Living the Good Life!

Last updated on: July 3, 2025 at 11:08 am By Dan Peterson

One of the reasons for the notorious fact that the Interpreter Foundation’s website rarely if ever posts anything new has now been revealed, with his characteristically piercing insight and financial acumen, by my Malevolent Stalker: The Foundation’s financial resources, you see, are largely if not entirely devoted to paying for my travel and my constant epicurean dining out. While driving up to Park City this evening, for example, my wife and I found a fine Latin American establishment in... Read more

Comments on Current Politics, with a Nod to the 15th Century

Last updated on: July 2, 2025 at 12:53 am By Dan Peterson

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One of the most spectacular acting performances that I’ve ever seen was in 1994, at the Utah Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City. (We had hoped to slip down there for two or three plays this week, but I’ve been a bit under the weather.) Even after thirty-one years, I still remember Gary Armagnac playing the horrifying title role in Richard III. Richard is one of the darkest villains in all of English literature, and Gary Armagnac did him full,... Read more

Some notes on the Gold Plates

Last updated on: June 30, 2025 at 1:33 pm By Dan Peterson

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I want to share some passages that I marked a while back from Richard Lyman Bushman, Joseph Smith’s Gold Plates: A Cultural History (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023). The account of the golden plates as we know it is documented very early: The first known mention of the gold plates in writing occurred in the fall of 1828 in letters to Asael Smith, Joseph Smith Jr.’ s grandfather. Joseph Smith Sr. had not seen his father for... Read more

Twenty-two years ago

Last updated on: June 30, 2025 at 11:01 am By Dan Peterson

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Incredibly to me, my father died twenty-two years ago today. Soon, it will have been a quarter of a century. I still miss him very much. Somewhat to my surprise, I still think about him every day. Certain sights always, invariably, remind me of him, sometimes for reasons that aren’t clear to me. There are many things that I would like to tell him, many questions that I would like to ask of him. Virtually all, if not absolutely... Read more

On hunting ghosts

Last updated on: June 28, 2025 at 9:00 pm By Dan Peterson

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Our (superb) guide on the recent Interpreter Foundation Church history tour, Peter Fagg — whom my wife and I have known for years now, and who will also, if all goes according to plan, accompany us on a Christian history-themed tour of England in May of 2026 — shared these remarks with us while we were there a few weeks ago. We liked them so very much that we invited him to share them with the readership of the... Read more

181 Years Ago, Today

Last updated on: June 27, 2025 at 1:23 pm By Dan Peterson

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Today, 27 June, is the 181st anniversary of the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. I haven’t been looking for such things, but I have already seen one celebratory note about the murders. It was posted by a former member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and it puts me in mind of Matthew 7:16-20. This article, written by Matthew Roper, went up earlier today in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship: Anachronisms:... Read more

“I shall bloom in another place before you get back.”

Last updated on: June 26, 2025 at 8:40 pm By Dan Peterson

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I’ve begun writing down notes for the presentation that I plan to give on Friday, 8 August, at the 2025 FAIR Conference. And, by the way, the conference organizers have included a special discount code that folks can use in order to register for the conference at a reduced rate — which, the organizers say, is “just our way of saying thank you and making it easier for more people to attend.” The discount code that they’ve given to... Read more

Why bother with a Restoration?

Last updated on: June 25, 2025 at 9:27 pm By Dan Peterson

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Yesterday on social media, I noticed an attack by a former Latter-day Saint on the idea of a “great apostasy” of the early Christian church. I didn’t spend much time reading what he had to say, and I’m not specifically engaging with him here — I may or may not yet do so — but I thought that I might make a general comment affirming my confidence that there was, indeed, such a universal falling away. To me, the... Read more

Having fun with two ex-Mormons and the history of astronomy

Last updated on: June 24, 2025 at 8:05 pm By Dan Peterson

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After considerable discussion that began several months ago and grew more intense within recent weeks, we at the Interpreter Foundation have decided to move on from our long-running radio program and to turn, in its place, to a video and audio podcast. Our inaugural effort, in two parts, can be accessed through the following links. We appreciate constructive feedback, and we hope that you’ll find these both enjoyable and useful: The Interpreter Foundation Podcast — June 23, 2025 In... Read more

Does science compel unbelief?

Last updated on: June 23, 2025 at 10:24 pm By Dan Peterson

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I want to share a passage from a 2023 book by Fr. Robert Spitzer, SJ, entitled Science at the Doorstep to God: Science and Reason in Support of God, the Soul, and Life after Death (Ignatius Press) that I marked while reading it a while ago: Though some have contended that scientific evidence overwhelmingly favors materialism—that is, rejection of God, religion, or a spiritual dimension of humans (e.g., a soul)—it is interesting to note a survey conducted by the... Read more