What has blogging been like?
I’ve blogged at Times and Seasons for over a decade. It has changed a lot–most of the energy and comments of blogging has moved to Facebook. I hate to sound like a curmudgeon, but this is a bad thing. People who aren’t already friends with those in the blogging world are locked out, nothing is searchable, and people are even more curt than when blogging.
What do you believe is the core of the gospel?
I think the core of the gospel is trying to follow Jesus. I’m not good at it. I resent, sometimes, the way that certain aspects of the church feel like a distraction from it.
Tell me about your academic endeavors.
I finished my MA in the mid-90s. I took a break to raise and homeschool my three boys and then slowly ramped up my participation in writing, researching, and speaking over the last decade or so. My thesis concerned Mark 14:3-9, which is the story of the woman who anoints Jesus.
A version of it was published in Studies in the Bible and Antiquity; you can read it here (click on the picture of the woman anointing Jesus’ feet with oil) at “She hath wrought a good work”
Any other publishing?
The second edition of Search, Ponder, and Pray was recently released.
What are you doing now?
Now, my main project is writing the Mark volume for the BYU New Testament Commentary Series. (And I’m still homeschooling my three boys.) I’m also editing a book that will consist of imagined dialogues between scriptural figures who might not necessarily agree with each other. I also have about a half dozen papers in various stages of the publication process; most relate to the Gospel of Mark somehow.
What rule or commandment do you think is important for everyone to consider?
Commandment: how about ‘love one another.’
![motherteresa133195[1]](http://www.wheatandtares.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/motherteresa1331951.jpg)
What advice do you have for scripture readers?
Try to read for each author or person’s individual voice and appreciate his or her unique witness.
Wheat & Tares 
Julie – I read your posts and appreciate your insights. Your threads have become part of my cobbled together Gospel Doctrine time. I can’t sit through class any more, but I take various scholars and use their stuff to learn from. Thanks.
Do you feel like we’re at a tipping point of relying on biblical scholars when approaching scripture study instead of purely devotional? Or maybe that’s just where I am in my personal journey.
Sometimes I get overwhelmed approaching scripture knowing I don’t have any linguistic, historical, or contextual background – I feel like I can’t know what is meant on my own.
How would you recommend a non academic approach personal study (other than buy your book, which is in my Amazon cart).
I actually wish the church would ask scriptural scholars to develop online Sunday a School classes and knock out the second hour of church. Who’s with me?
I’m with you Kristine.
One of the odd paradoxes in the Church. I remember hearing some counsel about relying more on our own personal study of the Scriptures and not on commentary on the scriptures. Then the GAs and other scholars in the Church publish all these books telling us what certain scriptures mean, what the parables mean and other commentary.
What goes on each week in Sunday School is a whole other issue.
“What advice do you have for scripture readers?
Try to read for each author or person’s individual voice and appreciate his or her unique witness.”
I think this is excellent advice for application in scripture reading as well as in Priesthood/Relief Society using the Presidents of the Church manuals. We’ve all heard the doctrines and principles a bazillion times, it is nice to parse out what is uniquely taught be each of the prophets as we go through their manuals.
I wish our approach in SS was similar, especially in terms of the Gospels where they are too easily and too frequently conflated. Thanks for the short Q&A.
Tim
Cat – Kristine I am with you. Let’s eliminate 2nd hour. Seriously.