{"id":101699,"date":"2023-09-09T23:28:15","date_gmt":"2023-09-10T05:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=101699"},"modified":"2023-09-09T23:28:15","modified_gmt":"2023-09-10T05:28:15","slug":"a-very-basic-apologetic-reading-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2023\/09\/a-very-basic-apologetic-reading-list.html","title":{"rendered":"A very basic apologetic reading list"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_44145\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-44145\" style=\"width: 597px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2017\/09\/san-antonio-temple-lds-274427-gallery.jpg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-44145\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2017\/09\/san-antonio-temple-lds-274427-gallery.jpg\" alt=\"I wish Kenneth could have attended the weddings here. Perhaps he did.\" width=\"597\" height=\"401\"><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-44145\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">I didn\u2019t visit the Houston Texas Temple on this trip, let alone the hilltop temple in San Antonio, where a couple of my nieces have been married.\u00a0 (LDS Media Library)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Kindly guided by one of the members of our host family, who is a member at the Center, we spent several hours on Saturday at <a href=\"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Space Center Houston<\/a>, including a tram and walking tour at<span class=\"z4P7Tc\">\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/centers\/johnson\/home\/index.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">NASA\u2019s Johnson Space Center<\/a>, which is located directly next door.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Neil Armstrong\u2019s famous statement upon landing on the surface of the Moon \u2014 \u201cThat\u2019s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind\u201d \u2014 showed up at several places, e.g. in displays and in films at Space Center Houston. But it never made sense to me, until I read somewhere that he had flubbed it, knowing that the whole world would be watching and listening, out of nervousness. \u00a0As it stands, <em>man<\/em> and <em>mankind<\/em> seem to be synonyms. \u00a0What he apparently intended to say was \u201cThat\u2019s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.\u201d \u00a0Including the indefinite article <em>a<\/em> makes a substantial difference, and adding it causes the resulting sentence to, well, make <em>sense<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>After Saturday evening\u2019s fireside, my wife and I found what proved to be a surprisingly good Italian restaurant, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ginasinfriendswood.com\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Gina\u2019s Italian Kitchen and Pizzeria<\/a>. \u00a0If you\u2019re in the area, give it a try!<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_21232\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-21232\" style=\"width: 557px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2015\/06\/dallas-temple-lds-850748-gallery.jpg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-21232\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2015\/06\/dallas-temple-lds-850748-gallery.jpg\" alt=\"The first temple in Texas\" width=\"557\" height=\"446\"><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-21232\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nor did we visit the Dallas Texas Temple.\u00a0 (LDS Media Library image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Every once in a while, I feel moved to post this item, which I first wrote many years ago.\u00a0 Owing to a conversation on Saturday evening, I feel impressed to do so yet again.<\/p>\n<p>Other books and materials could easily be added to this list, addressing scores of specific topics, but these will do as a general list, for starters:<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">I\u2019m sometimes contacted by people who\u2019re experiencing doubts about the claims of the <a href='https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/library\/mormonism' target='_blank'>Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a> or whose spouse or father or daughter has lost faith. \u00a0I always ask what the specific issues might be, and I then try to address those or to locate colleagues or published\u00a0resources that might help resolve their concerns.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">I think that such efforts are extraordinarily important. \u00a0Elder Neal A. Maxwell, for whom the Maxwell Institute was named, was fond of Austin Farrer\u2019s praise of the great C.\u00a0S. Lewis: \u201cThough argument does not create conviction,\u201d Farrer wrote, \u201clack of it destroys belief. What seems to be proved may not be embraced; but what no one shows the ability to defend is quickly abandoned. Rational argument does not create belief, but it maintains a climate in which belief may flourish.\u201d \u00a0(See Austin Farrer, \u201cGrete Clerk,\u201d in Jocelyn Gibb, comp.,\u00a0<em>Light on C. S. Lewis<\/em>\u00a0[New York: Harcourt and Brace, 1965], 26.)\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Farrer\u2019s words \u00a0long served as a kind of unofficial motto for several of those who were associated with the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS), which later became the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship. \u00a0I think that motto was entirely appropriate.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">I don\u2019t, however, like to play only defense. \u00a0I don\u2019t want to spend all my time putting out brushfires, playing catch-up, responding to crises. To use a very popular modern buzzword, I much prefer to be proactive. \u00a0I want to build faith to such a strength that crises will be less common, to create conditions under which such brushfires will be much more difficult to kindle. \u00a0Back to the sports metaphor: \u00a0If the defense is always out on the field, it may be able to keep the opposing team from scoring. \u00a0But if the offense doesn\u2019t eventually come out to play, the prospects of victory will be very low. \u00a0A single error by the defense, simple growing weariness, one moment of inattention or poor execution, will be enough to lose the game.