Dan peterson retires

[Scott Lloyd]

Daniel C. Peterson, arguably the most iconic defender of the faith in contemporary Church history, and at one time a prolific contributor to this and its predecessor board, has announced his retirement from his post as professor of Islamic studies at BYU. 

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/danpeterson/

Of course, this in no way means he is retiring from the public eye. In fact, I predict he will be more visible than ever, considering his Interpreter Foundation is riding high with the “Witnesses” movie and other projects. He has pledged to do a lot of writing. 

Edited July 1, 2021 by Scott Lloyd

[strappinglad]

I suppose now he is free(er) since he won't be directly thought of as somehow representing BYU. 

Wishing him well in his endeavors. 

[Scott Lloyd]

7 minutes ago, strappinglad said:

I suppose now he is free(er) since he won't be directly thought of as somehow representing BYU. 

Wishing him well in his endeavors. 

No doubt there is something inherently liberating about disaffiliating with an employer and becoming independent, more or less. 
 

But in his blog post, he reaffirms his affection for BYU, despite having been subjected to an unseemly episode of academic politics a decade or so ago. 
 

And after all, he now has professor emeritus status at the university. 

[LoudmouthMormon]

Congrats to Prof. Dan!   

I propose he fill the hours with a fulltime return to this board!

[Kenngo1969]

Just now, LoudmouthMormon said:

Congrats to Prof. Dan!   

I propose he fill the hours with a fulltime return to this board!

Fat chance!

[Amulek]

1 hour ago, Scott Lloyd said:

Daniel C. Peterson, arguably the most iconic defender of the faith in contemporary Church history, and at one time a prolific contributor to this and its predecessor board, has announced his retirement from his post as professor of Islamic studies at BYU. 

I first encountered Dan Peterson back when I was in high school. I was visiting my older brother at college one summer, and he dropped me off for an hour or two at the BYU Bookstore while he was busy attending classes. As I was wandering around, admiring the sheer variety of LDS related materials (none of which were available back in my small Texas town), I had my first run in with Dr. Peterson.

Not in person, mind you. No, I encountered him on one of those old, rotary style bookshelves which were used for displaying magazines - only instead of magazines it was filled with individual articles which had been printed from the FARMS Review of Books on the Book of Mormon. Each one was clearly marked with title and author, and they were all fairly inexpensive - no more than a buck or two each.

I suppose the idea was that you could sort of pick and chose whatever you wanted a la carte if you didn't want (or, in my case, couldn't afford) to purchase the entire soft-bound Review.

The first booklet I picked up just happened to be by a one Daniel C. Peterson. I flipped it open and read the first few pages. Then I sat down and read the entire thing.

You're probably not supposed to do that, but I suppose there are worse crimes than reading one of Brother Peterson's apologetic reviews - though I'm sure some of his most vocal critics might contest that.

Anyway, I found it imminently refreshing. Finally, here was a Latter-Day Saint who was well-educated, willing to stand up for the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, and who happened to have a great sense of humor as well.

I found his writing to be both enjoyable and - coming, as I did, from the heart of the Bible Belt - immanently useful. He provided me with my first introduction to Mormon apologetics, and over the years I have definitely been better off because of that. 

I wish him nothing but the best as he retires, and I hope he continues to find joy and success in any and all of his future endeavors.

Dan, should you ever make your way back to the board and come across this post, please know that I owe you my heartfelt gratitude for the work that you have done over the years...and probably a long overdue $1.50 as well.

 

[Stormin' Mormon]

I miss Dr. Peterson's comments on this board.

I don't post much, but five or ten years back I made a comment on a thread about Book of Mormon geography, and Dr. Peterson liked it so much, he contacted me and asked if he could use it in a paper or blog post or something.  Long story short, he footnoted me in one of his publications, and it was THE high point in my long but anemic participation on this board.

Edited July 1, 2021 by Stormin' Mormon

[Scott Lloyd]

19 hours ago, Amulek said:

I first encountered Dan Peterson back when I was in high school. I was visiting my older brother at college one summer, and he dropped me off for an hour or two at the BYU Bookstore while he was busy attending classes. As I was wandering around, admiring the sheer variety of LDS related materials (none of which were available back in my small Texas town), I had my first run in with Dr. Peterson.

