Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 265

On the “east wind” in the Book of Mormon

    Barring unforeseen mishap, I’ll be on the Interpreter Radio Show tonight (Sunday night) with Martin Tanner, between 7 PM and 9 PM.  During the second hour of the program, we’ll be discussing Mosiah 7-10.  One of the topics that I hope to address very briefly will be the reference in Mosiah 7:31 to […]

Intellectual schizophrenia as a symptom of a bad theory

    I continue to use my blog as an incentive to myself to type up notes from my reading and, therefore, as an inducement and aid to my own more formal (i.e., non-blog) writing.  In fact, I plan to do so more in the future than I have in the past.  (I have lots […]

“Risen”

    Back in early 2016, I saw the then-new film Risen.  My wife never did — she was traveling at the time — and she still hasn’t.  But I would still like her to do so; I would like to discuss it with her.  And I myself want to see it again.   Those who […]

Martin Harris, reputable witness

    I offer here some additional notes from Susan Easton Black and Larry C. Porter, Martin Harris: Uncompromising Witness of the Book of Mormon (Provo: BYU Studies, 2018).   Martin Harris arrived in Kirtland, Ohio, on 12 March 1831 for a relatively brief visit there, bringing with him a large number of copies of the Book of […]

Amazing scientific progress and surprising scientific ignorance

    One online critic of the Church likes to use me in order to illustrate the nadir of Latter-day Saint scientific ignorance — rather analogously to the concept of “absolute zero” or “zero degrees Kelvin,” the minimum temperature possible, at which there is no heat and the movement of fundamental particles is at a […]

We fall so very short of the ideal

    I’m grateful to Matthew Wheeler for calling two items to my attention that I think some of you will find of interest, as well.  If you can, go the Facebook page of “Abu Ubaidah (Faraz Sabeel Travels).”   Once you’re there, scroll down to his entry for 10:45 AM on 25 March 2020, […]

“Utahns have earned a C for social isolation efforts”

    “The coronavirus is pushing charities to their limit. Should Congress do more to help?: Some policy experts argue the $2 trillion stimulus package doesn’t do enough for social service organizations”   “Utah unemployment claims skyrocket as coronavirus containment forces massive layoffs”   “Salt Lake City mayor wants state to issue stay-at-home directive — or […]

“Pitfalls of the Ngram Viewer”

    Stanford Carmack contributed this week’s new article in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship, the constantly growing flagship publication of the Interpreter Foundation:   “Pitfalls of the Ngram Viewer” Abstract: Google’s Ngram Viewer often gives a distorted view of the popularity of cultural/religious phrases during the early 19th century and before. Other […]

Quantum mechanics and commonsense intuitions

    I’m back to reading Bruce Rosenblum and Fred Kuttner, Quantum Enigma: Physics Encounters Consciousness, 2d ed. (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2011).  At the time they wrote the book, both Rosenblum and Kuttner were members of the physics faculty at the University of California at Santa Cruz.   In this passage, […]

“Alleged Assault on ‘Middle Eastern’ Man in Utah”

    To be honest, I’m not sure that I see why there should be such a category as “hate crimes.”  Perhaps somebody can explain the rationale to me in a way that I’ll find persuasive, but it seems to me that deliberate violent crimes are deliberate violent crimes, however motivated.  Assault is assault, and […]