{"id":26349,"date":"2015-09-12T13:49:54","date_gmt":"2015-09-12T19:49:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=26349"},"modified":"2015-09-12T15:23:58","modified_gmt":"2015-09-12T21:23:58","slug":"once-again-some-books-to-build-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/09\/once-again-some-books-to-build-faith.html","title":{"rendered":"Once again, four books to build faith"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
At the entrance to the Sacred Grove, near Palmyra, New York
(Photo from Wikimedia CC; click to enlarge.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve posted this before. \u00a0It seems time to post it again:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sometimes contacted by people who\u2019re experiencing doubts about the claims of Mormonism<\/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 printed resources that might help resolve their concerns.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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.,\u00a0Light on C. S. Lewis<\/em>\u00a0[New York: Harcourt and Brace, 1965], 26.)\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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, one moment of inattention or poor execution, will be enough to lose the game.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Richard Lloyd Anderson,\u00a0<\/strong>Investigating the Book of Mormon Witnesses\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>(Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1981). \u00a0I was once, I confess, sitting at the back of a rather unexciting church class, rereading\u00a0Investigating the Book of Mormon Witnesses<\/em>, when an academic colleague of mine from BYU sat down beside me. \u201cNext to the scriptures,\u201d he commented, \u201cthat\u2019s the most faith-promoting book I\u2019ve ever read.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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 \u201cAttempts to Redefine the Experience of the Eight Witnesses,\u201d\u00a0Journal of Book of Mormon Studies<\/em>\u00a014\/1 (2005): 18\u201331; \u201cPersonal Writings of the Book of Mormon Witnesses,\u201d in\u00a0Book of Mormon Authorship Revisited: The Evidence for Ancient Origins<\/em>, ed. Noel B. Reynolds (Provo, UT: FARMS, 1997), 39\u201360; and \u201cThe Credibility of the Book of the Mormon Translators,\u201d in\u00a0Book 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\u00a0Investigating the Book of Mormon Witnesses<\/em>\u00a0remains, I think, the place to start on this vital subject.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

John W. Welch, ed.,<\/strong>\u00a0Opening the Heavens: Accounts of Divine Manifestations, 1820\u20131844<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0(Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 2005). \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

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mark McConkie, ed.,\u00a0<\/strong>Remembering Joseph: Personal Recollections of Those Who Knew the Prophet Joseph Smith\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>(Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2003). \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

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Grant Hardy,\u00a0<\/strong>Understanding the Book of Mormon: A Reader\u2019s Guide\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>(New York: Oxford University Press, 2010). \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

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In\u00a0Understanding 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<\/a>, 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

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 I\u2019ve posted this before. \u00a0It seems time to post it again: \u00a0 I\u2019m sometimes contacted by people who\u2019re experiencing doubts about the claims of Mormonism 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nOnce again, four books to build faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    I've posted this before. \u00a0It seems time to post it again:   I'm sometimes contacted by people who're experiencing doubts about the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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