Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 1186

The Church of the Annunciation

    As I’m in the habit of pointing out, Christianity isn’t a European or American religion.  It began in the Middle East, and, for a very long time, its center of gravity was in the eastern Mediterranean.  So, in that spirit and in the spirit of Christmas, here’s a photograph of the magnificent modern [Read More...]

“Intellect and Affection: How to Be a Faithful Mormon Intellectual”

    Everybody is, or ought to be, busy with Christmas Eve, Christmas preparations, and family right now.  But some of you, when you get a chance, will perhaps find this relatively short new essay from the estimable Ralph Hancock quite interesting and thought-provoking:   http://www.patheos.com/blogs/soulandc...   For the record: I like what he’s written [Read More...]

An apostolic testimony of Christ

      A selection from a speech by Elder Melvin J. Ballard, who served as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles from 1919 until his death in 1939:   I recall an experience which I had two years ago, bearing witness to my soul of the reality of his death, of [Read More...]

Christmas Cheer 3

    In checking, I realized that I failed to make a third entry in my series on “Christmas Cheer.”  But I’ve found a good one to remedy that lack.   This wonderful story of surprising generosity was posted just today:   http://www.people.com/article/homeles...    

Music of Christmas 28

    An exquisitely beautiful choral version of today’s Christmas hymn:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsVnv...   This is a Christian folk hymn from the American South.  It was first published at Lynchburg, Virginia, in 1811, and has been called a “white spiritual.”  That aspect is clearly brought out in these two quite different videos:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nu9Kj...   [Read More...]

Music of Christmas 27

    Responding to my request for a Cuban Christmas song, my Havana-born daughter-in-law suggests this one, Felicidades, by the Cuban-American singer Gloria Estefan:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cORUl...   Cuba proper, under the rule of the Brothers Castro, hasn’t been a very favorable place for Christmas meditations or celebrations, so it’s fitting, I suppose, that we turn [Read More...]

“Advent refers to Christ’s second coming”

    Here’s a column that Bill Hamblin and I did for the Deseret News back in 2012:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/76...   For Christmas 2012 and Christmas 2014, I actually did two series of “Advent” posts here on this blog.  But they were a lot of work, and they seemed to draw minimal interest, so I [Read More...]

The Qur’an on Mary and Jesus

      “And [as for] her who guarded her chastity, We breathed of our Spirit into her and we made her and her son a sign to the worlds.”  (Qur’an 21:91)    

What kind of “poor”?

    Perhaps I should be clear about how I interpret the quotation from Archbishop Romero that I posted early this morning.   I don’t take him to mean that you can’t have a true Christmas unless you’re in debt, or unemployed, or working at a subsistence job, or living in a slum or a [Read More...]

New Testament 10

    Matthew 2:13-21   Matthew’s account of the flight into Egypt exhibits nicely one of the signature elements of his style and approach — his constant effort to illustrate how Jesus fulfills Old Testament prophecies.  And it demonstrates how he reads those prophecies.   For example, in 2:15, he says that the exile of [Read More...]