Multiple Degrees within the Kingdoms

Last updated on: May 8, 2026 at 4:42 pm By Dan Peterson

They’re all here. Every single one of the currently-available episodes of Becoming Brigham. And every future installment of the series will appear here, as well: https://becomingbrigham.com. And the 37-second teaser for Episode 16 (“Sweeter than Honey”) is also now up. Watch them! And don’t miss the newest article to appear on the never-changing website of the Interpreter Foundation. This one (“Multiple Degrees within the Celestial, Terrestrial, and Telestial Kingdoms”) is published in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith... Read more

“Murder in the Cathedral”

Last updated on: May 7, 2026 at 5:57 pm By Dan Peterson

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Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote, The droghte of March hath perced to the roote, And bathed every veyne in swich licóur Of which vertú engendred is the flour; Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth Inspired hath in every holt and heeth The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne Hath in the Ram his halfe cours y-ronne, And smale foweles maken melodye, That slepen al the nyght with open ye, So priketh hem Natúre in hir corages,... Read more

“Hadestown”

Last updated on: May 6, 2026 at 11:11 pm By Dan Peterson

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One of the principal motivations behind our Becoming Brigham series (becomingbrigham.com) is our sense that Brigham Young has been libeled, traduced, and slandered to such an extent that even some innocent members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have been taken in — and their testimonies of the Restoration damaged — by the constant drumbeat of criticisms and misrepresentations. The attacks on Brother Brigham are, of course, challenging to faith in him as an apostle and... Read more

“A Grief Observed”

Last updated on: May 5, 2026 at 4:20 pm By Dan Peterson

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Tonight, we attended a performance of Shadowlands at the Aldwych Theatre in the West End, starring Hugh Bonneville as C. S. Lewis and Maggie Siff as Joy Davidman. It’s based, ultimately, on the story behind Lewis’s A Grief Observed, which was pseudonymously published in 1961 by Faber and Faber. (T. S. Eliot, who was one of the company’s directors at the time, is said to have found the book intensely moving.) Apart from a few points in the play... Read more

A very memorable story

Last updated on: May 4, 2026 at 5:59 pm By Dan Peterson

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I’m pleased to report that Episode 15 of the Interpreter Foundation’s Becoming Brigham series is now available online. Focused on the relationship between Brigham Young and Emma Smith, it’s entitled “The Lion and the Lady.” And, yes, it does refer in passing to plural marriage in Nauvoo. When we’ve gone out on our four- or five-day filming expeditions for Becoming Brigham — I assume that they’ve done the same thing on the filming trips for Witnesses and Undaunted and... Read more

Mrs. Harris goes to Paris . . . and on to heaven

Last updated on: May 3, 2026 at 4:37 pm By Dan Peterson

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I decided almost immediately upon boarding the plane yesterday that I was too tired to read anything serious while on board. So I watched four (4) movies and slept not a single wink during the flight. Here is my movie diet during our crossing from North America to the British Isles. Thus armed, the Peterson Obsession Board is likely to point out my poor taste and the lowbrow character of my viewing choices: 1) Mercy (2026), with Chris Pratt... Read more

“Was Joseph a Sexual Predator?” and other fun issues

Last updated on: May 2, 2026 at 4:19 pm By Dan Peterson

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Fourteen (14) installments of Becoming Brigham are currently available online at, well, becomingbrigham.com. On Monday, there will be fifteen. In the meantime, the teaser or trailer for Episode 15, which runs about thirty-seven seconds, is accessible right now. The fifteenth episode will be about the complex relationship between Emma Smith and Brigham Young: “The Lion and the Lady.” My wife and I attended a concert by the Utah Symphony last night, in Maurice Abravenel Hall in Salt Lake City.... Read more

“Color in the Book of Mormon”

Last updated on: May 1, 2026 at 1:17 pm By Dan Peterson

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A new article, this one written by David Grandy, has appeared in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship 68 (2026) : 421-442: “Color in the Book of Mormon”: Abstract: Given that only four colors are mentioned in the Book of Mormon (white, black, red, and gray), readers may ask, “Where are all the other colors?” But this is a distinctively modern question, that is, one keyed to the early modern understanding of color pioneered by Isaac... Read more

“God’s Equation”

Last updated on: April 30, 2026 at 2:56 pm By Dan Peterson

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A new article of mine appeared early this morning in Meridian Magazine. Whether it does its job or not, my hope for it is that it might help at least a little bit in understanding some of the narratives of the Old Testament: “Why the Fertile Crescent Matters: A Map That Unlocks the Bible’s Geography and History” And please don’t forget to watch and rewatch and recommend Becoming Brigham. All of its episodes are and will continue to be... Read more

Panel Perspectives on the Book of Abraham, and Other Fun

Last updated on: April 29, 2026 at 5:16 pm By Dan Peterson

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Fourteen installments of our Becoming Brigham series are up, as of today. And every one of them is available here. I’m pleased with their visual quality, as well as with their content, and I hope that you are, as well. (I hope that you’ve been watching them.) I confess, though, that I’m not even remotely satisfied by their reach, to this point. As I say, I don’t think it’s a problem with their quality. While I’ve heard a quibble or... Read more

What did Solomon build for foreign wives that angered God?