Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 7

Notes on the passing scene

  Coming tomorrow: “5,000 episodes: The power and reach of ‘Music & the Spoken Word’: Messages from listeners have helped to craft the choir’s milestone 5,000th episode on Sunday” I don’t know whether I’ll have the opportunity to watch this.  I hope that at least some of you will.  And, of course, it may be available […]

Reconnecting on the Bow

  Newly posted in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship:  “Smooth Words and Slippery Things: Samuel the Lamanite’s Prophetic Use of Hebrew ḥlq,” written by Matthew L. Bowen Abstract: Samuel the Lamanite expressly drew on the words of Isaiah (Isaiah 30:10) and possibly Jeremiah (Jeremiah 23:12) with a clever, powerful wordplay on […]

This World or the Next? Why Not Both?

  This item has just been posted on the fossilized and entirely static website of the Interpreter Foundation:  “Seek Ye Words of Wisdom: “Columbus among the Lamanites,” written by Andrew H. Hedges: Part of our book chapter reprint series, this article originally appeared in Seek Ye Words of Wisdom: Studies of the Book of Mormon, Bible, […]

Heartland or Mesoamerica?

  Newly posted today on the website of the Interpreter Foundation:  The Heartland Versus Mesoamerica Part 13: Some Final Comments , written by Brant A. Gardner.  I regard this series as a very important contribution to studies of the Book of Mormon, and a useful corrective. Is the Interpreter Foundation officially pledged to a limited-geography […]

Saying Farewell to a Longtime Friend? (I Hope Not)

  I had a lengthy telephone conversation today with a long-time friend.  I learned not very long ago that he’s on hospice care, and I had hoped to visit him before we left for Canada.  But I was back in Missouri, where I developed a remarkably persistent and irritating cold, which I didn’t want to […]

A remarkable person, a remarkable life

  My wife and I were delighted late last night to see this article in the Deseret News: “Meet the 97-year-old pianist playing 7 shows a week at the Utah Shakespeare Festival: For the last 22 years, Doreen Woolley has played at the festival — without sheet music, and usually while looking up to greet people […]

On Fake News, Mendacity, Social Media, and the Modern Circus

  The rant immediately below was posted to Facebook on 23 April 2025.  I omit the name of its author out of charity but also because I don’t know him and have no wish to embarrass him.  However, it’s definitely now in the public domain: YUUP ! —— It took 50 years, but the truth […]

On paving paradise with gold, or even with crystal

  For a long time, I found one of the prophecies of Isaiah quite distressing: Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain.  (Isaiah 40:4) Even G. F. Handel’s magnificent musical setting of the prophecy in his […]

Nationalism, Patriotism, and the Fourth of July

  I’m pleased to call your attention to a new entry on the blog of the Interpreter Foundation.  It’s entitled “For Misfit Members and Those Who Love Them: Reflections on Oneness from a Village for the Homeless,” and it was written by my energetic and visionary friend Joseph Grenny.  I commend it to your notice. […]

The Book of Mormon, the Qur’an, and “Inimitability”

  First of all, I wish a happy Fourth of July to everybody out there.  Even to those for whom it isn’t Independence Day.  Perhaps especially to our British cousins, who gave us this holiday.  And, of course to our Canadian neighbors, our friends in Greenland, our other neighbors in Panama to the south, and […]