Description

"A FINE LINE DIVIDES SCRIPTURE from non-scripture, writes Robert M. Price in American Apocrypha. There are books, not in the Bible, that are as powerful and authoritative as anything in the canon. At the same time, much of the Bible was written centuries after the events it narrates by scribes using fictitious names. Clearly, the hallmark of scripture is not historical accuracy, but rather its spiritual impact on individuals; exclusion from the canon is not reason to dismiss a book as heretical.

"Consider the Book of Mormon, first published in 1830. The nature of this volume-in particular its claim to antiquity-is the theme of nine ground-breaking essays in American Apocrypha. Thomas W. Murphy discusses the Book of Mormon's view that American Indians are descendants of ancient Hebrews. In recent DNA tests, Native Americans have proven to be of Siberian ancestry and not of ancient Jewish or Middle Eastern descent. Nor is the Book of Mormon a traditional translation from an ancient document, writes David P. Wright, indicated by the underlying Hebrew in the book's Isaiah passages. Other contributors to American Apocrypha explore the evolution of ideas in the Book of Mormon during the course of its dictation." (From back cover.)

Table of Contents

Editors' Introduction

1. Historical Criticism and the Book of Mormon: A Personal Encounter
   Edwin Firmage, Jr.
2. Automaticity and the Dictation of the Book of Mormon
   Scott C. Dunn
3. Lamanite Genesis, Genealogy, and Genetics
   Thomas W. Murphy
4. The Validity of the Witnesses' Testimonies
   Dan Vogel
5. B. H. Roberts: Book of Mormon Apologist and Skeptic
   George D. Smith
6. Isaiah in the Book of Mormon: Or Joseph Smith in Isaiah
   David P. Wright
7. Secret Things, Hidden Things: The Seer Story in the Imaginative Economy of Joseph Smith
   Susan Staker
8. Echoes of Anti-Masonry: A Rejoinder to Critics of the Anti-Masonic Thesis
   Dan Vogel
9. Joseph Smith: Inspired Author of the Book of Mormon
   Robert M. Price