American Apocrypha: Essays on the Book of Mormon (Essays on Mormonism Series) [Paperback]

Dan Vogel (Author, Editor), Brent Lee Metcalfe (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 2002

A fine line divides scripture from non-scripture, writes Robert M. Price in American Apocrypha. Some books, not in the Bible, are as powerful as anything in the canon. At the same time, portions of the Bible were authored much later than the events they narrate by scribes who wrote under fictitious names. Clearly, the hallmark of scripture is not historical accuracy but its spiritual impact on individuals, and exclusion from the canon is not reason to dismiss a book as heretical.

Consider the Book of Mormon, first published in 1830. The nature of this volume--its claim to ancient history, in particular--is the theme of nine ground-breaking essays in American Apocrypha. Thomas W. Murphy discusses the Book of MormonÂ’s view that American Indians are descendants of ancient Hebrews. In recent DNA tests, Native Americans have proven to be of Siberian ancestry; they show no signs of ancient Jewish or Middle Eastern descent. Nor is the Book of Mormon a traditional translation from an ancient document, writes David P. Wright, as indicated by the underlying Hebrew in the bookÂ’s Isaiah passages. Other contributors to American Apocrypha explore the evolution of ideas in the Book of Mormon during the course of its dictation.

Editors Dan Vogel (author of Indian Origins and the Book of Mormon) and Brent Metcalfe (editor of New Approaches to the Book of Mormon) have chosen authors who represent a wide range of disciplines and perspectives: Robert Price edits the Journal of Higher Criticism, Thomas Murphy chairs the anthropology department at Edmonds Community College, and David Wright teaches Hebrew Bible at Brandeis University. They are joined by Scott C. Dunn; Edwin Firmage, Jr.; George D. Smith; and Susan Staker, all of whom explore what can and cannot be reasonably asserted about the Book of Mormon as scripture.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This collection of nine critical essays on the Book of Mormon generally evinces strong scholarship and compelling argumentation, though some of the articles are clearly superior to others. The anthology begins notably well, with Edwin Firmage Jr.'s autobiographical essay on historical criticism and the Book of Mormon. George Smith's article on early 20th-century LDS leader Brigham H. Roberts is also outstanding, documenting how Roberts publicly championed the Book of Mormon but privately experienced misgivings about its authenticity as an ancient text. Susan Staker's Secret Things, Hidden Things is the most innovative and fresh essay in the bunch, delving into the role of seership in the book and in Joseph Smith's life. Finally, David Wright's investigation into the Book of Mormon's many Isaiah passages an important, if highly technical, study. Other pieces are not as strong. Vogel's study of the conflicting accounts of the 19th-century witnesses who claimed to have seen or touched the original plates of the Book of Mormon begins promisingly enough, but ends with the disappointing and reductive assertion that these individuals were probably victims of hypnosis and group hallucination. Scott Dunn's essay, Automaticity and the Dictation of the Book of Mormon, is also a weak link, applying 1970s-era research on automatic writing (a phenomenon that many scholars and psychologists have dismissed) to Joseph Smith's purported translation of the Book of Mormon. On the whole, however, this anthology enlivens the debate about the origin and importance of the Book of Mormon.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

Collaboratively compiled and edited by Dan Vogel and Brent Lee Metcalfe, American Apocrypha is a selection of nine scholarly essays that focus on the Book of Mormon, scrutinizing the testimonies of witnesses and carefully evaluating historical context. It is a carefully researched, meticulously presented, and highly methodological collection a welcome, seminal contribution to Mormon history that will supplement reading lists and academic reference collections. --Midwest Book Review

This collection of nine essays examines the Book of Mormon as a powerful book of scripture separate from the Bible. Specifically, one of the essays focuses on recent DNA testing which revealed modern Native Americans to be of Siberian ancestry rather than Jewish or Hebrew descent. "This is a 'Galileo event' for Mormons," say the book's editors. It means that church members will need to consider the book a part of a "scriptural tradition that includes fiction parables, poetry, hyperbole, psalms, historical verisimilitude, and other genres," according to advance publicity for the book. The essays, written by academics from across the country, focus on other issues as well, including the presence of Hebrew in some scriptures, while other essays explore the evolution of ideas in the Book of Mormon during the course of its dictation. --Ogden Standard Examiner

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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Signature Books (May 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560851511
• ISBN-13: 978-1560851516
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,405,738 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Powerful set of Essays on the Origin of the Book of Mormon, July 22, 2007

By 

Wanderer (Sacramento, CA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: American Apocrypha: Essays on the Book of Mormon (Essays on Mormonism Series) (Paperback)

To be brief, I'll just point to the essay by Professor Edwin Firmage, who tells a compelling story of how he came to abandon his belief that the Book of Mormon is an ancient document. The other essays in this book are also fascinating. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the Book of Mormon.

Professor Edwin Firmage, Jr. writes:

"Nearly twenty years ago, as a first year-graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, my ambition was to become another Hugh Nibley, whose writings I loved since I was twelve...."

"Still a neophyte, but armed with German and a little Arabic, Greek, and Hebrew, and intent on acquiring the requisite apologetic tools, I cameo Berkeley to study ancient Near Eastern languages, particularly Egyptian, the language of mysteries par excellence.

"Not long after my arrival, I was asked to teach the Book of Mormon in the Gospel Doctrine class in my Berkeley ward. I welcomed the opportunity, as it would give me a chance to delve deeper into the book. By any standard, my wife and I were faithful Mormons who attended church, visited the temple, and prayed together. I expected my study of the Book of Mormon to result in an increase of faith as it had done on my mission. But within six months, I no longer believed the Book of Mormon to be an ancient text.

