BYU Studies Quarterly Volume 33 Issue 1 Article 16 1-1-1993 Mormons and the Bible: The Place of the Latter-day Saints in American Religion by Philip L. Barlow Roger R. Keller Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq Recommended Citation Keller, Roger R. (1993) "Mormons and the Bible: The Place of the Latter-day Saints in American Religion by Philip L. Barlow," BYU Studies Quarterly: Vol. 33 : Iss. 1 , Article 16. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol33/iss1/16 This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in BYU Studies Quarterly by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact scholarsarchive@byu.edu, ellen_amatangelo@byu.edu. Keller: <em>Mormons and the Bible: The Place of the Latter-day Saints in cormons PHILIP L BARLOW mormons the latter and the bible yde the place oftle of rhe oftbe day saints in american religion new york oxford university press 1991 xxix 251 pp 3575 ap 17 illustrations bibliography index 3375 33.75 35.75 3575 3375 reviewed by roger R keller associate professor of comparative world religions at brigham young university latter day saints are bible believing christians but with a difference xx such is philip barlows central thesis according to him that difference lies in part in the unique relationship which existed within mormondom between the bible the american religious climate of the early nineteenth century and the prophetic and creative spirit of the mormon founder joseph smith in addition barlow indicates that over time an ecclesiastically sanctioned doctrinal conservatism diminished the impact of some of the more creative luminaries within the church of jesus christ of latter day mormons with no developed theory or saints thereby leaving cormons modem world 226 in esdoctrine of scripture adequate for a modern sence the book attempts to examine the sociological context in which LDS biblical interpretation arose along with how the bible was interpreted by select representatives of the latter day saint faith in the later portions of his book particularly barlow contrasts the mormons with the principles he perceives to be at work among cormons interpretive practices at work in other christian traditions chief historical critical among the practices used for comparison is the historicalcritical methodology currently employed by numerous protestant and catholic biblical scholars this book contains an extended preface an introduction entitled the bible in antebellum america and six chapters on various aspects of latter day saint biblical interpretation 1 before mor2 from the monism joseph smith and the bible 1820 1830 birth of the church to the death of the prophet 3 diversity and development the bible moves west 4 the mormon response and 5 why the king james version to higher criticism 6 the bible in contemporary mormonism the content of each chapter is sketched below my main interest is to make clear barlows methodologies and main presuppositions Published by BYU ScholarsArchive, 1993 1 BYU Studies Quarterly, Vol. 33, Iss. 1 [1993], Art. 16 byustudies BYU Studies 186 the preface lays the groundwork for the book barlow notes mormons have tended to use the that until we can ascertain whether cormons bible in ways that are more like or more unlike those of other american religionists assertions about mormon similarity or dissimilarity to american religion more generally remain on insecure ground the scholarly discussion to date simply lacks a dimension too central to ignore ix clearly cultural factors and not merely exegetical principles must be examined and this volume has a strong sociological base in my opinion too strong barlow states briefly his personal allegiances indicating that I1 am a practicing mormon and second that I1 have on many issues a greater personal sympathy for liberal than for conservative religious guided in part by expressions of course labels can be dangerous advice from the book of mormon my kind of latter day saint is likely to have as much in common with liberals and moderates ofother faiths as with staunch conservatives of his or her own church xviii he also states his presuppositions for example he defines objectivity here as a shorthand to connote a method that embraces such values as balance fairness openness integrity the willingness to be self critical honesty in the attempt to present and follow even difficult or painful evidence a modesty which respects opposing competent views an absence of dogmatism and the ability to produce history which seems responsible to diverse but intelligent and informed people of good will xvi I1 use it broadly he notes however that there are certain areas of life which transcend the methodologies of historical study and which are therefore closed to the historian historians can deal only with the visible convinced that reality has dimensions far transcending human if those forces are discernible at all capacities to ascertain though the discernment must come through private intuitions or the vision of prophets or the inspiration of poets or the