Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 1181

New Testament 32

    Matthew 4:13-17 Mark 1:14-15 Luke 4:14-15 John 4:43-46   The notion that “a prophet is not without honor except in his own country” strikes me as entirely human and very plausible.  Familiarity, the saying goes, breeds contempt.  Not in everybody, of course.  But for many, I’m sure, it’s much easier to believe in [Read More...]

“Feasting with the Dead”

    A brief article in the January/February 2015 issue of the Biblical Archaeology Review reports on a just-concluded exhibit at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, entitled In Remembrance of Me: Feasting with the Dead in the Ancient Middle East.   The artifact most prominently featured in the exhibit was the Katumuwa Stela, a basalt [Read More...]

Despicable Me

    Three passages, culled from comments on blogs made by people who disagree with Ralph Hancock, William Hamblin, and me about some trends in Latter-day Saint academia:   1.   “I firmly believe that sacred and secular don’t need to be at war as some are currently trying to portray in an effort to [Read More...]

The Muslim employee who saved several people at that kosher market in Paris

    I think this story needs to be widely known:   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01...   Thanks to Jabra Ghneim for sharing it with me.    

“Searching for pale blue dots”

    The current (10 January 2015) issue of The Economist includes an interesting report about a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Seattle last week.   The report focuses on the search for earth-like planets.  The Kepler, a 2009 satellite launched by NASA, has thus far discovered (I believe) eight new planets.  Three [Read More...]

Luther, on the Bible

    “The Bible is alive, it speaks to me; it has feet, it runs after me; it has hands, it lays hold of me.”  (Martin Luther, d. 1546 )    

In which I condemn “Charlie Hebdo”

    I was, and I remain, indignant at the Islamist attack on Charlie Hebdo.  It was a criminal outrage.  An obscenity.   I’m moved by the defiant statement attributed to the magazine’s publisher, Stephane Charbonnier, who, with others of his colleagues, was murdered earlier this week: “I’d rather die on my feet than live on [Read More...]

New Testament 31

    John 4:4-42   1.   Why did Jesus need to travel through Samaria in order to reach the Galilee from Judea (4:4)?  If, as I’ve been saying, he was baptizing at the Jordan River somewhere not too far from Jericho and the northern end of the Dead Sea, couldn’t he simply have traveled [Read More...]

“Evidences for the Book of Mormon: Nephi the Scribe”

    Another interesting Deseret News article from Taylor Halverson:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/86...    

“Je Suis Ahmed”

    No doubt some of you have seen the disturbing video of a wounded Paris policeman lying in pain on the sidewalk.  He had, it seems, been shot during the initial attack by the Kouachi brothers on the offices of Charlie Hebdo.  When one of the brothers trots over toward him, he raises his [Read More...]