Summary
Title: American Apocrypha: Essays on the Book of Mormon (Essays on Mormonism Series)
Author: edited by Dan Vogel, Brent Lee Metcalfe
Publisher: Signature Books
ISBN: 1560851511
Pro:
• Very detailed with extensive information
• Some very interesting essays and ideas
Con:
• More detailed than the average person may be willing to go through
Description:
• Analysis of the Book of Mormon: its authenticity, history, and meaning
• Argues that the Book of Mormon was the creation of Joseph Smith
Book Review
Any discussion about the nature of religious scripture will naturally address the status of texts like the Book of Mormon. For many, this text contains authentic scriptures and revelations from God. For others, it’s a hoax at best and those who believe in the authenticity of these texts aren’t even “real” Christians. How one responds to the status of the Book of Mormon, then, can reveal how one feels about the nature of scriptures generally.
This is one of the insights provided by Robert M. Price in his essay in the book American Apocrypha: Essays on the Book of Mormons, edited by Dan Vogel and Brent Lee Metcalfe. A part of Signature Books' Essays on Mormonism Series, American Apocrypha includes nine long, detailed essays on the nature of the Book of Mormon: how it was created, why people have believed it, how it related to the Bible, genetic studies of Native Americans, etc.
This is not a group of essays by believers or apologists — these are all skeptics and doubters who cast a very critical eye on traditional Mormon beliefs in order to ascertain what value those beliefs might have and what function they serve. The historicity of the Book of Mormon is flatly rejected — and for good reason, too, given the total lack of any empirical evidence that would even begin to verify the stories in that text.
Perhaps one of the most interesting (and sympathetic) is the aforementioned essay from Robert M. Price who argues that Joseph Smith’s writing is part of an ancient and venerable tradition of creating religious scriptures and attributing them to earlier figures.
