Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 1115

“The Gods of the Copybook Headings”

    Somebody — to my embarrassment, I can’t now recall who it was — reminded me the other day of this prophetic 1919 poem by Rudyard Kipling.   In order to understand it, it’s important to know that copybooks were the notebooks used in class by nineteenth-century British schoolchildren.   Kipling’s phrase copybook headings refers [Read More...]

“Chiasmus Resources”

    It was nearly five decades ago now, in August 1967, that Elder John W. Welch first encountered the ancient literary device known as chiasmus while serving as a missionary in Regensburg, Germany — and then almost immediately discovered it in the Book of Mormon.   Here’s an online bibliography of materials on the [Read More...]

“Freedmen’s Bureau Project: Connecting African Americans with Civil War-Era Ancestors”

    This is a fantastic effort to recover the family histories — and the history generally — of African-Americans in the period just after Emancipation and extending back before:   http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article...   I’m very, very happy that the Church is doing this.    

“Zomia — A Region Resisting Modern Statehood”

    Blaine Johnson, a Latter-day Saint attempting to serve people in the area, calls these two interesting items to my attention:   http://geography.about.com/od/politic...   http://humansecurity.org/rohingya-ref...    

“Social justice,” defined

    “What’s just has been debated for centuries, but let me offer you my definition of social justice: I keep what I earn and you keep what you earn. Do you disagree? Well, then, tell me how much of what I earn belongs to you — and why?” Walter Williams    

“Cosmic Inflation’s Five Great Predictions”

    This is really big stuff, and really difficult to grasp:   https://medium.com/starts-with-a-bang...    

New Testament 178

    Luke 10:13-15 Compare Matthew 11:20-24; Luke 10:12   I don’t know whether it should count as a fulfillment of these prophetic verses or not, but the fact is that Bethsaida, Chorazin, and Capernaum are mere archaeological ruins today.   In fact, the very location of Bethsaida is still disputed in some quarters.   [Read More...]

“‘So You Think You Can Dance’ Competitor Talks about His LDS Mission”

    Some of you may find this interesting:   http://ldsliving.com/story/79225-comp...   I wish him well.    

On being great, one way or the other

    If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way.  (Napoleon Hill)    

“Arson guts Israeli church where Jesus fed 5000″

    This is very sad.  My wife and I were there — on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee — leading a tour group just slightly more than a month ago:   http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/06...   Jabra Ghneim has kindly brought my attention to a brief YouTube video entitled (in Arabic) “What the church at [Read More...]