Revision 2.7 “Life Among the Pre-Islamic Bedouin”

Last updated on: July 25, 2020 at 8:30 pm By Dan Peterson

Nomadic life breeds hardiness, frugality, eagerness for material things, fortitude, and hospitality. Such qualities are essential to survival. Furthermore, the nomad was and is an individualist, impatient of discipline, reluctant to submit to restraint or authority. (In early Islam, it was always wondered whether the bedouins could ever be real Muslims.) This trait had interesting consequences. With a few exceptions where they came in contact with the Romans or the Persians, or in Yemen to the far south,... Read more

Goodness from the Heartland

Last updated on: July 24, 2020 at 2:40 pm By Dan Peterson

Interpreter Radio Show — July 19, 2020 The 19 July 2020 broadcast of the Interpreter Radio Show has now been archived and, with all commercial breaks removed, made available for no cost on the website of the Interpreter Foundation. The participants in the 19 July show were Bruce Webster, Kris Frederickson, and Mike Parker. In this episode, they discussed current events and some of the problems with the so-called “Heartland” model of Book of Mormon geography during the... Read more

Revision 2.6 “Early Arabian Values”

Last updated on: July 23, 2020 at 3:59 pm By Dan Peterson

When the Jewish exiles returned from their Babylonian captivity and began to rebuild Jerusalem under the leadership of Nehemiah, they found Arabs among those who sought to hinder them.[1] These may have been the Nabateans, who were the only northern Arabians to establish a civilization comparable to that of South Arabia in the period before Islam. (In fact, some think that the Nabateans were actually of South Arabian origin; trading colonies from the south are well known in the... Read more

A tale of two adjacent states

Last updated on: July 23, 2020 at 3:57 pm By Dan Peterson

Driving over to Colorado the other day, my wife and I were struck by the contrast that we observed. We stopped off to get gas in Price, Utah. With the exception of one other customer, we were the only people at the gas station and in and around the associated convenience store — out of at least forty or fifty people there — who were wearing masks. Crossing the border into Colorado, where there is a state mask... Read more

“There is just one thing that you won’t hear about.”

Last updated on: July 23, 2020 at 12:57 am By Dan Peterson

The title of my forthcoming presentation for the 2020 FairMormon conference has now been posted. It is “The Book of Mormon Witnesses: Variety and Complexity.” My remarks will likely include a medley of four short clips — totaling, altogether, roughly five or perhaps six minutes — from the forthcoming Interpreter Foundation Witnesses theatrical film. They are also very likely to be accompanied by still photographs taken on the set of the film. *** Over the past... Read more

Living longer and better through religious involvement? A summation

Last updated on: July 23, 2020 at 10:37 pm By Dan Peterson

For several weeks, I spent quite a while here on this blog calling attention to, and summarizing, a small book on reasons (grounded in social science research) to attend religious services and to participate actively in a religious community. It’s just a short initial pass-through, using some older research in a field where research is ongoing and of remarkable interest. Still, I think that’s it worthwhile to gather all of the links to my blog entries on the... Read more

Revision 2.5 “Arab nomadism and the scriptures”

Last updated on: July 23, 2020 at 1:03 am By Dan Peterson

From the earliest times, the people of Arabia, though dominantly nomadic, have also included semi-nomadic and even fully settled groups. Sedentary life was overwhelmingly concentrated in the south, with the inhabitants of north and central Arabia being largely nomadic. The two classes of Arabs seldom got along with one another. Arabic literature is full of references to the contempt felt by nomads for settled folk and to the scorn of the people of the settlements for the nomads... Read more

The Great Middle Initial Scandal

Last updated on: July 23, 2020 at 11:44 pm By Dan Peterson

Two new items have appeared on the website of the Interpreter Foundation: Audio Roundtable: Come, Follow Me Book of Mormon Lesson 30 “The Great Plan of Happiness” Alma 39-42 Martin Tanner turned in a solo performance for the Interpreter Radio Show that was broadcast on 28 June 2020. The Interpreter Scripture Roundtable that was focused on Come, Follow Me Book of Mormon Lesson 30, “The Great Plan of Happiness,” on Alma 39-42, has now been extracted from that broadcast, stripped of commercial and other interruptions,... Read more

Before he found Tokyo

Last updated on: July 23, 2020 at 11:58 pm By Dan Peterson

I think that this report, created by a professor of biological sciences at BYU and three of his students, is quite helpful and admirably clear: “Making sense of the research on COVID-19 and masks” However, we may yet be saved from our amazing folly and irresponsibility by the pharmaceutical industry: “This British pharma firm says it just reached a ‘major breakthrough’ for COVID-19 treatment: A small trial showed a breakthrough for a coronavirus treatment, the... Read more

Revision 2.4.”The Earliest Arabs and Lehi’s Trail”

Last updated on: July 24, 2020 at 2:53 pm By Dan Peterson

It was at Nahom, incidentally, that Lehi and his party abruptly turned due east after their long period of travel along the coast of Arabia in a southeasterly direction. A glance at the map shows that by doing so, they missed the area of what has long been known as Yemen. Instead, they moved along behind the mountains that form the natural division between Yemen and the rest of the Arabian peninsula. (Most of Yemen is mountainous. The... Read more