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Has anyone read this book yet? 
[img]https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41KoDUVcdzL._SX329_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg [/img] This looks like a bunch of apologetic essays, but it does address some of the issues that bother many of us StayLDSers:
Chapters:
“Joseph Smith and Money Digging”
“Remembering the First Vision”
“Translating the Book of Mormon”
“Anachronisms in the Book of Mormon”
“The Testimonies of the Book of Mormon Witnesses”
“The Restoration of the Priesthood”
“Isaiah in the Book of Mormon”
“The Explanation-Defying Book of Abraham”
“Joseph Smith and the Kinderhook Plates”
“The Practice of Polygamy”
“Joseph Smith’s Practice of Plural Marriage”
“Freemasonry and the Latter-day Saint Temple Endowment Ceremony”
“Race, the Priesthood, and Temples”
“Finding Lehi in America through DNA Analysis”
“Latter-day Saint Women in the Twenty-First Century”
“Homosexuality and the Gospel”
“Science and Religion: Friends or Foes?”
Is this a book that I should have on my reading list?
I do not know anything about the author or that book, but am interested if it is any good. Would love to hear a review by anyone who knows about it. I am a little skeptical. The author is the wife of Brian Hales (of JS Polygamy Apologist fame). I know that isn’t fair to indict on those terms, but my struggle comes from a two fold perspective. 1 – I don’t want the tough issues to be morphed into an apologist slant. It will may negate faithful believers compassion toward those who have had a crisis. That won’t serve any of us well.
2 – I am disappointed that the church itself didn’t create a book like this itself. I think the religious and familial bridges would have been better served if this had been a book compiled by scholars and published by the 12 or the First Presidency. I would have helped validate both sides.
In all fairness I plan to read with an open heart and mind. I will be happy to have my concerns wiped away.
mom3 wrote:I am a little skeptical.
You and me both – I am skeptical by nature!
mom3 wrote:In all fairness I plan to read with an open heart and mind. I will be happy to have my concerns wiped away.
Me too!I have to admit that from what I have heard from the author, it isn’t going on my bookshelf. I respect that she can have her views, but her take on polygamy just seems so much mental contortions to make it look OK that she would fundamentally say that Occam’s razor should never be invoked. SilentDawning wrote:Check out the Amazon reviews…
Pretty positive reviews. But how many of them come from apologist/TBMs? I think that nearly all of them probably are.
Quote:The best and easiest way to explain this book is that it’s the LDS Gospel Topics essays (plus a few other subjects) expanded and presented for a general audience. It specifically aims towards introducing readers to the issues in Mormon history and theology that are often brought up as reasons for disbelief. Well, as the title suggests, this book presents reasons for faith by explaining the issues in a faith-promoting manner. In this way it’s comparable to the 2011 volume “No Weapon Shall Prosper: New Light on Sensitive Issues” (Religious Studies Center), which I’d also recommend. (In fact, some of the contributors to “No Weapon Shall Prosper” also appear in this volume.)
That doesn’t mean the scholars who are featured in this book shy away from the issues, or that they are dishonest or obfuscatory in their treatments. To the contrary, this A-Team of scholars (Richard Bushman, Kerry Muhlestein, Steven Harper, Ugo Perego, W. Paul Reeve, and others) utilize some of the best, most cutting-edge research to combat much of the misinformation and misunderstanding on these topics (e.g. accounts of the First Vision, plural marriage, Book of Abraham, etc.).
If you or someone you know have questions about controversial aspects of Mormon history or doctrine, and want a quick overview of the issues with suggested further readings for deeper study, I’d strongly recommend this book.
I do not have an overly favorable position on Bro. Brian Hales. I felt that he had a specific apologetic bent on interpreting church history and specifically JS polygamy and would ignore things and people that did not support his thesis. It also seemed strange to me that Laura married Brian and suddenly seemed to convert into a famous Mormon History apologist herself. (I honestly do not know her story but it did not seem that she was any kind of expert on these matters before marrying Brian.)
However, It appears that Laura Hales is not the author of the book necessarily but more of a compiler and/or editor. I am curious to know more of what might be discussed in these articles just as I was interested to read the Gospel Topics essays when they came out.
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