Mormon scholarship, apologetics, and evangelical neglect: Losing the battle and not knowing it?

Trinity Journal, Fall 1998 by Mosser, Carl, Owen, Paul

Spiritual warfare is a reality. Battle in the spiritual realm is not fought with guns and tanks in the manner of the world. Instead it is a war of ideas that vies for people's minds. The apostle Paul tells us that the weapons we fight with have divine power to demolish such intellectual strongholds. Of Christians he says that, "we demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God" (2 Cor 10:5). However, tearing down arguments entails knowing first what the arguments are. This paper seeks to describe the scholarly and apologetic arguments of one group which we, as evangelicals, believe inhibit true knowledge of God.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Mormonism, has in recent years produced a substantial body of literature defending their beliefs. This paper does not discuss the full range of defensive and offensive scholarship by Latter-day Saints. Instead, we will focus our discussion upon those disciplines that fall under the broad categories of biblical studies and church history.l We choose these two categories because of the importance they play in understanding Christian origins and the nature of early Christianity. Both Mormonism and evangelicalism claim to be the church which Christ founded. Both claim to be the heirs of NT Christianity. Both cannot be correct.

We realize that what we say will not be welcomed by all. Some may criticize us for giving the Mormons too much credit and for being too harsh on fellow evangelicals. However, much like testifying against a loved one in court, we cannot hide the facts of the matter. In this battle the Mormons are fighting valiantly. And the evangelicals? It appears that we may be losing the battle and not knowing it. But this is a battle we cannot afford to lose. It is our hope that this paper will, in some small way, serve to awaken members of the evangelical community to the important task at hand.

I. EVANGELICAL MYTHS AND FIVE CONCLUSIONS

Too many evangelicals accept and propagate certain myths about Mormon scholarship. It is a myth that there are few, if any, traditional Mormon scholars with training in fields pertinent to evangelical-Mormon debates. It is a myth that when Mormons receive training in historiography, biblical languages, theology, and philosophy they invariably abandon traditional Latter-day Saints (LDS) beliefs in the historicity of the Book of Mormon and the prophethood of Joseph Smith. It is a myth that liberal Mormons have so shaken the foundations of LDS belief that Mormonism is crumbling apart. It is a myth that neoorthodox Mormons have influenced the theology of their church to such a degree that it will soon abandon traditional emphases and follow a path similar to the RLDS (Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) or the World-Wide Church of God.2 These are myths based upon ignorance and selective reading. Evangelicals who wish to be responsible must abandon them.

In response to these myths, we assert five conclusions concerning Mormon scholarship. First, there are, contrary to popular evangelical perceptions, legitimate Mormon scholars. We use the term scholar in its formal sense of "intellectual, erudite; skilled in intellectual investigation; trained in ancient languages."3 Broadly, Mormon scholarship can be divided into four categories: traditional, neoorthodox, liberal, and cultural. The largest and most influential of the four categories is traditional Mormon scholars. The Latter-day Saints are not an anti-intellectual group like Jehovah's Witnesses. Mormons produce work that has more than the mere appearance of scholarship.

Second, Mormon scholars and apologists (not all apologists are scholars) have, with varying degrees of success, answered most of the usual evangelical criticisms. Often these answers adequately diffuse particular (minor) criticisms. When the criticism has not been diffused the issue has usually been made much more complex.

Third, currently there are (as far as we are aware) no books from an evangelical perspective that responsibly interact with contemporary LDS scholarly and apologetic writings.4 A survey of twenty recent evangelical books criticizing Mormonism reveals that none interacts with this growing body of literature. Only a handful demonstrate any awareness of pertinent works. Many of the authors promote criticisms that have long been refuted. A number of these books claim to be "the definitive" book on the matter. That they make no attempt to interact with contemporary LDS scholarship is a stain upon the authors' integrity and causes one to wonder about their credibility.

Fourth, at the academic level evangelicals are needlessly losing the debate with the Mormons. In recent years the sophistication and erudition of LDS apologetics has risen considerably while evangelical responses have not.5 Those who have the skills necessary for this task rarely demonstrate an interest in the issues.

Finally, most involved in the counter-cult movement lack the skills and training necessary to answer Mormon scholarly apologetic. The need is great for trained evangelical biblical scholars, theologians, philosophers, and historians to examine and answer the growing body of literature produced by traditional LDS scholars and apologists.