Mormons And The Bible: The Place Of The Latter-day Saints In American Religion (religion In America)

Mormons and the Bible RELIGION IN AMERICA SERIES Harry S. Stout General Editor A Perfect Babel of Confusion Dutch Religion and English Culture in the Middle Colonies Randall Balmer The Presbyterian Controversy Fundamentalists, Modernists, and Moderates Bradley J. Longfield Mormons and the Bible The Place of the Latter-day Saints in American Religion Philip L. Barlow The Rude Hand of Innovation Religion and Social Order in Albany, New York 1652-1836 David G. Hackett Seasons of Grace Colonial New England's Revival Tradition in Its British Context Michael J. Crawford The Muslims of America edited by Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad Mormons and the Bible The Place of the Latter-day Saints in American Religion Philip L. Barlow OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS New York Oxford Oxford University Press Oxford New York Athens Auckland Bangkok Bogota Bombay Buenos Aires Calcutta Cape Town Dar es Salaam Delhi Florence Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madras Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi Paris Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto and associated companies in Berlin Ibadan Copyright © 1991 by Philip L. Barlow First published in 1991 by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 First issued as an Oxford University Press paperback, 1997 Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Barlow, Philip L. Mormons and the Bible : the place of the Latter-day Saints in American religion / Philip L. Barlow. p. cm. (Religion in America Series) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-19-506233-7; ISBN 0-19-510971-6 (pbk.) 1. Bible—Criticism, interpretation, etc.—History. 2. Mormon Church—Doctrines. 3. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—Doctrines. I. Title. II. Series: Religion in America series (Oxford University Press) BS500.B33 1991 220'.08'8283-dc20 90-36034 Portions of this work, in different form, appeared in the Journal of the American Academy of Religion,the Harvard Theological Review, and Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. Permission to incorporate this material here is appreciated. 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper To LaMar and Thelma Barlow, who coaxed from us an enduring reach for spirituality made relevant This page intentionally left blank Preface "No man knows my historiography." Were the corporate Mormon Church articulate, such a self-reflection would barely qualify as hyperbole. Since the mid-twentieth century—from about the time Fawn Brodie published her controversial biography of Joseph Smith1— students of Mormonism have produced a veritable flood of scholarship. Although Brodie's book was by no means the sole catalyst for this