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The Word of God: Essays on Mormon Scripture (Essays on Mormonism Series)

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"The Word of God" is as every Signature book a compilation of several essays - the first one I presume! They are easy to read and easy to follow. There is not - of course - one single essay written by LDS traditionalists. This book proceeded the more known "New approaches". Hutchinson, Vogel, Metcalfe, Charles, Thomas and Ashment are authors who appear in both books. The difference between the books is that "The Word of God" does not only analyse the Book of Mormon (BoM), but brings up the discussion on the level of revelation. The scriptures treated are the BoM, the Book of Abraham (BoA), Word of Wisdom (WoWis), Doctrine and Covenants (D&C), Isaiah and bible.

I really did fancy the book, I mean, those who will read my utterly weird reviews about the other books, will note that Signature always gets 5 stars! Why? They do not deny divinity, mysticism or revelation, they just propose another way of handling it. They know that people depend on the language setting of their time. They are open for environmentalist explanations of some specific details in the holy scriptures. It is also wonderful that some of the authors come from the Missouri based movement of Joseph Smith.

Howard gives us a more complementary view on the propositional revelation, ie. everything comes in a ready-made package from above. He exemplifies with excerpts from D&C and BoA. Spencer continues with problematising the relationship between inspiration, revelation and scripture. There is an interdependence between these concepts, but it is in the end the personal testimony and understanding of these concepts that makes the difference, whether there was an angel with golden plates or not. Both Howard and Spencer rejects literalism that among other things god created the world in 168 hours. Hutchinson and Russell hold on to the anti-literalistic tradition introdued by the former authors. Hutchinson analyses Joseph's prophecy of the American war. It seems that some details of it were changed as time passed, but the core of the prophecy of an approaching war atmosphere is still there.

Thomas, Curtis and Lindgren and Lancaster approach the BoM. Lancaster goes thru the sources about the translation process, that in the majority of time, Smith used an egg-shaped stone, which he put in his hat while dictating to his scribes. Thomas wants to relate to BoM as a theological book, avoiding the question of its authorship. A healthy perspective - it is like the creation story in Genesis, a poetic rather than a scientific story! Lindgren's essay is close to Thomas. Curtis compares the societal system and mentality of the BoM-people with the 19th century and draws the conclusion about the modernity of the book.

Vogel's and Metcalfe's essay is very thoroughly done. The main point is that the creation story and the system of universe and divinity in BoA are a reflection of the scientific understanding of 19th century scholars. Charles treats the presentism of LDS theology, ie. how latter days understanding of scripture is applied on the whole bible, even though many parts of the bible and its theology is totally different and where written in another context than in 20th century USA.

George D Smith does a superb overview of how Isaiah has been understood by early Hebrews, 1st century Christians and 19th century LDS. Of course, every time and people have used Isaiah in order to legitimise either a messianic period, or that Jesus is the suffering servant or that the "sealed book" is BoM. Bush's essay on WoWis is marvelous, thorough, detailed and once again, the influence of 19th century culture is reflected in it. Ashment's gives the reader an insight in the writing of BoA and the Four scripture in one-edition. The first one is too analytic: Ashmment shows thru BoA how LDS tries to minimise the so-called "dissonance" - ie. when reality does not coincide with religious belief. It is mainly counter-argument against the famous LDS scholar Hugh Nibley. The second is like Charles', about presentism. We have Barney's essay on the Inspired version (Joseph's translation of the bible) and its translation. With quotes from King James bible, Inspired version and modern translations, Barney convinces the reader that the Inspried version is rather an inspired revision. Widstoe ends this compilation with some beautiful words about how pondering the scriptures in a critical way can enhance one's spiritual level.

