Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 177

Edward Idris Cardinal Cassidy (5 July 1924 – 10 April 2021), a “Prince of the Church”

    ***   Someone who was once acquainted with me — but who, quite plainly, never knew me or, if he ever did, has forgotten or chosen to suppress what he knew — has lately taken to publicly branding me an “anti-Catholic.”  That regrettable fact may lend particular poignancy to what I’m about to […]

“The Man Who Knew Infinity” (Part Two)

    ***   First of all, I’ve just become aware that Edward Idris Cardinal Cassidy passed away a week ago today, 10 April 2021, at the age of 96.  I had the privilege of meeting with Cardinal Cassidy on two separate occasions, once in Rome (or, more precisely, in Vatican City) and once in […]

Some reminiscences about how in the world I got onto the BYU faculty

    ***   For what it’s worth:  I’ve just today agreed to participate in the 2021 edition of the annual FreedomFest, which, unusually, will be held this year in Rapid City, South Dakota.  (For a very long time, it’s been hosted in Las Vegas, Nevada.  But not this year.)  I’m slated to participate on […]

Wordplay, “Intertextuality,” Archaisms, and Other Book of Mormon Subtleties

    ***   Two new items appeared today in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship.  The first is by Matthew L. Bowen, while the second is by Jeffrey Thayne:   ““The Messiah Will Set Himself Again”: Jacob’s Use of Isaiah 11:11 in 2 Nephi 6:14 and Jacob 6:2” Abstract: In sermons and writings, […]

A book coming. A conference coming. A movie coming. Oh my!

    ***   Well, the Interpreter Foundation continues to sputter along, barely surviving, producing nothing.  Here are some new items that went up today:   “Hugh Nibley on Revelation, Reason, and Rhetoric” Included at this link, beyond the brief article, are two videos, both of which are entitled “A Conversation about Hugh Nibley with […]

Addendum 4: Some Notes on the Nature of Qur’anic Revelation

    ***   “The great religious leaders of the world such as Mohammed, Confucius, and the Reformers, as well as philosophers including Socrates, Plato, and others, received a portion of God’s light. Moral truths were given to them by God to enlighten whole nations and to bring a higher level of understanding to individuals.  […]

“The Man Who Knew Infinity” (Part One)

    ***   I first read about Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887-1920) back when I was in eighth or ninth grade, probably either in James R. Newman’s four-volume The World of Mathematics or in E. T. Bell’s Men of Mathematics.  (These are, incidentally, the books that initially sent me to the university as a mathematics major.)  […]

A Triptych on Fasting, Latter-day Saints, Muslims, Anti-COVID Vaccinations, Dan Vogel, and the Book of Abraham

    ***   First, I want to pass along these items from Sam LeFevre, a reader of this blog and, if I’m not mistaken, the director of the Bureau of Epidemiology in the Utah Department of Health.  I share them with his kind permission, and with the understanding that they represent his opinions and […]

“Edfu and Exodus”

    ***   Newly published just now in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship:   John Gee, “Edfu and Exodus” Abstract: In this essay John Gee draws a connection between the Egyptian “Book of the Temple” and the book of Exodus, both in structure and topic, describing the temple from the inside out. […]

Against “tolerance,” and “adieu” to teaching

    ***   I cordially dislike the idea of “religious tolerance.”  Not because (as certain of my critics will hasten to declare) I favor religious intolerance, but because mere “tolerance” seems too bloodless to me.  It suggests that, while I’ll permit differing religious beliefs to exist, I do so at the cost of considerable […]