On reading Isaiah as Latter-day Saints

Last updated on: May 15, 2020 at 11:44 pm By Dan Peterson

Today, Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship published a kind of roundtable on Latter-day Saint approaches to the writings of the prophet Isaiah. Interpreter welcomes a variety of faithful perspectives. We hope that you’ll enjoy these three quite different pieces and that you will find them of value: “An Other Approach to Isaiah Studies” by Joshua M. Sears Abstract: A recent review of Joseph M. Spencer’s book The Vision of All: Twenty-Five Lectures on Isaiah in Nephi’s Record... Read more

Was Jesus “White”?

Last updated on: May 15, 2020 at 12:24 am By Dan Peterson

The First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sent out a letter earlier this week calling upon local leaders to ensure that the foyers of our meetinghouses contain artwork that is focused on Jesus Christ. This is, of course, entirely consistent with the renewed emphasis on the proper name of the Church that has been a hallmark of the ministry of President Russell M. Nelson and even with the new Church symbol or logo,... Read more

1820, Again

Last updated on: May 15, 2020 at 12:28 am By Dan Peterson

In response to yesterday’s blog post “SOMETHING happened in 1820 . . .,” my friend and colleague Ed Snow called my attention to another set of passages in the paperback edition of William J. Bernstein, The Birth of Plenty: How the Prosperity of the Modern World Was Created (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004): Beginning around 1820, the pace of economic advance picked up noticeably, making the world a better place to live in. What happened? An explosion in... Read more

Religion and “Deaths of Despair”

Last updated on: May 15, 2020 at 12:32 am By Dan Peterson

A reader of, and commenter on, this blog who goes by the moniker LB has kindly called this fascinating article — which appeared on 6 May 2020 in JAMA [Journal of the American Medical Association] Psychiatry — to my attention: “Religious Service Attendance and Deaths Related to Drugs, Alcohol, and Suicide Among US Health Care Professionals” Four of the the article’s five authors — Ying Chen, ScD; Howard K. Koh, MD, MPH; Ichiro Kawachi, MD, PhD; Michael Botticelli, MEd; and Tyler J. VanderWeele, PhD — are associated with Harvard University.... Read more

Happiness, Excitement, Health, and Wealth?

Last updated on: May 15, 2020 at 12:57 am By Dan Peterson

I continue to share my notes from Paul McFate, 52 Good Reasons to Go to Church, Besides the Obvious Ones (Chicago: ACTA Publications, 2004). Here are some additional examples of the good things that might come to you and your family if you regularly attend religious services: More Happiness and Excitement in Old Age (29) — (This is one that especially interests me, as I hurtle ever more rapidly toward senility and decrepitude, followed by oblivion.) A... Read more

SOMETHING happened in 1820 . . .

Last updated on: May 15, 2020 at 12:55 am By Dan Peterson

The hosts for the 10 May 2020 installment of the Interpreter Radio Show were Terry Hutchinson, John Gee, and Kevin Christensen. During the first hour of the program, they discussed Dr. Gee’s new book Saving Faith. During the second hour, they conducted a roundtable on the upcoming Come, Follow Me Book of Mormon lesson #23 on Alma 8-14. Their recorded conversation is now archived and is available, at no charge and stripped of all commercial interruptions, on the... Read more

A Lost Book by Luke?

Last updated on: May 15, 2020 at 1:02 am By Dan Peterson

I cannot resist (and am not inclined to resist) the temptation to quote a couple of additional passages from the translator’s preface to J. B. Phillips, The Young Church in Action: A Translation of the Acts of The Apostles (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1955): The period covered by this book [the biblical book of “[The] Acts of [the] Apostles”] is roughly from 30 to 63, that is, from the Ascension of Christ to Paul’s imprisonment at... Read more

Has the volcano responsible for the destruction in 3 Nephi been located?

Last updated on: May 15, 2020 at 1:06 am By Dan Peterson

I turn, again, to sharing notes from Jeff Wynn and Louise Wynn, Everyone is a Believer: The Growing Convergence of Science and Religion (2019): But what caused the “vapor of darkness” described in 3 Nephi [chapter 8, verses] 19 and 20? This was almost certainly a smothering blanket of volcanic ash. As attention-garnering as it was, Mount St. Helens 1980 was a relatively small eruption (as we said earlier, a “mere” VEI level 5).* Yet this event still lofted about 3... Read more

J. B. Phillips on Luke as historian

Last updated on: May 15, 2020 at 1:12 am By Dan Peterson

I’ve long been a fan of J. B. Phillips (1906-1982) and his translation of the New Testament (and some of the Old). In fact, somewhat more than a year ago, I posted a blog entry about him that included a story that I think some readers might find quite surprising, as he himself certainly did. (See “C. S. Lewis and J. B. Phillips: An Unexpected Meeting.”) I was thinking about him again last night, when, in connection with... Read more

At the very foundation of the Restoration

Last updated on: May 15, 2020 at 11:55 pm By Dan Peterson

Newly announced on the website of Cruise Lady: Latter-day Adventures: Hill Cumorah Finale & Sacred Church History Tour My wife and I will be accompanying this tour, which will run from 14 July 2021 to 23 July 2021. I’m really quite excited to be doing it. *** New, from the Interpreter Radio Show: Audio Roundtable: Come, Follow Me Book of Mormon Lesson 20 “They Were Called the People of God”: Mosiah 25-28 The discussants in... Read more