Gospel Topics Review (Intro) Part 1

Viewpoint on Mormonism, the program that examines the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from a biblical perspective. Viewpoint on Mormonism is sponsored by Mormonism Research Ministry. Since 1979, Mormonism Research Ministry has been dedicated to equipping the body of Christ with answers regarding the Christian faith in a manner that expresses gentleness and respect. And now, your host for today's Viewpoint on Mormonism. Welcome to this edition of Viewpoint on Mormonism. I'm your host, Bill McKeever, founder and director of Mormonism Research Ministry, and with me today is Eric Johnson, my colleague at MRM. If you've listened to Viewpoint on Mormonism for any amount of time, you know that we often make reference to a set of essays that are known as the Gospel Topics essays.

Well, there's a book that came out in late 2020. It was published by Signature Books, titled the LDS Gospel Topics Series, a Scholarly Engagement. Now first of all, we should explain, why do we refer to the Gospel Topics essays?

What are these all about? And should a Christian who is interested in sharing their faith with a Latter-day Saint acquaintance familiarize themselves with some of the things that are in these essays if they hope to have a very meaningful conversation with their LDS friends? We certainly do think they should. It's not that they need to be an expert in every one of the essays, but there is a lot of good information. I remember speaking to a group of staff members with an apologetic organization in Budapest, Hungary, Eric, and I was to give a talk on the Gospel Topics essays. And one of the things that I wanted to get across to those that were listening is the Gospel Topics essays are really a wealth of information, usable information, that we as Christians can use without any fear whatsoever because they have this sanction of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints leadership. Even though we know that none of the essays have an author's name on it, we know that the Church has come out with a statement saying that members of the Church should read these essays. They should know them. They should be very familiar with them.

And that they do have the authority of the First Presidency behind them. That is huge because the essays are not all that long. You can become very familiar with some of the basic points in just a matter of a few minutes, really, in reading some of these. And you can use that information when talking to a Latter-day Saint. Well, let's talk about what is in this book because we're going to be spending quite a few episodes of Viewpoint on Mormonism going through some of the chapters that deal with the essays. There are originally 13 Gospel Topics essays. They've since come out with some other essays that are known as historical essays.

But this book deals with the original 13. How does this book describe what a reader will find in this book? In its summary, it says, This anthology provides a scholarly, in-depth analysis of the 13 Gospel Topics essays issued by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from December 2013 to October 2015. The contributors reflect a variety of faith traditions, including the LDS Church, Community of Christ, Catholic, and Evangelical Christian. Each contributor is an experienced, thoughtful scholar, many having written widely on religious thought in general and Mormon history in particular. The writers probe the strengths and weaknesses of each of the Gospel Topics essays, providing a forthright discussion on the relevant issues in LDS history and doctrine. The editors hope that these analyses will spark a healthy discussion about the Gospel Topics essays as well as stimulate further discussion in the field of Mormon studies. Now as we said, this book is published by Signature Book.

We should probably talk about Signature Books because Signature Books is a bit controversial in its own right. It was co-founded by a man by the name of George D. Smith and another gentleman by the name of Scott Kenny. George Smith has a chapter in this book. It's Remembering, Forgetting, and Remembering 19th Century LDS Plural Marriage.

I would say that would be an appropriate chapter for George Smith to write because he wrote a whole book on Nauvoo polygamy, so he's very familiar with the subject. George Smith is very familiar with Mormon history, and that's probably why a lot of faithful Latter-day Saints are not real happy with Signature Books, because they do tend to publish books that are going to say things that you would not find in what we would call a faith-promoting book published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints itself. So Signature Books has come out with a number of titles over the years. It was founded in 1980. Its first book came out in 1981. We were looking at our library here at MRM, and we have a number of books that are published by Signature.

And I find them to also have a wealth of information, usable information, that often tells a side of Mormonism that maybe most members are not familiar with. There's not a whole lot on George D. Smith out there that we can understand him better. He's kind of private, but he is a wealthy businessman. He made a lot of money, apparently, in his years. He is in his 80s now.

But I'm looking at a Los Angeles Times article from 1991 that did a feature on him, and it's the only feature I was able to actually find additional information about him. And this is what it says in part. As president of Signature Books, and that was founded in 1980, and then his first book was published in 1981, and it says an independent publisher of Mormon-related history and literature, Smith says he is committed to unfettered historical inquiry.

This is what he said. Whatever a historian overturns, if it's an actual document or a contemporary statement back in the 1800s that reveals something that's important, we will not shy away from publishing it if the author has done responsible historical research. I'm willing to shake the tree, and perhaps others don't like to shake the tree because it's sacred. I think that's an incredible quote, because what he's saying is the history and its accurate history is more important to him than just trying to say, I'm a Latter-day Saint, which he claimed in the article, he claims that he is still a Latter-day Saint, but is not wanting to just repeat the standard, I'm a Mormon, just because I believe it to be true. He wants it to be true because historically it should be true. But isn't it interesting that that statement made by George D. Smith, if the Church itself had followed those guidelines, do you think the Gospel Topics essays would have needed to be written in the first place?

