Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 1086

An atheist responds to dramatic recent claims from certain neuroscientists and their hangers-on

    “The thing that I find most inscrutable about all of the recent books and essays that have sought to give mechanistic explanations for consciousness, personality, emotions, creativity, the whole human sensorium, is how happy the authors seem about it.  They’re nearly giddy with the excitement, and so, for some reason, are many of [Read More...]

The Washington Post on Ben Carson’s Tax Plan and . . . the Mormons (!)

    The article’s a bit of a mixed bag, but it was also a bit of a surprise:   http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wo...   Thanks to Eric Lopez for bringing it to my notice.   Posted from Cedar City, Utah    

“The need for ‘faith literacy’ in an increasingly religious world”

    I couldn’t possibly agree more strongly with this article from the Australian Broadcasting Network:   http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/p...   I’ve devoted much of my career to the cause of increasing interreligious understanding — including my conception and founding of BYU’s Islamic Translation Series and the Middle Eastern Texts Initiative as a whole, with which I [Read More...]

“Jesus Christ: ‘The Author and Finisher of Our Faith’”

    Kristine Frederickson, Jeffrey Mark Bradshaw, Benjamin McGuire, and Martin Tanner join, in the Interpreter Foundation’s 135th scripture roundtable, for a conversation about Hebrews 1-11 (corresponding to 2015 Gospel Doctrine curriculum lesson 37):   http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/scri...   Posted from Cedar City, Utah  

“Most non-religious Americans condone polyamory, new survey finds”

    Onward and upward!   http://brianpellot.religionnews.com/2...   Marriage and the traditional family may be dying, but that doesn’t seem very important, really.   What are the Kardashians doing this week?   Posted from Cedar City, Utah      

“Beloved of God, Called to Be Saints”

    Owing to complex summer schedules, we haven’t yet recorded Gospel Doctrine lesson 35.  But we will, very shortly.   In the meantime, Craig Foster, John Gee, Cassandra Hedelius, and Martin Tanner have gathered together to discuss selected passages in Paul’s epistle to the Romans, which is the focus of 2015 Gospel Doctrine lesson [Read More...]

“Pastor’s Corner: The Religious Message of ‘The Book of Mormon’ Musical”

    A liberal Protestant minister from the Twin Falls, Idaho, area finds a positive spiritual message in the satirical play — and it’s not even an anti-Mormon one:   http://magicvalley.com/lifestyles/fai...   Posted from Cedar City, Utah    

New Testament 238-239

    John 7:1-13   “It cannot be,” said Jesus in Luke 13:33, “that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem.”   Members of his family knew that the authorities in Jerusalem were plotting Jesus’ death, so they encouraged him to “go up” to the city.   He told them that he wouldn’t, yet.  And then, [Read More...]

A thought for the Sabbath

    “Solitude well practiced will break the power of busyness, haste, isolation, and loneliness. You will see that the world is not on your shoulders after all. Your will find yourself, and God will find you in new ways. Silence also brings Sabbath to you. It completes solitude, for without it you cannot be [Read More...]

“King Lear”

    We saw King Lear at UCLA’s Royce Hall in 2007, with Sir Ian McKellen in the title role.  But that seems an awfully long time ago, and, although I can’t find a list of previous Utah Shakespeare Festival seasons, I think we’ve seen it here in Cedar City since then.  (Our first Festival Lear, I [Read More...]