Once again, I must register a political protest

January 30, 2025 By Dan Peterson

Our exit from Afghanistan was badly botched. And America’s abandonment of those Afghans who had helped us there — often at considerable risk to their lives and the lives of their families — has long been a national disgrace and an obvious moral failure, as well as a disastrous precedent that will be remembered whenever we again seek local allies somewhere. Furthermore, alas, the situation isn’t improving: “Trump’s refugee ban leaves Afghan allies abandoned: Thousands of Afghans who aided... Read more

Can you think of any other benefits that I should mention?

January 29, 2025 By Dan Peterson

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The Interpreter Foundation’s full-length documentary Undaunted: Witnesses of the Book of Mormon can now be viewed for free! Please share this link far and wide with friends and family! https://witnessesfilm.com/?ref=undaunted Not infrequently, I read comments from purportedly liberated ex-Latter-day Saints about the glories of churchless Sundays. Instead of attending mind-numbingly dull and repetitious meetings, they claim to spend most of their Sundays skiing, golfing, biking, reading classic books, listening to superb music, perfecting their highly toned bodies through exercise,... Read more

Archaeologically recovering some lectures from Hugh Nibley

January 28, 2025 By Dan Peterson

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Here is another resource that you might find of value for your study and/or your teaching of the 2025 Come, Follow Me curriculum — especially as we move, in February, toward consideration of the witnesses to the Book of Mormon: “Episode 18: Is Eyewitness Testimony Reliable?” Witnesses of the Book of Mormon—Insights Episode 18: Is Eyewitness Testimony Reliable? Eyewitness testimony is used around the world in courts of law. But there’s a movement today that calls into question the... Read more

Of Movies, Serious, Unserious, Fun, and Not So Fun

January 27, 2025 By Dan Peterson

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Many nights, we watch a film with our granddaughter. We’ve watched all of the classic Disney cartoons and a host of others, some classic and some, well, not quite so classic. We’ve watched Mary Poppins and the live versions of Beauty and the Beast and Mulan and so on and so forth. Tonight, we watched the classic 1938 movie The Adventures of Robin Hood, starring Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone, and Claude Rains. It’s been quite a... Read more

On emptying Gaza out

January 26, 2025 By Dan Peterson

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The Hebrew “Northern Kingdom” — often called Israel or, after its eventual capital, Samaria — was formed in the tenth century before Christ when the ten northern tribes rebelled against the political entity headquartered in Jerusalem, which thereupon came to be called the “Southern Kingdom,” or the Kingdom of Judah. But, after a three-year siege of Samaria, the Northern Kingdom was conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 722 BC. The Assyrian kings Shalmaneser V, Sargon II, and Sennacherib deported... Read more

A Life Lived in Crescendo

January 25, 2025 By Dan Peterson

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Following our participation in an endowment session at the Provo City Center Temple this past Thursday, my friend and former missionary companion and former BYU department colleague, Stephen D. Ricks, shared with me a passage (verse 94) from the apocryphal Acts of John that is suggestive of an ancient Christian prayer circle. It occurs to me that some readers here might find it interesting: Now before he was taken by the lawless Jews, who also were governed by (had... Read more

“Upon Thy Belly Shalt Thou Go”

January 24, 2025 By Dan Peterson

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Two new articles went up today on the website of the Interpreter Foundation. The first of these was ““Upon Thy Belly Shalt Thou Go”: The Garden of Eden Serpent Symbology Based on the Concept of Seraphim,” written by Noel Hudson: Abstract: The concept of the serpentine seraphim from biblical iconography is discussed in the context of biblical serpent symbology. The association of the seraphim with Ancient Near Eastern kings, deities, and temples is noted. The concept of the seraphim... Read more

As political a blog entry as you’ll see here

January 23, 2025 By Dan Peterson

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For the past several years, I’ve refrained from posting entries here on political issues. I’ve done so because, although I’ve had a deep interest in politics since I was about ten years old, I found that my publicly expressing my political views created adverse consequences for the Interpreter Foundation. And, given my role with the Foundation, and my commitment to its flourishing, I’ve felt it my obligation to rein in expressions of my personal politics. Still, those who have... Read more

Free Viewing of Witnesses Films

January 22, 2025 By Dan Peterson

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This announcement came out this evening from the Interpreter Foundation: Just in time for your Come, Follow Me discussion of the witnesses to the Book of Mormon! Undaunted: Witnesses of the Book of Mormon can now be viewed for free here: https://witnessesfilm.com/ Witnesses will go up for free from 2 Feb 2025 through 1 March 2025. Just like the Three Witnesses, the Eight Witnesses, and the many other witnesses since, we invite you to be a witness of The... Read more

“What were the Kinderhook Plates?”

January 21, 2025 By Dan Peterson

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Perhaps I just forgot to mention it. (I recall that I once forgot something, but now I can’t remember what it was.) Or perhaps I wanted to wait to announce it until the first full day of America’s Golden Age had arrived. Which it now has. Today! In either case, this article of mine — focused on the significant (and quite unexpected) Nephite element in the Restoration — appeared yesterday in Meridian Magazine: “Exploring the Ancient Origins of Sacrament... Read more