Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 1181

Arabs and Israelis join to deal with an ecological issue

    I love to post positive stories from the Middle East and the Islamic world.  Thanks to Allen Hansen for drawing my notice to this one.    

New Testament 22-24

    John 2:1-13   Just a brief note, today, on the way, theologically, in which the gospel of John employs the miracles of of Jesus:   Characteristically, John uses the term σημεῖον (semeion, “sign”) to refer to the miraculous acts performed by Christ.  For example, in today’s reading, at John 2:11, the gospel is summing [Read More...]

Atheist group slams university in Alabama because its chancellor recommended a video

    The video in question is focused on Clayton Christensen, a very well known Latter-day Saint professor at Harvard Business School.  A link to it can be found in the article to which I provide a link below.   One can debate, of course, whether an official at this particular university should have said [Read More...]

“Heavenly Ascents”

    Curiously, I don’t believe that I’ve ever mentioned David J. Larsen’s very interesting blog here.  So, seeking to remedy that lack, and in the continuing hope of alerting interested readers to excellent Mormon thinking and writing, here it is:   http://www.heavenlyascents.com    

The key to a long life?

    “If you live to be one hundred, you’ve got it made.  Very few people die past that age.”  (George Burns)    

“An Introduction to the Humanities of Islam”

    Starting next week, I’ll be teaching — along with two other classes — an “Introduction to the Humanities of Islam.”  I’m somewhat excited about it, because I’ve completely reconceived the course.  I’ll be approaching it in a very different way than I ever have before.   It’s an experiment, and, of course, it [Read More...]

More in sorrow than in anger

    Yesterday, David Bokovoy responded to my response to him.  Thus, we provide empirical proof of the theological principle of “one eternal round.”   I was pleased at David’s pacific tone, but was, frankly, disheartened and even saddened by the overall thrust of his reply to me.  I’ll address specific points below, with his [Read More...]

Iraqi TV show makes terrorists face their victims

    http://www.ksl.com/?nid=1206&sid=...   I understand concerns about Iraq’s justice system; I’ve lived in the Middle East, and I know something of how these systems work there, even in places that aren’t under pressure from terrorists and/or civil war.  (Even in the United States, remember, Abraham Lincoln — of all people — suspended the right of [Read More...]

After the normalization announcement

    My complaint about Mr. Obama’s recent announcement that he intends to resume diplomatic relations with Cuba centers not so much on that resumption of relations, for which a solid case can be made, but on his (typical) failure to get anything at all in exchange for his granting to the Castro regime something [Read More...]

“It’s like looking at God.”

    “Then, last week, American scientists announced the discovery of radiation patterns in space that may mark the beginning of time itself. Said astrophysicist George Smoot, leader of the research team: ‘If you’re religious, it’s like looking at God.  The order is so beautiful and the symmetry so beautiful that you think there is [Read More...]