A new video on the Book of Mormon titled “New Day for the Book of Mormon” premiered after General Conference on BYUtv. It features interviews with Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, Terryl Givens, Stephen C. Webb, Paul Gutjahr, John W. Welch, and others. I wanted to transcribe a few of my favorite lines from the film, … Read more
Earl Wunderli recently published a book arguing that the Book of Mormon is 19th century fiction. It was, unsurprisingly, published by Signature Books. The reviews of Wunderli’s work are in, and so far the critical responses to the book have been . . . not that great. Matthew Roper, Paul Fields, and Larry Bassist, “‘If … Read more
The temple of the Community of Christ in Independence, Missouri. I took this picture when I visited this site last year. This afternoon I ran into Professor Alex Baugh on BYU campus, who very kindly handed me a copy of the latest issue of the Mormon Historical Studies journal. As I was thumbing through the … Read more
One of the perks of being an Ancient Near Eastern Studies major is that when you experience unrequited love you can turn to the Hebrew Bible for some kind of solace. דִּבְרֵי֙ קֹהֶ֣לֶת בֶּן־דָּוִ֔ד מֶ֖לֶךְ בִּירוּשָׁלִָֽם הֲבֵ֤ל הֲבָלִים֙ אָמַ֣ר קֹהֶ֔לֶת הֲבֵ֥ל הֲבָלִ֖ים הַכֹּ֥ל הָֽבֶל כָּל־הַדְּבָרִ֣ים יְגֵעִ֔ים לֹא־יוּכַ֥ל אִ֖ישׁ לְדַבֵּ֑ר לֹא־תִשְׂבַּ֥ע עַ֨יִן֙ לִרְאֹ֔ות וְלֹא־תִמָּלֵ֥א אֹ֖זֶן מִשְּׁמֹֽעַ … Read more
I know I need to stop doing this . . . You will recall that Richard Dawkins believes the Book of Mormon is a fraud because of its archaic English. Specifically, Mr. Dawkins believes, “[The Book of Mormon is] a 19th century book written in 16th century English. That’s not the way people talked in … Read more
Professor Alexander L. Baugh is a professor of Church History at Brigham Young University. He is the author of numerous articles on early Church history and wrote the magnificent dissertation A Call to Arms: The 1838 Mormon Defense of Northern Missouri, one of the definitive works on the 1838 Mormon War. You can read the … Read more
When Jeremy Runnells accused Brian C. Hales of being an “amateur,” he assured me that “[t]he real scholars in the field of polygamy have issues with many of Hales’ conclusions and interpretations.” I asked Runnels who exactly these “real scholars” were, and also specifically asked where they had published their rebuttals of Brian’s work. Remember, before … Read more
Pictured: a cabal of scheming men lusting for power. Readers of this blog will recall that I had some choice words for John Dehlin because of his continual claiming that President Monson suffers from dementia. In his recent interview with Kate Kelly, Dehlin once again made the claim that President Monson has dementia. At one … Read more
Sidney Rigdon (1793–1876) On the Fourth of July, 1838, in Far West, Missouri, Sidney Rigdon delivered a powerful, if not verbose, oration.[1] Being the Fourth of July, his sermon is filled with the kind of patriotic and nationalistic rhetoric you’d expect on such an occasion. His speech, however, also contained some over-the-top fiery rhetoric that … Read more
1. From J. N. Washburn (sent to me by my friend Neal Rappleye): I have no fears for the future of the Book of Mormon. While I may agree with those who say, “If it is man-made, the sooner we find it out the better,” I am convinced that it will stand up under all … Read more
[This blog post was written by my good friend Brandon Habermeyer, a BYU graduate in philosophy and film studies. It has also been cross-posted at the FairMormon blog.] I remember hearing a quote in my institute class from the late Hugh Nibley, who is reported to have said something along the lines of, “In order … Read more
Brian Hales (right) and Don Bradley (left) at Pioneer Bookstore in Provo, Utah discussing their research on Joseph Smith’s polygamy (March 2013). Last week I criticized Jeremy Runnells, who has no academic qualifications in Mormon history, for hypocritically accusing Brian Hales of being an “amateur” when it comes to research on Joseph Smith’s polygamy. In response … Read more
“One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!” (Joseph Smith–––History 1:17) Joseph Smith’s First Vision has attracted considerable criticism over the years. For anyone who may have encountered criticisms of the First Vision and are looking for some good resources responding … Read more