Not in person, mind you. No, I encountered him on one of those old, rotary style bookshelves which were used for displaying magazines - only instead of magazines it was filled with individual articles which had been printed from the FARMS Review of Books on the Book of Mormon. Each one was clearly marked with title and author, and they were all fairly inexpensive - no more than a buck or two each.

I suppose the idea was that you could sort of pick and chose whatever you wanted a la carte if you didn't want (or, in my case, couldn't afford) to purchase the entire soft-bound Review.

The first booklet I picked up just happened to be by a one Daniel C. Peterson. I flipped it open and read the first few pages. Then I sat down and read the entire thing.

You're probably not supposed to do that, but I suppose there are worse crimes than reading one of Brother Peterson's apologetic reviews - though I'm sure some of his most vocal critics might contest that.

Anyway, I found it imminently refreshing. Finally, here was a Latter-Day Saint who was well-educated, willing to stand up for the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, and who happened to have a great sense of humor as well.

I found his writing to be both enjoyable and - coming, as I did, from the heart of the Bible Belt - immanently useful. He provided me with my first introduction to Mormon apologetics, and over the years I have definitely been better off because of that. 

I wish him nothing but the best as he retires, and I hope he continues to find joy and success in any and all of his future endeavors.

Dan, should you ever make your way back to the board and come across this post, please know that I owe you my heartfelt gratitude for the work that you have done over the years...and probably a long overdue $1.50 as well.

 

Thanks for sharing this memory. 
 

My first encounter with Dr. Peterson was somewhat similar to yours. It was on the old SHIELDS website, which, I think, pre-dated FAIR as an apologetics site. 
 

There were letters on there written by some juvenile troll with an evangelical background who knew just enough about the Church to be insulting and obnoxious. Dan engaged him in a very entertaining way and was just as you described him in the above post. 
 

I also saw him tangle on line with a couple of career anti-Mormons whose names I don’t even recall now. There was the guy in California and the one in Arizona. 
 

From that, I got into reading the FARMS Review, and his seminal work, “Offenders for a Word: How Anti-Mormons Play Word Games to Attack the Latter-day Saints.” 
 

Thereafter, I was privileged to meet him and to report in the Church News on several of his FAIR presentations. Over the years, we have become friends. Surreal to think we are both retired now. 
 

Added later: I remember now that the guy in California was James White. I wonder what ever happened to him. 
 

Added yet later: I misremembered. White is from Arizona. I just checked. 

Edited July 2, 2021 by Scott Lloyd

[Scott Lloyd]

On 7/1/2021 at 3:42 PM, Stormin' Mormon said:

I miss Dr. Peterson's comments on this board.

I don't post much, but five or ten years back I made a comment on a thread about Book of Mormon geography, and Dr. Peterson liked it so much, he contacted me and asked if he could use it in a paper or blog post or something.  Long story short, he footnoted me in one of his publications, and it was THE high point in my long but anemic participation on this board.

Thanks for sharing. 
 

I too have bragging rights for having been footnoted in a Peterson article. It was a mention of my own exchange on the SHIELDS site with the Arizona anti-Mormon I mentioned above. 
 

And I was flattered on one occasion when Dan cribbed from one of my posts on this (or its predecessor) board for one of his FARMS Review pieces. 
 

Edited July 3, 2021 by Scott Lloyd

[Duncan]

He came to my mission in 1998, his brother was a Bishop in one of the wards I served in, phenomenal man!!!!!! Both actually!!!

[LoudmouthMormon]

16 hours ago, Stormin' Mormon said:

I don't post much, but five or ten years back I made a comment on a thread about Book of Mormon geography, and Dr. Peterson liked it so much, he contacted me and asked if he could use it in a paper or blog post or something.  Long story short, he footnoted me in one of his publications, and it was THE high point in my long but anemic participation on this board.

