About Dan Peterson

Daniel C. Peterson is a retired professor of Islamic Studies and Arabic at Brigham Young University where he taught from 1985 to 2021.

A native of southern California, Dr. Peterson earned his doctorate at UCLA after study at BYU, in Jerusalem, and in Cairo.

Daniel C. Peterson is the president of the Interpreter Foundation, which publishes the online periodical Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship, produces books, convenes conferences, and sponsors a weekly radio program:  https://interpreterfoundation.org.  

Dan and his wife, Debbie, were the executive producers of the 2021 theatrical film Witnesses and the 2022 docudrama Undaunted: Witnesses of the Book of Mormon.

Formerly director of research and chairman of the board of the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS), now BYU’s Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, Dr. Peterson is also a former president of the Society for Mormon Philosophy and Theology and is currently a member of the board of the Foundation for Religious Diplomacy.

Dr. Peterson served in the Switzerland Zürich Mission (1972-1974), and, for approximately eight years, on the Gospel Doctrine writing committee for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Dan has served in many assignments in the Church, including bishop of a singles ward adjacent to Utah Valley University.

Dr. Peterson is married to the former Deborah Stephens, of Lakewood, Colorado, and they have three sons and three granddaughters.