From “Storming the Nation”

Last updated on: September 4, 2021 at 11:33 pm By Dan Peterson

I read Derek R. Sainsbury’s Storming the Nation: The Unknown Contributions of Joseph Smith’s Political Missionaries (Provo: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2020) today. Here are some random passages that I marked during my reading: Most Americans do not know that Joseph Smith ran for president of the United States. Almost none appreciate that he was the first presidential candidate to be assassinated. (xi) Thus Joseph simultaneously prepared to rally his followers and other voters... Read more

Temples, Ancient and Modern

Last updated on: September 4, 2021 at 3:05 pm By Dan Peterson

*** I’m told that DVDs of the Interpreter Foundation’s dramatic film, Witnesses, are beginning to appear in local Deseret Book outlets, but I haven’t yet managed to visit a Deseret Bookstore to check. Can anybody out there confirm the report? *** This new item went up today on the website of the Interpreter Foundation: Book of Moses Essays #71: The Two Ways (Moses 5): The Prayer of Adam and Eve (Moses 5:4) And... Read more

Semites and/or Egyptians in the Pre-Columbian New World?

Last updated on: September 3, 2021 at 11:23 pm By Dan Peterson

*** Here are links to a few articles that might interest you from a prior volume of Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship: L. Michael Morales, “The Tabernacle: Mountain of God in the Cultus of Israel” Abstract: In this article, Michael Morales considers how the building of the Tabernacle had been pre-figured from the earliest narratives of Genesis onward. It describes some of the parallels between the creation, deluge, and Sinai narratives and the... Read more

“Additional Janus Parallels in the Book of Mormon”

Last updated on: September 3, 2021 at 11:41 pm By Dan Peterson

*** A new article — this one by Paul Y. Hoskisson — appeared today in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship: “Additional Janus Parallels in the Book of Mormon” Abstract: A little more than 40 years ago, Cyrus Gordon discovered and described for the first time an ancient literary technique which he had found in the Hebrew Bible, and he gave it a name — a Janus parallel. That is why no one, more than 40 years... Read more

Moving Forward. Excelsior!

Last updated on: September 3, 2021 at 11:32 pm By Dan Peterson

*** We’ve now moved on to the second phase for the Witnesses dramatic film: Witnesses: Now on Blu-Ray and DVD And we’re well into the next phases of the overall Witnesses project: The docudrama, Undaunted: Witnesses of the Book of Mormon, is currently undergoing color correction. I spent the morning conducting an interview with a well-known Latter-day Saint scholar for our forthcoming short features (aka “snippets”). It went very nicely, I think. And, for... Read more

“On Too-Olde English” and Other Matters

Last updated on: September 3, 2021 at 11:20 pm By Dan Peterson

*** This new essay from Kyler Rasmussen went up on Wednesday on the website of the Interpreter Foundation: “Estimating the Evidence Episode 9: On Too-Olde English” I’m late with this blog entry because I’ve been traveling all day. I only got home just now after flying from San Diego and landing at WAIUS (the “Worst Airport in the United States,” pronounced “Why us?”). Fortunately, our arrival gate was relatively close to the baggage claim area,... Read more

Tabernacle, Cube, Gate, and Measuring Tools

Last updated on: September 3, 2021 at 11:16 pm By Dan Peterson

*** New today (Tuesday) on the website of the Interpreter Foundation: Nibley Lectures: Come, Follow Me Doctrine and Covenants Lesson 37 “Be Still and Know That I Am God” D&C 98-101 Jonn Claybaugh: Come, Follow Me — D&C Study and Teaching Helps: Lesson 37, September 6–September 12: D&C 98-101 — “Be Still and Know That I Am God” Audio Roundtable: Come, Follow Me Doctrine and Covenants Lesson 37 “Be Still and Know That I Am... Read more

“Witnesses” finishes in theaters this week; the window of opportunity is closing, too

Last updated on: September 1, 2021 at 11:58 pm By Dan Peterson

*** It seems that this coming Thursday will be the last day of the theatrical run for the Interpreter Foundation’s dramatic film, Witnesses. A “last day” was inevitable, of course, and it’s been very clear over the past few weeks that it was approaching. Earlier this evening, I received a note from Brandon Purdie, the extremely effective head of Purdie Distribution, that read (in part) as follows: Truly a remarkable theatrical run. Producers, thank you... Read more

“Becoming Men and Women of Understanding”

Last updated on: September 1, 2021 at 11:59 pm By Dan Peterson

*** Considerable attention has been focused over the past few days on Brigham Young University and on Elder Jeffrey R. Holland’s apostolic exhortation to its faculty, staff, and administrators. And justly so, though much of the recent controversy about Elder Holland’s speech has been, in my judgment, fundamentally misguided and productive of considerably more heat than light. But BYU-Provo is merely the largest and most prominent campus in the higher education system sponsored by the Church of... Read more

Master of Fates, Captain of Souls

Last updated on: September 2, 2021 at 12:00 am By Dan Peterson

*** I really like the 2009 Clint Eastwood film Invictus, which I consider quite inspiring. It stars Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela and Matt Damon as the rugby player François Pienaar, the captain of South Africa’s rugby union team. I’m not authority enough on South African history to confidently pronounce Mr. Mandela a hero, but his portrayal in the movie certainly inclines me in that direction. I hope that it captures him accurately. In the final,... Read more