Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 827

“The Word is in Christ unto Salvation”

    In this, the 172nd scripture roundtable posted by the Interpreter Foundation, Ben McGuire, Mike Parker, and Dan Peterson comment on Alma 32-34, which, it so happens, are the precise chapters covered in the 2016 Gospel Doctrine manual’s Lesson 28: Scripture Roundtable 172: Book of Mormon Gospel Doctrine Lesson 28, The Word Is in [Read More...]

“What is the ‘fine-tuning’ of the universe, and how does it serve as a ‘pointer to God’?”

    For any who might be unfamiliar with the so-called “fine-tuning” argument — an extremely interesting topic — this is a fairly clear basic introduction:   http://biologos.org/common-questions/...    

“All Things Denote There Is a God”

    In the 171st scripture roundtable posted by the Interpreter Foundation, Bruce Webster, Martin Tanner, Stephen Smoot, and Daniel Peterson discuss 2016 Gospel Doctrine lesson 27, which is devoted to Alma 30-31:   Scripture Roundtable 171: Book of Mormon Gospel Doctrine Lesson 27, All Things Denote There Is a God    

Enlightenment and Darkness

    We stumble and fall constantly even when we are most enlightened.  But when we are in true spiritual darkness, we do not even know that we have fallen. Thomas Merton  

Richard Bushman and the fundamental claims of Mormonism

    As I indicated earlier today, some have taken a recent remark from the distinguished Latter-day Saint historian Richard L. Bushman,  Gouverneur Morris Professor of History emeritus at Columbia University in New York City and former Howard W. Hunter Professor at Claremont Graduate University, as signaling that he’s backing away to some degree or another from at [Read More...]

Objectivity and Fairness

    “I think perfect objectivity is an unrealistic goal; fairness, however, is not.”  (Michael Pollan, journalist, writer, and teacher at the University of California at Berkeley)

Has the Mormon historian Richard Bushman renounced his faith?

    No, I don’t think so.  I doubt it very, very much.   Yet that’s a suggestion that’s making the rounds in certain circles.   We’re not close pals and drinking buddies, but I’ve known Richard for many years now, and the Richard that I know is a believer.   I would be enormously surprised [Read More...]

Real Dinosaurs of Utah Valley

    From time to time, I read online that I’m a young-earth creationist.  This is helpful to me, because, had I been left to my own resources on that topic, I would have assumed that I’ve never been one.  I can’t recall a time when I thought that the Earth was only a few [Read More...]

“Faith, Intellect, and Civic Virtue in Europe: An LDS Perspective”

    This looks potentially interesting:    

“A Lesson for Newt Gingrich: What Shariah Is (and Isn’t)”

    Professor Noah Feldman, of Harvard Law School, provides a short but very clear and useful explanation here.   I’m politically conservative.  There was a time when I thought highly of Newt Gingrich.  I still believe him to have a number good qualities.  He is, among other things, a trained and often insightful historian (educated [Read More...]