*** It is, I realize, a weird character flaw — or, probably more accurately said, a regrettable personality defect — but I’m quite interested in what critics of the Church have to say. For example, I look in every few days on two extremely unpleasant (and mostly atheist) online anti-Mormon message boards, so as to see what’s agitating or delighting people there. I’m often astonished, to be frank, at the profound cynicism, the deep and hostile... Read more
*** Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing. (Theodore Roosevelt) As I’ve learned more about him, there is a very great deal about Theodore Roosevelt of which I disapprove. But I also continue to find him admirable in many ways. And I completely agree with the quotation from him given above. Moreover, I believe that it needs to be conjoined with a... Read more
*** I was a little bit surprised — but not at all displeased — to learn that the Interpreter Foundation’s dramatic film, Witnesses, is now streaming on Living Scriptures as well as on Deseret Video+. It’s also available on DVD and Blu-Ray through Deseret Book (and possibly elsewhere). We hope that you’ll share this information with anybody that you think might be interested. And please stay alert for the release of the docudrama sequel Undaunted:... Read more
*** I’ll be on the Interpreter Radio Show later this evening. I’m looking forward to the conversation. *** Some time ago, I read Terry Eagleton, Reason, Faith, and Revolution: Reflections on the God Debate (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2009). The book is based on the 2008 Dwight H. Terry Lectures that Eagleton delivered at Yale University. A British literary critic and a committed Marxist radical, Eagleton is both stimulating and provocative and,... Read more
*** I recently sat down with Scott and Maurine Proctor of Meridian Magazine for another “Come, Follow Me” podcast discussion: “How the Plagues Defied the False Gods of Egypt–Come Follow Me Old Testament Podcast #14, Exodus 7-13” (I had previously also discussed Exodus 1-6 with the Proctors.) Tomorrow night — 7 PM, Sunday night, 27 March 2022 — I’m scheduled to be on the Interpreter Radio Show; during its second hour, I’ll be discussing... Read more
*** A new article — written by one Daniel C. Peterson — went up today in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship: “An Unexpected Case for an Anthropomorphic God” Abstract: Given the knowledge of the corporeal, embodied nature of God that the Prophet Joseph Smith received in his 1820 First Vision, Latter-day Saints have argued from their earliest days that the Bible is most accurately understood as teaching precisely the same thing — that... Read more
*** Some time back, I read the very good book by Fiona Givens and Terryl Givens, The Christ Who Heals: How God Restored the Truth that Saves Us. I sometimes encounter derisive comments from certain critics about how shallow Mormonism supposedly is. Such complaints astonish me. I find the implications, entailments, and disclosures of the Restoration radical and utterly profound. And so, it seems, do Fiona and Terryl: Mormonism is so rich in doctrine, so expansive... Read more
*** It seems that I’m scheduled to speak this coming Friday up at the Latter-day Saint Institute of Religion in Logan, Utah: Fri. 11:30am: Religion in Life – Daniel C. Peterson (Producer of Witnesses movie). Refreshments after. Fri. 7pm Movie Witnesses – Treats, games, prizes, popcorn. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NEiXWtijQw And, in case you still crave more of Me (and in case you missed it on my blog), here’s a little piece of mine that was picked up... Read more
*** I do it every year, so there should be no surprise that I’m doing it again this year: Unbelievably, it was exactly ten years ago today that I received the completely unexpected and devastating news that my brother, Kenneth Dee Walters — strictly speaking, my half-brother — my only sibling, to whom I was exceptionally close, had died. I was stunned and immobilized. I still think of him, and I still miss him, every day.... Read more
*** It seems that we now have a pretty firm date for the release of the Interpreter Foundation’s new docudrama, Undaunted: Witnesses of the Book of Mormon: 24 May 2022. In other words, about two months from now. I don’t know the details yet, but I believe that it will be out that day in DVD form and, very possibly, via streaming. (We are not intending a general theatrical release for it.) I’m excited to get this... Read more
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