“Vast Prairies and Trackless Wilds of Snow: A Good Test of Sincerity”

Last updated on: April 24, 2021 at 2:50 pm By Dan Peterson

This wretched essay by the infamous Daniel Peterson went up earlier today in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship: “Vast Prairies and Trackless Wilds of Snow: A Good Test of Sincerity” Abstract: Embarking roughly six months after the organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the 1830–1831 “mission to the Lamanites” faced challenges that we pampered moderns can scarcely imagine. Oliver Cowdery, Peter Whitmer Jr., Parley P. Pratt, Ziba Peterson, and, eventually, Frederick G. Williams demonstrated beyond... Read more

Addendum 5: Founding the Middle Eastern Texts Initiative at BYU (Part 1)

Last updated on: April 24, 2021 at 3:21 pm By Dan Peterson

*** The news, when it first arrived early Friday afternoon, was uncertain. But it’s now clearly and sadly true: D. Michael Quinn, the well-known historian of the early Restoration and of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has died. He became a controversial figure, and he wasn’t especially fond of some of the things that I had written about his work. But he was always interesting, and I still remember when I first encountered his... Read more

Derek Chauvin and I

Last updated on: April 24, 2021 at 3:17 pm By Dan Peterson

*** First, though, I share with you a link to the second installment of my new regular column in Meridian Magazine: “What Will Convince You to Start Trusting God?” And, while we’re at it, here are a quintet of the other items that are currently up on the Meridian site and that caught my interest: “Why Excommunication is Not “Spiritual Violence”” “New lawsuit aimed at BYU and other religious universities argues religious accommodations... Read more

Some thoughts on inferring a designer

Last updated on: April 24, 2021 at 3:26 pm By Dan Peterson

*** But, first: A few of my odd but obsessive anonymous critics will be unsurprised at my life-long interest in Tyrannosaurus rex; they’ll surely point out the almost embarrassingly obvious family resemblance between me and the dinosaur with regard to our character and temperament. Nonetheless, I press forward. This latest find, if it’s being properly interpreted as showing Tyrannosaur gregariousness — my giant lizard spiritual cousins apparently didn’t practice social distancing — may make my otherwise... Read more

Growing Up as Hugh Nibley

Last updated on: April 25, 2021 at 9:29 pm By Dan Peterson

*** To the probable astonishment of hundreds of millions of people worldwide, an article has gone up today in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship. For those who care, this marks the 457th consecutive week — out of the 458.5 weeks since the Interpreter Foundation was launched — in which Interpreter has published at least one new article. Zina Petersen, “Nibley’s Early Education” Abstract: In this intimate glimpse of Hugh Nibley’s childhood, written by his... Read more

Edward Idris Cardinal Cassidy (5 July 1924 – 10 April 2021), a “Prince of the Church”

Last updated on: April 18, 2021 at 5:32 pm By Dan Peterson

*** Someone who was once acquainted with me — but who, quite plainly, never knew me or, if he ever did, has forgotten or chosen to suppress what he knew — has lately taken to publicly branding me an “anti-Catholic.” That regrettable fact may lend particular poignancy to what I’m about to write here, but this man’s malignant falsehoods did not inspire it. Here’s the truth: Curiously prompted, I looked online last night and discovered that Edwin... Read more

“The Man Who Knew Infinity” (Part Two)

Last updated on: April 17, 2021 at 9:57 pm By Dan Peterson

*** First of all, I’ve just become aware that Edward Idris Cardinal Cassidy passed away a week ago today, 10 April 2021, at the age of 96. I had the privilege of meeting with Cardinal Cassidy on two separate occasions, once in Rome (or, more precisely, in Vatican City) and once in Sydney, Australia, after he had retired from his service in the Vatican. He was — he is — a genial, kind, and open-minded man, and... Read more

Some reminiscences about how in the world I got onto the BYU faculty

Last updated on: April 16, 2021 at 8:10 pm By Dan Peterson

*** For what it’s worth: I’ve just today agreed to participate in the 2021 edition of the annual FreedomFest, which, unusually, will be held this year in Rapid City, South Dakota. (For a very long time, it’s been hosted in Las Vegas, Nevada. But not this year.) I’m slated to participate on a panel with Ayaan Hirsi Ali. That should be quite fun, and I’m looking forward to it. If your interests lean to libertarian economic thought... Read more

Wordplay, “Intertextuality,” Archaisms, and Other Book of Mormon Subtleties

Last updated on: April 17, 2021 at 12:53 pm By Dan Peterson

*** Two new items appeared today in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship. The first is by Matthew L. Bowen, while the second is by Jeffrey Thayne: ““The Messiah Will Set Himself Again”: Jacob’s Use of Isaiah 11:11 in 2 Nephi 6:14 and Jacob 6:2” Abstract: In sermons and writings, Jacob twice quotes the prophecy of Isaiah 11:11 (“the Lord [ʾădōnāy] shall set his hand again [yôsîp] the second time to gather the remnant of his people”). In 2 Nephi 6:14 and... Read more

A book coming. A conference coming. A movie coming. Oh my!

Last updated on: April 16, 2021 at 1:54 pm By Dan Peterson

*** Well, the Interpreter Foundation continues to sputter along, barely surviving, producing nothing. Here are some new items that went up today: “Hugh Nibley on Revelation, Reason, and Rhetoric” Included at this link, beyond the brief article, are two videos, both of which are entitled “A Conversation about Hugh Nibley with Shirley S. Ricks.” One of them is 23.5 minutes long. The other is a condensed form of the longer version, coming in at just 5.5... Read more