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Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 1989–2011 Volume 20 Number 2 Article 17 2008 Vol. 20 Num. 2 The FARMS Review FARMS Review Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/msr BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Review, FARMS (2008) "Vol. 20 Num. 2 The FARMS Review," Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 1989–2011: Vol. 20 : No. 2 , Article 17. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/msr/vol20/iss2/17 This Full Issue is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 1989–2011 by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. The FARMS Review The FARMS Review Editor Daniel C. Peterson Associate Editors Louis C. Midgley George L. Mitton Production Editors Don L. Brugger Larry E. Morris Cover Design Andrew D. Livingston Layout Alison Coutts Jacob D. Rawlins The Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship Executive Director M. Gerald Bradford Director, FARMS Paul Y. Hoskisson Director, METI Daniel C. Peterson Director, CPART Kristian Heal Director, Publications Alison Coutts The FARMS Review Volume 20 • Number 2 • 2008 ! The Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship Brigham Young University © 2008 Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship Brigham Young University All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America ISSN 1550-3194 To Our Readers The Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholar ship encour- ages and supports re search on the Book of Mormon, the Book of Abraham, the Bible, other ancient scripture, and related subjects. The Maxwell Institute publishes and distributes titles in these areas for the benefit of scholars and interested Latter-day Saint readers. Primary research interests at the Maxwell Institute include the history, language, literature, culture, geography, politics, and law rele- vant to ancient scripture. Although such subjects are of secondary im- portance when compared with the spiritual and eternal messages of scripture, solid research and academic perspectives can supply certain kinds of useful information, even if only tentatively, concerning many significant and interesting questions about scripture. The Maxwell Institute makes reports about this research avail- able widely, promptly, and economically. These publications are peer- reviewed to ensure that scholarly standards are met. The proceeds from the sale of these materials are used to support further research and publications. The purpose of the FARMS Review is to help serious readers make informed choices and judgments about books published on the Book of Mormon and associated topics, as well as to publish substantial freestanding essays on related matters. We hope, thereby, to encour- age reliable scholarship with regard to such subjects. Most reviews and articles are solicited or assigned. Any person in- terested in writing a specific article or review should send a proposal to the editor. If the proposal is accepted, the Review style guidelines will be sent with the acceptance. The opinions expressed in these reviews and articles are those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the opinions of the vi • FARMS Review of Books 20/2 (2008) Maxwell Institute, its editors, Brigham Young University, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or the authors’ employers. No por- tion of the reviews or articles may be used in advertising or for any other commercial purpose without the express written permission of the Maxwell Institute. The FARMS Review is published semiannually. See the Web site at maxwellinstitute.byu.edu for reviews and articles appearing in the FARMS Review. Contents Editor’s Introduction, “Debating Evangelicals,” by Louis Midgley ................................................................................ xi Neal A. Maxwell Lectures Cecil O. Samuelson. “On Becoming a Disciple-Scholar” ..................... 1 Bruce C. Hafen. “Reason, Faith, and the Things of Eternity” ............ 15 Biblical and Mormon Studies George D. Smith. Nauvoo Polygamy: “. but we called it celestial marriage” (Gregory L. Smith, “George D. Smith’s Nauvoo Polygamy”) ...... 37 (Robert B. White, “A Review of the Dust Jacket and the First Two Pages”) .............................................................. 125 Tudor Parfitt. The Lost Ark of the Covenant: The Remarkable Quest for the Legendary Ark (John A. Tvedtnes, “Ark of the Covenant . Again”) ................131 viii • The FARMS Review 20/2 (2008) Book of Mormon Edwin G. Goble and Wayne N. May. This Land: Zarahemla and the Nephite Nation Wayne N. May. This Land: Only One Cumorah! Wayne N. May. This Land: They Came from the East (Brant A. Gardner, “This Idea: The ‘This Land’ Series and the U.S.