speculations of metaphysicians they are not discernible through the tools of historians strictly speaking whose more modest task is to deal with things visible xvi I1 am having said this however barlow sets a lofty goal the historical task can and should be essentially a constructive work for humanity possibly having as one of its positive goals the distinguishing of moral spiritual and intellectual wheat from chaff xvii 1 https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol33/iss1/16 2 Keller: <em>Mormons and the Bible: The Place of the Latter-day Saints in cormons and the bible review of mormons 187 the introduction and chapter 1 then examine joseph smith in his cultural and religious context before 1850 1830 chapter 2 traces the development of the prophets understanding of scripture and his relationship to it there is some interesting and very helpful material in these chapters especially for those who seek to gain an understanding of the milieu in which the restoration of the gospel occurred barlow rightly stresses the powerful biblical climate which affected all aspects of early nineteenth century life there was a reverence for unmediated scripture 7 and scripture interpreted by the individual was the great equalizer which enabled men and women to confront the highest secular authorities 8 such was the environment into which joseph smith was born an environment without any central magisterium madisterium to define how one should interpret scripture the author also examines joseph smiths language against and within this biblically laced society according to barlow smiths mind was so steeped in biblical thought and phraseology chiefly that of the kingjames king james version that such language colored accounts of his visions the content of the doctrine and covenants and even his memory of reported events while these assertions have a prima facie ring of plausibility ultimately they cannot be proved nor can their implications barlows point that the king james version influenced joseph smiths memory of history and other matters would seem to imply that barlow believes that some of the recorded events may not be fully historical or possibly not technically literal simply because joseph expressed himself in biblical idioms 14 19 2 11 barlow couples the above reflections with the argument that the text of the bible was more fluid for joseph smith than it was for his contemporaries while other people like the campbells believed in the all sufficiency of scripture joseph smith came to believe that the bible was open to correction and to additions either in the text itself or by the addition of other volumes of scripture 57 while asserting this point barlow also points out that joseph held a highly literalistic view of biblical events when the bible reported that god spoke with moses face to face and that angels appeared to human beings that was the way it was smith knew it to be so because he too had been visited by god and angels indeed his literal Published by BYU ScholarsArchive, 1993 3 BYU Studies Quarterly, Vol. 33, Iss. 1 [1993], Art. 16 byustudies BYU Studies 188 mind set may have helped make such divine appearances possible for him 65 in chapters 1 and 2 the author also explores the major influences of the king james version on joseph smith barlow talks about the imperfections in the KJV as represented in the corrections to the existing text of malachi as quoted by moroni 16 17 which barlow suggests led to josephs willingness to revise the text of the KJV while others set out to correct these imperfections by scholarly means smith mended the bible by revelation 47 barlow catalogs six types of revisions that were made in the joseph smith translation of the bible ie long passages which claim to restore texts with no biblical parallel common sense changes interpretive additions harmonization miscellaneous many of which reflect a propensity to remove italicized words and the most common grammatical improvements technical clarifications and modernization of terms 51 53 the reason joseph smith could treat the old and new testament texts as he did according to barlow lies first in the nineteenth cent urys understanding of authorship in which a writer could put centurys words in an historical figures mouth 58 60 and second in smiths prophetic consciousness in which he felt he had received enlightenment from god for the entire world 60 61 chapter 2 ends by noting the revelations received during the process of producing the joseph smith translation the concept of typology which enabled joseph smith to see the church as a new israel and the inherent biblicism which was part of his life like uke many who wrote the bible and unlike his nineteenth century antagonists he felt his access to deity was more direct than the written word itself his authority was therefore at least as great as the texts if sydney Ahl stroms and fawn brodies label of megalomania serves ahlstroms any useful purpose in describing such attitudes and practices we must also remember it is equally applicable