Look me up on social media!
Corybanter.com
  • Blog
  • Shakespeare
  • Sherlock Holmes
  • Bible
  • Medium.com
  • "Dallas" Poetry
  • Archives
  • Blog
  • Shakespeare
  • Sherlock Holmes
  • Bible
  • Medium.com
  • "Dallas" Poetry
  • Archives

corybanter:
babble, Burble and banter
bypassing banality

Some thoughts on having (finally) finished The Book of Mormon

8/31/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
For a long time, I've been what you may call a "Mormonophile." That is, I've long been fascinated and intrigued by Mormon culture, theology, and literature. To be perfectly clear, I have many theological differences with my Mormon brethren and sistren, but unlike some Christians, I don't consider them a cult, or question their right to call themselves Christians. I have had many positive experiences with Mormons in my life, so I will always have a soft spot for them in my heart.
Quite some time ago (about seven years, I think) I began reading The Book of Mormon, the central scripture of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As it's fairly short (roughly the length of the New Testament, I think), I figured I'd get through it pretty quickly. However, every time I picked it up, I would get bogged down after several chapters of reading. So it took me about seven years to get through the whole thing, which I finally finished just a few days ago. So...what do I think about The Book of Mormon?
Well, although it is certainly a complex and interesting work of religious literature, my overall sense is that, in the end, it comes off as a bizarre attempt at sounding like the King James Bible. It's almost "Bible fanfiction," to borrow a term from modern parlance. Mormons accept the claim of Joseph Smith that he "translated" gold plates revealed to him by the Angel Moroni. I personally do not accept that claim. I think Joseph Smith (perhaps with the help of some other people) wrote the whole thing, plagiarizing large stretches of text from the King James Bible. I'm familiar with many of the arguments made by LDS leaders and scholars, claiming that Smith could not possibly have made up the whole thing, that numerous witnesses prove that he dictated it to his scribes, that the Holy Spirit bears witness to the authenticity of the book, etc. I just don't buy it. Putting aside for a moment the simple fact that the existence of the golden plates has never been proven, despite the testimony of witnesses who all lived over a hundred years ago, The Book of Mormon's origins are completely different from the Bible, which developed organically over many hundreds of years, and has a discernible manuscript tradition.
So, no, I don't accept The Book of Mormon as scripture, but it is a really significant piece of religious writing from the nineteenth century. The status of The Book of Mormon in early Mormonism, and in the Mormonism of today, highlights some really interesting arguments of exactly what constitutes scripture, on the idea of continuing revelation, and in how religious sects come to flourish (or not to flourish, in the case of some lesser known Mormon sects). Meanwhile, if "mainstream" Christians are ever to have meaningful dialogue with this most American of religious groups, it behooves us to have some basic grasp of the scripture on which they base their movement.
Which leads me to one other thought I had upon finishing The Book of Mormon. Comparing the overall tone of the book to the tone of today's Mormonism, it is inescapable how different they are. The Book of Mormon is full of stuff about "whoredoms" and "abominations," really hellfire and brimstone kind of writing. This could not be more different from the kindly, affable speech I've heard from all the modern Mormons I've met. So when did Mormonism make this transition from this slightly bizarre, fanatical sect to the clean cut, all-American style of today's Mormons? It's hard to pinpoint, but it seems to have happened sometime in the middle of the twentieth century. But I suppose one could ask the same questions of the rest of Christendom: certainly the Christianity of the modern world bears little resemblance to the Christianity of the first few centuries. Religions change over time. A modern Catholic is not the same as a medieval Catholic, and a modern Mormon is not the same as a nineteenth century Mormon.
I feel like I've rambled a bit in this post, but I'll wrap up with this: I'm glad I read The Book of Mormon, even if I don't accept it as scripture. And I still love me some Mormons...

POSTSCRIPT: To any Mormon friends who may read this post...I truly am not trying to criticize or ridicule your faith in any way. I know Mormons take quite seriously the idea of their testimony, and the truth of The Book of Mormon, as described in Moroni 10:4. I certainly don't want to make light of the sincere beliefs of Latter-day Saints. But, as I told the missionaries once, at this point the Holy Ghost has not revealed to me the truth of The Book of Mormon. Until that happens, I'm hoping that I can treat Mormons I meet with grace, as I know they will treat me. 

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Corybantic

    (adj.) wild and frenzied; from Greek κορυβαντες (Korybantes)

    Picture

    Archives

    May 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    May 2020
    April 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016

    Categories

    All
    AI
    A.j. Jacobs
    Alexa
    American Heritage Dictionary
    American Politics
    Anne Soukhanov
    Artificial Intelligence
    Bgbg2
    Bible
    Bible And Prayer Book Blog
    Bible Collection
    Bibles
    Bible Search Engines
    Bible Tools
    Biblical Canon
    Bites Of Bard
    Blogging
    Book Of Mormon
    ByuTV
    CEB
    Christianity
    Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints
    Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints
    Comedy
    Common English Bible
    Corybanter
    Corybantic Podcast
    Dictionary
    Easter Sunday
    Echo Dot
    Eisegesis
    Encarta Dictionary
    English Translations
    Evangelism
    Family
    First Blog Post
    Fonts
    Four Gospels
    Franco Zeffirelli
    Frank Zappa
    Half Marathon
    Hamlet
    HBO
    Hebrew Bible
    Hebrew Scriptures
    Historical Drama
    Holy Week 2021
    Hoopla Digital
    Islam
    Jewish Perspective On Jesus
    JK! Studios
    John Adams
    Judaism
    King James Only Heresy
    KISS
    Koine Greek
    Lady Gaga
    LDS Church
    Lent
    Lenten Reading Plan
    Lexicography
    Lin Manuel Miranda
    Little Mosque
    Live Theatre
    Living Biblically (sitcom)
    Lorem Ipsum
    Loving Lyfe
    Macbeth
    Mark Twain
    Medium.com
    Merriam-Webster
    Mormonism
    Muppets
    Music
    Music From The Elder
    My Blogging
    My Blogs
    Palm Sunday
    Parenting
    Parody
    Peanuts
    Peter Mark Roget
    Peter Sokolowski
    Playing Shakespeare Series
    Podcast
    Podcasting
    Print Dictionaries
    Quotes
    Qur'an
    Ramadan
    Random Thoughts
    Religion
    Richard III
    Robert Alter
    Roget's Thesaurus
    Running
    Saturday Night Live
    Sci-fi
    Shakespeare
    Silly Humor
    Six Degrees Of Kevin Bacon
    Sketch Comedy
    South Park
    St. John's Bible
    Stranger Things
    Studio C
    The Muppet Show
    Theremin
    The Year Of Living Biblically
    Torah
    Tract Ministries
    Typatone

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.