-Centric Reading of the Book of Mormon”) ...........141 Mormonism and Science Trent D. Stephens and D. Jeffrey Meldrum. Evolution and Mormonism: A Quest for Understanding (Duane Boyce, “Of Science, Scripture, and Surprise”) ...............163 Mountain Meadows Massacre Ronald W. Walker, Richard E. Turley Jr., and Glen M. Leonard. Massacre at Mountain Meadows: An American Tragedy (Robert H. Briggs, “A Scholarly Look at the Disastrous Mountain Meadows Massacre”) ................................215 Article William P. MacKinnon. “The Utah War and Its Mountain Meadows Massacre: Lessons Learned, Surprises Encountered” ................................................................. 237 Nibley Studies Ronald V. Huggins. “Hugh Nibley’s Footnotes” (Shirley S. Ricks, “A Sure Foundation”) ....................................... 253 Hugh Nibley. Eloquent Witness: Nibley on Himself, Others, and the Temple (Louis Midgley, “The Nibley Legacy”) ......................................... 293 Contents • ix Book Notes Newell G. Bringhurst and Craig L. Foster. The Mormon Quest for the Presidency ............................................................................ 303 Craig L. Foster. A Different God? Mitt Romney, the Religious Right, and the Mormon Question ................................................. 304 About the Contributors ........................................................................ 307 Debating Evangelicals Louis Midgley y first skirmish with one who might now be described as a “de- Mbating evangelical” took place in 1951 while I was a missionary in New Zealand. The pastor of a small Baptist church in Point Cheva- lier, a suburb some six kilometers west of the center of Auckland, had been surveying my missionary companion and me as we went about our activities, including our travel on the tram then connecting Point Chevalier, where we lived, with Queen Street in the center of Auck- land. Eventually he introduced himself and invited us to his home so that he could, he explained, learn more about our faith. I was, of course, delighted. But his invitation was a subterfuge. I anticipated a civil conversation. I was mistaken. As soon as I began describing the recovery of the Book of Mormon, this fellow launched into a blister- ing attack on me and my faith. I faced someone barely civil and fully confrontational. I was discombobulated, stunned, and on the ropes, and this preacher knew it. He showed no mercy; he pounded away, even boasting that, unlike him, I had not been properly trained for the ministry. He was not interested in learning a thing about the faith of Latter-day Saints. He was, instead, eager to bash our beliefs, which he was confident he already understood. Savoring his triumph, he invited us back for a second bout. Since I suspected that he had been bluffing and wrong on some of what he had claimed, I accepted his invitation. xii • The FARMS Review 20/2 (2008) Though I had earlier, as a student at the University of Utah, encoun- tered secular critics of the faith of the Saints, this was my initial intro- duction to sectarian anti-Mormonism. In an effort to prepare for the second round in this debate, I visited a large Christian bookstore then located on Queen Street, where I purchased some leaflets and a pam- phlet attacking the Church of Jesus Christ. This was my first encounter with sectarian anti-Mormon literature. Since I was already in the habit of looking for information in books, I also visited the little library in Point Chevalier, which is still there, as well as the much larger Auck- land Public Library. I discovered that our host had made assertions that were flatly wrong. At our second match, I was ready to respond to this preacher, who seemed to have relied on muddled anti-Mormon litera- ture. The debate ended in a draw, and the preacher knew it. With what I had discovered in those libraries, I was able to ex- pose some bluffing and mistakes on several key issues. I testified to the truth of Joseph Smith’s prophetic truth claims and to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I came away from that exchange with no information about the grounds or content of that preacher’s faith. There was some- thing odd about his mode of “witnessing.” I have never lost interest in the literature sectarian critics produce, distribute, or rely upon. I have discovered that some Protestant preachers, especially those involved in or influenced by the countercult movement, have a proclivity for denigrating the faith of the Saints; they operate in a confrontational, attack mode. Shifting Ideological Sands Much has changed in the Protestant world since my first encoun- ter with a “debating evangelical.” In the 1950s that Baptist pastor