The Book of Mormon and then-prevailing notions of scripture

Last updated on: February 1, 2024 at 3:07 pm By Dan Peterson

Conference Talks: The Symbolism of the Cupped Hand in Ancient Egypt and Israel: Iconography, Text, and Artifact, presented at the Interpreter Foundation’s 2018 Temple on Mount Zion Conference by Stephen Smoot Stephen Smoot spoke on “The Symbolism of the Cupped Hand in Ancient Egypt and Israel: Iconography, Text, and Artifact” at the fourth Temple on Mount Zion Conference, held on Saturday, 10 November 2018 in the Tanner Building at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. The presentations were filmed, and... Read more

ESP and other supposedly discredited things

Last updated on: February 22, 2024 at 9:07 pm By Dan Peterson

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Two books particularly stand out for having opened my mind to the possible reality of such things as clairvoyance (aka “remote viewing”), telepathy, and even communication with the dead via mediums. None of these is essential to my worldview or my faith. (If anything, indeed, spirit mediums seem to be antithetical to my doctrinal commitments, at least at first glance.) But, in my judgment, if they are real they seem to suggest a universe that is congenial to my... Read more

“Psychic functioning has been well established”

Last updated on: January 30, 2024 at 1:29 pm By Dan Peterson

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A few days ago, I posted some quotations from an interesting paper that I had just read — Stephan A. Schwartz, “Nonlocality and Exceptional Experiences: A Study of Genius, Religious Epiphany, and the Psychic,” Explore 6/4 (July/August 2010): 227-236. My doing so gave such extraordinary joy to the denizens of the Peterson Obsession Board — far over and above any value in the quoted passages — that I think I’ll do so again. (Making others happy makes me happy.)... Read more

A note on Joseph Smith and Muhammad

Last updated on: January 29, 2024 at 1:18 pm By Dan Peterson

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Meridian Magazine has just posted a new article of mine entitled “The Problem of Unanswered Prayers.” I hope that some of you will find it helpful or of interest or, at least, not objectionable. My new article could, I think, fittingly be paired with another piece that I wrote a while back, “On Choosing Prince Charming.” And this sad but (to me) movingly wonderful story about President Jeffrey R. Holland and the tragic recent death of a young woman... Read more

Writing history is easy if you toss out the facts.

Last updated on: January 28, 2024 at 4:19 pm By Dan Peterson

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Somehow, I failed to call attention here to this little essay, even though it was published in Meridian Magazine a full week ago. Incidentally, too, just to clear up any confusion, despite the title of the article (which, I admit, could easily mislead many readers) it is not an entry taken from my wife’s diary: “On Choosing Prince Charming” The sixth chapter of Richard Lyman Bushman’s book Joseph Smith’s Gold Plates: A Cultural History (New York: Oxford University Press,... Read more

“I am sure it will be so”

Last updated on: January 27, 2024 at 1:37 pm By Dan Peterson

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A reader of this blog by the name of Laralee Nelson shared a couple of links in a blog comment that, with her kind permission (and since they’re in the public domain over at FamilySearch), I’m now sharing here more generally. The first link is to the last will and testament of one Samuel Webb, “a butcher by trade, of Dry Drayton, county of Cambridge.” I quote one particular passage from the document: I am mindful of the tradition... Read more

Important Additions to the Library

Last updated on: January 26, 2024 at 6:09 pm By Dan Peterson

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These new items have appeared on the nearly comatose and virtually moribund website of the Interpreter Foundation. Happy weekend! We hope that you will enjoy them. “An Important Addition to the Library,” written by Kevin Christensen Review of Grant Hardy, The Annotated Book of Mormon (New York: Oxford University Press, 2023). 912 pages; $37.95 (hardcover). Abstract: Oxford University Press has published an annotated edition of the Book of Mormon. This represents a significant event and provides a useful study resource.... Read more

Can the great American de-churching be reversed?

Last updated on: January 25, 2024 at 12:45 pm By Dan Peterson

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Conference Talks: The Two Ways in Ancient Egyptian Religion and Israelite Temple Theology, presented at the 2018 Temple on Mount Zion Conference by John Thompson The fourth “Temple on Mount Zion” Conference was held on Saturday, November 10, 2018 in the Tanner Building at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. The presentations were filmed, and both video and audio recordings of each presentation are available. The videos are currently available both at https://interpreterfoundation.org/conferences/2018-temple-on-mount-zion-conference/2018-temple-on-mount-zion-conference-videos/and on the Interpreter Foundation YouTube channel at... Read more

Don’t take it all for granted.

Last updated on: January 24, 2024 at 5:03 pm By Dan Peterson

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I’ve been reading a small collection of essays by the late Edward O. Wilson (1929-2021), the Harvard biologist, ecologist, and entomologist who is best known for developing the field of sociobiology: Every Species is a Masterpiece (London: Penguin Books, 2021). Wilson was also, by the way, an outspoken advocate of “scientific humanism” (a term that, indeed, he is said to have coined) and a vocal critic of religious belief, although he denied being an actual atheist. The principal theme... Read more

A chink in the armor of reductive materialism?

Last updated on: January 23, 2024 at 5:30 pm By Dan Peterson

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I read an interesting paper this morning — Stephan A. Schwartz, “Nonlocality and Exceptional Experiences: A Study of Genius, Religious Epiphany, and the Psychic,” Explore 6/4 (July/August 2010): 227-236 — from which I’ll share a few quoted passages. At the time that he published his article, Stephan Schwartz was Senior Samueli Fellow for Brain, Mind, and Healing at the Samueli Institute, in Alexandria, Virginia. First, the abstract: Two hundred years of reductive materialism has failed to explain the extraordinary... Read more