All Can Partake, Freely

by Daniel C. Peterson

Overview

Abstract: The Interpreter Foundation welcomes faithful ideas, insights, and manuscripts from people of all backgrounds. In this brief essay, I share some that were recently shared with me regarding Lehi's vision of the tree of life, as recorded in 1 Nephi 8. Among other things, Lehi seems to have been shown that the divine offer of salvation extends far beyond a small elite. As Peter exclaims in the King James rendering of Acts 10:34, "God is no respecter of persons." Other translations render the same words as saying that he doesn't "play favorites" or "show partiality." The passage in James 1:5 with which the Restoration commenced clearly announces that, if they will simply ask, God "giveth to all men liberally."

Product Details

BN ID:	2940162363279
Publisher:	Interpreter Foundation
Publication date:	02/18/2021
Series:	Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	787,164
File size:	261 KB

About the Author

Daniel C. Peterson (Ph.D., University of California at Los Angeles) is a professor of Islamic studies and Arabic at Brigham Young University and is the founder of the University's Middle Eastern Texts Initiative, for which he served as editor-in-chief until mid-August 2013. He has published and spoken extensively on both Islamic and Mormon subjects. Formerly chairman of the board of the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS) and an officer, editor, and author for its successor organization, the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, his professional work as an Arabist focuses on the Qur’an and on Islamic philosophical theology. He is the author, among other things, of a biography entitled Muhammad: Prophet of God (Eerdmans, 2007).