Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 1029

“Mormon Options on ‘Church and State’”

    Martin Marty is, very possibly, the most important Protestant church historian in America.  Thanks to Kevin Taylor for bringing his article to my notice:   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/martin-...    

New Testament 283

    Matthew 22:41-46 Mark 12:35-37 Luke 20:41-44 Compare Mark 12:34; Luke 20:40   The Jews of Jesus’ day expected a mortal messiah, of the lineage of King David (as Jesus was), who would deliver them from earthly bondage.  In these passages, he’s trying to get them to see that he’s much, much more than [Read More...]

New on the website of the Interpreter Foundation

    Another help from Taylor Halverson for readers and teachers of the scriptures:   http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/jame...    

“What it feels like to be a Mormon ‘apologist’”

    This week’s Thursday Deseret News column hath appeared:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/86...   Thus far, the comments are uniformly negative and — dare I say it? — uniformly misunderstand the nature of Mormon apologetics (just as the column says).   Oh well.  One does what one can.    

Elder Quentin L. Cook at Stanford

    http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article...    

“Comfortably alone in the universe”

    https://cosmosmagazine.com/space/comf...   It may, of course, be the case that God has placed us, and perhaps all other mortal beings who may be out there, in some kind of cosmic quarantine, lest we contaminate each other or cheat on the test.    

“The Untold Story of Palestinians Who Learned Hebrew”

    Here’s an unexpected tale, kindly brought to my attention by Jabra Ghneim:   http://blog.palestine-studies.org/201...    

On early Mormon polygamists

    The response of the men who were introduced into polygamy between 1841 and 1846 was anything but enthusiastic. The same was true of the women who were offered the chance of becoming plural wives. Apart from the fact that the new system collided with moral assumptions they had grown up with, there were [Read More...]

“7 Ways to Discipline Your Wife”

    Is anybody else out there — especially any of the men — as uncomfortable with this as I am?   http://biblicalgenderroles.com/2015/1...   And I’m supposed to be an aging, oppressive, patriarchal Mormon troglodyte.   In fairness, though, I must say that there’s a distinct possibility that the site is a fraud — designed [Read More...]

New Testament 282

    Matthew 22:34-40 Mark 12:28-34 Compare Matthew 22:46; Luke 10:25-28; 20:40   It’s significant that, according to Jesus, the “first” or “greatest” commandment isn’t to affirm the ontological unity of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, “neither confusing the persons nor dividing the substance,” but to love God.  And the second isn’t, say, to confess [Read More...]