Dan Peterson, Patheos Journalist Profile

Articles

Who Is The Most Important Character In The Bible?

5 days ago | patheos.com | Dan Peterson

Although I can’t honestly recommend the presentation that began at 1:35 PM this afternoon, I’ll make this overall comment otherwise: If you didn’t come to the Tanner Building at BYU today and you didn’t listen online, you missed some really interesting material.
Warfare In The Book Of Mormon, And Chiasmus

6 days ago | patheos.com | Dan Peterson

These four new items were posted today on the moribund website of the comatose Interpreter Foundation:Anachronisms: Accidental Evidence in Book of Mormon Criticisms: Chapter 2 “Warfare in the Book of Mormon,” written by Matthew Roper[Editor’s Note: We are pleased to present chapter 2 from a book entitled Anachronisms: Accidental Evidence in Book of Mormon Criticisms.
An Economic Chiasm And Remarkable Textual Consistency

1 week ago | patheos.com | Dan Peterson

Newly posted on the blog of the perpetually unchanging, completely comatose website of the Interpreter Foundation:“My Favorite Chiasm in the Book of Mormon,” written by Mark SkousenThe Temple: Plates, Patterns, & Patriarchs: “Jacob’s Temple Journey to Haran and Back,” written by Jeffrey M. Bradshaw and Matthew L. BowenPart of our book chapter reprint series, this article originally appeared in The Temple: Plates, Patterns, & Patriarchs, edited by Stephen D. Ricks and Jeffrey M. Bradshaw.
An Economic Chiasm And Remarkable Textual Consistency

1 week ago | patheos.com | Dan Peterson

Newly posted on the blog of the perpetually unchanging, completely comatose website of the Interpreter Foundation:“My Favorite Chiasm in the Book of Mormon,” written by Mark SkousenThe Temple: Plates, Patterns, & Patriarchs: “Jacob’s Temple Journey to Haran and Back,” written by Jeffrey M. Bradshaw and Matthew L. BowenPart of our book chapter reprint series, this article originally appeared in The Temple: Plates, Patterns, & Patriarchs, edited by Stephen D. Ricks and Jeffrey M. Bradshaw.
More On The Latter-day Saints And Presidential Politics

1 week ago | patheos.com | Dan Peterson

Details regarding the approaching 2025 FAIR conference can be found here. I hope to see you there, although it’s very likely that I won’t be speaking on the topic that’s currently listed for me online. I’m not even sure where that title came from. Did I suggest it? If I did, I don’t remember it.
After A Very Productive Day

1 week ago | patheos.com | Dan Peterson

We conducted a very good series of lengthy and substantial interviews today at the Church History Library, which sits directly to the east of the Conference Center, directly to the northeast of Temple Square. The interviews, of course, are for the Interpreter Foundation’s forthcoming series of short video features, which are being produced under the title of Becoming Brigham.
Acting The Bully In Fairview, Texas?

1 week ago | patheos.com | Dan Peterson

I wrote the other day regarding the approval of a temple in Texas about which considerable and acrimonious controversy has swirled. (See “Quick Thoughts Occasioned by the Fairview Texas Temple.”) I’ve received some email responses to my position and I’ve seen some online reactions to the agreement that has evidently been reached, and I think that I want to reply to them, very briefly and perhaps only on a single point.
Book Of Mormon Anachronisms?

1 week ago | patheos.com | Dan Peterson

I’m obviously very late with calling attention to them — see below for the reason behind my delay — but these items went up on the website of the Interpreter Foundation on Friday afternoon, and I heartily commend them to your attention. Two of them appear in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship:“Anachronisms: Accidental Evidence in Book of Mormon Criticisms: Introduction,” written by Matthew RoperSo why am I so delinquent in blogging?
Transoxiana

2 weeks ago | patheos.com | Dan Peterson

Bukhara and Samarkand, where I’ve spent pretty much the past week, lie in what the West has long called Transoxiana (roughly, “beyond the [River] Oxus”). The name was first coined by Alexander the Great [“the Great”!) — or, anyway, by somebody in his entourage, in the fourth century BC. I’ve always been amused by the corresponding Arabic term for the area, which is Mā Warāʾ an-Nahr (ما وراء النهر, “what is beyond the river”).
Quick Thoughts Occasioned By The Fairview Texas Temple

2 weeks ago | patheos.com | Dan Peterson

Even over here in Uzbekistan, I’ve seen the report that, on a vote of 5-2, the city council of Fairview, Texas, has given grudging conditional approval for construction of a proposed Latter-day Saint temple in their small town, which is located in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth area.