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">One way that I choose to be proactive is to suggest a basic packet of books that I would like as many Latter-day Saints to read as possible, a set that I especially wish faltering members to be familiar with. I offer a few nominations here:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Investigating-Mormon-Witnesses-Richard-Anderson\/dp\/0875792421\/ref=sr_1_1_twi_pap_3?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1516244120&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=Richard+Lloyd+Anderson\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><strong>Richard Lloyd Anderson,\u00a0<\/strong><strong><em>Investigating the Book of Mormon Witnesses\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>(Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1981)<\/a>. \u00a0I was once, I confess, sitting at the back of a rather unexciting church class, rereading\u00a0<em>Investigating the Book of Mormon Witnesses<\/em>, when an academic colleague of mine from BYU sat down beside me. He looked over at what I had been reading. \u00a0\u201cNext to the scriptures,\u201d he commented, \u201cthat\u2019s the most faith-promoting book I\u2019ve ever read.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">I\u2019m inclined to agree with him. Richard Anderson, who earned a law degree from Harvard before receiving a doctorate in ancient history from the University of California at Berkeley, is one of the finest scholars the church has ever produced. \u00a0In this book, he subjects the Book of Mormon witnesses to meticulous examination. \u00a0They emerge from the process as sane, lucid, honest, reliable men\u2014a fact of perfectly enormous importance because of the way their testimony directly corroborates central claims of Joseph Smith and Mormonism.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Brother Anderson has written many other very important articles on the witnesses\u2014and on other relevant topics\u2014since his book was published. \u00a0These are available online at the Maxwell Institute website, including but not limited to <a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/publications.mi.byu.edu\/publications\/jbms\/14\/1\/S00005-50be6c46c6d443Anderson.pdf\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cAttempts to Redefine the Experience of the Eight Witnesses,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0<em>Journal of Book of Mormon Studies<\/em>\u00a014\/1 (2005): 18\u201331; <a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/publications.mi.byu.edu\/fullscreen\/?pub=1099&amp;index=4\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cPersonal Writings of the Book of Mormon Witnesses,\u201d<\/a> in\u00a0<em>Book of Mormon Authorship Revisited: The Evidence for Ancient Origins<\/em>, ed. Noel B. Reynolds (Provo, UT: FARMS, 1997), 39\u201360; and <a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/publications.mi.byu.edu\/fullscreen\/?pub=1130&amp;index=12\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cThe Credibility of the Book of the Mormon Translators,\u201d<\/a> in\u00a0<em>Book of Mormon Authorship: New Light on Ancient Origins<\/em>, ed. Noel B. Reynolds and Charles D. Tate (Provo, UT: BYU Religious Studies Center, 1982), 213\u201337. \u00a0But\u00a0<em>Investigating the Book of Mormon Witnesses<\/em>\u00a0remains, I think, the place to start on this vital subject.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Opening-Heavens-Accounts-Manifestations-1820-1844\/dp\/1942161301\/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&amp;pd_rd_i=1942161301&amp;pd_rd_r=V3YJCM8ZE54Y1TWXS08Z&amp;pd_rd_w=7QpOv&amp;pd_rd_wg=gZzGz&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=V3YJCM8ZE54Y1TWXS08Z\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><strong>John W. Welch, ed.,<\/strong><strong><em>\u00a0Opening the Heavens: Accounts of Divine Manifestations, 1820\u20131844<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0(Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 2005)<\/a>. \u00a0In this book, the prolific polymath John W. Welch has assembled an impressive collection of original documents relating to six foundational topics in Mormon history: (1)\u00a0the first vision, (2)\u00a0the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, (3)\u00a0the restoration of the priesthood, (4)\u00a0Joseph Smith\u2019s visionary experiences generally, (5)\u00a0the restoration of temple keys, and (6)\u00a0succession in the presidency (specifically the \u201ctransfiguration\u201d of Brigham Young in Nauvoo).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Remembering-Joseph-Personal-Recollections-Prophet\/dp\/1570089639\/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1516244360&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=Mark+McConkie\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><strong>Mark McConkie, ed.,\u00a0<\/strong><strong><em>Remembering Joseph: Personal Recollections of Those Who Knew the Prophet Joseph Smith\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>(Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2003)<\/a>. \u00a0Mark McConkie, a professor in the School of Public Affairs at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, has created a vast treasury in this book and in the accompanying bonus CD of intimate views of the Prophet Joseph Smith. \u00a0The sheer volume of material is deeply impressive. (The CD includes 2,000 pages of primary-source testimonials. The book alone includes statements from many scores of Joseph Smith\u2019s contemporaries.) \u00a0Most of the accounts included\u2014from Joseph\u2019s family, friends, and acquaintances, and even from his enemies\u2014have never been published before or are, practically speaking, inaccessible to ordinary people. \u00a0But they\u2019re very much worth the time. \u00a0Joseph Smith, as described by those who knew him, comes across as an honest, good, and sincere man. \u00a0And once again, because of the nature of his claims, that\u2019s something very important to know and understand.