to many biblical writers and prophets with whom smith himself identified the bible fundamentally shaped joseph smiths developing thought and he in turn reshaped biblical theology for himself and for those who followed him As distinct from his evangelical rivals he did not seek to enthrone the bible as final authority he sought rather to restore the authority truth and prophetic gifts recorded in the bible 72 https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol33/iss1/16 4 Keller: <em>Mormons and the Bible: The Place of the Latter-day Saints in cormons and the bible review of mormons 189 contrasts the views of brigham young and orson pratt concerning the place of the bible in early mormon thought pratt was the leading LDS intellectual of his time and tried to reconcile all mormon doctrine with the biblical texts thus the bible spoke prophetically of the restoration brigham young on the other hand clearly saw the bible as one source among many biblical truth was reverencer ced but modem truths could supersede it living revelation reveren reverenced and the spirit made the bible understandable not intellectualization barlow sees a contrast between these two men especially when he rjoseph either elther notes that pratt was far more tied to the bible than was eitherjoseph eithe joseph elthe smith or brigham young 92 94 2 at the same time barlow highlights further the LDS doctrine that god speaks to his people through living prophets with the following observation on brigham young chapter 3 brigham young fundamentally a bible believer inherited this distinctive tradition from smith his sermons often self consciously secular were fully as authoritative as the bible for him mormon doctrine was bible doctrine the catch was that scripture which had been written by the spirit had to be interpreted by the spirit unless one understood mormon theological insights one did not really understand and believe the bible from one angle of vision this is merely a case of blatant scriptural eisegesis but as young read the bible only he who hath eyes to see could see 96 italics in original 3 thus the bible was limited by living prophets and therefore the canon was inevitably open 102 chapter 4 explores the latter day saint response to higher biblical criticism using the works of B H roberts joseph fielding smith and william H chamberlin to represent the spectrum of mormon thought As noted earlier barlows sympathies clearly lie with persons open to historical critical biblical interpretation thus he appears to feel a kinship with the little known chamberlin chamberlin was trained at the university of utah the university of california and at the university of chicago in the latter two universi ties he studied philosophy ancient languages and biblical versities criticism 129 34 according to barlow the antithesis to chamberlin was joseph fielding smith he had no use for human knowledge that did not conform to the revealed word of god as interpreted by a severe Published by BYU ScholarsArchive, 1993 5 BYU Studies Quarterly, Vol. 33, Iss. 1 [1993], Art. 16 byustudies BYU YU studies B 190 though selective literalism 122 smiths interpretative assumptions similarly barlow reflects on elder smiths most fundamental hermeneutical assumption was that the bible and other mormon scriptures were essentially gods speech in print scripture to him represented actual facts history and science were theory he was simply an ordinary man with extraordinary influence a man whose loyalty to god as he understood god was virtually boundless what he lacked or rejected was a modem historical consciousness the conviction that knowledge of divine things like knowledge of ordinary things must be found squarely within the historical process or not at all he believed that revelation ancient and modem completely transcended history 126 27 the author roberts as a midpoint between chamberlin and joseph fielding smith roberts engaged to some views B H degree the biblical scholars who used the historical critical methodologies in dialogue but inadequately in barlows mind since roberts continued to return to his dominant criticism that the academic methodologies failed to take seriously the possibility that prophetic scripture could foresee the future 116 ofj chapter 5 contains the authors summary of ofaJ reuben clarks darks arguments for the use of the king james version of the bible compared with other translations of the bible the king james version according to president clark was doctrinally more acceptable 2 verified by the work of joseph literarily superior 5 the smith 3 based on a better greek text 4 literarily LDS tradition and 6 produced by faithful prayerful churchversion of oflds oflas men who were amenable to the holy spirit rather than by a mixture of 16 161 tig 111 igi believing and unbelieving or orthodox and heterodox scholars igl l6l1 lal 1 barlow notes that wording changes in the revised standard version of the bible which appeared in 1952 concerned clark oark and dark thus led to his writings in defense of the KJV