{"id":34372,"date":"2015-12-19T22:05:32","date_gmt":"2015-12-20T03:05:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/?p=34372"},"modified":"2016-01-10T21:37:01","modified_gmt":"2016-01-11T02:37:01","slug":"2016-gospel-doctrine-recommended-resources-on-the-book-of-mormon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2015\/12\/2016-gospel-doctrine-recommended-resources-on-the-book-of-mormon\/","title":{"rendered":"2016 Gospel Doctrine- Recommended Resources on the Book of Mormon (updated)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-34569\" src=\"http:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Screen-Shot-2015-12-19-at-10.00.50-PM.png\" alt=\"Screen Shot 2015-12-19 at 10.00.50 PM\" width=\"239\" height=\"357\" srcset=\"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Screen-Shot-2015-12-19-at-10.00.50-PM.png 386w, https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Screen-Shot-2015-12-19-at-10.00.50-PM-201x300.png 201w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 239px) 100vw, 239px\" \/>As with the <a href=\"http:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2013\/12\/old-testament-gospel-doctrine-reading-and-resources\/\">Old<\/a> and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2014\/10\/recommended-nt-resources-part-1-translations-text-and-the-bible-in-general\/\">New Testaments<\/a>, here are my\u00a0suggestions for this year&#8217;s study of\u00a0the Book of Mormon. (Edit for newcomers: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/benjaminthescribe\/about\/\">Who am I and why do my suggestions have any merit?<\/a>)<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>First, there is a lot of material written on the\u00a0Book of Mormon, and a lot of it is now available online, between the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/maxwellinstitute.byu.edu\">Maxwell Institute<\/a> (including the <a href=\"http:\/\/publications.maxwellinstitute.byu.edu\/people\/hugh-nibley\/\">Hugh Nibley library<\/a>),\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/byustudies.byu.edu\/book-mormon-lessons\">BYU\u00a0Studies<\/a>, and \u00a0the <a href=\"https:\/\/rsc.byu.edu\/books\/categories\">Religious Studies Center<\/a>. A lot of this material consists in either articles (shorter) or books directed at narrow\u00a0sections or topics, like <a href=\"http:\/\/publications.maxwellinstitute.byu.edu\/book\/king-benjamin-s-speech-that-ye-may-learn-wisdom\/\">King Benjamin&#8217;s Speech<\/a> or <a href=\"http:\/\/publications.maxwellinstitute.byu.edu\/book\/king-benjamin-s-speech-that-ye-may-learn-wisdom\/\">Warfare in the Book of Mormon<\/a>\u00a0or Isaiah. I&#8217;m not listing those specific kinds of treatments, but will refer to them as the year goes on in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/benjaminthescribe\/\">my Gospel Doctrine posts<\/a>. I used to run a database of those resources, organized by book\/chapter\/verse, but ran out of time to keep all\u00a0the links updated and add material. Eventually, the out-of-dateness got embarrassing, and I took it down, but it&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20080616160228\/http:\/\/home.uchicago.edu\/~spackman\/masterbom.htm\">archived here<\/a>. Several people\/groups have put it to good use since, so it\u00a0lives on, in a way.<\/p>\n<p>Second, I&#8217;m keeping this mainstream, traditional, and high quality. That&#8217;s obviously subjective, and it rules out a lot.\u00a0You&#8217;ll notice there&#8217;s little here that&#8217;s &#8220;devotional.&#8221; That is, I believe we need to study the Book of Mormon deeply, not venerate it as a fetish with big leather pretty editions that we don&#8217;t actually read, or short, cheesy, shallow expositions. Devotional is not necessarily a dirty word, but there&#8217;s good devotional and there&#8217;s &#8220;fried fluff&#8221; and theological Twinkies.\u00a0The Mormon market consumes far too much of the latter, and demand drives supply.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Short List <\/strong>(no particular order)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Terryl Givens,<em> By the Hand of Mormon <\/em>(Oxford Press, 2003), <a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1ZgDO2j\">Amazon link<\/a>.\n<ul>\n<li>An excellent overview of the coming forth, translation, reception, and controversy of the Book of Mormon, and\u00a0its contents.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Grant Hardy,\u00a0<em>Understanding\u00a0the Book of Mormon: A Reader&#8217;s Guide\u00a0<\/em>(Oxford\u00a0Press, 2010),\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1YRmLn7\">Amazon link<\/a>.\n<ul>\n<li>Hardy is a close reader, bringing out literary connections and implications, while demonstrating\u00a0the complexity of the text.