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I posted this on the swingutah forum and decided I should post it here too.
So, I'm lame and was browsing the religion threads on myspace cause I was bored. They were pretty much everyone aruging about who's right and who's not, but that's not the point I want to make. As I was browsing through these threads I realized that I really don't know that much about early christian history or about early mormon history either.
I was wondering if people could recommend any books? Specifically one's that deal with:
What happened after Christ's assention and how come it took like 40 years before anyone ever wrote anything down?
Any other books dealing with early Christian history would be cool too.
Any LDS views about the book of Thomas or Mary Magdalene or Gnosticism. (mainly referring to the Nag Hammadi library found in Egypt in 1945)
Joseph Smith's life history and this whole ordeal with freemasons (prefer an LDS view)
History of the church after the death of Joseph Smith. What caused the church to split?
And any other interesting questions that may arise.
So, I've been searching on the internet and found some books that I might consider reading sometime in my life. If anyone has ever read any of these I'd welcome any comments.
Books that deal with Joseph Smith and LDS history:
"No Man Knows My History" by Fawn Brodie] non-lds view of joseph smith
(read along with...)
"Reconsidering No Man Knows My History: Fawn M. Brodie and Joseph Smith in Retrospect" by Newell G. Bringhurst
"History of Joseph Smith by His Mother, Lucy Mack Smith: The Unabridged Original Version" by Lucy Mack Smith and R. Vernon Ingleton
"Joseph Smith's Quorum of the Anointed, 1842-1845: A Documentary History" by Devery Scott Anderson
"The History of the Church" by Joseph Smith, Jr.
Books that deal with the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi Library:
"What Da Vinci Didn't Know: An LDS Perspective" by Richard Neitzel Holzapfel, Andrew C. Skinner and Thomas A. Wayment
"The Dead Sea Scrolls: Questions and Responses for Latter-day Saints"
by Donald W. Parry and Stephen D. Ricks
"The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Their Significance for Understanding the Bible, Judaism, Jesus and Christianity"
by James VanderKam and Peter Flint
"James the Brother of Jesus: The Key to Unlocking the Secrets of Early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls"
by Robert H. Eisenman
"The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception"
by Michael Baigent
"The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English"
by Geza Vermes
"The Nag Hammadi Library in English"
by Robinson, James M
Books that deal with early Christian history:
"The History of the Church: From Christ to Constantine"
by Eusebius, Andrew Louth
"An Introduction to the Early History of Christian Doctrine: To the Time of the Council of Chalcedon" by James Franklin Bethune-Baker
"A History of God: The 4000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam" by Karen Armstrong
Feel free to keep adding recommendations.
You might want to check out The Great Apostasy, by James E. Talmage as well...
sqemily:Joseph Smith's life history and this whole ordeal with freemasons (prefer an LDS view).
I suppose I'll have to dig up the reference for this. This is roughly what I recall from Susan Easton Black's Church history class, and she would probably let you know where to look if asked by email.
Joseph Smith Sr. and some other respectable men who joined the church had been been free masons. They got a charter to open a guild hall in Nauvoo. Membership in the masons comes by publicly living a good life and nomination by current members. The Nauvoo guild inducted Joseph Smith, who joined, but came back the next day and corrected them on the diminished truths left in masonry. His clarifications and inspiration were sufficient to convince the hall that he was a new Solomon.
He had little further involvement in the masons, but his status as a member offered personal protection as well as clout in his campaign for president.
Not doctrine by any means, and I'll have to go find the notebook where I recorded that, but that's a start. No matter where you look for church history you will find strong biases. Primary sources are just as colored by dogma as tertiary ones. Definitely research scholary works, but take into account the professional skepticism which requires them to find explanations other than faith. I won't necessarily defend LDS authors either. Republishing rumors without verifying the sources (As I've done above) only hurts their credibility.
woot! i've been wanting to learn more about early christianity for a long time too. you'll have to share what you find with me.
i wanted to take a class when i was at Brigham's school, but i couldn't find a class. disappointing. to me, it's kind of insulting that we claim to belong to the true church of Christ, but we don't know much about how Christian religions evolved into what they are today.
You might want to check out The Great Apostasy, by James E. Talmage as well...
nothing agains James E. Talmage, but i've been trying to get non-mormon perspectives in my search. (not anti, just a different perspective). unfortunately, i haven't really read anything yet because i have issues reading non-fiction books. i've checked out a few books....i just haven't read them. [Emoticon not found]
The vast majority of the sources Talmage cites are "non-mormon", so looking through his references would be a good start to finding "different perspectives".
Traci, that makes sense to me... I mean, you are, after all, "different"
Right now I'm reading "Foxe's Book of Martyrs". It's mostly about early christian martyrs but covers a little more history than just that. It's definately not an LDS book, considering that it was written in the 1500's. It's a little hard to read cause of the writing style. I'm only on the second chapter.
oh, yeah, this was for traci.
sqemily:Joseph Smith Sr. and some other respectable men who joined the church had been been free masons. They got a charter to open a guild hall in Nauvoo. Membership in the masons comes by publicly living a good life and nomination by current members. The Nauvoo guild inducted Joseph Smith, who joined, but came back the next day and corrected them on the diminished truths left in masonry. His clarifications and inspiration were sufficient to convince the hall that he was a new Solomon.
