Comments on Life On Gold Plates: Review: Michael Ash's "Of Faith and Reason"

Reed I totally forgot to say thanks for the commen...

2010-03-23T17:07:28.820-06:00

Reed I totally forgot to say thanks for the comment!

My only wish for the book - that it be fleshed out...

2009-09-26T00:08:29.288-06:00

My only wish for the book - that it be fleshed out just a bit further - is completely satisfied with the inclusion of very comprehensive and valuable endnotes at the end of each section.

Brant, I think that is where this book is most val...

2009-09-25T14:55:38.529-06:00

Brant, I think that is where this book is most valuable. My bias towards teaching one to fish (even while providing a fish) obviously skewed my review.

Just this last Sunday I had the opportunity to len...

2009-09-25T14:49:40.391-06:00

Just this last Sunday I had the opportunity to lend my copy to a sister who is fairly new in the church but interested in the scholarly background. It is a great introduction for her. I suspect that it will only whet her appetite, but also will show us which way to go next.

Matt, his main bemoaning is about the time we spen...

2009-09-25T11:45:55.303-06:00

Matt, his main bemoaning is about the time we spend watching TV, which on average is about 6x as much as the time we spend reading. Plus, he has no argument against quality arguments and discussions that can be read online. For instance many articles he references are available at the Maxwell Institute site, or FAIR. This point Ash makes constitutes about 3 sentences of the entire book and is accurate from my view: we waste a lot of time.

Mike is also right that the meta-discussion on parallels is absent from many scholarly articles (and should be, probably, due to purpose and length, other than an author briefly explaining her approach). The sources I listed in the footnotes will be a great place to start looking into the topic.

For Ash's stated purpose the book is almost right on. I only wish he would have tipped his hand a little in the intro or conclusion to help readers situate the evidences, or at least to alert them that they need to do so (IMO). Summary: perfect for lay audience, except in one point, which is no discussion (all I want is a little one!) on parallels.

PS- if you see someone in your ward reading The Kolob Theorem or something, hook them up post haste.

I'd like to thank my friend Blair for his review o...

2009-09-25T11:21:09.563-06:00

I'd like to thank my friend Blair for his review of my latest book, "Of Faith and Reason."

First a note to Matt W.:
I don't bemoan "surfing the web"-- I spend too much time doing it myself. I just think that too many people substitute this, and other recreational activities, for reading some of the quality literature that can only be found in books.

One comment regarding Blair's "larget problem" that he sees with my book-- a lack of discussion about the nature of parallels. He correctly points out that this dicussion didn't really fit with the intended audience of my book. I would also point out, in my defense, that with a few rare exceptions, the nature of parallels is something that is almost never discussed in the scholarly articles from which I drew my material. The nature of paralells is certainly important but it almost never mentioned in the many publications by FARMS or even Hugh Nibley.

These scholars have produced a massive amount of literature demonstrating that there are numerous supporting evidences that Joseph was a prophet and that the Book of Mormon is an authentic ancient text. Parallels are often used to bolster these claims-- and to reiterate, the nature of parallels is never discussed. So at least I'm in good company.

I hope that Matt & others who read this review will understand that my book is intended to give an overview of many of these fascinating studies. It is aimed a the lay audience who is not familiar with these studies already (indeed they may not be really familiar with FARMS or Hugh Nibley [beyond the mention of his name]).

Mike

I hate to say it, but this review sort of cooled m...

2009-09-25T10:36:02.400-06:00

I hate to say it, but this review sort of cooled my enthusiasm to buy this book. Ash's "The Mormon Myth of Evil Evolution" is a go-to article for me, and I really enjoyed his "Mormon Fortress" back in the day, but it seems odd that he would bemoan "surfing the web" in such a manner, when so much is available regarding the church via the internet.