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Grant Hardy,<em> Reader\u2019s Edition of the Book of Mormon <\/em>(UofI Press, 2005), <a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1ljMtmg\">Amazon link<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li>See Other Ways to Read below, #1.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><em>Glimpses of Lehi\u2019s Jerusalem<\/em> (Maxwell Institute, 2004) <a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1ZgDGjp\">Amazon link<\/a>.\u00a0Maxwell Institute <a href=\"http:\/\/publications.maxwellinstitute.byu.edu\/book\/glimpses-of-lehi-s-jerusalem\/\">link<\/a>.\n<ul>\n<li>The best single source for understanding the\u00a0ancient Near Eastern background and setting of Lehi&#8217;s family. This is solid work.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>John Sorenson,<em> An Ancient\u00a0American Setting for the Book of Mormon <\/em>(FARMS\/Deseret Book, 1996), <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/1573451576\/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=1573451576&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=benjthescri-20&amp;linkId=TF4LJGG4K6WF7BWL\">Amazon link<\/a>.\n<ul>\n<li>For some background on Sorenson, this book, and the two Ensign articles that preceded it, see\u00a0his experience with Correlation\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.mormoninterpreter.com\/the-passing-parade-observations-on-people-and-culture\">here<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>James Faulconer,\u00a0<em>The Book of Mormon Made Harder<\/em> (Maxwell Institute, 2014 ), <a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/22gMhF8\">Amazon Link<\/a>.\n<ul>\n<li>Like his other books in the\u00a0<em><a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/22gMTKW\">Made Harder<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>series, this is mostly thought-questions about the reading, and is really excellent work. This is\u00a0the only book\u00a0here that follows the order of the Book of Mormon, book\/chapter\/verse, with something for everything.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Learning\u00a0<em>about<\/em> the Book of Mormon changes how I read and understand it. These books give very solid grounding in the background, literary complexities, controversies, content, and mainstream interpretations of the Book of Mormon.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Other Ways to Read<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Many of us have read the Book of Mormon a lot, and it can be\u00a0a challenge to approach it differently. Let me suggest a few ways to make it new and interesting again.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>\u00a0Try Grant Hardy&#8217;s <em><a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1ljMtmg\">Reader&#8217;s Edition<\/a><\/em>. He has changed the format to bring out literary parallels and distinguish poetry from prose. Moreover, it does away with the break-every-verse-into-its-own-thought, and offers occasional footnotes, commentary, and introductions. Minimal as it is, it&#8217;s the closest thing we have to a Study Edition of the Book of Mormon.<\/li>\n<li>Pick up an <a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1ljMqqu\">1830 reproduction<\/a>\u00a0Book of Mormon, care of the Community of Christ (formerly known as the RLDS Church), and experience it\u00a0in &#8220;classic&#8221; or &#8220;original&#8221; format.\n<ul>\n<li>EDIT: I&#8217;m told <a href=\"https:\/\/deseretbook.com\/p\/1830-book-of-mormon-leather-replica?variant_id=119148-hardcover\">this<\/a> may be a higher\u00a0quality reproduction.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Write your own paraphrase, as <a href=\"http:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2015\/10\/smpt-teaser-a-close-reading-of-alma-32\/\">I did here for Alma 32<\/a>, using <a href=\"http:\/\/webstersdictionary1828.com\">Webster&#8217;s 1828 dictionary<\/a>, close reading, the KJV, and my suggestions and cautions in <a href=\"https:\/\/rsc.byu.edu\/archived\/re-15-no-1-2014\/why-bible-translations-differ-guide-perplexed\">the latter part of this article<\/a>.\n<ul>\n<li>Basically, work through it verse-by-verse, putting a verse at a time in your own words. Then read through 8-12 verses at a time, and see if it flows and makes sense. If not, you&#8217;ve missed something.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Or try <a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1ljM5Ec\">this one<\/a>\u00a0done by a BYU prof, and be prepared to enjoy, disagree, and take a grain of salt.<\/li>\n<li>Go through and reformat the text yourself, as Ardis did (see <a href=\"http:\/\/www.keepapitchinin.org\/2011\/05\/20\/creating-my-own-edition-of-the-scriptures\/\">here<\/a> and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.keepapitchinin.org\/2015\/09\/17\/my-own-edition-of-the-scriptures-new-and-improved\/\">here<\/a>\u00a0).