New Skousen Volume

[JangoStango]

Does Skousen's version still say "adieu"?

[Daniel Peterson]

I hope and trust that no changes were made to the content due to concerns from leadership. That would taint the whole project.

I can absolutely guarantee to you that no changes have been made owing to any concerns of Church leadership. Royal, who is a friend of mine, demanded from the start that there be no interference. And there has been none. We've spoken about this very often over the years. Anybody who knows Royal knows that he is a person of absolute, even extreme, integrity.

As to the Yale volume, it's very true that there is considerable discomfort in certain circles about his having gone forward with this. Nonetheless, I think it will prove to be a very useful contribution in the long run, and I hope that it gets wide circulation. I think (for example) that its layout will help people to understand the Book of Mormon in a new way, to see it in a new light.

[William Schryver]

I also have absolutely no doubt that this work will represent the absolute acme of scholarship; that it will constitute the definitive resource for the study of the original text of the Book of Mormon; that it will meet with well-deserved praise from every quarter.

As I have attempted to make perfectly clear, the concerns I have expressed above have nothing to do with Royal Skousen's integrity, reliability, or his unquestioned stature as the premier scholarly authority when it comes to the original manuscripts of the Book of Mormon. The book will soon find its place on my own shelves.

My concerns in terms of this entire affair are on an entirely different plane than that of the scholarship involved. I hope that is abundantly evident in all I have said. And with that, I will say nothing more on this issue.