service”

“As We Await SCOTUS Decision On Abortion, Press Avoids News About Church Vandalism”

“Pathetic media shrugs at assassination attempt of Supreme Court justice: Concha: Armed man reportedly told police he wanted to kill Kavanaugh as Supreme Court threats continue”

Looking toward the high altar in the Wieskirche
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

I first visited the glorious Wieskirche, a pilgrimage church that stands essentially by itself out in a lush green meadow surrounded by forest, in 1970. (The German word Wies means “meadow.”) I’ve been back at least half a dozen times since then. So we took our group there today, as well.

Looking toward the ceiling of the Wieskirche
(Wikimedia Commons public domain photograph)

This time, though, was different. I’ve never had a local guide or lecturer at the Wieskirche; apart from that very first time, I’ve never visited the Wieskirche with a group. But, this time, a local woman who identified herself as the music director for the Wieskirche gave a lecture about the church (auf Deutsch; our German guide translated it into English for our group) and then, wonderfully, sang and played the church’s pipe organ. Her first piece was Johann Sebastian Bach’s peerless Toccata and Fugue in D minor, which has been one of my absolute favorite pieces of music since I first encountered it as a high school student (possibly in my German class but most memorably in Disney’s Fantasia). It was, by the way, interesting to hear the music of Bach, who is surely one of the very most Protestant of German composers, played in what is certainly one of the most exuberantly Catholic of all German churches.

Amusingly, after she finished her presentation and as we were getting up and preparing to exit the church, the organ began to play a very powerful and well-executed version of “Come, Come, Ye Saints.” I look up trying to see who was playing. I looked around to see who was missing from our group. (We have a retired Utah State University professor of music history along with us, to name one potential suspect. I made some remarks today on the bus about Richard Wagner, his operas, and his relationship with King Ludwig II of Bavaria, and he kindly supplemented them with some very insightful music-historical additions.) It turned out that another Latter-day Saint group had entered the church, and it was a woman of their number. I talked to her afterward. She had simply asked whether she might be allowed to play the organ, and, astoundingly, the church’s music director had said “Yes!” The Latter-day Saint woman had, her husband told me, played the Tabernacle organ, the Conference Center organ, and the organ in Salt Lake City’s Cathedral of the Madeleine. Her level of experience on big pipe organs was pretty obvious. Then, a few minutes later, a man from that same Latter-day Saint group played “As I Have Loved You.” Really nice.

My wife took this photograph with my cell phone shortly after sunset, looking from the balcony of our hotel room toward Füssen, the castle of Neuschwanstein, and some of the Bavarian Alps.

After enjoying lunch about fifty feet from the entrance to the Wieskirche, we took our group past the castles of Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau into the town of Füssen, where we gave them about two and a half or three hours to walk around the old pedestrian area in its heart. Some went to the town’s medieval fortress. We spent almost all of our time, along with a number of others, in Füssen’s surprisingly interesting museum, which occupies the site of the formerly very rich and powerful monastery of St. Mang or St. Magnus.

Posted from Buching, Halblech, Bavaria, Germany

Uncategorized

Previous Post

June 14, 2022

On Self-Absorption and Suppression: Though Not an Autobiographical Fragment

Next Post

June 16, 2022 Once more, with feeling

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

True or False: Samson's strength came from his long hair.

Select your answer to see how you score.

TRUE FALSE