A scholarly engagement, edited by Matthew L Harris & Newell G Bringhurst, Signature Books, 2020
Between 2013 and 2015 the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints published thirteen Gospel Topics essays to answer historical and theological issues many church members found troubling as they accessed information online. The LDS Gospel Topics Series: A Scholarly Engagement provides an in-depth analysis of those essays. Contributors reflect a variety of faith traditions, including the LDS Church, Community of Christ, Catholic, and Evangelical Christian. Each contributor is an expert in the field, with many having focused their scholarship on Mormon history and/or religious thought in general. The writers probe the strengths and weaknesses of each of the Gospel Topics essays, providing a revealing discussion on the relevant controversies in LDS history and doctrine.
Table of Contents
1. Are Mormons Christian? Craig L. Blomberg
2.Becoming Like God: A Critique Richard Sherlock
3.DNA and the Book of Mormon: Science, Settlers, and Scripture Thomas W. Murphy and Angelo Baca
T4.he “Book of Mormon Translation” Essay in Historical Context John-Charles Duffy
5.The Cultural Work of the “First Vision Accounts” Essay David J. Howlett
6.”Things Are So Dark and Mysterious”: The Thomas Lewis Case and Violence in Early LDS Utah John G. Turner
7.”Through a Glass, Darkly”: Joseph Smith and Plural Marriage Gary James Bergera
8.Remembering, Forgetting and Re-remembering: Nineteenth-century LDS Plural Marriage George D Smith
9.Plural Marriage after 1890 Newell G. Bringhurst
10.Whiteness Theology and the Evolution of Mormon Racial Teachings Matthew L. Harris
11.The Continuing Controversy over the Book of Abraham Stephen C. Taysom
12.”Mother in Heaven”: A Feminist Perspective Caroline Kline and Rachel Hunt Steenblik
13.”Joseph Smith’s Teachings on Priesthood, Temple, and Women”: Margaret M Toscano
Reviewed by David Eaton November 2022
I like the way this book discusses, in a scholarly fashion, the good, bad and ugly elements of the thirteen Gospel Topic Essays. Generously praising when they consider the essays deserve it, raising concerns and criticisms when they feel they fall short, the various scholars, cited above, generally succeed in presenting strongly sourced, well balanced viewpoints.
The gospel essays themselves are, of course, most welcome, providing much needed shafts of transparency and illumination on some quite dark patches of church history. However, the essays are not perfect. Should they be? Ideally, yes! Realistically, probably no. But they should at least be honest, open and authentic, and here, in my opinion, they fall short.
The reviewers in this sub-titled ‘scholarly engagement’ make that argument powerfully, concluding on balance, that many of them are a missed opportunity to be more candid and go further. Even the Race and the Priesthood one, which carries the much heralded ‘disavowal’, still suffers from the ever present ‘shine’; what one might call the beautifying tendency; the proneness the Church has to gloss over the raw and unpalatable truth parts and strain to frame everything in the most positive light possible.”
If you would like to comment or add to David’s review please email info@mormonreflections.org.uk