Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 1202

Music of Christmas 7

    A remarkable a cappella version of a very popular Christmas carol:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJ_MG...   The carol was written by Katherine Kennicott Davis, an American classical music composer and teacher, in 1941.  (She originally called it “The Carol of the Drum.”)  The Trapp Family Singers — think The Sound of Music – recorded it in [Read More...]

“Pop Francis: Why Everyone Loves the Pope”

    An interesting three-page article in the leading Evangelical Protestant magazine that’s a bit deeper and more serious than its title might seem to suggest:   http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2...    

TV shows with religious themes at Christmas time

    http://www.deseretnews.com/article/86...    

“God and the Astronomers”

    “For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who [Read More...]

Bridging the “Two Cultures”?

      It seems obvious to me that, in a society dominated to a large extent by technology, non-scientists ought to have at least a nodding acquaintance with basic science and with minimally the rudiments of what’s going on at today’s scientific frontiers.   Back in 1959, the English physical chemist and novelist C. [Read More...]

Heroic women in Kobani

    I want to say, again, how proud I am of the Kurds who’ve fought off the forces of the “Islamic State” death cult and defended Kobani.  Here’s a story, brought to my notice by my Australian friend Ray Agostini, about a young woman who has been part of that defense:   http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/12/...   [Read More...]

Mosiah 26

    In this chapter, Mosiah 26, as I’ve argued at length elsewhere, we see the rise of a church, in the sense of a volitional or intentional sub-community within the larger Nephite society, in the Book of Mormon.  And it’s clear from Alma’s puzzlement, and the need for special revelation to get him out [Read More...]

Christmas Cheer 7

    Apparently, the world’s largest live nativity took place yesterday, at the opening of Rock Canyon, in Provo, Utah.  Enjoy the photographs:   http://ldsliving.com/story/77472-brea...    

Mosiah 24

    Today’s reading is Mosiah 24.   Perhaps the most important take-away from it is the lesson that the Lord doesn’t always immediately lift our burdens from us.  Often, though, as in this instance, he “eases” them for us — sometimes by increasing our capacity to bear them.   I’m reminded of psychiatrist Viktor [Read More...]

Pope Francis concludes his visit to Turkey

    During his three days in majority-Muslim Turkey, the Pope called upon Muslim leaders to condemn terrorism and spoke out against the persecution of Christians:   http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-...