And this book probably would never be published! You see, the whole reason for the Gospel Topics essays, folks, and we're going to be getting into this in the next few days. The reason they were written was because the Church was putting out an airbrushed history that tended to always ignore the warts of Mormonism and a lot of the movers and shakers in early Mormonism. That led to a lot of people having their faith shaken, because when more truthful history started coming out, and I would say Signature would be responsible for a lot of that, I would say that a lot of critics of Mormonism were responsible for a lot of that. When that information started getting out, it started causing problems with a lot of the membership.

If the Church had only followed what George D. Smith wanted to do from the very beginning, they probably wouldn't find themselves in the situation they are in right now, and that is damage control. I think you're right when you talked about all the books that you have on your bookshelf. We have read a number of them, and they do a very credible job. They come out with about eight to ten books a year since the 1980s, and so there are a number of books out there. What I like about them is they're honest, but LDS scholars have oftentimes criticized the messenger.

In fact, let me give you one. Stephen E. Robinson, who wrote a number of books, including Our Mormons, Christians, and Believing Christ, he used to be the chairman of the Department of Ancient Scripture at BYU before he died a few years ago. This is what he said, Give me ex-Mormons for Jesus, or the Moody Bible Tract Society, who are at least honest about their anti-Mormon agenda, instead of signature books camouflaged as a Latter-day Saint Press. I prefer my anti-Mormons straight up. Now he's referring to ex-Mormons for Jesus, which was really popular back in those days in the 80s and 90s.

Moody Bible Tract Society had produced several books as well as tracts about Mormonism, and that's what they're referring to. But Daniel Peterson is an LDS scholar who has also criticized signature books. This is what he said, signature books and George D. Smith seem to have a clear, if unadmitted agenda, an agenda that is often hostile to centrally important beliefs of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Do you hear what he's saying? What Peterson and as well Robinson are saying is, if you're going to tell us the truth, we don't want to hear it if it's going to go against our belief system. And George D. Smith is saying, if your system can't stand up to the facts of the history and the doctrines that this Church has taught and the history of how this Church came about and how it is today, then maybe this is not a religion that you ought to have. And it's funny because there were past leaders in the Church that kind of echoed what George D. Smith was wanting to accomplish. Perhaps a lot of those statements now, looking back, were nothing more than bravado to try and calm those who may have been upset by something they could have heard. You know, like the statement by George A. Smith that if a faith cannot bear to be investigated, okay, its foundation must be very weak.

I'm paraphrasing, but that's basically what he said. In other words, we should be able to look at the foundation of this movement. We should be able to critique what LDS leaders have said, if that's what they want their people to believe. If we're having to ignore a lot of what they've said, does a member really get a well-rounded understanding of the very Church they belong to?

I would say no, they don't. And I would go back to the statement that you cited earlier where George Smith is wanting to get this information out, regardless of where the history went. If the LDS Church had always done that, I don't think they would be in the situation that they are in now.

They would have never had a need to come up with the Gospel Topics essays, because a lot of what is in those essays would have already been in Church curriculum. Signature Books has never made a profit. It's been propped up by George D. Smith, who apparently has a lot of money. We don't know how much money he has, so he has an agenda. He wants the truth to get out. But this is what Stephen E. Robinson said in reviewing one of the books that came out called The Word of God, Essays in Mormon Scripture. Robinson said this, Korihor is back, and this time he's got a printing press. In his continuing assault upon traditional Mormonism, Signature Books promotes with its recent and dubious titled work, The Word of God Naturalistic Assumptions in Dealing with Latter-day Saint Belief. Of course, Korihor is talked about in Alma chapter 30 in the Book of Mormon as being an Antichrist to equate Signature Books with Korihor or George D. Smith with Korihor.

That's pretty low. Well, it's meant to be an ad hominem. And of course, to use an ad hominem argument like that tells me you don't really have a good argument. You don't call names. Let's just deal with the issues and leave the name calling aside. Unfortunately, name calling is popular, especially in our culture today.

And it's unfortunate that Stephen E. Robinson used it when he made that comment. Looking for a book on Mormonism from a Christian perspective? Or do you have questions about the history or doctrines of the LDS Church? Bill McKeever and Eric Johnson are once again volunteering at the Utah Lighthouse Bookstore and would be glad to speak to you on Saturdays from 1 to 5 p.m. The Utah Lighthouse Bookstore is located right there at 1358 South on West Temple Street in Salt Lake City. Be sure to come by any Saturday from 1 to 5 p.m. and say hi to Bill or Eric.