Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 245

A few reactions to Acts 5

    I continue to be impressed by the change between the behavior of the apostles on the Saturday before the first Easter (as recorded in the gospels) and the behavior that is recorded in the first chapters of Acts.  These men have gone, within the space of a very short time, from cowering fear […]

Polling on shari‘a

    A few passages extracted for my notes from John L. Esposito and Dalia Mogahed, Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think (New York: Gallup Press, 2007):   Sharia has been equated with stoning of adulterers, chopping off limbs for theft, imprisonment or death in blasphemy and apostasy cases, and limits on […]

Just a temporary assemblage of chemicals?

    The target of Curtis White, The Science Delusion: Asking the Big Questions in a Culture of Easy Answers [Brooklyn and London: Melville Books, 2014], is not science itself but, rather, “science as ideology (or ‘scientism,’ as it is often called),” which White describes as “certainly an abuse of the real value of science.” […]

On the late Christopher Hitchens

    Curtis White, who identifies himself as an atheist, had some very interesting things to say in Curtis White, The Science Delusion: Asking the Big Questions in a Culture of Easy Answers [Brooklyn and London: Melville Books, 2014].  Among them are these passages regarding the late Anglo-American “New Atheist” writer Christopher Hitchens:   Hitchens’s […]

Bad Book of Mormon Grammar?

    Dr. Stanford Carmack will be our guest for the first hour of the program when Martin Tanner and I host the Interpreter Radio Show this weekend from 7 PM to 9 PM on Sunday, Utah time.  Here are his four most recent articles for Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship: […]

“Lehi’s Dream and the Plan of Salvation,” plus Latter-day Saint sociability

    A new article — you’re surprised, maybe? — has appeared in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship.  This piece is by Ryan Atwood:   “Lehi’s Dream and the Plan of Salvation” Abstract: Lehi’s dream symbolically teaches us about many aspects of Heavenly Father’s plan of salvation. The central message of […]

“Changes in Languages from Nephi to Now”

    I was delighted to receive in the mail this afternoon a copy of the revised 2020 second edition of Brian D. Stubbs, Changes in Languages from Nephi to Now, the first edition of which appeared in 2016.  I actually received three copies, and will try to see that two of them receive good […]

Napoleon the Muslim

    A perfectly astounding passage from Paul Strathern, Napoleon in Egypt (New York: Bantam Books, 2008), regarding Bonaparte’s 1798 invasion of the former land of the pharaohs:   As the invasion fleet sailed east across the Mediterranean, Napoleon would lie in bed reading and dictating to Bourrienne.  His principal reading was from the Koran. […]

Greedy LD$ Inc., Again

    I discussed the allegedly obscene greed of the leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at some length here back when the story about Ensign Peak Advisors first surfaced (toward mid-December, if I recall correctly).  To me, it was essentially a non-story, since it’s clear beyond reasonable dispute that the […]

What’s at stake?