Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 220

In which I renounce politics

    Many years ago, during a meeting at Church headquarters with two members of the Twelve, the subject arose of my having delivered several papers at annual conferences of the Sunstone Foundation — a group of which some of you may still be aware.  It once loomed larger on the Latter-day Saint intellectual landscape […]

Revision 3.12 “Latter-day Saints in the Middle”

    In an entry that I posted here a few days ago, I commented that Latter-day Saint theological interactions with Muslims will be easier to the extent that we can say positive things about Muhammad, whom Muslims esteem very, very highly — or, at least, to the degree that we’re not obliged to say negative […]

Next Year Along the Nile

    The latest installment of my bi-weekly Deseret News column went up earlier today (Thursday):   “Israel may be the most studied archeological site in the world, but discoveries keep coming: Archeologists have found a temple, smaller than Solomon’s Temple, in Tel Moza, about 4 miles outside of Jerusalem.”   ***   A beautifully […]

Does science stand alone as the path to knowledge?

    Sir John Polkinghorne, now in his ninetieth year, is both a Knight of the British Empire (KBE) and a Fellow of the prestigious Royal Society (founded by, among others, Sir Christopher Wren and Sir Isaac Newton).  Sir John was a professor of mathematical physics at the University of Cambridge until he resigned his professorial chair in order to study for the […]

Revision 3.11 “What Are We to Make of Muhammad?” (An Introductory Comment)

    Evaluations of Muhammad have varied wildly. Skeptical Western writers for years regarded him as a fraud. (Indeed, many liked to link him with Joseph Smith in that regard. To associate the two was to damn both.)[1] The great fourteenth-century Christian poet Dante Alighieri placed him in one of the deepest reaches of Hell.[2] […]

“And for this testimony I expect to give an account in the day of judgment.”

    A few days ago, I recorded a lecture for BYU Education Week 2020 entitled “The Book of Mormon Witnesses: Sincerity and Reality.”  As this news item indicates, it will be available for viewing in October of this year:   “BYU Education Week to be held online in October”   ***   In the […]

“Producing Ancient Scripture — Thomas Wayment on Joseph Smith’s Use of Adam Clarke in the JST” (plus Stephen Smoot on B. H. Roberts and the Book of Mormon)

    New, via the website of the Interpreter Foundation:   “Producing Ancient Scripture — Thomas Wayment on Joseph Smith’s Use of Adam Clarke in the JST”   ***   Also new on the Interpreter Foundation website:   Audio Roundtable: Come, Follow Me Book of Mormon Lesson 33 “The Rock of Our Redeemer”: Helaman 1-6 The Interpreter Radio Roundtable […]

Back to Politics

    The uniform silence out there surrounding the question of what I think about Joe Biden’s vice presidential selection proves to me that, although millions of Americanos desperately want to know my thoughts, they’re all too intimidated and too shy to ask.  So, out of kindness and an earnest desire to end the misery […]

Revision 3.10 “The Death of Muhammad”

    By the year 632, Muhammad had subdued all of the Arabian penin­sula. The revelation of Islam was complete. “This day I have perfected your religion for you and completed My favour to you,” says the Qur’an in the voice of God, in what many believe to be the last verse of the book to […]

The Seventeenth Century and the Birth of Modern Science

    Gemli wonders why anyone cares what people from the 17th century thought about this or that religion. Most were busy dying young of pneumonia and poor sanitation. If they had such great minds, perhaps instead of wasting time thinking about invisible sky spirits they might have investigated the real world that was killing […]