of particular concern clark perceived to be a diminution of the divinity of the was what dark oark savior 162 interestingly barlow appends a chart showing the eight new testament passages in which christs divinity is potentially affirmed of those eight the new international version affirms the divinity clearly in seven the revised version in six the revised https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol33/iss1/16 6 Keller: <em>Mormons and the Bible: The Place of the Latter-day Saints in cormons and the bible review of mormons 191 standard version in four and the king james version in four 181 he also notes that not all within the church agreed entirely with clarks view of other translations the most notable being president david 0 mckay 169 70 barlow argues further that clark subverted his own position when he admitted that he could not understand much of paul 170 above all barlow feels that the stance the church has currently taken with regard to the normative nature of the KJV runs counter to what the church originally held about the fallible nature of the entire eJoseph biblical text it contained error the very reality that led to thejoseph the joseph th smith translation and the openness of the church to latter day scripture 156 172 barlows position however overstates this underemphasizes the several factors tension and at the same time underemphasizes that have contributed to the standard use of king james english in church publications 4 the real issue for barlow then becomes the churchs churche full acceptance of the king james version in the 1979 LDS edition of the scriptures despite this diversity of opinion in mormon ranks church authorities in 1979 published an official LDS edition ofthe KJV heavily cross referenced with other mormon scriptures As they approach the twenty first century they have settled on an early seventeenth century translation as their official bible unlike many other christians any controversy over the issue has been decidedly muted at least on this matter though partly for their own distinctive reasons the saints have traveled a well worn path showing themselves to be more conservative even than most of their evangelical peers 177 78 17778 chapter 6 contrasts the views of elder bruce mcconkie and those of lowell bennion on the bible mcconkie is viewed as the conservative dogmatist and bennion as the enlightened humanitarian in discussing bruce McCon kies perspectives on biblical intermcconkies pre tation barlow observes pretation one can quickly grasp McCon mcconkies kies essential perspective on the bible by attending to five dimensions of his approach his disdain for higher criticism his criteria for proper interpretation his concern for correct doctrine his selective commitment to literalism and inerrancy and the limitations he put on biblical authority without imposing them on revelation generally 187 Published by BYU ScholarsArchive, 1993 7 BYU Studies Quarterly, Vol. 33, Iss. 1 [1993], Art. 16 byustudies BYU studies 192 he sees lowell bennion as a distinct contrast to mcconkie especially in his attitude toward the interpretation of scripture he feels that by the 1960s bennion was recognized by some LDS scholars as being among the seven most eminent intellectuals in mormon history having published numerous books and articles on a wide range of 95 in barlows view bennion by his own admission was a topics G195 liberal 5 this meant that the overriding concern for bennion was not theology but rather justice and mercy 199 Benn bennions ions assessment of valid interpretation of scripture hinged on whether it 1 is consistent with gospel fundamentals as defined above 2 is confirmed by the prompting of the holy spirit 3 appeals to thoughtful ethical judgment 4 has won wide agreement among informed and rational persons of good will 5 allows for the human as well as the divine in revelation and 6 is primarily concerned with scriptures religious intent 203 203 4 205 205 on the basis of this analysis the dominant difference between mcconkie and bennion is that mcconkie stresses revelation to the limiting of reason while bennion too believes in revelation but does not believe that it is contrary to natural human reason 6 using his discussion ofthe differences between the conservative mcconkie and the liberal bennion barlow once again returns at the end of the chapter to his assessment of the 1979 scriptures released by the church he feels that they represent a distinct conservatism that does not reflect the whole of the mormon community 115 315 however as I1 have argued mormon scriptural understandings are not monolithic hence what is most interesting for present purposes is not the mere fact that mormon theology is proffered in the new biblical supplements but rather the kind of mormon theology expressed the interpretations adopted in these supplements are far closer to bruce McCon mcconkies kies views than to mcconkies kies view in many cases they are McCon lowell Benn bennions ions 209 thus according to barlow the conservative influence