"To this day, I am not sure how it happened, although I can isolate several issues that played a role in my change of mind....I have often thought that what happened to me in Berkeley was fundamentally a conversion, or, if you like, an anti-conversion. The process had all the inscrutable suddenness that characterized some of the conversions I had witnessed as missionary. Like a conversion to faith, the effect of my change of mind propagated with amazing speed. Almost overnight my whole outlook on life was different."

"The remaining pages of this essay will present a few of what, for me in 1984, were discoveries of some importance. These do not by any means constitute a comprehensive explanation of the Book of Mormon. Nor are they offered as proof of my thesis that the book is modern, but as examples of how the assumption that is modern resolves otherwise significant difficulties."

21 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Book of Mormon--Revisited, June 3, 2003

By 

Crack Reviewer (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: American Apocrypha: Essays on the Book of Mormon (Essays on Mormonism Series) (Paperback)

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Days (Mormons) teaches its members that if they want to know whether the Book of Mormon is true or not they should pray about the matter. If they receive a "burning in their bosom" they will know that the book and the accounts depicted inside are accurate. For faithful members of the church this is the only way to discover the "truth" of the Book of Mormon.

Brent Metcalfe and Dan Vogel take a different approach. They present a number of articles from scholars who have attempted to get at "the truth" of the Book of Mormon in a totally different manner. They apply the tools of the scientific method, historical research, and logical analysis to formulate hypotheses and draw conclusions. As a result, people who use logic and science to resolve issues are likely to be impressed by this book. On the other hand, those who believe in a religion purely because of faith and answers they have received in prayer are not likely to be impressed by this work, or to want to read it for that matter.

The articles are quite interesting. My favorite three included the one on "automatic writing", Tom Murphy's article on DNA and the Lamanites (which he came close to being excommunicated for writing), and the article on former "Seventy" B.H. Roberts and what he really believed about the Book of Mormon.

What comes through to the educated person is that many things that have long been presented "as facts" by the church are not. The truth is far more complicated. One can read the Book of Mormon and conclude that Nephites and Lamanites were supposedly the only groups present in the Americas between 600 BC and 400 AD. However, DNA testing shows this is simply impossible. The vast, vast bulk of Native Americans are related to groups in Asia that crossed the Bering Straits into this continent 10,000 to 50,000 years ago. In fact, its virtually impossible to find any connection between Native Americans and either Jews or Egyptians as claimed in the Book of Mormon.

The article on automatic writing challenges the allegation that it would be impossible for one uneducated person to "invent" or "write" the Book of Mormon by himself. In fact, such things have been documented to have been done several times in the past and perhaps on a more impressive scale.

This is a good book for a scholarly person who has questions about Mormon doctrine and seeks an answer that is not "faith-based". Whether all the writers have arrived at the correct conclusions or not, it does stimulate alot of powerful thinking.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ANOTHER HIGHLY INSIGHTFUL COLLECTION OF ESSAYS FROM SIGNATURE BOOKS, July 21, 2011

By 

Steven H. Propp (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: American Apocrypha: Essays on the Book of Mormon (Essays on Mormonism Series) (Paperback)

Signature Books is famous for their "cutting edge" (OVER the edge, to most "traditionalists") books on Mormon subjects; e.g., New Approaches to the Book of Mormon: Explorations in Critical Methodology, The New Mormon History: Revisionist Essays on the Past (Essays on Mormonism Series), Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, Faithful History: Essays on Writing Mormon History (Essays on Mormonism Series), etc. This 2002 collection does not disappoint, in that regard.

Here are some quotations from the book:

"Both the brass plates and the Book of Mormon were written, according to Lehi, in the Egyptian language and not just Egyptian characters. Despite Hugh Nibley's efforts to make this extraordinary notion palatable, it is wildly improbable. Is one seriously to believe that for several generations Lehi's family was at home in the Egyptian language? Moreover, are we to believe that centuries before the Old Testament was translated into Greek (Septuagint), Lehi's kin had privately sponsored the translation of the entire Hebrew canon into Egyptian?" (Pg. 4)
"...we learn, for example, that the three (witnesses) did not experience the vision together; that Martin Harris's vision occurred separately. Both Harris and David Whitmer later testified that they also saw in their visions a table upon which rested a breastplate; the urim and thummim, the liahona, the sword of Laban, and brass plates---an interesting detail missing from the official testimony. The statement also fails to mention that the angel spoke, although it refers to the voice of God." (Pg. 81-82)
"Harris, for example, told several residents of Palmyra, New York, that he had seen the plates with his 'spiritual eyes.'" (Pg. 86)
"If the (eight) witnesses were shown an empty box or if ... it seems probable that at the signing of the testimony only some of the witnesses had handled them, that what was true for the group was not necessarily true for each man. Third, (Joseph) Smith may have produced a box containing the plates or perhaps something of similar weight. The witnesses were permitted to lift the box, but their view of the plates was visionary." (Pg. 104)
"During the last twelve years of his life, (B.H.) Roberts spoke with two voices regarding the Book of Mormon. When he could not come up with answers to his questions, he did not find it necessary to abandon his role as a general authority, nor to renounce his faith." (Pg. 145)
"The (Book of Mormon) conserves unacceptable translations of the KJV now clearly recognized as such from the stance of modern research." (Pg. 173)
"So far, I have tried to indicate that, far from being a miscnievous or malicious hoaxer, Joseph Smith was simply doing what the authors of the various biblical and extra-biblical pseudepigrapha were doing." (Pg. 333)
"A case in point would be Gordon H. Fraser, author of the polemical What Does the Book of Mormon Teach. One can scarcely imagine him welcoming Higher Critics of scripture to apply the same critical tools on Fraser's beloved Bible as he himself has used in vivisecting the Mormon scripture." (Pg. 334)