Of moral relativism and ethical nihilism

November 18, 2020 By Dan Peterson

Many who deny an objective or divine foundation to morality nonetheless assume that evolutionary processes lead naturally, sociobiologically, to something broadly resembling a traditional Judeo-Christian ethic of mutual help, human rights, and cooperation. Thus, the religious underpinnings that some have thought necessary to morality can be safely dispensed with, as we climb inexorably onto the sunny uplands of naturalistic reason. To me, however, this does not seem at all obvious or inevitable. If there is no... Read more

Did Nietzsche get this one right?

November 17, 2020 By Dan Peterson

The year 2020 has been a long slog, and few of us will be terribly sad to see it go. So I’m hoping that some will benefit from this: “President Russell M. Nelson Shares a Message of Hope and Healing” “Global faith leader Russell M. Nelson, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, shares a simple way you can find hope and healing—no matter your circumstances. Next Friday, tune in at 11 a.m. MST... Read more

Forgiveness, grace, and cosmic justice

November 16, 2020 By Dan Peterson

One reason for hoping that there is a life after death, a better world to come, is the deep human desire for justice. This can be regarded from at least two different angles. One is the wish to make things right. We’re naturally revolted by the thought that the murderer is permitted to write the last chapter in the life of his victim, that, for example — to be quite blunt about it — the last few moments of... Read more

Revision 8.4 A Latter-day Saint Presence in Palestine and the Near East?

November 15, 2020 By Dan Peterson

The earliest Latter-day Saint missionaries to the Near East dreamed of a Church presence in the Holy Land, something more than a few scattered elders and something larger than the graves of a few faithful Saints. They envisioned a Latter-day Saint colony in Palestine. Ferdinand F. Hintze, the first president of the Turkish Mission, wrote to his wife as early as 1889 that he was trying to get a colony started somewhere near Jerusalem. Such a colony, he... Read more

The reliability of eyewitness testimony and the Book of Mormon

November 14, 2020 By Dan Peterson

From time to time, when I’m commenting about the witnesses to the Book of Mormon, a critic of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will respond with a dismissive and vague remark about the well-known weaknesses of eyewitness testimony. Now, it has always seemed obvious to me that such responses are transparently ad hoc, that such comprehensive rejection of eyewitness accounts is only selectively invoked: Nobody can really live a life based on the notion that... Read more

Of Eyewitnesses, the Resurrection, and the Gold Plates

November 13, 2020 By Dan Peterson

Here are some notes on the earliest Christian disciples and the raising of Jesus from the tomb: The appearances of Jesus are as well authenticated as anything in antiquity. . . . There can be no rational doubt that they occurred, and that the main reason why Christians became sure of the resurrection in the earliest days was just this. They could say with assurance, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ They knew it was he. (Michael Green,... Read more

A Thought on Political Right and Political Left

November 12, 2020 By Dan Peterson

I threatened to tell this story the other day. So here it is: Back in the early 1890s, when I was in high school, my teacher in a class in either American government or American history — I can’t recall which it was, nor his name, though I think it was more likely American government — was a specimen of that rara avis, a card-carrying member of some socialist political party or other. Literally. He showed me... Read more

Ziauddin Yousafzai

November 11, 2020 By Dan Peterson

I received this note from my former dean in the BYU College of Humanities, and thought that some of you might be interested in it. If so, be sure to mark your calendar. The lecture will be given next Tuesday, 17 November 2020: Dear Colleagues, We invite you to join us for our University Forum on Tuesday (11:05 a.m.). The Forum and Q&A may be viewed on the BYUtv app; the Forum without the Q&A will be broadcast... Read more

On Christ’s death and his empty tomb

November 11, 2020 By Dan Peterson

Of late, it is has become fashionable in certain circles — overwhelmingly not among people, whether believers or not, in relevant academic fields or with relevant scholarly training — to claim that no actual historical Jesus ever existed. This is a topic that I have discussed and will discuss elsewhere but, for now, I’ll let a statement from the eminent Princeton Theological Seminary biblical scholar and textual critic Bruce M. Metzger (1914-2007) suffice on the topic: The... Read more

“The Case for Ancient Roots in the Book of Moses”

November 10, 2020 By Dan Peterson

From Jeff Lindsay: “Video of My Presentation with Noel Reynolds, “’Strong Like Unto Moses’: The Case for Ancient Roots in the Book of Moses”” *** Up today on the website of the Interpreter Foundation: Audio Roundtable: Come, Follow Me Book of Mormon Lesson 45 “That Evil May Be Done Away” Ether 6-11 The discussants in the Interpreter Radio Roundtable for Come, Follow Me Book of Mormon Lesson 45, “That Evil May Be Done Away,” focused on Ether chapters 6-11 were Terry Hutchinson, John Gee,... Read more