Superb as always. In some way Signature always opens up the perspective, of course for a traditional LDS, there is in the book and Signature in general an pre-understanding, that angelic revelation is not a historical fact, but these essays lead us to expand our vision, that maybe spiritual experience is so difficult to explain, that one needs a supernatural language to express it. And also, just as we would not agree on having a doctor from 6th century do a heart operation on us, we cannot always rely on the fact that the divine uttered its will for hundred or thousand years ago. Why should a divinity which does not depend on human understanding of time, limit hers/his revelation in a specific time in human history? We need scholarship, people like Charles, Vogel and Metcalfe to make that revelation understandable for us in our dry non-supernatural language. Well, read it!

This is a collection of essays edited by Dan Vogel, a former believer in the authenticity of the Book of Mormon. Notwithstanding he being a critic of the Book of Mormon and other LDS scriptures, Vogel is a much better informed critic, and this text is not one bit as bigoted as texts such as "Behind the Mask of Mormonism" by John Anekerberg and John Weldon.

Further, there are many good essays contained in this anthology that even a believing Latter-day Saint, such as myself, would find of interest. One such essay is Kevin L. Barney's essay on the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible (Barney is actually a faithful Mormon and LDS apologist). Barney shows that the JST is best understood, not as a textual restoration of the Bible (an impossibility unless Smith employed Greek, Aramaic, and Hebrew instead of Jacobean English anyway), but more as a midrash. From my own study of the JST, I have to agree with Barney.

There are, however, a few articles that ultimately are outdated. Charles' essay on the alleged Christianisation of the Old Testament is one. Such has been outdated by the scholarship of Margaret Barker that reveals that Christianity during Jesus' time was nothing more than a restoration of the cult of the ancient temple (e.g., see "On earth as it is in heaven" and her other books detailing such).

Overall, I found this book to be on par with texts such as New Approaches to the Book of Mormon and better than the 2002 text, also published by Signature Books, American Apocrypha: essays on the Book of Mormon.

I welcome sincere feedback at Robert.S.Boylan@nuim.ie

Editor Dan Vogel (author of Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet (A Biography)) writes in the Editor's Introduction to this 1990 book, "All but one of the following fifteen essays chosen for inclusion... were written by Mormons from either the LDS or RLDS tradition... However, rather than being guided by institutional imperatives, each author has attempted to understand Mormon scripture on its own terms. Additionally, each essay wrestles with the problem of the human and the divine in scripture."

Here are some quotations from the book:

"As Davies suggests, the extent and nature of changes made in the Book of Mormon before and after the first printing make it clear that the translation process was not one of direct verbal communication of specific words. Changes were not merely editorial nor did they merely correct scribal errors but often introduced deliberate conceptual modifications." (Pg. 20)
"Since (Joseph Smith) believed that the (Civil War) prophecy came to him from heaven and that every word of the Lord would EVENTUALLY be fulfilled, he was able, even encouraged, to reinterpret the words that he himself had earlier penned." (Pg. 35)
"With dozens of such examples abounding the the Book of Mormon, the unavoidable nineteenth century provenance of its English text prevents the possibility of modern interpretations and ... backdated 'prophecies'... This does not impeach the inspiration of the Book of Mormon nor compromise its scriptural status. But it does disqualify Book of Mormon evidence from consideration in trying to justify the historical practice of the prophetic gift." (Pg. 39)
"As Joseph Smith grew to manhood he was apparently aware of the challenge to orthodox Christianity presented by religious skepticism... Smith's 'new translation' of the Bible attempted to remedy the presumed corruption of the biblical text..." (Pg. 44)
"Quetzalcoatl was a fair-skinned, bearded god of the Mayan religion. Mormons often see this story as a corrupted form of Jesus Christ's visit to America... But it is never mentioned that the story of Quetzalcoatl was readily availble to Joseph Smith." (Pg. 67)
"If we view the (Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible) as commentary, we need not postulate two forms of the Hebrew text. Rather, the JST reflects Joseph Smith's concern about the theological implications of having the Lord 'repent.'" (Pg. 144)
"It is nonetheless instructive to consider the impact of the Word of Wisdom on the actual health of nineteenth-century Saints. I should perhaps say the POTENTIAL impact, since the Word of Wisdom seems not to have dominated Mormon lifestyle before 1900." (Pg. 175)