Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 1122

We begin the last session here in Darmstadt

    My friend and former Maxwell Institute colleague Dr. John Gee is now presenting a beautifully-illustrated lecture on the Book of Abraham and, more particularly, on the world in which Abraham lived — if, as mainstream Latter-day Saints believe, he did indeed live.   He’s delivering it in German.  Which, since he served a [Read More...]

Wishing that she didn’t know that Joseph was a prophet

    Rounding out the Friday morning program here at FairMormon:   I liked a quotation from Emma Smith that Laura Hales shared.  I don’t think I’d heard it before.  In 1842 or thereabouts, Emma was very ill for a time, unable to take care of herself.  So her friend Elizabeth Durfee tended to her. [Read More...]

“Getting kind of bored”

    I’m trying not to overdo it with the links to articles about Elder Perry, but I found this one — drawing on an interview with his son, Lee — very charming:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/86...   I learned about Elder Perry’s illness quite early, and, like his family, was stunned at the speed with which [Read More...]

“How churches can attract the ‘nones’”

    An interesting piece by the thoughtful Mark Kellner, a (non-LDS) writer for the Deseret News:   http://national.deseretnews.com/artic...   Posted from Nürnberg (Nuremberg), Germany  

“The gospels as ancient biographies”

    An interesting column in the Deseret News from Taylor Halverson:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/86...   Posted from Nuremberg (Nürnberg), Germany    

Is the campaign for gay “marriage” really, principally, about marriage at all?

    An interesting and thought-provoking voice from Ireland, brought to my notice by the indispensable Cassandra Hedelius:   http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/...   Posted from Nürnberg (Nuremberg), Germany    

When should we try to do good?

    Do not wait for extraordinary circumstances to do good action; try to use ordinary situations.  (“Jean Paul”)   Posted from Nürnberg (Nuremberg), Germany    

Von Bayreuth bis zu Nürnberg

    We spent the morning strolling around Richard Wagner’s Festspielhaus in Bayreuth, the place that he designed and built as a permanent venue for the performance of his works and for which he wrote Parzifal as a pseudo-religious consecratory offering.   The Festspielhaus — Mecca for true-believing Wagnerians worldwide, of whom I’ve met a curious [Read More...]

The Supreme Court hands an 8-1 victory to advocates of religious rights

    http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/na...   As a worried advocate of religious rights, I’m happy.  As a friend of Muslims, in particular, I’m happy.  As a libertarian, I have mixed feelings.   However, given the current (very non-libertarian) tenor of American law on discrimination, why not?   Posted from Bayreuth, Germany    

“Turkey’s war on Christians”

    Strikingly, this column (and apparently the speaker from which it draws) put the genesis of their alleged “war on Christians” at the very time when the notably tolerant through expressly Islamic Ottoman Empire fell and was replaced by secular nationalists:   http://www.realclearreligion.org/arti...   If true, is that significant?  I think it is.   One [Read More...]