\n<ul>\n<li>EDIT: Nathan R (a friend of mine) has \u00a0created Word files with the Book of Mormon text assigned to different styles, allowing easy reformatting.\u00a0See <a href=\"http:\/\/nathanrichardson.com\/2011\/09\/do-it-yourself-scriptures-the-book-of-mormon\/\">here<\/a>\u00a0for discussion and links to the files.<\/li>\n<li>EDIT: Since the punctuation in the Book of Mormon was added by the printer, feel free to repunctuate it yourself if it makes more sense.\u00a0Grant Hardy provides <a href=\"http:\/\/publications.maxwellinstitute.byu.edu\/fullscreen\/?pub=1307&amp;index=2\">several\u00a0examples<\/a> of where this makes better sense of the text. Nathan R. has a word doc with all punctuation and sentence-initial capitalization removed, page <a href=\"http:\/\/nathanrichardson.com\/2012\/11\/the-book-of-mormon-without-punctuation\/\">here<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Or, go back to your mission language or a language you studied. Spanish is pretty easy.<\/li>\n<li>Try listening to it instead of reading it.<a href=\"http:\/\/broadcast2.lds.org\/scriptures\/book-of-mormon\/book-of-mormon-audiobook-64k-eng.zip?download=true\"> This link<\/a> is a direct download from lds.org of Book of Mormon audio files.<\/li>\n<li>EDIT: Also, I just went and checked out BookofMormonCentral, <del>a new thing out of BYU (I think, albeit unofficially)<\/del>\u00a0 (nope, not a BYU thing) that looks promising, though still in Beta. Check out the reading demo <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bookofmormoncentral.org\/text\">here<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The point is, get involved with it somehow, so it gets into your brain a different way. Audio. Different format. Different language. Read it in a different order (Ether first, then Mosiah, then the Small Plates?). Take notes (see my 3-part series on note-taking suggestions <a href=\"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oneeternalround\/2011\/05\/the-most-important-most-overlooked-most-easy-and-most-superlative-tool-in-scripture-study-part-1\/\">here<\/a>.)\u00a0Read it out loud.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Formal Commentaries<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The vast majority of Book of Mormon commentaries just regurgitate current Mormon doctrinal understandings back at you instead of reading the text closely and allowing it to challenge and change us. The one real exception is Brant Gardner&#8217;s 6-volume commentary\u00a0<em>Second Witness<\/em>\u00a0(Kofford Press)<em>,<\/em>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1ljOpLB\">Amazon link to 1 Nephi<\/a>\u00a0volume, the first in the series. Reviews are positive from across the spectrum. My Mom taught an adult class on the\u00a0Book of Mormon, <a href=\"http:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2015\/05\/guest-post-taking-six-years-to-teach-the-book-of-mormon\/\">working through it carefully in six years<\/a>, using Gardner&#8217;s commentary and Hardy&#8217;s\u00a0<em>Understanding.\u00a0<\/em>Gardner <em>assumes<\/em> a mesoamerican setting, and looks for Mesoamerica in the Book of Mormon, not vice-versa. This isn\u2019t apologetics, but exegesis using a particular cultural and linguistic setting. That said, speculative commentary (as such cultural and linguistic commentary must be) makes up a small part of the overall, so don&#8217;t let that turn you off.<\/p>\n<p>EDIT: I want to mention one very unusual &#8220;commentary&#8221; of sorts, a sci-fi adaptation and retelling of the Book of Mormon by Orson Scott Card, <a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1J4vyyn\">the Homecoming series<\/a>. It follows the Book of Mormon quite closely. He was actually accused of plagiarism, and his tongue-in-cheek response was, &#8220;you can&#8217;t plagiarize history.&#8221; What&#8217;s interesting is how it brings out potential motivations, conflicts, and other bits. Like I said, it&#8217;s not a commentary in the traditional sense, but it does make you think about the Book of Mormon differently.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Coming Forth, Translation, Publication, and Text<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Mackay and Dirkmaat-<em> From Darkness Unto Light:\u00a0Joseph Smith&#8217;s Translation and Publication of\u00a0the Book of Mormon <\/em>(BYU Religious Studies Center\/Deseret Book, 2015), <a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1IZzfVU\">Amazon link<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li>These two have been involved with the Joseph Smith Papers Project, which is shedding new light on lots of things.