Reconnecting on the Bow

Last updated on: July 12, 2025 at 12:49 am By Dan Peterson

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 forms of the Hebrew verbal root ḥlq: ḥălāqôt (“flattering words,” literally “smooth things”) and ḥălaqlaqqôt (“slippery [things]”) in Helaman 13:28–36. This wordplay established a genetic... Read more

This World or the Next? Why Not Both?

Last updated on: July 10, 2025 at 7:00 pm By Dan Peterson

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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, and Temple in Honor of Stephen D. Ricks, edited by Donald W. Parry, Gaye Strathearn, and Shon D. Hopkin. For more information, go to https://interpreterfoundation.org/books/seek-ye-words-of-wisdom/. “Students... Read more

Heartland or Mesoamerica?

Last updated on: July 9, 2025 at 10:33 pm By Dan Peterson

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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 for the Book of Mormon that is centered in southern Mexico, Guatemala, and (perhaps) adjacent areas? No, it is not. Am I myself fundamentally committed... Read more

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

Last updated on: July 10, 2025 at 9:25 pm By Dan Peterson

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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 pass on to him. I’m still dealing with it, and now I’m up here in Alberta. I don’t know how long he has. He actually... Read more

A remarkable person, a remarkable life

Last updated on: July 7, 2025 at 11:34 pm By Dan Peterson

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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 as they walk by, all without missing a beat” She is one of the most astonishing people that either of us has ever met. I... Read more

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

Last updated on: July 7, 2025 at 12:35 pm By Dan Peterson

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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 is finally out. The Warren Commission lied. The government covered it up. JFK’s assassination was not the act of a lone gunman — it was... Read more

On paving paradise with gold, or even with crystal

Last updated on: July 6, 2025 at 11:59 pm By Dan Peterson

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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 Messiah wasn’t enough to win me over or cheer me up. With apologies to those who live there, I haven’t been able to muster much... Read more

Nationalism, Patriotism, and the Fourth of July

Last updated on: July 5, 2025 at 11:09 pm By Dan Peterson

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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 same essay also appeared a few days ago, in a very slightly different form, in Meridian Magazine.) I didn’t do very much yesterday to... Read more

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

Last updated on: July 4, 2025 at 9:34 pm By Dan Peterson

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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 my relatives in Denmark, who may all soon be celebrating it with us, whether willingly or not! Since the website of the Interpreter Foundation is... Read more

A blast from this blog’s past

Last updated on: July 3, 2025 at 10:21 pm By Dan Peterson

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Some of you may have been wondering, even worrying, about what happened to our long-time resident atheist here, “gemli.” Well, I want to reassure you that he’s still out there. And, occasionally, he tries to post here. You don’t see him, but I do (if I choose to look). You may recall that he grew deeply, deeply tiresome because, after several initial years of politely and not very effectually challenging the consensus here and of being occasionally amusing, his... Read more