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"In 1830, Joseph Smith published the Book of Mormon, a foundational work in the history of American religion that has remained an object of controversy and debate for nearly two centuries. For much of that time, scholars and members of various religious organizations have either defended Smith's writing as the divinely-inspired word of God, or, to varying degrees, called into question its religious authority. That debate, according to the editors of "Producing ancient scripture," is a tired one. What's needed today is a modern scholarly approach to the Book of Mormon and the rest of Smith's writings. To that end, the essays in this volume, as the editors note, analyze "the texts that Smith produced in terms of his personal practices and experiences, his immediate environment and circumstances, his biographical background and cultural context, and the broader contours of early American history." Different methodological approaches and an adherence to, for example, modern theories in sociology, feminism, and comparative religion, are used by contributors to argue points that, in most cases, neither prove or disprove the divine origins of Smith's texts"--
About the author
Michael Hubbard MacKay is associate professor in the Department of Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University and a former historian and coeditor at the Joseph Smith Papers project.
Mark Ashurst-McGee is a senior historian in the Church History Department and the senior research and review editor for the Joseph Smith Papers project, where he serves as a specialist in document analysis and documentary editing methodology.
Brian M. Hauglid is associate professor and visiting fellow at the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship.
Summary
Joseph Smith, the founding prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, produced several volumes of scripture between 1829 and 1844. Less read and studied are the texts that Smith translated. This collaborative volume is the first to study Joseph Smith's translation projects in their entirety.
