Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 244

The fifth printing of the Yale edition of the Book of Mormon

    I’ve just received the following from my colleague and friend Royal Skousen, and I share it with his authorization.  It concerns his wonderful edition of the Book of Mormon, which I really appreciate and from which my wife and I do our shared Book of Mormon scripture reading.  Posting this here may have […]

Divisions

    Apparently, BYU’s male a capella group, Vocal Point, was featured on a recent CNN program memorializing victims of the coronavirus pandemic.  They sang “Be Thou My Vision.”  Here’s an earlier recording of them performing that beautiful song:   “Be Thou My Vision” (BYU Vocal Point)   It’s a popular piece on the campus […]

Non-scientific matters that we know with certainty

    I listened to a talk last night by the evangelical philosopher J. P. Moreland, whose undergraduate degree was actually in chemistry.  He was arguing against scientism, the notion that all true knowledge is scientific knowledge, and that only scientific knowledge is genuine knowledge.   By the way, try demonstrating the truth of that […]

Lorenzo Snow meets Joseph Smith for the first time

    The intelligent, college-educated Lorenzo Snow (1814-1901) — higher learning was a rarity in early nineteenth-century America — recalled seeing Joseph Smith for the first time:  “I made a critical examination as to his appearance, his dress, and his manner as I heard him speak,” Snow said. He was only twenty-five years of age […]

A note from the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

    President Russell M. Nelson posted the following on his Facebook page today:   We join with many throughout this nation and around the world who are deeply saddened at recent evidences of racism and a blatant disregard for human life. We abhor the reality that some would deny others respect and the most […]

Half full, or half empty? More similar, or more different?

    I offer here a summary passage from Mark D. Roberts, Can We Trust the Gospels?: Investigating the Reliability of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2007).  Roberts, who, at the time his book was published, was senior pastor at Irvine Presbyterian Church in southern California, earned a Ph.D. in New […]

Scientific reductionism and common sense

    The late Cornell University historian of science William Provine (1942-2015) was not only a vocal atheist but a forthright proponent of what he saw as the implications of modern science:   Let me summarize my views on what modern evolutionary biology tells us loud and clear. . . .  There are no gods, […]

Literary craftsmanship and a jubilee celebration in Alma 29?

    John W. Welch, et al., eds.  Knowing Why: 137 Evidences That the Book of Mormon Is True (American Fork: Covenant Communications, 2017), 314-318, treats Alma’s famous exclamation “O that I were an angel”:   I was especially struck by these paragraphs:   Alma’s use of trumpet imagery is interesting in light of the […]

Two linguistic notes regarding Book of Mormon names

    Martin Tanner and I will have Dr. Stanford Carmack as our guest this evening on the Interpreter Radio Show during its first hour (7-8 PM).  During the second hour (8-9 PM), Martin and I will discuss Alma 23-29. The Interpreter Radio Show can be heard Sunday evenings from 7 to 9 PM (MDT), […]

Luke as Careful Historian

    I’ve been posting some notes over the past few weeks from my evening readings in the New Testament book of Acts.  As I’ve noted, Acts is the second-half of a two-part work by the same author, Luke, which scholars commonly call Luke-Acts.  In that light, I offer here a summary passage from Mark D. […]