He had little further involvement in the masons, but his status as a member offered personal protection as well as clout in his campaign for president.
Not doctrine by any means, and I'll have to go find the notebook where I recorded that, but that's a start. No matter where you look for church history you will find strong biases. Primary sources are just as colored by dogma as tertiary ones. Definitely research scholary works, but take into account the professional skepticism which requires them to find explanations other than faith. I won't necessarily defend LDS authors either. Republishing rumors without verifying the sources (As I've done above) only hurts their credibility.
Thanks. I knew Joseph Smith was a freemason but I didn't know if he joined before or after the first vision. I plan on reading these books sometime for comparison (LDS and non-LDS views). If you could think of any others that's great.
"No Man Knows My History" by Fawn Brodie] non-lds view of joseph smith
(read along with...)
"Reconsidering No Man Knows My History: Fawn M. Brodie and Joseph Smith in Retrospect" by Newell G. Bringhurst"History of Joseph Smith by His Mother, Lucy Mack Smith: The Unabridged Original Version" by Lucy Mack Smith and R. Vernon Ingleton
Buzz:Traci, that makes sense to me... I mean, you are, after all, "different"
you're one to talk
sqemily:Right now I'm reading "Foxe's Book of Martyrs". It's mostly about early christian martyrs but covers a little more history than just that. It's definately not an LDS book, considering that it was written in the 1500's. It's a little hard to read cause of the writing style. I'm only on the second chapter.
oh, yeah, this was for traci.
btw, Elder Vaughn Featherstone often references the significance of this book.
If you'd like another LDS perspective that references nearly innumerable, diverse, and reputable sources, I highly recommend delving into Hugh Nibley's writings ... after reading something easier to digest, such as The Great Apostasy by James Talmage.
Here's a few on the topics you mentioned:
Apostles And Bishops In Early Christianity (Nibley, Hugh, Works. V. 15.)
Mormonism and Early Christianity (Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, Vol 4)
OR an excerpt
No, Ma'am, That's Not History -- A Brief Review of Mrs. Brodie's Reluctant Vindication of a Prophet She Seeks to Expose
Apocryphal Writings and Teachings of the Dead Sea Scrolls
Hugh Nibley reviews some of the issues related to the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi library, noting that, like the Book of Mormon, they were buried with the expectation of being received by a later generation. ...
Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints (The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, Vol 13)
I've only referenced these occasionally. I have read Temple and Cosmos and Lehi in the Desert and the World of the Jaredites. I especially loved the second. I also have the DVDs of his honors Book of Mormon courses, but SHOOT, there's so many I've barely started watching them.
... oh also found this one:
The Early Christian Church in the Light of Some Newly Discovered Papyri from Egypt
sqemily:Right now I'm reading "Foxe's Book of Martyrs". It's mostly about early christian martyrs but covers a little more history than just that. It's definately not an LDS book, considering that it was written in the 1500's. It's a little hard to read cause of the writing style. I'm only on the second chapter.
Good choice. I think that would be a very good read for a closer to the source account, though 16th century certainly would limit the accuracy for any non-reformation martyrs.
Apparently Joseph Smith read it too. I remembered hearing about it in Truman G Madsen's 'Joseph Smith the Prophet'. He cites it to 'Reminiscences of Joseph, the Prophet', Edward Stevenson, 1893.
SpecialK:sqemily:Right now I'm reading "Foxe's Book of Martyrs". It's mostly about early christian martyrs but covers a little more history than just that. It's definately not an LDS book, considering that it was written in the 1500's. It's a little hard to read cause of the writing style. I'm only on the second chapter.
Good choice. I think that would be a very good read for a closer to the source account, though 16th century certainly would limit the accuracy for any non-reformation martyrs.
Apparently Joseph Smith read it too. I remembered hearing about it in Truman G Madsen's 'Joseph Smith the Prophet'. He cites it to 'Reminiscences of Joseph, the Prophet', Edward Stevenson, 1893.
Good call on that one, Scott. Thanks for looking it up.
Joseph Smith said "[The martyred reformers] were honest, devoted followers of Christ, according to the light they possessed and they will be saved."
It's important for Latter-day Saints and their neighbors to recognize that LDS theology condemns no one who is trying to live a good life no matter who they are and what beliefs they espouse. Even then, Saints will be held accountable unless they condemn actions and not people. Most of these reformers will be exalted for valiance to their testimonies of Christ.
Today's devotional had some very good thoughts about looking for answers. He told a story about a woman whose husband had a long list of questions about the church. He knew the answers, but responded that until the man had faith, he would just come up with more questions. Ultimately studying history will find evidence for whatever conclusions you want.
The same can be said of academics. They state a conclusion and seek evidence to back it up. Determining their motives is essential in understanding their work.
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