Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 191

“The Most American Religion”?

    But, first, the latest installment of my biweekly column for the Deseret News:   “How the Church of the Nativity, the traditional birthplace of Jesus, has survived conquerers and time”   ***   The Atlantic has just published one of the better articles about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint   […]

Two memorable nineteenth-century stories from Santaquin and Nephi

    Permanently stashed in the glove compartment of our car — you do know the term glove compartment, I hope; my wife’s family tend to call it a cowl pocket, a phrase that I had never heard before but which, for much of my marriage, I mistakenly heard as the even weirder and more […]

Nephite Secret Combinations and Shining Jaredite Stones

    But first, I give you two items that were newly published today on the website of the Interpreter Foundation:   Audio Roundtable: Come, Follow Me Book of Mormon Lesson 50 “He Shall Come into the World to Redeem His People”: Christmas The discussants in the Interpreter Radio Roundtable for Come, Follow Me Book of Mormon Lesson 50, “He Shall Come […]

Nephite personal names, possible religious bigotry at Utah State, and an Arizona court addresses whether Latter-day Saints are Christians

    The latest article to appear in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship was written by my long-time friend and former companion in the Switzerland Zürich Mission, Professor Stephen D. Ricks   “Proper Names from the Small Plates: Some Notes on the Personal Names Zoram, Jarom, Omni, and Mosiah” Abstract: With a selection […]

Revision 8.7 “The Orson Hyde Memorial Garden and BYU’s Jerusalem Center”

    The idea of an Orson Hyde monument continued to be dis­cussed as time went on, although some—notably Elder Howard W. Hunter of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles—worried that such a monument might compromise Church efforts and harm the Church’s image among the Arabs.[1] Finally, on 24 Octo­ber 1979, the anniversary of Elder […]

Some things that need to be accounted for

    First, though, here’s something new that was posted today on the website of the Interpreter Foundation:   Book of Moses Essays #33: Moses 1 in Its Ancient Context: Moses 1 as a “Missing” Prologue to Genesis (Moses 1)   ***   Some readers here may recall that, in fits and starts, I’ve been […]

“Did Joseph Smith Hypnotize the Book of Mormon Witnesses?” and Various Other Wonders

    Two new book reviews, one by Jasmin Gimenez Rappleye and one by Stephen O. Smoot, appeared today in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship:   “Itty Bitty Books with Big Lessons: Enos, Jarom, Omni” Review of Sharon J. Harris, Enos, Jarom, Omni: A Brief Theological Introduction (Provo, UT: The Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, 2020). 144 pages. […]

“My life is worth more to me than that”

    Newly posted on the website of the Interpreter Foundation:   Interpreter Radio Show — November 29, 2020 You can now listen to or download the 29 November 2020 broadcast of the Interpreter Radio Show below. It will also be included in our podcast feed (https://interpreterfoundation.org/fee...). The discussants for this episode were Daniel C. […]

“Was a Rare Book on the Hindu Religion a Source for the Book of Ether?”

    A new item, this one by the inimitable Jeff Lindsay, has appeared on the blog of the Interpreter Foundation:   “Was a Rare Book on the Hindu Religion a Source for the Book of Ether?”   ***   Did you realize that 22 November 2020 was the fifty-seventh anniversary of the death of […]

An earnest year-end appeal

    A few days ago, an attack on several organizations including the Interpreter Foundation was posted online.  It focused on our finances, and it linked us far more closely together than is actually true.  I’ll let the other organizations respond (if they choose to do so) for themselves, but I want to say a […]