Posted by:
spanner
(
)
Date: April 12, 2014 11:04PM
For a Mormon who is a conservative "chapel Mormon", I would recommend:
David Bokovoy. Authoring the Old Testament: Genesis–Deuteronomy. Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2014.
It is held by Deseret Book:
http://deseretbook.com/Authoring-Old-Testament-Genesis-Deuteronomy-David-E-Bokovoy/i/5123915This is written by an "internet" Mormon scholar who will blow any idea about the OT being history totally out of the water, and puts the BoM on very shaky ground. DB is a genuine scholar, and his faith in the Church is "nuanced" to say the least. While he and the mopologists can apparently stay faithful in spite of what they know, this will be a solid chunk of meat for a conservative TBM.(I wouldn't call DB a "mopologist", he doesn't use the shady tactics we associate with the mopos, DB is a genuine scholar)
You can get an idea of the book from an excellent series of podcasts on Mormon Matters here (David Bokovoy was one of the panelists):
http://mormonmatters.org/2013/10/01/194-197-genesis-part-1-creation-garden-expulsion-cursing/The whole series takes over 4 hours, and it is fascinating. But respectful of traditional believers without pulling punches.
That it is sold by Deseret Book and written by a faithful scholar should allow a TBM to read it in good conscience. But it is a book like Rough Stone Rolling and Mormon Enigma - going to rattle a few faith cages!
Having said all that, DB has further books planned; I am really interested to see how he handles the deutero-Isaiah issue - a critical flaw in the BoM.