Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 1174

“Meet the Pope’s Astronomer”

    An interesting article about Guy Consolmagno, the official Vatican astronomer:   http://www.religionnews.com/2014/12/0...   He’s currently slated, by the way, to address an Interpreter Foundation conference (in Utah) on science and religion during the spring of 2016, somewhat more than a year from now.        

Looking forward to Yafo

    The itinerary that we follow on our tours to Israel invariably takes us to Tel Aviv on the first night.  We stay in the Dan Panorama Hotel — great name, no? — which is right across the street from the park and the beach that you can see (in the distance, across the [Read More...]

“‘How I lost and regained my faith’: LDS man shares 18 lessons he learned”

    You may have missed this:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/86...    

New Testament 49

    Matthew 5:1; 10:1-4 Mark 3:13-19 Luke 6:12-16   In the biblical account of Moses, that prophet goes up onto a mountain to receive instruction and to be given his commission from the Lord.   I think it not coincidental that, in these New Testament accounts, Jesus climbs a mountain and, from there, gives [Read More...]

“How Ayn Rand, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Roe v. Wade Made Me a Christian”

    A slightly unusual personal narrative of conversion:   http://www.nationalreview.com/article...    

Canada: “Christian lawyers and doctors need not apply”

    As one person informed me yesterday, I’m a fear-monger on these matters.  But, plainly, I’m not alone:   http://www.cardus.ca/blog/2015/01/chr...    

The peopling of the Americas: More complicated than some would like you to believe?

    I would like to thank Charles Henderson for having brought this intriguing article to my attention:   “3 Distinguished Linguists Examine Mysterious Origin of Native Americans”   I’m not claiming — though some will inevitably (even after this disavowal) maintain that I am — that this somehow proves the Book of Mormon true.  But, [Read More...]

Change! Innovation!

    “The novelties of one generation are only the resuscitated fashions of the generation before last.” George Bernard Shaw, “Preface,” Three Plays for Puritans (1900)    

Non-LDS scholar John Turner on the Kirtland Temple

    http://www.patheos.com/blogs/anxiousb...    

New Testament 48

    Mark 3:7-12 Compare Matthew 4:24-25; 12:15-16; Luke 6:17-19   The accounts of healings given in the passages cited above mention people coming from Galilee, Idumea, Tyre and Sidon,  the Decapolis, Jerusalem, and Judea, and from what used to be called Transjordan (that is, the area across the Jordan River, in what is today [Read More...]