<\/li>\n<li>Has chapter about<a href=\"http:\/\/blog.fairmormon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/From-Darkness-unto-Light.-Appendix.pdf\"> seerstone and art here<\/a>, on which see my brief discussion\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2015\/08\/another-view-of-the-seer-stone\/\">here<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Richard_E._Turley,_Jr.\">Richard Turley<\/a> and William Slaughter,<em> How We Got the Book of Mormon <\/em>(Deseret Book, 2011)-\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/22gRpsQ\">Amazon link<\/a>.\n<ul>\n<li>Turley is well-known from his Church history materials.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Matthew Brown,<em> Plates of Gold: The Book of Mormon Comes Forth <\/em>(Covenant, 2003), <a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1mdsWUk\">Amazon link\u00a0<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li>Brown had a talent for turning up interesting bits, before his untimely death.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Brant Gardner, <em>The Gift and Power: Translating the Book of Mormon <\/em>(Kofford\u00a0Press, 2011), <a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1mdt725\">Amazon link<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li>Gardner shows up on this list again. If you&#8217;re interested in issues of tight vs loose translation, how it was done, this book makes a good argument.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/archive.sltrib.com\/story.php?ref=\/sltrib\/lifestyle\/54790798-80\/bradley-mormon-faith-smith.html.csp\">Don Bradley<\/a>\u2019s book <em><a href=\"http:\/\/gregkofford.com\/products\/the-lost-116-pages\">The Lost 116 Pages: Rediscovering the Book of Lehi<\/a><\/em>,(Kofford, ??)\n<ul>\n<li>Alas, is not in print yet. However, see some of his work on it\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.fairmormon.org\/perspectives\/authors\/bradley-don\">here<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>If you want to get into the nitty gritty of the text, you&#8217;ll need Royal Skousen&#8217;s various works, <a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/22gNIUb\">like these<\/a>.\n<ul>\n<li>Edit: Note that the above link does not get you to Skousen&#8217;s\u00a0<em>Earliest Text of the Book of Mormon<\/em> (Yale, 2009),\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1meyFcF\">Amazon link<\/a>, which some readers have found useful.<\/li>\n<li>Edit: The Skousen volumes discussing\u00a0textual variants are all linked and available from The Interpreter <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mormoninterpreter.com\/books\/volume-4-of-the-critical-text-of-the-book-of-mormon-analysis-of-textual-variants-of-the-book-of-mormon\/\">here<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>For an overview, however, you can read\u00a0<em>Uncovering the Original Text of the Book of Mormon\u00a0<\/em>from the MI, <a href=\"http:\/\/publications.maxwellinstitute.byu.edu\/book\/uncovering-the-original-text-of-the-book-of-mormon\/\">here.<\/a>\u00a0Recommended.<\/li>\n<li>Also,\u00a0the Joseph Smith Papers Project has made quality photographs of the\u00a0\u00a0Printer&#8217;s Manuscript, 1830, and other editions available <a href=\"http:\/\/josephsmithpapers.org\/the-papers#\/R2L\/JSPPR4\">here<\/a>\u00a0online. &#8220;The first volume of the Documents series covers the time period of the translation. The first volume of the Histories series (and the online history series) have histories written by Joseph Smith and other covering that time period.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Visuals<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>John Sorenson,<em> Visualizing the\u00a0Book of Mormon<\/em> (FARMS, 1997), <a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/22gJOdH\">Amazon link<\/a>, from $0.49. Used and older books are great from Amazon.\n<ul>\n<li>Again, this assumes a Mesoamerican setting, which I consider the most probable. It also has the most professional academic support behind it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Similar is\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1PdLj5q\">this<\/a>\u00a0newer volume. Val Brinkerhoff does excellent visuals, but I have some questions about any included commentary by Joseph Allen.<\/li>\n<li>John and Gregory Welch, <em>Charting the Book of Mormon: Visual Aids for Personal\u00a0Study and Teaching<\/em> (FARMS, 1999), Amazon<a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/22gKAaB\"> link<\/a>.\n<ul>\n<li>These have largely been reprinted online at <a href=\"https:\/\/byustudies.byu.edu\/book-of-mormon-charts\">BYU\u00a0Studies<\/a>, used to be in pdf format, though I can&#8217;t locate that anymore. I find myself often referring to <a href=\"https:\/\/byustudies.byu.edu\/charts\/14-170-comparison-chapter-divisions-1830-and-1981-editions\">this one<\/a>\u00a0comparing the\u00a0original\u00a0vs. &#8220;new&#8221; (Orson Pratt in1879) chapter breaks.