BOOK REVIEW: UNDERSTANDING THE BOOK OF MORMON

Understanding the Book of Mormon by Ross Anderson

First a gripe. This book is subtitled “A quick Christian guide to the Mormon holy book” which indicates that it is going to be fairly short, but when I part with £10 ($14.99 for American readers) I rather expect Amazon to deliver something of reasonable thickness. This is tiny! More of a booklet than a book really. The content is good, but the price is steep.

So, what of the content?

Anderson was raised a Mormon, before converting to historic Christianity, and since 1983 has been pastor of a church in Utah. There are quotes from Anderson’s family members who are still Later-day Saints, and he states that he got LDS readers to check some of the chapters before publication. His aim throughout is to be non-confrontational, so if you are looking for polemic this is not the place to come.

A few months back I had a couple of LDS missionaries on the doorstep and found my conversation with them to be stimulating, frustrating and confusing in equal measure. I’m afraid I was not at all points as irenic as Anderson, partly because at the time I was preaching through 1 John, with its rather curt warnings against those who separate from true faith in Christ. It was a difficult discussion to pursue because it felt like my interlocutors tried to appropriate any claim I made for the unique claims of Christianity, saying, “We believe that too.” It was also difficult simply because I did not know enough about the Book of Mormon.

Although it is short, this book does a good job of explaining the history and significance of the Mormon scriptures. And while Anderson works hard to remain respectful, it is difficult not to read this without a growing sense that the beliefs of the LDS are simply ridiculous. Joseph Smith and his writings are so clearly the product of the cultural milieu of America in the 19th century that any claims for divine inspiration are risible. An imaginative young man with a family history of folk magic came up with a story that made Native Americans the lost tribes of Israel and the USA the true Promised Land. Many Americans (of many creeds) have, in their search for identity, tried to capture links to the past that their young nation can actually never claim (at least not in a way that doesn’t feel faintly embarrassing to a European). In this vein Smith created an ideology that gave Mormons historical integrity. He told a story that connected the New World with the Old, and actually demonstrated its superiority. He told a story of how a disparate people could become one people with a common culture. He gave birth to one of the great sects of Christianity – close enough to the truth to make it difficult to debate with the new religions missionaries, but far, far distant from the real thing.

Anderson gently unpicks inconsistencies in Smith’s story and translation. He demonstrates the contradictions between the Book of Mormon and other LDS scriptures. And he shows the lack of archaeological evidence for Mormon claims that the ancient civilizations of Mexico owe their origin to wandering Israelites.

Next time some Mormon’s come calling I will be better prepared to dialogue with them, and must thank Anderson for that. That probably makes his book worth the money; but as the LDS don’t come by that often it’s a close run thing…