Lol same!  For a full decade I was a battlin' apologist.  I had two high points of my apologetic "career".  First: One of the most rabid antis at the Reachout Trust countercult forum, admitted that I might very well be a saved Christian.  Second: Dr. Peterson once called one of my points "salient" on this board.  😄

[Teancum]

21 hours ago, Scott Lloyd said:

Daniel C. Peterson, arguably the most iconic defender of the faith in contemporary Church history, and at one time a prolific contributor to this and its predecessor board, has announced his retirement from his post as professor of Islamic studies at BYU. 

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/danpeterson/

Of course, this in no way means he is retiring from the public eye. In fact, I predict he will be more visible than ever, considering his Interpreter Foundation is riding high with the “Witnesses” movie and other projects. He has pledged to do a lot of writing. 

Best wishes to him in his retirement and future endeavors.

[mfbukowski]

One of the greatest, free at last!

[Teancum]

18 hours ago, Scott Lloyd said:

Added later: I remember now that the guy in California was James White. I wonder what ever happened to him. 

I thought White was from located in Arizona?

[Scott Lloyd]

18 minutes ago, Teancum said:

I thought White was from located in Arizona?

Yeah, he is. I misremembered. 

[LoudmouthMormon]

15 minutes ago, Teancum said:

18 hours ago, Scott Lloyd said:

Added later: I remember now that the guy in California was James White. I wonder what ever happened to him. 

I thought White was from located in Arizona?

Looks like he's still around. https://www.aomin.org/aoblog/about/

Looks like these guys paid him in 2018: https://www.gracechurch.org/leader/white/james

[InCognitus]

9 hours ago, LoudmouthMormon said:

Looks like he's still around. https://www.aomin.org/aoblog/about/

Looks like these guys paid him in 2018: https://www.gracechurch.org/leader/white/james

He's still around.  I've spoken with him a few times at the annual Arizona Easter Pageant (before the renovation).   James White and Jeff Durbin are both from Arizona and show up there regularly along with others from their group.  And I also spoke with Bill McKeever there once too, although that was probably 20 years ago.   It will be nice when they start the Easter Pageant up again (but not to see those guys  )   The Mesa Arizona Temple is scheduled to be rededicated in December.  So I presume they will be doing the Easter Pageant next year.

Edited July 3, 2021 by InCognitus

[InCognitus]

On 7/1/2021 at 2:57 PM, Scott Lloyd said:

I too have bragging rights for having been footnoted in a Peterson article.

I had a similar experience.  In the mid 90's I emailed Dr. Peterson something interesting that I noticed in Reasoning from the Scriptures with the Mormons, by Ron Rhodes & Marian Bodine (published in 1995), where the authors had copied, nearly word for word, several paragraphs from a 1975 book, Mormon Claims Answered, by Marvin W. Cowan, without giving Marvin Cowan any credit as a source.  Dr. Peterson was apparently as amused by it as I was, and he utilized it in an appendix to one of his other reviews in Review of Books on the Book of Mormon, and referenced me as the discoverer.  He was kind in his reference, crediting me for being "alert" and recognizing the similarity in the other book.  That's only partly true.    The whole truth is that someone was posting the material from the Rhodes and Bodine book on a message board, and I knew they were copying from something (you can always tell).  So I dug through some of my books and found the same exact material in the Marvin Cowan source, and accused the person of copying from his book.  But the message board person confessed and said he was really copying from the Rhodes and Bodine book!   I had a copy of that book too, so I was able to find the source and I confirmed that the latter book had copied from the previous book.  It was funny, really. 

Edit:  The message board person had only copied from portions of one or maybe two paragraphs out of the Rhodes and Bodine book.  I did find several more paragraphs that were copied when I did my comparison of the two books. 

Edited July 3, 2021 by InCognitus

[Scott Lloyd]

2 hours ago, InCognitus said:

He's still around.  I've spoken with him a few times at the annual Arizona Easter Pageant (before the renovation).   James White and Jeff Durbin are both from Arizona and show up their regularly along with others from their group.  And I also spoke with Bill McKeever there once too, although that was probably 20 years ago.   It will be nice when they start the Easter Pageant up again (but not to see those guys  )   The Mesa Arizona Temple is scheduled to be rededicated in December.  So I presume they will be doing the Easter Pageant next year.

