Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 1191

A modern apostolic experience

    I pass on a little story that, among other places, I’ve seen in D. Michael Quinn’s The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power.  I mention that particular source in order to win some credibility for the story.  For some, Dr. Quinn (perhaps alongside Grant Palmer) is the only honest historian of Mormonism, and his works [Read More...]

Music of Christmas 20

    The great lyric soprano Renée Fleming joins the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Orchestra at Temple Square for a performance of What Child is This?   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VmAD...    

New Testament 3

    Luke 1:26-38   This account of the Annunciation, as it’s called, occurs only in the gospel of Luke.    Such stories, told from Mary’s perspective, have suggested to many readers that Mary herself was among the “eyewitness” sources used by Luke in the composition of his gospel (see Luke 1:2).  I find that [Read More...]

Some tweets related to that jihadi hostage-taking in Sydney

    I’m quite confident that some will accuse me of bleeding-heart liberalism for posting this, and of trying to whitewash or minimize Islamist terrorism.  They’ll do this despite my impeccable libertarian/conservative credentials since I was a teenager; despite my innumerable public denunciations of Islamist terrorism; despite my votes for George W. Bush, John McCain, and [Read More...]

Dwarfing the stable

How does the Light enter you?

    We tend to make more progress, spiritually, in times of stress, sorrow, opposition, and difficulty than in times of ease.  It’s rather like going to the gym, I suppose; exercise with thirty-pound weights builds more strength than does working out with half-pound weights.  Or, as the great thirteenth-century Muslim poet and mystic Jalal al-Din [Read More...]

“6 biblical stories that Hollywood should make into movies”

    http://www.deseretnews.com/article/86...   Posted from Orlando, Florida    

“On bracketing the truth”

    The invaluable Greg Smith has posted interesting comments on the concept of “bracketing the truth” in academic discourse:   http://seesangelsinthearchitecture.wo...   Posted from Orlando, Florida    

Tim Ballard, Latter-day Saint

    I’m very proud that this man is a member of my church:   http://ldsmag.com/tim-ballard-and-the...   He is also, it turns out — and I just realized this a few days ago — the same man who authored this book:   http://www.amazon.com/Lincoln-Hypothe...   See this website.   Posted from Orlando, Florida    

A new cosmological proof?

    “Here is the cosmological proof of the existence of God – the design argument of Paley – updated and refurbished. The fine tuning of the universe provides prima facie evidence of deistic design. Take your choice: blind chance that requires multitudes of universes or design that requires only one. . . .  Many [Read More...]