Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 1115

Light summer reading

    What is Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Facebook, reading this summer?  Why, he’s reading the Muqaddima, by the great fourteenth-century Arab social theorist Ibn Khaldun!   http://fortune.com/2015/06/27/non-bus...   I thank Jabra Ghneim for bringing this to my notice.  I could scarcely be more pleased about a summer-reading recommendation than I am [Read More...]

New Testament 186

    Luke 11:5-8   Following on his presentation of “The Lord’s Prayer,” and leading into a promise that God will respond to prayer, Jesus offers a very human portrait of a person who will grant another’s request, if not because he’s feeling benevolent at least because the petitioner has been insistent and he wants [Read More...]

“Who and what are the Yezidis?”

    The latest installment in the biweekly Hamblin/Peterson column for the Deseret News:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/86...    

“Here are the 11 most devasting quotes from John Roberts’s gay marriage dissent”

    http://thefederalist.com/2015/06/26/h...    

Jenkins v. Hamblin, over and done and then . . . not

    The exchange between Dr. Phillip Jenkins and Dr. William Hamblin came to an end and then flared up again today.  Remember that everything marked “Jenkins Response” is a post from Professor Hamblin, while everything marked “Jenkins Rejoinder” is a post from Professor Jenkins:   Jenkins Response 13: Recap   Jenkins Response 14: The [Read More...]

White House lit up in rainbow colors after SCOTUS ruling

    Hope and change!   http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/loc...    

Driving out darkness and hate

    “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” Martin Luther King, Jr.      

“The Throne Verse”

    Several years ago, I wrote the article on Allah for the Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World, and, now, I’ve revised that article for the Encyclopedia‘s forthcoming second edition.   Today, I gave final approval to a very short sidebar that will accompany my main entry.  This is how it reads:   [Read More...]

“The Audience”

    I’ve had some peak experiences with seeing plays of which I’d previously known essentially nothing.   I am, for example, an enthusiastic admirer of the playwright Michael Frayn.  His farcical comedy Noises Off, which I first saw at the Utah Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City, is, when performed with energy and good timing, [Read More...]

Attack and Defense: Jenkins/Hamblin Continues

    I’m not sure how long the exchange between Dr. Jenkins and Dr. Hamblin will continue, but more has now been posted.   First, there are three “rejoinders” from Professor Jenkins:   Jenkins Rejoinder 5: Persian Version   Jenkins Rejoinder 6: No ABMS   Jenkins Rejoinder 7: Where’s the Beef?   Then there are [Read More...]