Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 192

“FairMormon Statement Regarding ‘This is The Show’ Videos”

    An item just went up this evening on the FairMormon website that may draw some attention.  I thought, in view of the recent controversy regarding certain videos, that at least a few of my readers here might perhaps be interested in it, as well as in the FAQ section that is appended to […]

Help Hoped for in Holladay

    These two new items appeared today on website of the Interpreter Foundation:   Come, Follow Me — Study and Teaching Helps: Lesson 49, December 14-20: Moroni 10 — “Come unto Christ, and Be Perfected in Him” A set of notes kindly contributed by Jonn Claybaugh   Audio Roundtable: Come, Follow Me Book of Mormon Lesson 49: “Come unto […]

“Chiastic Structuring of Large Texts: Second Nephi as a Case Study”

    I’m very happy to welcome a   New Vice President for The Interpreter Foundation   You can see photos and bios of our Board of Trustees, as currently constituted, here:   The Foundation   ***   We published another article today in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship.   This […]

My Connection with Some Controversial Recent Videos

    Thus far, four (very) different people have written to tell me that I’ve come under rather sharp criticism today on a podcast by a well-known professional ex-member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  At least two of them judge me to be guilty, to deserve the attack.   My understanding […]

Revision 8.6 “Near Eastern Missions and a Branch in Jerusalem”

    President Booth’s sudden death did not end missionary work in the Near East. No new mission president was called until 1933, how­ever, when an Armenian by the name of Badwagon Piranian was appointed to preside over what would now be called the Palestine-Syrian Mission. He rented a new mission home, at 25 Garden […]

Berlinski imagines Borges imagining literary “evolution”

    From the staff of Book of Mormon Central and the Interpreter Foundation’s Jeffrey Mark Bradshaw:   “Book of Moses Essays #32: Moses 1 in Its Ancient Context: The Two-Part Pattern of Heavenly and Ritual Ascent (Moses 1)”   ***   I think that this allegorical spoof of orthodox Darwinian evolutionary doctrine, which can […]

The Point of the Plates, and Moroni and Joseph’s Amazing Coat

    Many years ago, a friend who was sympathetic to the Church but not a believer in the Book of Mormon asked me what the point of the golden plates was.  After all, he said — he was quite well informed regarding Latter-day Saint beliefs — Joseph Smith apparently didn’t need them in order […]

Mary and the Infant Jesus in the Qur’an (My Translation), Plus a Note on Reductionism

    My column for this week in the Deseret News:   “How the Annunciation and the birth of Jesus are referred to in the Quran: I offer my own translations of Christmas-related passages from a book that will be far less familiar to many”   ***   Here, newly appeared on the website of […]

Does President Trump Need to Suspend the Constitution, Void the Election, and Impose Military Rule?

    Okay.  I’m about to post some political thoughts and links. These political thoughts and links have absolutely no connection with the Interpreter Foundation, which is totally and completely apolitical and should not be blamed for them.  I don’t know how the other leaders of Interpreter voted.  I’ve never asked.  It has never come […]

“Barren Women, the Christmas Story, and the Promise of Seed in Both Time and Eternity”

    Have you watched the Church’s Christmas film The Christ Child, yet?  Somehow, I missed it last year when (I think) it first came out.  I watched it a few days ago, though, and loved it.  It gets the “feel” just right, in my judgment, including its use of original-language dialogue.  To my surprise, […]