Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 222

Revision 3.6 “Muhammad’s Reception among the Arabs” (Part 1)

    Muhammad’s Reception among the Arabs In these early days of his prophetic ministry in Mecca, Muhammad reaped much ridicule but few converts. (Among those who did con­vert, however, were some of the greatest names in later Islamic his­tory, names such as Ali, Umar, Uthman, and Abu Bakr. We shall meet them all again.) […]

“What makes a human can . . . be scribbled on the back of a napkin”

    Here is a passage that struck me when I read Geraint F. Lewis and Luke A. Barnes, A Fortunate Universe: Life in a Finely Tuned Cosmos (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016) a while back:   While what makes a human in terms of consciousness remains a bit of a mystery, over the last few hundred […]

“The End from the Beginning”

    Today marks the 420th consecutive Friday on which we’ve published at least one article in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship.  Now, admittedly, in order to keep that string of consecutive days going we’ve sometimes been obliged to really scrape the bottom of the barrel.  Today’s article, the introduction to […]

Revision 3.5 “Paganism Condemned”

    Another common theme beginning in the earliest chapters of the Qur’an is a denunciation of paganism, the worshiping of pagan gods. This theme drew enthusiastic praise from Parley P. Pratt: Mahometanism included the doctrine that there was one God— that He was great, even the creator of all things, and that the people […]

Yet another new book from the Interpreter Foundation!

    I’m pleased to announce the publication of yet another new book by the Interpreter Foundation:   Donald W. Parry, Gaye Strathearn, and Shon D. Hopkin, eds., Seek Ye Words of Wisdom: Studies of the Book of Mormon, Bible, and Temple in Honor of Stephen D. Ricks (Orem and Provo: The Interpreter Foundation and […]

Was a human-life-permitting universe monumentally unlikely?

    Here is a lengthy passage that I marked in Douglas Groothuis, Christian Apologetics: A Comprehensive Case for Biblical Faith (Downers Grove: IVP and Nottingham: Apollos, 2011) some time back.  It addresses the question of whether it’s simply meaningless to claim that the existence of a universe that is receptive to the emergence of life, […]

Revision 3.4 “Continuing with Muhammad at Mecca”

    For this belief [in a physical resurrection] and others, the doubters made fun of the faith­ful.29 Whenever possible, they would deliberately interrupt the rec­itation of the Qur’an. Always they would laugh at it as just “old fairy tales.”30 Muhammad was accused of magic. Sometimes he was said to be demon-possessed or merely a […]

“Pillar of Light”

    Audio Roundtable: Come, Follow Me Book of Mormon Lesson 32 “Preserved by His Marvelous Power” Alma 53-63 The participants in the Interpreter Radio Roundtable for Come, Follow Me Book of Mormon Lesson 32, “Preserved by His Marvelous Power,” on Alma 53-63, were Terry Hutchinson, John Gee, and Kevin Christensen. That roundtable has now been extracted from the 12 July 2020 broadcast […]

“How the Pandemic Defeated America,” and Other Evils of Science

    It’s time, yet again, to share some of the COVID-19-related links that I’ve gathered together over the last little while.  Perhaps some of you will find them interesting.  Whether you find them interesting or not, though, I must press forward with my self-appointed mission — a mission of which I was informed by […]

Revision 3.3 “The Meccan Chapters of the Qur’an”

    Muslims and Western scholars agree upon a division of the suras or chapters of the Qur’an between those received at Mecca and those later received at the oasis town of Medina. There are dif­ferences between the two groups that go considerably beyond the mere time of the reception, however, extending to questions of […]