Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 176

Difficult Issues, Polarization, and the Latter-day Saints

    ***   It’s very possible, unfortunately, that you won’t be able to access the full text of this article in The Economist.  It’s quite good, though, and I think that most of you would find it interesting:   “Why Utah’s conservatism is better: The Mormon right has not followed white evangelicals’ descent into grievance […]

Farewell, for Now, to a Friend

    ***   Our longtime neighbor and friend Henry Yeates died early this morning.  After a struggle against cancer that lasted somewhat more than a year and a half, and especially after the dismal and hopeless wait of the past few weeks, his passing is a mercy and a deliverance.  But we who are […]

Varieties of Religious and Irreligious Experience

    ***   Here’s some striking news involving two very vocal atheists.  Unusually, I find myself siding with them:   “Bill Maher’s Audience Cheers As He Trashes Young People With Far-Left Views: ‘Your Ideas Are Stupid’”   “Richard Dawkins loses ‘humanist of the year’ title over trans comments: American Humanist Association criticises academic for comments […]

Approaching the Beatitudes (Beatitudes 1)

    ***   I hope that you caught at least part of the superb online conference on the Book of Moses that began this past Friday evening and occupied much of Saturday.  If you didn’t, there still might be a chance.  The presentations were very good.  And the proceedings will eventually be published.  In […]

The Book of Moses Is Scrutinized — and Flourishes Under Scrutiny

    I hope that you caught Richard L. Bushman’s magnificent opening keynote speech for the Book of Moses conference last night.  It was remarkable.  And the presentations so far this morning — by Kent P. Jackson and Kerry Muhlestein and David Rolph Seely and Stanford Carmack — have also been very, very good:   […]

“Vast Prairies and Trackless Wilds of Snow: A Good Test of Sincerity”

    This wretched essay by the infamous Daniel Peterson went up earlier today in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship:   “Vast Prairies and Trackless Wilds of Snow: A Good Test of Sincerity” Abstract: Embarking roughly six months after the organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the 1830–1831 […]

Addendum 5: Founding the Middle Eastern Texts Initiative at BYU (Part 1)

    ***   The news, when it first arrived early Friday afternoon, was uncertain.  But it’s now clearly and sadly true:  D. Michael Quinn, the well-known historian of the early Restoration and of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has died.  He became a controversial figure, and he wasn’t especially fond of […]

Derek Chauvin and I

    ***   First, though, I share with you a link to the second installment of my new regular column in Meridian Magazine:   “What Will Convince You to Start Trusting God?”   And, while we’re at it, here are a quintet of the other items that are currently up on the Meridian site […]

Some thoughts on inferring a designer

    ***   But, first:   A few of my odd but obsessive anonymous critics will be unsurprised at my life-long interest in Tyrannosaurus rex; they’ll surely point out the almost embarrassingly obvious family resemblance between me and the dinosaur with regard to our character and temperament.  Nonetheless, I press forward.  This latest find, […]

Growing Up as Hugh Nibley

    ***   To the probable astonishment of hundreds of millions of people worldwide, an article has gone up today in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship.  For those who care, this marks the 457th consecutive week — out of the 458.5 weeks since the Interpreter Foundation was launched — in […]