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Understanding-Book-Mormon-Readers-Guide\/dp\/0199731705\/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_3?_encoding=UTF8&amp;pd_rd_i=0199731705&amp;pd_rd_r=KV8VR90H6QY36B3CGPMM&amp;pd_rd_w=2UoAm&amp;pd_rd_wg=SRdDG&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=KV8VR90H6QY36B3CGPMM\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><strong>Grant Hardy,\u00a0<\/strong><strong><em>Understanding the Book of Mormon: A Reader\u2019s Guide\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>(New York: Oxford University Press, 2010)<\/a>. \u00a0This is a somewhat more difficult book than the others I\u2019ve recommended above, but, in my opinion, it\u2019s a book that will abundantly reward the effort invested in it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Grant Hardy, who holds an undergraduate degree from Brigham Young University in classical Greek and a PhD from Yale University in Chinese history, has published impressively on the history of historical writing from his perch at the University of North Carolina at Asheville, where he\u2019s served as the chairman of the History Department.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">In\u00a0<em>Understanding the Book of Mormon<\/em>, he turns his highly trained eye on the historical writings of Nephi, Mormon, and Moroni, treating them as distinct personalities with very different approaches to their material. \u00a0Although he himself is an active and committed member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for the purposes of this study he \u201cbrackets\u201d the question of whether or not they were real individuals. \u00a0Nevertheless, the extraordinarily fruitful results of his study demonstrate that the writings of Nephi, Mormon, and Moroni are indeed quite distinct\u2014and by far the most reasonable explanation for this, in my opinion, is that they represent three real, historically different men.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">I believe that serious and fair-minded engagement with the four books I\u2019ve recommended is virtually certain to strengthen faith in readers who\u2019re even slightly open to the possibility that Mormonism is true. \u00a0Mark McConkie\u2019s compilation will build confidence in the character of Joseph Smith. \u00a0Richard Anderson\u2019s book and John Welch\u2019s anthology provide powerful corroboration of Joseph\u2019s claims to revelation. \u00a0Grant Hardy\u2019s book demonstrates, at least in one area, how very complex, rich, and internally consistent the Book of Mormon is.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">When people contact me with doubts and problems, I don\u2019t want merely to try to allay their concerns. \u00a0I want to build their faith so that their areas of uncertainty will shrink relative to their areas of confidence. These books\u2014and, of course, there are others\u2014are well suited to do just that.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Years ago, my friend Louis Midgley alerted me to an anecdote that the eminent Protestant church historian Martin Marty once used to make a point about Mormonism: The famous 18th-century French hostess Marie de Vichy-Chamrond, the Marquise du Deffand, friend of Voltaire and other leading intellectuals of her day, was conversing with Cardinal de Polignac. He told her that the martyr St. Denis, first Christian bishop of Paris, had taken up his head and walked a hundred miles after his execution. Madame du Deffand replied, \u201cIn such a promenade, it is the first step that is difficult.\u201d She meant, of course, that it\u2019s not the claim that St. Denis walked a hundred miles that poses a difficulty. Maybe he really walked only 99 miles. Or perhaps he walked a hundred and two. Such differences mean little. The fundamental question is whether, after his beheading, he walked at <em>all<\/em>. If that essential point has been granted, the rest is merely a footnote.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Similarly for the foundational events of the Restoration. \u00a0If we\u2019re confident about\u00a0<em>them<\/em>, the rest of the narrative follows pretty easily thereafter.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\">Posted from Friendswood, Texas<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 \u00a0 Kindly guided by one of the members of our host family, who is a member at the Center, we spent several hours on Saturday at Space Center Houston, including a tram and walking tour at\u00a0NASA\u2019s Johnson Space Center, which is located directly next door. Neil Armstrong\u2019s famous statement upon landing on the surface [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":44098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[68,56,1809,2905,7113,55],"class_list":["post-101699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-apologetics","tag-book-of-mormon","tag-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints","tag-latter-day-saint","tag-lds-church","tag-mormonism"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A very basic apologetic reading list<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"&nbsp; &nbsp; Kindly guided by one of the members of our host family, who is a member at the Center, we spent several hours on Saturday at Space Center\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2023\/09\/a-very-basic-apologetic-reading-list.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A very basic apologetic reading list\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&nbsp; 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