Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 268

Oberammergau 2022!

    I’m deeply saddened to say that the tour that I was scheduled to lead to the Passionsspiele Oberammergau, the Wartburg, Mauthausen, Lutherstadt Wittenberg, Berlin, and so forth, has been canceled.   Why?  Because the Oberammergau Passion Play itself has been canceled.  As Shakespeare’s Friar Lawrence says to Juliet,   Lady, come from that […]

“The Lost Prologue: Reading Moses Chapter One as an Ancient Text”

    A new article– this one by Mark J. Johnson — has appeared in Interpreter: A Journal  of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship:   “The Lost Prologue: Reading Moses Chapter One as an Ancient Text” Abstract: The character and complexion of the Prophet Joseph Smith’s translation of the Bible (JST) is often a puzzle to students and […]

Of what value are the Book of Mormon witnesses?

    I published this article on 18 October 2018 in the print edition of the Deseret News and online in LDS Living:   Let’s assume, for the sake of discussion, that the declarations of the official witnesses to the Book of Mormon are true. (I’m happy to argue for their truth, but that’s not […]

“A scourge of biblical proportions”

    Pestilence and disease?   Check.   Earthquake?   Check.   Plague of locusts?   Check!   Jerusalem Post:  “Swarms of locusts expected to plague Africa and Middle East, UN group says: The swarms represent “an unprecedented threat to food security,” according to the Locust Watch website.”   “Locust swarm branded ‘scourge of biblical proportions’ […]

Recalling much darker times

    What would a day be without links to stories about the coronavirus?   “The coronavirus pandemic in five powerful charts: From papers published to carbon emissions to confirmed cases, these data reveal an unprecedented viral outbreak and its impacts around the world.”   This is potentially positive news:   “New study says ‘high temperature […]

Premortality and Theosis in a Great Medieval Persian Mystical Poet

    I hear hints of a premortal existence in the famous “Song of the Flute” from the opening of the Mathnavi, written by the great Persian Sufi poet Jalal al-Din Rumi (1207-1273).  Why, Rumi asks, implicitly comparing a reed flute to the human soul, is the sound of the flute so plaintive and sad?   Listen […]

For those long, lonely hours at home

    Many of us are essentially trapped at home these days.  Our usual activities — e.g., cockfighting, bear-baiting, chariot races, gladiatorial combat, and rambling through exotic bazaars, gambling halls, saloons, and opium dens — have been closed down.  Some of us are even having to work from home.  But we’re not left without resources, […]

Simplistic theories on the settlement of the Americas take a hit

    I don’t know that this has any direct relevance to the claims of the Book of Mormon, but it does — at a minimum — illustrate how very much we still have to learn about the peopling of the Western hemisphere and how complex and multifold that process appears to have been:   […]

Wisdom from Imam ‘Ali, the fourth caliph of Islam

    Many wise sayings are attributed to ‘Ali b. Abi Talib (d. AD 661), the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad and, eventually, the fourth Islamic caliph (and the figure around whom the Shi‘i form of Islam ultimately coalesced).  I’ve selected a few of them for sharing here, in no particular order:   […]

Interpreter As a Lifeline

    To the surprise and considerable irritation of its most devoted critics, the Interpreter Foundation continues to produce, even in this time of official national emergency and international health and economic crisis.   Here, for example, are two new items from Hales Swift:   “Baptism Understood in Light of the Tree of Life Vision […]