On Religious Involvement and Health

January 18, 2024 By Dan Peterson

Conference Talks: Bearing Testimony in Hebrew: A Comparison of Ancient Israelite Temple Worship with Modern Latter-day Saint Testimony Meetings, presented by Ryan Davis at the Interpreter Foundation’s 2018 Temple on Mount Zion Conference 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... Read more

Some reasons to be religious?

January 17, 2024 By Dan Peterson

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I want to remind you of Steve Densley’s rapidly approaching fireside in the greater Houston area. (See here for details of time and place and topic.) In one exceptionally weird corner of the internet, of course, the reviews of his remarks are already pouring in, days before those remarks will be delivered. I can’t help but think of Proverbs 18:13. And to think that some people actually deny the existence of prophecy! I now offer you a larger-than-usual tranche... Read more

“If you seek his monument, look around”

January 16, 2024 By Dan Peterson

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These three items went up today on the website of the Interpreter Foundation: Nibley Lectures: Come, Follow Me Book of Mormon Lesson 3 “Come and Partake of the Fruit”: 1 Nephi 6-10 During 1988, 1989, and 1990, Hugh Nibley taught Honors Book of Mormon classes for four semesters at Brigham Young University. The lectures were video-taped and audio cassettes and printed transcripts were made of the lectures. We believe these recordings will be interesting to listen to and valuable to... Read more

Thebes of the Hundred Gates

January 15, 2024 By Dan Peterson

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We left our boat this morning and headed over the great temple complex of Karnak, where we spent a couple of hours and could easily have spent many, many, many more. We had a very Egyptian lunch at a restaurant in Luxor called Sofra, and then our group began to split up. Six of our number headed off in a small van to Hurghada, while the rest of us proceeded to the airport for a flight back to Cairo.... Read more

“Vanity of Vanities”

January 14, 2024 By Dan Peterson

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I want to call to your attention an upcoming fireside in the greater Houston, Texas, area. I anticipate that those who attend will find this presentation interesting: Proving the Church is True Steve Densley, J.D. Saturday, January 20, 2024, 6:00 P.M. Friendswood Texas Stake Center 505 Deseret Drive, Friendswood, TX 77546 You are cordially invited to attend a fireside in the Houston, Texas, area featuring Executive Vice President of The Interpreter Foundation, Steve Densley, who will speak on the... Read more

In the land of the crocodile god

January 13, 2024 By Dan Peterson

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Our visit to the Nubian village of Gharb Suhayl yesterday was completely different than any of our previous visits there, and I really liked it. We landed a few hundred yards south of our previous landing spot, and never actually went to the area that we had spent our time in on earlier occasions. This time, we went to the local school, where “Mr. Umar” tried to teach our people the Arabic alphabet and the Arabic and Nubian numerals... Read more

In the shadow of the High Dam

January 12, 2024 By Dan Peterson

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To the consternation of its critics, the Interpreter Foundation is not dead, nor doth it sleep. Today, Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship published a new article entitled “The Literary Structure of Alma 17–20: A 14-Unit Chiasm,” which was written by Derek Squire: Abstract: This article is an analysis of the literary structure of Alma 17–20. These four chapters in the current Book of Mormon were originally a single chapter in the first edition of the... Read more

Deeper into Africa

January 11, 2024 By Dan Peterson

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Another good day, at least from my perspective. We began it with a visit to the so-called Egyptian Museum — the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities — on Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo. Some of the rooms there have been emptied out a bit, with their objects probably having gone to the beautiful new National Museum of Egyptian Civilization or going now to the spectacular and enormous but still-not-open Grand Egyptian Museum, which is located out by the pyramids in... Read more

The emergence of the pyramid

January 10, 2024 By Dan Peterson

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We had a great day today. Rather long, but great. We began with the spectacular archaeological area of Saqqara, to the south of Cairo – but, of course, on the western side of the River Nile, the land of the setting sun and, thus, the abode of the dead. We did the usual Saqqara things but, on this time, we actually entered into the hugely important “step pyramid” of King Zoser (or Djoser) and looked down into his burial... Read more

Marratan ukhra fi umm al-dunya

January 9, 2024 By Dan Peterson

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But what, you will naturally be asking yourself, is this clown doing back in Egypt yet again, when he was just there at the end of last year? It’s a good question. Do I simply love jet lag? Let me back up just a bit before I give you The Answer. From what I’ve seen of it and from what I know about it, The Other Side Academy is one of the most remarkable undertakings that I’ve seen. Remarkable and moving on... Read more