White used to show up at general conference in SLC regularly and wave his signs. But I heard that he got disenchanted and stopped coming after the loud(er) and (more) obnoxious street screechers began to steal his thunder. 

[Derl Sanderson]

I think Dan is a first-rate scholar/intellectual and (obviously) a very deeply committed defender of the faith.

Plus he's a nice guy (at least he was to me).

Back in the 1980's, I somehow found his home phone number and called him with a question. I had read an essay of his in the old FARMS Review wherein he thoroughly dismantled the arguments of the late great (and incredibly egotistical and mean-spirited) Walter Martin. Dan kept referring to him as "Dr." Walter Martin, and being the neophyte I was regarding sectarian invective and apologetic responses to it, I couldn't understand why Dan kept putting quotes around Martin's academic title. So I called Dr. Peterson's home and asked.

He was kind enough to spend time with the dope (me) who probably interrupted his evening meal, and explained his use of the scare quotes, even though I was a total stranger. In the process, he pointed me to (and this will date me) Robert and Rosemary Brown's expose of Walter Martin, Dee Jay Nelson, and many other of that generation's critics of the Church. 

From then on I was hooked and have been a big fan of "The Walrus" ever since (Goo goo g'joob). 

Edited July 3, 2021 by Derl Sanderson
clarity

[3DOP]

On 7/1/2021 at 4:47 PM, Scott Lloyd said:

Thanks for sharing this memory. 
 

My first encounter with Dr. Peterson was somewhat similar to yours. It was on the old SHIELDS website, which, I think, pre-dated FAIR as an apologetics site. 
 

There were letters on there written by some juvenile troll with an evangelical background who knew just enough about the Church to be insulting and obnoxious. Dan engaged him in a very entertaining way and was just as you described him in the above post. 
 

I also saw him tangle on line with a couple of career anti-Mormons whose names I don’t even recall now. There was the guy in California and the one in Arizona. 
 

From that, I got into reading the FARMS Review, and his seminal work, “Offenders for a Word: How Anti-Mormons Play Word Games to Attack the Latter-day Saints.” 
 

Thereafter, I was privileged to meet him and to report in the Church News on several of his FAIR presentations. Over the years, we have become friends. Surreal to think we are both retired now. 
 

Added later: I remember now that the guy in California was James White. I wonder what ever happened to him. 
 

Added yet later: I misremembered. White is from Arizona. I just checked. 

James White, for the record, takes a pretty strong position against the Catholic Church as well. He is a prolific author who has written several books against the Catholic Church. I am not aware of public demonstrations though. Congratulations to you guys for being perhaps his most despised enemy! 

After his older sister converted to the Catholic faith around twenty years ago, he was naturally unhappy about it. It became public when she explained a journey that was in many respects similar to mine, going from Baptist to Catholic. I suppose that in part she was welcomed by Catholic media because or her brother's rabid opposition to the Church. But she also seemed genuinely joyful, intellectually capable, and desirous to share what she had learned along the way with fellow Catholics who like to hear conversion stories. I thought he became unnecessarily ugly to his sister after this.

It came to the place that he refused to use her first name in public, but continually referred to his sister by her husband's last name, Mrs. Bonds. I hope I am wrong, but it seemed like a way of him saying that he was putting her out of his life. I hadn't really thought of either of them for many years now. Now that the relatively short public furor is long passed, I hope she is still doing well and that her brother has softened towards her.

 

[rodheadlee]

Thanks for all your work Dan.

[Esrom]

On 7/1/2021 at 1:33 PM, Scott Lloyd said:

Daniel C. Peterson, arguably the most iconic defender of the faith in contemporary Church history, and at one time a prolific contributor to this and its predecessor board, has announced his retirement from his post as professor of Islamic studies at BYU. 

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/danpeterson/

Of course, this in no way means he is retiring from the public eye. In fact, I predict he will be more visible than ever, considering his Interpreter Foundation is riding high with the “Witnesses” movie and other projects. He has pledged to do a lot of writing. 

hope he sticks around... I've learned much from his work!