By Jerald and Sandra Tanner

The July 16, 1982, issue of Christianity Today carried an interesting article about the work of ex-Mormons who have “dedicated their lives to winning Mormons away from the faith that defines the culture of the entire state.” The following appears in that article:

Jerald and Sandra Tanner are easily the most respected (and, to the Mormon Church, the most threatening) ex-Mormons. They live in Salt Lake City, only miles away from the Mormon citadel. Sandra is the great-great-granddaughter of Brigham Young, the nineteenth-century Mormon leader second in importance only to founder Joseph Smith.

Jerald’s family heritage is also thoroughly Mormon. The Tanners met, married, and turned away from the church of their childhood in the late 1950s. Starting with a modest mimeographed effort to convince their families Mormonism was a fraud, the Tanners have written 30 books alleging flaws in Mormon history, archaeology, and Scripture. Their masterwork is the 600-page behemoth Mormonism—Shadow or Reality? which has the bulk of a metropolitan telephone book.

The Tanners not only write, but also print, bind, and distribute their books. The sheer size and unrelenting detail of the books have prevented major publishers from publishing them (Moody Press has published a condensed version of Shadow or Reality). Thus the Tanners’ work—appearing between cardboard and plastic covers—hardly looks professional or slick. But even critics within Mormonism agree the Tanners have succeeded in accomplishing what they set out to do. “We wanted to build the ultimate case against Mormonism,” said Mrs. Tanner.

It is difficult to imagine a case being nearer “ultimate.” Shadow or Reality includes 38 chapters touching on almost every facet of the Mormon faith. It explores the practice of polygamy, temple ceremonies, and Mormon prophecy. Six pages are devoted to a meticulous listing of parallels between the King James Bible and Joseph Smith’s “new revelation,” the Book of Mormon. Sources are not only quoted, but the original documents are photocopied so the Mormon reader can see discrepancies for himself. . . . Max Parkin, a Mormon historian, says the Tanners’ history is “pretty good—they have done their research.” Interpretation of history, however, is subjective, Parkin adds. He thinks the Tanner interpretation is “not nearly as reliable as their history.”

Parkin, in fact, is unafraid to share the Tanners’ work with Mormon students. “Ignorance hurts more than information,” he said. And Mormon students need not be threatened by alleged historical contradictions when they understand that Mormon theology is “progressive and developmental,” said Parkin.

The Tanners work and live in their home. Harassment, according to Mrs. Tanner, has been light. . . .

Neither of the Tanners is a trained historian. They learned research by raw experience, a venture taken out of necessity. “When we first started studying Mormonism, we were dissatisfied with the quality of material on it,” Mrs. Tanner explains. Much of it was poorly researched and inaccurate. . . .

The Tanners often get suppressed documents from administrators and educators who have lost their faith in Mormonism but do not leave it because of family and business ties. . . . Some of the disenchanted Mormons feel guilt for staying in a church they do not believe in, Mrs. Tanner believes, and do their “silent missionary part” by letting the Tanners view suppressed documents (Christianity Today, July 16, 1982, pages 31, 47 and 48).

Mormonism—Shadow or Reality? is certainly one of the best tools for bringing Mormons to the knowledge of the truth. Unfortunately, some people are reluctant to show this book to their Mormon friends. One man told us that he had been dealing with a Mormon for many months, and although he had been using the material in Mormonism—Shadow or Reality? he had never actually shown him the book. We pointed out that this was a real mistake.

Mormonism—Shadow or Reality? was designed to go right into the hands of the Mormon people. A good approach to use is to ask Mormons to read the book and point out any inaccuracies they might find. While some of them will refuse to even take it, there are others who will accept the challenge. In trying to find mistakes they will encounter historical problems which they never dreamed existed. Although they may become angry and make some very negative comments about the book, they will have a difficult time erasing from their minds what they have read. A person should not expect Mormons to immediately see they are wrong. In most cases this takes a great deal of time. During this period we need to show real love and patience with them.

Even though we have sold a large number of copies of the 1982 revised and enlarged edition of Mormonism—Shadow or Reality? many of our customers are still using the 1972 edition. While the older edition is still an excellent book, a number of important discoveries have been made since 1972. There have also been some significant developments and studies which are discussed in the new edition. The 1982 edition contains about 90 pages of new material which is very important to have when dealing with Mormons.

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