Tonight I was fortunate to attend an event held at the Olivewood Bookstore in Provo, Utah. The featured speaker was, as you can guess by the thread title, Dr. Daniel C. Peterson. The subject was DNA and the Book of Mormon. This lecture was most likely inspired by the (somewhat) recent publication of the Maxwell Institute's book, The Book of Mormon and DNA Research, edited by (who else?) Daniel C. Peterson. The book is a collection of essays related to DNA and the Book of Mormon that have been published over the years in either the FARMS Review or the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies.
Rommelator was at the back of the room digitally recording the proceedings, and he afterward informed me that it'd be uploaded to both FAIR's YouTube channel and also to Google Video by no later than tomorrow night. So, since you all will be able to see it for yourselves anyway, there's no real need for me to go into the same level of detail that I went into for the John Gee presentation.
To pique your interest, here's a very brief overview of some points:
INTRODUCTION:
- He anticipated many people's question by asking it on their behalf: "Why am I giving this lecture?" He answered, "Because I was asked." He also indicated that he was probably the natural choice to present this lecture because "DNA" is an anagram of "Dan." :-)
CHRONOLOGY:
- DCP first heard of the Book of Mormon/DNA issue from Ed Decker's newsletter. He presciently recognized that it was an issue worth paying attention to, although no one else on either side really cared much about it at the time.
- He later noticed that the critics were beginning to pick up on it in a big way, but was nevertheless unable to get his pro-LDS colleagues to take notice of it.
- He later discovered, to his surprise, that there was considerable international media interest in it, upon which he was finally able to convince his pro-LDS colleagues to become involved.
THEMES:
- DCP talked about how most people nowadays were raised with the impression that there's always been a constant war of science vs. religion. He talked about how, in reality, that's not quite true: Many of the leading religionists were scientists and vice-versa. For example, one of Galileo's chief defenders later became the pope, etc.
- Probably the overarching thread that permeated the entire presentation was the unreliability of genetic testing. The major example he used is the population of Iceland, all of whose populace born after 1972, 131,060 of them, have been genetically tested. I GOT VERY CONFUSED ABOUT THIS NEXT PART, but I THINK he described how matrilineal (X-chromosome) lines traced pervasively to a group who arrived, or were living there, three or so centuries ago (he gave the years, but I can't remember them), and how, similarly, patrilineal (Y-chromosome) lines traced pervasively to a group who arrived, or were living there, sometime slightly earlier. Nevertheless, no genetic link could be established to specific individuals from that era. IF THAT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE, THEN IT'S PROBABLY BECAUSE I'M CONFUSED, NOT THAT THE PRESENTATION WAS IN ERROR. He added that the written genealogical records trace back to these folks, but DNA testing doesn't bear it out.
- With that in mind, it's vastly more difficult to trace genetic lines back to a specific family that lived many centuries earlier than that, especially A) due to the fact that we know nothing about Ishmael's wife, and B) due to the Native Americans' genetic bottleneck that occurred post-1492.
OTHER ITEMS:
- Throughout the presentation, DCP quoted several things that online critics have said vis-a-vis this issue.
- Unlike during the John Gee presentation, there was no formal Question and Answer session afterward.
IF I HAVE RECALLED ANYTHING INCORRECTLY, THEN CORRECTIONS (by those in attendance) ARE BOTH WELCOME AND APPRECIATED.
So, that was the presentation itself. Not long after it got underway, someone in the audience whispered to another member of the audience, "He was one of the presenters at the FAIR Conference." So apparently FAIR, or at least their conferences, are rather well recognized among the faithful--or, at least those faithful enough to attend a presentation like this.
Afterward, I overheard one attendee gushing about DCP to another attendee. Although I can't recall the specific words used, he was going on and on about how much DCP has done ("for the church," I presume), what a great brother (i.e., church-wise) he is, etc.
Here are some luminaries who were also there:
- Rommelator, whom I already mentioned. After we discussed his recording and when/where it would be online, he referred to the fact that I had already greeted him by his online name and then asked if I had an online name myself. He was somewhat surprised when I said "Dr. Shades." Later he asked if the thread here about him went anywhere past the first couple of pages, 'cause he quit reading after that, and I mistakenly told him it hadn't. Now that I've checked again, I see that it went to five pages. OOPS!
- Brant Gardner.
- M. Gerald Bradford, executive director of the Maxwell Institute. He gave the opening prayer.
- George L. Mitton, one of the editors of the FARMS Review and occasional author therein.
- Louis Midgley. As he approached, Rommelator introduced me to him. He said, "This is Dr. Shades!" Dr. Midgley said, "You don't remember me, but we've met." I said, "Oh yeah, I remember." We were referring to a brief e-mail exchange we had several years ago, back even before ZLMB came into its own. At any rate, around the snack table, I made small talk by asking how New Zealand was, since he had a stint there as its CES Director. We talked quite a bit about its geography and weather.
- Richard Lloyd Anderson, author of "Investigating the Book of Mormon Witnesses, a book that DCP has enthusiastically recommended several times over the years. I'm telling you, a kinder, warmer, friendlier, and nicer man you couldn't possibly meet. After I told him my name, he asked me for my last name, what I do for a living, where I work, etc. (Professor Midgley got to hear all this, too!) He made the effort, repeatedly, to ensure that he correctly remembered my name, even after I made it clear him that I'm nobody of any consequence. Our brief interaction may not qualify me to make this observation, but if it's possible to "radiate Christlike-ness," then he did it. Of course, he didn't know that I was "Dr. Shades," though :-)
- DCP's wife, name withheld for privacy's sake. We talked a little bit about their son's recently-completed mission to Nagoya, Japan, which is the same mission in which I served. I told her about how I'm uploading my missionary journal to the 'net via my weblog, and she asked me if I'm scanning it in. I replied that I'm typing it in manually, interspersing retrospective commentary as I go. She said, "You must be a fast typist." Little did she know how long it's taking me and that I'm nowhere near finished.
I didn't get to chat much with DCP himself, other than him saying that he still remembers that he needs to return the book he borrowed from me about two and a half years ago. :-)
In sum, a good time was had by all. Wish y'all could've been there!
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