Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 1193

Christmas Cheer 25

    Here’s one young woman’s account of an unusually meaningful and memorable Christmas for her:   https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=...   And there are other such accounts where her story came from.    

Music of Christmas 23

    Here’s another sentimental favorite of mine from German-speaking Europe.  The melody stems from a medieval Latin song, and the German lyrics seem to have been written by a monk in Salzburg, Austria:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7M3P8...   Joseph, lieber Joseph mein,hilf mir wiegen mein Kindlein.Gott, der wird dein Lohner seinim Himmelreich, der Jungfrau Sohn Maria.Eia! [Read More...]

On dealing with opposition

    On the proper response to obstacles, opposition, setbacks, problems, and difficulties:   “If you are irritated by every rub, how will your mirror be polished?”  (Jalal al-Din Rumi, d. AD 1273)        

“Christmas is about a Baby”

    Two or three months ago, the leadership of The Interpreter Foundation decided that it would be a nice tradition to publish a special (and relatively short) Christmas piece on the Friday prior to the holiday, or, should Christmas fall on a Friday, that very day.   Here’s our Christmas article for 2014:   http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/chri... [Read More...]

“What good are prophetic voices that maintain total silence on the most pressing moral matters of our time?”

    In a thought-provoking article posted yesterday on her blog, Flunking Sainthood, Jana Riess raises a very interesting issue:   When our general leaders combine an intense focus on young women’s shoulders with near-silence on war, torture, racially-motivated violence on the part of police, and crimes against humanity, we should understand that as a [Read More...]

New Testament 6

    Matthew 1:2-17 Luke 3:23-38   The standard explanation for the seeming discrepancies in the genealogy of Jesus as given in Matthew and Luke is that Matthew’s genealogy emphasizes Christ’s royal lineage, whereas Luke (a physician, according to tradition) emphasizes his biological line.  Note, too, that, whereas the Hebrew Matthew takes Christ’s genealogy back to [Read More...]

“Prophet’s birthday fits with the season”

    This is the column that I published back in 2010 in connection with Joseph Smith’s 23 December birthday:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/70...    

Fortunately, the White Witch hasn’t turned up here, yet.

“A nearby solar system shares features with our own”

    The current issue of Scientific American includes a brief article, entitled “The Dust Belt Next Door,” about the star Tau Ceti, which is located just twelve light-years from Earth.   It has been suggested — though resolution has literally not yet been achieved on this question — that Tau Ceti has five planets [Read More...]

Joseph Smith: The Cambridge Years

    Bill Hamblin and I have used this imaginary book or article title for years, and Bill has just published a nice little blog entry using it:   http://www.patheos.com/blogs/enigmati...