Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Latter-day Saint
History and Religion
I was delighted by this morning’s class

I was delighted by this morning’s class

Last updated on: March 17, 2026 at 6:58 pm by Dan Peterson

0 Comments

I was delighted by this morning’s class 2026-03-17T18:58:23-06:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Looking eastward through the Arbel Pass, in the Galilee. This is one of my (many) favorite sites in all of Israel/Palestine. The photo shows the main approach to the distantly visible “Sea of Galilee” in antiquity. The primary trade route (the Via Maris) came through this pass as it moved from the Jezreel valley up toward the markets of Damascus. The caves of this valley also sheltered Jewish resistance fighters during Herod the Great’s conquest of his kingdom and, somewhat later, during the Jewish revolts against Rome. The trail begins far below, near the Gallean fishing village of Magdala (which was very likely the hometown of Mary Magdalene and a frequent haunt of Jesus and his disciples). I typically take my tour groups to the Wadi al-Hammam (the Valley of the Doves) near Magdala, which, in my judgment, is one of the few places where we can be virtually certain that Jesus walked. Happily, thus far, it remains natural and unspoiled.

My attention was caught by this article in the Deseret News: “Perspective: Iraq’s future is visible every day in the faces of its young people: We take the war seriously. But I mostly see ordinary people continuing to do their best to build stable lives, educate their children and contribute to their communities”

Why? Because its author, Brad Cook, contributed a volume to Brigham Young University’s onetime Middle Eastern Texts Initiative (METI), which, umm, well, I conceived and founded and led for many years. METI produced bilingual editions of books (mostly Islamic, but also sometimes Eastern Christian and Jewish) from the classical Islamic world. The books were printed at Brigham Young University Press and distributed by the University of Chicago Press.

The volume in question in this particular case is Bradley J. Cook and Fathi H. Malawi, eds., Classical Foundations of Islamic Educational Thought: A Compendium of Parallel English-Arabic Texts:

Education has always been an important pursuit in Islam. The Prophet Muhammad enjoined his followers to “seek knowledge, even unto China.” Within the religion, educational theory and practice were founded on the work of itinerant teachers who taught the fundamental tenets of the faith in exchange for lodging and other services; Qur’anic schools where masters of the Qur’an tutored pupils; and centers of higher learning in Baghdad, Damascus, Alexandria and elsewhere, where Islamic theology and jurisprudence were developed and taught. In this volume, Bradley J. Cook, with assistance from Fathi H. Malkawi, has drawn together and introduced selections from the writings of eminent Islamic thinkers on the subject of Islamic educational efforts, presenting the original Arabic texts alongside their annotated English translations.

Unfortunately, a few years after my enforced departure from the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, where I had chosen to house the otherwise rather free floating METI project, it was transferred by the Maxwell Institute to the massively expensive E. J. Brill Publishing in the Netherlands.

The volume compiled by Cook and Malawi features what I still consider the best single line that we ever published in the METI project. But, first, just a tiny bit of prefatory material:

Al-Ghazālī (d. AD 1111), who was one of the most significant figures in the history of Islamic thought, a legendarily brilliant philosophical theologian and legal thinker who spent most of his life in Iran and Iraq but who also sojourned for a significant period in Jerusalem, is talking about extremely poor students, and, in that context, attributes the following remark to Jesus:

“Even though I managed to raise the dead, I have never been able to cure an idiot!”

(See al-Ghazālī, “O Son!,” trans. David C. Reisman, in Classical Foundations of Islamic Educational Thought, ed. Bradley J. Cook and Fathi H. Malkawi [Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 2010], 103.)

Now, I’ll admit that my first inclination when I came across the passage was to say that this alleged statement can’t possibly be authentic. And that’s still probably correct. But al-Ghazālī is entirely serious, and he plainly regards the statement as genuine. Furthermore, his citation of it takes us back fully a thousand years or more, halfway to the time of Jesus. So . . .

I have to confess that I rather like the idea that the Savior might have said such a thing. It humanizes him a bit. Surely, with all those long walks from Nazareth to Capernaum, and from Capernaum to Jericho, and from Jericho to Jerusalem, and from Jerusalem back up to Capernaum or Nazareth, it can’t all have been immortal sermons and solemn earnestness. (Can it? Maybe I’m just not fit for heaven.) There must have been some small talk. And the image of Jesus trudging along with the disciples down those dusty paths and confiding, at the end of a tough day, “You know, Peter? I can raise the dead, but I just can’t cure idiots” is oddly appealing to me.

Still, alas, it’s probably bogus.

Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, “Ruth im Feld des Boaz” (1828, Ruth in the Feld of Boaz”)
Wikimedia Commons public domain image

We had lunch this afternoon with a kinsman who shall remain nameless here because his only criminal offense, so far as I’m aware, is being related to me by marriage. Otherwise, he is innocent, and he doesn’t merit an assault from my Malevolent Stalker, my Mini-Stalker, or any other member of that curious menagerie.

In the morning, we attended a stake institute class in Mesa that is taught by a friend (who shall be unnamed for different but analogous reasons). It’s spring break here, and so she indicated that her numbers were down a bit. (They’re normally up around seventy, she says.) Understandably, most (but not quite all) of those in attendance were women, and the focus of the course that they’re attending this year — it’s our friend’s seventh year of teaching stake institute, and the subjects have varied fairly widely in previous years — is on women in the Old Testament. Today’s lesson, very substantial, very well prepared, and very well taught, focused on the pleasant and rather pastoral story of Naomi and Ruth. Class members seem to have come prepared, having read the biblical text for the week. There was good discussion, and I’m delighted that such a class is offered during a weekday here, in at least this stake: I don’t know how widespread such stake classes are in the Phoenix area or beyond; I wish that all stakes in the Church offered such an opportunity. It would greatly enrich the intellectual and spiritual life of Latter-day Saint women.

Mount Arbel (on the left) and the opening of the Wadi al-Hammam or Valley of the Doves, looking across Lake Tiberias or Kinneret, the so-called “Sea of Galilee.” (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

Eight episodes of Becoming Brigham are now up for your viewing pleasure. The eighth one went up yesterday. New installments, with one planned exception or perhaps two, will continue to be posted every Monday into the middle of 2027.

Posted from Scottsdale, Arizona

History and Religion

Travel and Religion

Previous Post

March 16, 2026

"Memories light the corners of my mind"

Next Post

March 18, 2026 Unruly Sunbeams

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"I have cpnsidered in my mond if the 4 volume Saints could be made into ..."

John Pack Lambert

From Serbia’s “White City,” Belgrade

"DP: “But Mr. Sutherland worries about the fact that our time, when we can communicate ..."

Theodore Brandley

Learning more about a region of ..."

"Another class of memories are of individuals who previously lived. Some of these remembered individuals ..."

PlasmaMiasma

Accounts of Premortality?

"Sutherland's lecture sounds interesting. He seems to restate the Washington consensus that trade brings peace ..."

B. Wilson

Learning more about a region of ..."

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

The Old Testament prophet Joel spoke of "wonders in the heavens and the earth, blood, fire, and pillars of smoke before the great and terrible day of the Lord." (Joel 2:30) Which one of the disciples quoted him in the book of Acts?

Select your answer to see how you score.

John Andrew James Peter