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Reference?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>The Encyclopedia of Mormonism<\/em> has articles on each book and many of\u00a0the Book of Mormon characters, seerstones, etc., and is online <a href=\"http:\/\/eom.byu.edu\">here<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>The closest thing to that in paper is the <em>Book of Mormon Reference Companion\u00a0<\/em>(Deseret Book, 2003)\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1mtYSEt\">Amazon link<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li>At 850 pages, it covers a lot. Some of the articles are great, others, not so much. I think the best thing is probably that each of the Isaiah chapters has an article devoted to it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Grab-bag<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Gardner\u2019s new book- <em>Traditions of the Fathers- the Book of Mormon as History <\/em>(Kofford, 2015) <a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1PdLwp5\">Amazon link<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li>New, and on my shelf.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Nibley&#8217;s class transcriptions from teaching the Book of Mormon <a href=\"http:\/\/publications.maxwellinstitute.byu.edu\/people\/hugh-nibley\/\">here<\/a>. (Spoiler: Hard to follow.)\n<ul>\n<li>Nibley is always classic, but outdated, and it&#8217;s all online. Or will be shortly.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>John Sorenson, <em>Mormon&#8217;s Codex<\/em> (Maxwell Institute, 2014)\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1mtZav1\">Amazon link<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li>This is Sorenson&#8217;s magnum opus,a compilation of decades of research&#8230; which means it&#8217;s mixed. The quality depends which\u00a0decade of work is being represented. See review <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mormoninterpreter.com\/john-l-sorensons-complete-legacy-reviewing-mormons-codex\/\">here<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Joseph Spencer&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1mtYZjs\">books<\/a>, which are being reprinted, I hear.\n<ul>\n<li>Joe is a <a href=\"http:\/\/feastuponthewordblog.org\/author\/joespencer\/\">blogger<\/a>, professor, philosopher, prolific writer, and all-around good guy. His books need to get back in print soon.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The Mormon Theology Seminar books.\n<ul>\n<li>This changing group has produced some very good work. You can see the rough, in-process work <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mormontheologyseminar.org\/archives\/\">here<\/a>;\u00a0the conference editions are being published by the Maxwell Institute.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Bradley Kramer,<em>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1PduyXU\">Beholding the Tree of Life: A Rabbinic Approach to the Book of Mormon<\/a><\/em>\u00a0(Kofford, 2015)\n<ul>\n<li>On my shelf, heard good things, haven&#8217;t read it yet.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Charles\u00a0Mann,\u00a0<em>1491:\u00a0New Revelations of\u00a0the Americas Before Columbus<\/em> (Knopf, 2006) <a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1PhPgrv\">Amazon link<\/a>.\n<ul>\n<li>The sole non-LDS author, Mann&#8217;s book doesn&#8217;t directly address the Book of Mormon. However, somewhat like\u00a0<em><a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1TWSU9s\">Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>makes you rethink the world of the Bible, this book will make you rethink the history of the Americas and its pre-Columbian inhabitants&#8230; which most Mormons will contend include the peoples of\u00a0the Book of Mormon. IIRC, he doesn&#8217;t address that claim directly \u00a0or indirectly.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Now go forth, and read.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As with the Old and\u00a0New Testaments, here are my\u00a0suggestions for this year&#8217;s study of\u00a0the Book of Mormon. (Edit for newcomers: Who am I and why do my suggestions have any merit?)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":34569,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-politics"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Screen-Shot-2015-12-19-at-10.00.50-PM.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34372"}],"version-history":[{"count":35,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34663,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34372\/revisions\/34663"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}