Book Review

[tagriffy]

I've posted a preliminary review of Book of Mormon Book of Lies on my site. It was difficult not to descend to crass sarcasm. I don't think I entirely succeeded.

[ERayR]

Joseph Smith had to have been the best read person on the American frontier and this by the age of 24.

[Kenngo1969]

I'm still awaiting Bill Hamblin's promised intellectual biography of Joseph Smith, Joseph Smith: The Cambridge Years.

[Robert F. Smith]

I've posted a preliminary review of Book of Mormon Book of Lies on my site. It was difficult not to descend to crass sarcasm. I don't think I entirely succeeded.

My first look at your blog, Tim. Very nice.

Too bad the Sheets don't understand how valuable responsible analysis of literary tropes can be, as merely one aspect of form criticism of the BofM.

[tagriffy]

My first look at your blog, Tim. Very nice.

Too bad the Sheets don't understand how valuable responsible analysis of literary tropes can be, as merely one aspect of form criticism of the BofM.

They were too busy trying to prove "plagiarism." That obsessional focus was the main reason I find it so hard to bite down on the sarcasm while reading the book. Once I finish it and start working on more complete review, I'm sure it is going to be tougher to avoid sarcasm.

[tagriffy]

I have more to say about the methodology the Sheets used to make their case. It is dependent on the vagaries of printing; larger or smaller font sizes, extra blank pages between chapters/books, and so forth would throw off the calculations. There is the way the missing 116 pages could have affected the final outcome. There is the way they ignored the fact the small plates were written last. Those are issues I can handle dispassionately enough.

But the big one is harder to handle without descending into sarcasm.

This is the big problem. The Sheets allow that Joseph was smart enough to hide his "plagiarism." They allow that he is cunning enough to transform canals into the iron rod (don't ask, it doesn't make sense even in context). Yet he was dumb enough to say to himself, "Gee, I'm about 58% through the writing, I'd better mention ...."

How do you deal with that without being snarky?

[Wiki Wonka]

I've posted a preliminary review of Book of Mormon Book of Lies on my site. It was difficult not to descend to crass sarcasm. I don't think I entirely succeeded.

Actually, I thought you did pretty well.

[tagriffy]

Actually, I thought you did pretty well.

For a preliminary review. There are still other things to deal with. I noted one of them above. A full review would have to deal with some examples that I simply generalized by saying they were "either surface similarities, require pulling the stories out of context, require complex justification to even make a connection, or have simpler explanations." Avoiding sarcasm will become much more difficult.

For example, one of the things the Sheets identified as "plagiarism" is the fact both Marco Polo and the Lehite party used tents in their travels. I read that and thought to myself, "Well, what was Lehi supposed to do? Build a log cabin? Packed his family into an RV?" Sure, that would get a laugh or two, but it would be the kind of thing that could be used to dismiss the more serious criticisms I have.