Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 5

Of Spheres, Spirals, Spindles, and the Divine

  A new article has appeared in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship:  “Why was the Liahona a Sphere? A New Perspective on Its Form and Function,” written by Wanless Southwick and Kyle Kinghorn Abstract: A new, simpler design for the Liahona is proposed, which, if correct, makes the reason for two […]

News about John Henry Newman

  Things are obviously becoming desperate at the nearly fossilized Interpreter Foundation.  They’ve been obliged to resort, in their series of chapter reprints, to a reprint — and, in fact, to a reprint that comes from a distinctly sketchy author:  Seek Ye Words of Wisdom: “A Great Leap Backwards: Where Matters Stand Now Regarding the […]

An unexpected side of Sigmund Freud

  We did more interviewing today up at the Church History Museum in Salt Lake City.  The interviews are for the Interpreter Foundation’s forthcoming series of short Becoming Brigham documentary videos.  I was intending to be there, even though I wasn’t slated to do the actual interviewing today.  In the end, though, I thought that […]

Delving into a little-known aspect of LDS Church history

  I spent the morning in the boardroom of the Church History Museum in Salt Lake City, interviewing W. Paul Reeve for our Becoming Brigham series of short documentary features.  Paul just stepped down as the chair of the Department of History at the University of Utah, where he holds the Simmons Chair of Mormon […]

What are the mechanics of consciousness and subjectivity?

  My latest column for Meridian Magazine has appeared: “What Is FAIR? Inside the 2025 Conference on Latter-day Saint Apologetics”  I hope that you can make it for all or part of the meetings, whether virtually or in person.  Invite friends!  Bring relatives!  A fun time will be had by all.  (Up until the final […]

An incident on the Usumacinta River, many years ago

  It seems appropriate to jot down some lines on my life history on a Sabbath day, so here’s a note toward my eventual autobiography (which — don’t worry! — I have no anticipation of ever publishing): Many years ago, I went down to Guatemala with a couple of others to look in on an […]

Regrets in Richmond

  One of my recurring disappointments about our visits to Richmond is that, occupied as we always are with family matters (which, of course, is a very good thing), we’ve usually been unable to pay much attention to the astonishingly rich history here and about — from both the colonial and revolutionary era and from […]

On Adam Clarke, the Book of Mormon, and Christian™ Idaho

  This new article appeared just after noon today (Utah time) in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship:  “Adam Clarke and Isaiah in the Book of Mormon,” written by Kent P. Jackson Abstract: A recent article alleges that in creating the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith copied Isaiah passages out of the […]

“How the left ended up disbelieving the science”

  First of all, happy Pioneer Day!  Or, if nothing else, happy Twenty-Fourth of July! It being Thursday, the Interpreter Foundation has just published another item in its reprint series, which — please recall — is distinct from its series of new journal articles, which always appear on Friday:  Seek Ye Words of Wisdom: “The […]

Thoughts for Pioneer Day

  June 24 for people who reside in Utah and for many members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints worldwide, is “Pioneer Day.”  It commemorates the entry of Brigham Young and the first group of Latter-day Saint pioneers — the advance or vanguard party — into the Valley of the Great Salt […]