Parson Thwackum and a Reading List

Parson Thwackum and a Reading List

 

The first temple in New York City
The Manhattan New York Temple, across the street from Lincoln Center in New York City (LDS.org)

 

I reported briefly last night on my attendance at a program with Timothy Cardinal Dolan, the Catholic Archbishop of New York.  Here is an account on the Church Newsroom site:

 

“Apostle and Catholic Cardinal Speak at Freedom Festival: Elder Cook welcomes Timothy Cardinal Dolan to Utah”

 

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Here are a couple more links to helpful mini-essays that critique the work of one of the most vocal advocates of the so-called “Heartland model” of the geography of the Book of Mormon:

 

“Jonathan Neville, the hill Cumorah, and hearsay evidence”

 

“Taking Jonathan Neville up on his offer”

 

I don’t know who the authors of the “Neville-Neville Land” website are, but I think that what they’re doing is both important and necessary.

 

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Some of you might find these two articles of interest:

 

“‘They knew the name of BYU’: BYU’s relationship with China still going strong”

 

“When it comes to patriotic states, Utah is No. 4!”

 

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Some time ago, the daughter of a long-time friend and colleague was due to have her second baby, in a hospital far removed from “Mormon country.”  In an email that he sent to me at the time, my friend wrote that

 

she was supposed to go online to her hospital site and pre-register for the ‘procedure’.  One of the questions was what her religion was.  The only way to answer was through a pull down menu that listed (only) the following options:

 

Christian
Catholic
Mormon
Other
None

 
I think only a ‘Christian’ — which is to say, an evangelical Protestant — could have come up with such a list with a straight face.

 

Sheesh.

 

I can’t help but be reminded of Parson Thwackum, in Henry Fielding’s classic 1749 novel The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling:

 

“When I mention religion,” declares Parson Thwackum, “I mean the Christian religion; and not only the Christian religion, but the Protestant religion; and not only the Protestant religion, but the Church of England.”

 

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A few books in London
Even the most voracious reader will only be able to get through a tiny proportion of the books that have been written. And thousands of new books appear every month. So which vital books would you recommend?
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

 

This was an interesting list:

 

http://www.ldsliving.com/The-Ultimate-List-of-LDS-Classics-Every-Mormon-Should-Read/s/79969?utm_source=ldsliving&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=popular&utm_content=pop2170531

 

It’s not, however, exactly the list that I would have created.

 

Is it the list that you would have proposed?

 

What Latter-day Saint books, if any — not including the scriptures, of course — do you think are must-read “classics”?

 

I would genuinely be interested in seeing what people come up with.

 

 


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