in the church particularly represented by mcconkie has been so all encompassing that there exists no modem informed scholarship cormons and more than occasional doses on biblical issues among mormons of literalism 227 mormons have no developed theory or doctrine of scripture adequate cormons for a modem world lowell Benn bennions ions efforts are a thoughtful begin https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol33/iss1/16 8 Keller: <em>Mormons and the Bible: The Place of the Latter-day Saints in cormons and the bible review of mormons 193 rung ning by a nonspecialist but naturally they do not enjoy official stature yet the churchs churche constant urging to study the scriptures without any serious discussion of scriptures nature and coupled with what are implied to be the normative views of the 1979 biblical supplements and the recent generation of religious educational publications based not on informed scholarship but on dogmatic concerns insures a minimum of competent thought about a quintessential aspect of mormonism 226 cormons remain the consequences of this are that the majority of mormons in a hermeneutical eden innocent of a conscious philosophy of interpretation 227 in summary barlows efforts in this book are provocative he raises questions which many will feel need to be addressed and which many others will feel have already been answered he certainly shows streams of thought that have been present to a greater or lesser extent in the church but his presentation tends to accentuate and imply the existence of a greater gulf between the various persons examined than actually in fact may have existed in this sense his work does not yield an entirely balanced representation of the typical LDS experience with the bible one final issue needs attention while the book is predominantly concerned with a historical and sociological analysis there is another dimension obvious to those versed in the hermeneutical discussions discussions about how one interprets the bible carried on in the twentieth century in the final analysis barlows book revives in a mormon context the hermeneutical debate that began manns bultmanns in the 1930s between karl barth rudolf bultmann and Bult successors in 1927 barth published his first attempt at a systematic liche dogmatic Dog matik im entwurf christliche theology under the title die christ dogmatik christian dogmatics in outline he then stopped his work to Ans elms fides quaerens Intellectum Qu aerens intellectum write a commentary on st anselms anselma faith seeking understanding when he returned to his theological a anew new vision realizing that what he wanted project he returned with anewvision falth but could be said nonfaith to say could not be cast in the language of ofnonfaith nonfaith only in categories that had meaning within the community of the falth the categories nonfaith faith ie within the church to the world of ofnonfaith nonfaith of revelation inspiration of the spirit and the divine sonship ofjesus ofjesus Published by BYU ScholarsArchive, 1993 9 BYU Studies Quarterly, Vol. 33, Iss. 1 [1993], Art. 16 byustudies BYU Studies 194 christ were meaningless thus barth started the theological process over this time writing church dogmatics because of barths earths move away from interpreting the christian faith in philosophical terms and categories rudolf bultmann accused barth of ceasing to interpret scripture and of returning to a naive biblical literalism and dogmatism that should not be tolerated in the modem world bultmann believed that the language of the bible was time bound and needed to be demythologized or more accurately existentialized 7 existential philosophy coupled with historical critical analysis could historicalcritical remove the chaff from the grain Bult manns successors suggested other hermeneutical keys for bultmanns getting at the true meaning of the text for gerhard ebeling man is a linguistic being subject to words thus the word event finds a correspondence in man 8 for wolfhart pannenberg the historical event in its historical context is the revelatory event 9 these efforts apart from karl barths had one thing in common a basic optimism about human reason and a reticence about revelation the situation appears to be similar with barlows book because he with his chosen tools cannot or does not access continuing revelation prophets and an active holy spirit who inspires understanding in readers of the bible he seeks to find mormon interpretive principles in places different from where mormon leaders have always claimed them to be found ie in the spirit of revelation thus barlow by sympathizing with modem historical critical methodologies odo logies abandons the historical mormon hermeneutic and in effect significantly limits the scope and value of his enterprise which cormons have interpreted the bible to compreis to ascertain how mormons hend adequately the principles upon which mormon hermeneutics are based the categories of the theologian are essential the tools of the historian are not wholly