By Jerald and Sandra Tanner
As we have earlier indicated, the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (F.A.R.M.S.) has made a vicious attack on some of the liberal Mormon scholars who are expressing doubts about the historicity of the Book of Mormon. These scholars are accused of being wolves in sheep’s clothing, and one writer even refers to them as offering “a Trojan horse” to an unsuspecting Mormon audience. Although the controversy has been simmering for a number of years, it boiled over after Signature Books published a book edited by Dan Vogel entitled, The Word of God: Essays on Mormon Scripture. This book, which contains contributions from a number of Mormon scholars, did not set well with some of the Mormon professors at the church’s Brigham Young University and others who are involved with F.A.R.M.S. Stephen E. Robinson, chairman of the Department of Ancient Scripture at BYU, was incensed with the book. He compared the views expressed in the work to those of Korihor, the notorious “Anti-Christ” who was “struck dumb” because of his unbelief (see Book of Mormon, Alma, chapter 30). Professor Robinson wrote:
Korihor’s back, and this time he’s got a printing press. Korihor, the infamous “alternate voice” in the Book of Mormon, insisted that “no man can know of anything which is to come”. . . In its continuing assault upon traditional Mormonism, Signature Books promotes with its recent and dubiously titled work, The Word of God, precisely these same naturalistic assumptions of the Korihor agenda in dealing with current Latter-day Saint beliefs. . . . this is a propaganda piece . . .
Variations on a single theme recur, offered like a Trojan horse, in most of the essays in The Word of God . . .
For years anti-Mormons have hammered the Church from the outside, insisting that Joseph Smith and the Latter-day Saint scriptures he produced were not what they claimed to be. By and large the Latter-day Saints simply ignored these attacks. Whether Signature Books and its authors will convince the Saints of the same hostile propositions by attacking from the inside remains to be seen. . . . What the anti-Mormons couldn’t do with a frontal assault of contradiction, Signature and Vogel would now accomplish with a flanking maneuver of redefinition. . . .
The uniformity of perspective among the essays, the pervasive use of the straw man, and the absence of any opposing viewpoint identify The Word of God as a work of propaganda. . . .
I suppose by now it is clear that I did not like this book.
. . . Give me a Walter Martin anytime, a good stout wolf with his own fur on, instead of those more timid or sly parading around in their ridiculous fleeces with their teeth and tails hanging out. Give me “Ex-Mormons for Jesus” or the Moody Bible Tract Society, who are at least honest about their anti-Mormon agenda, instead of Signature Books camouflaged as a “Latter-day Saint” press. I prefer my anti-Mormons straight up. (Review of Books on the Book of Mormon, vol. 3, 1991, pages 312, 314, 317-318)
[Bold in quotations is added for emphasis and does not appear in originals.]
Brigham Young University professor Louis Midgley also leveled his sights at Dan Vogel and Signature Books. He asserted that Vogel has not demonstrated “that his stance involves more than a murky sentimentalism or a confidence game aimed at accomplishing covertly what has not been done directly—namely, eradicating by radical transformation the faith resting on Joseph Smith’s prophetic claims.” (page 296) On page 299, he charged that Dan Vogel “found a new patron in George D. Smith, owner of Signature Books . . . part of Smith’s effort involves showing that the Book of Mormon is not an authentic ancient history, that is, not simply true.”
Professor Midgley felt that Vogel’s book “leaves the restoration exactly where the enemies of the Church have always wanted it—repudiated.” (page 305) Midgley also launched into an attack on Joseph Smith’s New York Reputation Reexamined, published by Signature Books, and called the author, Roger I. Anderson, “a career apostate” (page 306).
These articles, printed by F.A.R.M.S., set off a train of events which eventually led to the possibility of a law suit in which Mormon scholars on both sides of the question might have to face each other in court. Finally, however, F.A.R.M.S. decided to back down and issue a carefully worded “Correction or Clarification” in its newsletter:
In the May 1991 issue of Insights, reference was made to Joseph Smith’s New York Reputation Re-examined as “expressly anti-Mormon.” Whereas affidavits reprinted and analyzed in this book may be considered “anti-Mormon,” F.A.R.M.S. expresses no position about the book.
Also, in Review of Books on the Book of Mormon, volume 3, statements are made that could be construed as calling unspecified contributors to The Word of God: Essays on Mormon Scripture and Signature Books, Inc., “dishonest” and “hard-core anti-Latter-day Saints.” These statements were the reviewer’s interpretation of portions of the book, and no personal connotation was intended.
The opinions expressed in the reviews are those of the reviewers alone and do not necessarily represent the position of F.A.R.M.S. (Insights: An Ancient Window, July 1991, page 6)
In an Associated Press story, Vern Anderson reported that F.A.R.M.S. claimed it was not really worried about a suit for libel but issued the statement in “a spirit of reconciliation”:
To his critics, George D. Smith is a shadowy figure of considerable wealth bent on reshaping Mormonism by digging through its past. To colleagues, he’s a shy man of principle in pursuit of truth.
As president of Signature Books, an independent publisher of Mormon-related history and literature, Smith is committed to unfettered historical inquiry. . . .
Mormon Church-owned Deseret Book this month pulled two of Signature’s titles from its shelves. One of them, “Joseph Smith’s New York Reputation Reexamined,” by Rodger Anderson, had been named the Mormon History Association’s best first book. The other was “The Word of God: Essays on Mormon Scripture.”
At the same time, F.A.R.M.S. at Brigham Young University issued a “correction or clarification”. . .
The clarification in the F.A.R.M.S. newsletter came after a call from Signature’s attorney. Foundation founder John W. Welch said it was issued in a spirit of reconciliation, not worry that anyone had been libeled.
Indeed, Welch personally believes the Anderson book to be “expressly anti-Mormon” and its publisher as prone as anyone to the bias he claims to abhor.
Signature’s founding in 1981 grew out of the church’s decision to cancel a planned 16-volume history of the faith and to muzzle its own historical department. Smith . . . and his Mormon wife jumped at the chance to publish some of the rejected work. . . .
But if the so-called “apologists” and “revisionists” are merely at odds on the field of Mormon history, they are locked in a relative death grip over what most church members see as the cornerstones of Mormon doctrine. . . . (Salt Lake Tribune, July 22, 1991)
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