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Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 1989–2011 Volume 21 Number 2 Article 14 2009 Vol. 21 Num. 2 The FARMS Review FARMS Review Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/msr BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Review, FARMS (2009) "Vol. 21 Num. 2 The FARMS Review," Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 1989–2011: Vol. 21 : No. 2 , Article 14. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/msr/vol21/iss2/14 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 Published under the Auspices of the Laura F. Willes Center for Book of Mormon Studies and the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies Director Paul Y. Hoskisson Editor Daniel C. Peterson Associate Editors Louis C. Midgley George L. Mitton Production Editor Don L. Brugger Cover Design Andrew D. Livingston Layout Alison V. P. Coutts The FARMS Review Volume 21 • Number 2 • 2009 ! Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship Brigham Young University © 2009 Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, 84602–5900, USA Phone: (801) 422–9229 Toll Free: (800) 327–6715 FAX: (801) 422–0040 E-mail: [email protected] Web: maxwellinstitute.byu.edu 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 21/2 (2009) 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, “The Wedding of Athens and Jerusalem: An Evangelical Perplexity and a Latter-day Saint Answer,” Louis Midgley ..................................................................................... xi Maxwell Lecture “Probing the Lives of Christ and Joseph Smith,” Richard Lloyd Anderson. ................................................................... 1 Christmas Revisited Christmas: The Original Story, Margaret Barker Reviewed by John W. Welch ............................................................ 31 The New Atheism god is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, Christopher Hitchens Reviewed by William J. Hamblin ................................................... 47 viii • The FARMS Review 21/2 (2009) Sectarian Anti-Mormonism I Was a Born-Again Mormon: Moving Toward Christian Authenticity, Shawn McCraney Reviewed by Blair Dee Hodges ....................................................... 97 Book of Mormon The Reader’s Book of Mormon, ed. Robert A. Rees and Eugene England The Book of Mormon. Translated by Joseph Smith. Introduction by Laurie F. Maffly-Kipp Reviewed by Grant Hardy .............................................................. 133 Mesoamerica and the Book of Mormon: Is This the Place? John L. Lund Reviewed by Brant A. Gardner ..................................................... 153 Journey of Faith: From Jerusalem to the Promised Land, ed. S. Kent Brown and Peter Johnson Reviewed by Stephen D. Ricks .......................................................169 Article “Myth, Memory, and ‘Manuscript Found’ ” Matthew Roper ................................................................................ 179 Joseph Smith Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting the Prophet Joseph Smith, Michael R. Ash Reviewed by Stephen O. Smoot ..................................................... 225 Contents • ix Book Notes Is the Reformation Over? An Evangelical Assessment of Contemporary Roman Catholicism, Mark A. Noll and Carolyn Nystrom. ........................................... 239 World Trade and Biological Exchanges before 1492, John L. Sorenson and Carl L. Johannessen ................................. 242 The Joseph Smith Papers: Revelations and Translations, Manuscript Revelation Books, Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman, gen. eds.; Robin Scott Jensen, Robert J. Woodford, and Steven C. Harper, vol. eds. ..................................................... 243 The Cosmic Ring Dance of the Angels: An Early Christian Rite of the Temple, Frederick M. Huchel ....................................................................... 247 When Souls Had Wings: Pre-mortal Existence in Western Thought, Terryl L. Givens ............................................................................... 248 About the Contributors ......................................................................... 253 Editor’s Introduction The Wedding of Athens and Jerusalem: An Evangelical Perplexity and a Latter-day Saint Answer Louis C. Midgley Mormonism rejects the pure gifts of faith, forgiveness, and salvation that Jesus desires to give to them. This biblical teaching of justification is categorically rejected by the Mor- mon religion. The Reverend George Mather1 hose writers familiar with St. Augustine (ad 354–430) tend to Tgrant, in the words of one commentator, that he “appears if not as the originator at least as the foremost exponent in ancient times” of the “attempt to fuse or reconcile elements derived from two originally independent and hitherto unrelated sources, the Bible and classical philosophy.”2 Roman Catholics, as well as some Protestants, have seen this as both a worthy endeavor and a large accomplishment, while Latter-day Saints have held that it was a miscalculation that began after an early fatal falling away from the primitive faith. Why? 1. George A. Mather, foreword to Wayne L. Cowdrey, Howard A. Davis, and Arthur Vanick, Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon? The Spalding Enigma (St. Louis: Concordia, 2005), 11. Mather is a Lutheran pastor of Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in St. George, Utah (see p. 429 n. 1, where he is also described as “a noted authority on religion and the occult”). He was trained by the notorious “Dr.” Walter Martin. 2. Ernest L. Fortin, “St. Augustine,” in History of Political Philosophy, 3rd ed., edited by Joseph Cropsey and Leo Strauss (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987), 177. xii • The FARMS Review 21/2 (2009) Athens and Jerusalem Revisited Tertullian (ca. 160–225), writing in Latin, followed the apostle Paul’s radical distinction between a sophisticated human wisdom and “the wisdom of God” now incarnate in Jesus Christ, whom God raised from the grave. With this distinction in mind, he asked, “What indeed has Athens to do with Jerusalem? What concord is there between the Academy and the Church?”3 Tertullian’s prime target was the Acad- emy, or “Plato’s school,” which then offered some version of Neopla- tonism. He very much wanted to put an end to “all attempts to produce a mottled Christianity of Stoic, Platonic, and dialectic composition.”4 Referring to the two competing claims to wisdom, Tertullian asked in florid language, What is there, then, about them that is alike, the philosopher and the Christian—the disciple of Hellas and the disciple of Heaven—the dealer in reputation and the dealer in salva- tion—one occupied with words and one with deeds—one cre- ator of error and its destroyer—friend of error and its foe—the despoiler of truth and it restorer—its robber and its warden?5 There are indications that some of the most influential Chris- tian theologians borrowed the categories and concepts found among the disciples