adequate to the task 117 NOTES if as barlow suggests the historians task is to deal with the visible one must wonder how historians can identify moral and spiritual truths both of which have their roots in a plane beyond the visible realm 1 https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol33/iss1/16 10 Keller: <em>Mormons and the Bible: The Place of the Latter-day Saints in cormons and the bible review of mormons 2 195 lik like joseph eJoseph ilke likejoseph formost for most latter day saints this is not surprising for the prophets ilk and brigham are the conduit for new truths that have not yet been made known to others like pratt 3 313oth both luther and calvin held positions on the spirit much like that of brigham young reason alone the tools of the scholar or the authority of the church were insufficient for an adequate interpretation of scripture apart from the spirit there was no true interpretation john dillenberger states luthers use ofthe term right reason was a demand for sensible interpretation of scripture against the presumptuous claims ofthe church such interpretation involved being grasped by the biblical word and the spirit conjoined in such a way that one was laid hold of by more than what the text said it was being grasped in ones depth being redirected in ones total being including heart and mind by the living word john Dillen gerger ed martin luther selectionsfrom selections from his writings garden city NY dillenberger dillengerger anchor books 1961 xxxi similarly calvins heading to book 1 chapter 7 in the institutes leaves little doubt where he stood on the role ofthe spirit scripture must be confirmed by the witness of the spirit thus may its authority be established as certain and it Is a wicked falsehood that its credibility depends on the judgment of the church john T mcneill ed calvin institutes of the christian religion trans ford lewis battles 2 vols the library of christian classics series vol 20 philadelphia westminster press 1967 174 41 fundamental to mormonism is the belief that it is not a particular translation which makes the bible understandable but rather the spirit of god which takes any imperfect translation and makes the text clear to the reader secondly latter day saints see themselves as a people under the authority of a living prophet it was the prophet of god in this case harold B lee who made the decision to use the kingjames king james text in the 1979 edition of the scriptures for official church purposes in english speaking areas see the article bible king james version in daniel H ludlow ed encyclopedia of mormonism new york macmillian 1991 since latter day saints believe the prophet to be inspired they need not question that institutional decision having said this however any latter day saint is free to consult other translations to assist in the interpretative process as directed by the spirit I1barlows footnote 44 on page 198 states bennions Benn ions definition of a religious mormon liberal denotes a person with an ethical emphasis who is concerned with people more than with doctrine who is prepared to adapt the theology and structure of a church to serve human values and who is open minded and free to think rather than feeling obligated a priori to accept the pronouncements of either scripture or human authority figures barlow cites A saint for all seasons an and lowell february 1985 interview with lowell L bennion sunstone 10 10february 198577 17 andlowell L bennion being a liberal in do justly and love mercy moral issues for mormons centerville cormons 94 Cent erville utah canon press 1988 85 8594 6 it seems to the reviewer that barlow makes a sharper dichotomy between bennion and mcconkie than is necessary neither position is absolutely exclusive of the other the dominant difference is in emphasis even though the two individuals in question may have felt that they were quite removed from one another 71I see rudolf bultmann new testament and mythology in kerygma and werner bartsch new york harper iggi 1 16 and & row 19611 1961 myth ed hans hanswemerbartsch andrudolf rudolf harper&row bultmannjesus Bultmann jesus christ and mythology new york charles scribners sons 1958 bultmanne5m5 Published by BYU ScholarsArchive, 1993 11 BYU Studies Quarterly, Vol. 33, Iss. 1 [1993], Art. 16 byustudies BYU studies 196 see gerhard ebeling god and word trans james W leitch philadelphia fortress 1967 and gerhard ebeling theology and proclamation dialogue with bultmann trans john riches philadelphia fortress 1966 9 see Wol thart pannenberg what Is a dogmatic statement and redempwolfhart woi tive event and history in basic questions in theology trans george H kehm 2kvols vois philadelphia fortress 1970 1182210 vols 2vols 115 80 respectively and 1182 210 and 11580 Wolffi art pannenberg dogmatic theses on the doctrine of revelation in wolfhart revelation as history ed wolfhart pannenberg and others trans david granskou new york macmillan 1968123 1968 125 123 58 81I https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol33/iss1/16 12