Customer Reviews

Joseph Smith, Jr.: Reappraisals After Two Centuries

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Reid L. Neilson is Professor of Church History and Doctrine at BYU, and is also the author of The Mormon History Association's Tanner Lectures: The First Twenty Years, Believing History: Latter-day Saint Essays, etc.; Terryl L. Givens is a Professor of English and Religion at the University of Richmond, and is also the author of By the Hand of Mormon: The American Scripture that Launched a New World Religion and The Book of Mormon: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions).

They write in the Introduction to this 2009 collection of essays (by both LDS, and non-LDS scholars), "The rationale behind this collection is that the day has come when the founder of Mormonism and his prominent role in America's history and religious thought cannot be denied... It is our intent to reflect in these pages the wide-ranging interest in Joseph Smith that the commemorative conferences only suggested."

Here are some additional quotations from the book:

"Of all these movements, Mormonism came to be seen as the most serious threat to the hegemony of evangelicals." (Pg. 40)

"Read from a metaphysical perspective, perhaps none were so significant for the Hermetic underlay of early Mormon theology as the teachings of Emanuel Swedenborg. With his doctrines of divine influx, of God as the 'Divine Human' with its hints of the Father Mother God of Hermeticism, of heaven as a material place with elaborate mansions and well-appointed tables and flower gardens, and of the 'conjugal love' between heavenly soulmates with their etherealized sex, the mysticizing Swede was known to many Americans... Accounts of Swedenbog ... were also available in Palmyra's public library... Smith's 'telestial,' 'terrestrial,' and 'celestial' heavens to a certain extent recalled the Swedish seer's earlier 'natural,' 'spiritual,' and 'celestial' versions." (Pg. 68-69)

"For nearly a decade, (Joseph) Smith was invisible in Latter-day Saint proselyting. His name was not even mentioned in missionary literature or in sermons, as far as can be told." (Pg. 101)

"Smith's production of the Book of Mormon was the most conspicuous embodiment of this challenge to biblical sufficiency; the new scripture itself hammered home the message of God's word as endlessly iterated and endlessly proliferating." (Pg. 115)

"Although stories of Joseph Smith's visions of deity and angels were known in the early years of the church, several scholars have noted that Joseph's First Vision did not immediately acquire a central place for the young LDS community." (Pg. 162)

"I argue that there are grounds for construing Joseph Smith as a genuine prophet of world historical importance. More work needs to be done, however, on what kind of prophet Joseph was." (Pg. 201)

Interesting to note chapters by LDS and non-LDS scholars looking at the contributions of a long awaited 19th century prophet. With so much incorrect 'information' placed by those who profess to be Christian but display nothing but hate and ignorance, it is good to have a scholarly work such as this.