Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 92

Are there arguments and evidence for theism? Should there be?

    “In all areas except religion,” Richard Dawkins claimed in a blogged panel discussion back in 2010, “we believe what we believe as a result of evidence.”  By contrast, he went on to say, religion is “a nonsensical enterprise” that “poisons everything.”  It is a “delusion,” he wrote in, well, The God Delusion ([New […]

Jesus, Osiris, and the Mystery Cults

    From time to time, whether on the internet or in pamphlet form or even in a triumphant personal email sent directly to me, I run across dismissals of the story of Jesus as purely fictional — on the grounds that all of the important facets of his life were merely (and obviously) borrowed […]

“Understanding the Lamanite Mark,” and Other Issues

    A new article has appeared in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship: “Understanding the Lamanite Mark,” writtten by Clifford P. Jones Abstract: The Book of Mormon describes a dark mark on the skin that distinguished people who rebelled against God and his laws from those who obeyed God. The Old Testament […]

Touching a Third Rail

    Godfrey J. Ellis has published a really nice piece about Interpreter in Meridian Magazine.  I commend it to your attention:  “Ten Hidden Gems from the Interpreter Journal”   I wrote here yesterday about “An Interfaith Gathering at the Salt Lake Tabernacle, Focused on the Old Testament Tabernacle.”  The LDS Church News has also […]

An Interfaith Gathering at the Salt Lake Tabernacle, Focused on the Old Testament Tabernacle

    At the invitation of an acquaintance who is on the faculty at the medical school of the University of Utah, my wife and I joined him and two Egyptian-American Muslim guests for an interfaith gathering at the Salt Lake Tabernacle last evening.  The fireside was connected with the model of the Old Testament […]

Two Holy Lands?

    My wife and I took Lou Midgley out to lunch today.  He is one of our very favorite people, and it was a vintage visit with the irrepressible Lou:  I don’t think that he had been thirty seconds in our car before he was well into a discussion on David Hume, Hume’s famous […]

On Being “Perfect” (Part Three)

    Note:  This blog entry is a continuation of the discussions at “On Being ‘Perfect’ (Part One)” and “On Being ‘Perfect’ (Part Two)” and should be read in the context provided by those brief entries.   “Be ye therefore perfect,” says the King James Version’s translation of Matthew 5:48, “even as your Father which […]

“The Temple: Pathway to Heaven”

    At the conclusion of last night’s Interpreter Radio Show, in which I joined with Martin Tanner and Terry Hutchinson, Terry kindly gave me a copy of a new book that he and his father in law have just self-published:  Grant R. Gifford and Terry L. Hutchinson, The Temple: Pathway to Heaven (Alpine, UT:  […]

Atheism before the firing squad?

    The estimable Jeff Lindsay has penned an enthusiastic book recommendation:  “Relational Faith: An Essential Book for Understanding “Faith” as Used in New Testament Times and for Appreciating the Restoration”  Here’s an excerpt from what he has to say: There’s a new book, Brent Schmidt’s Relational Faith, that may be one of the best resources […]

The Book of Mormon and a Gospel View of War

    Two new articles have appeared on the website of the Interpreter Foundation: ““In the Cause … of their God”: Clarifying Some Issues Regarding the Book of Mormon and a Gospel View of War,” written by Duane Boyce Abstract: A recent effort to think about war concludes that the Book of Mormon displays two righteous […]