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The Book of Mormon: A Very Short Introduction
The Book of Mormon: A Very Short Introduction
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  • The only compact introduction to one of the most influential religious texts in the western world, written by a leading authority on Mormonism

  
With over 140 million copies in print, and serving as the principal proselytizing tool of one of the world's fastest growing faiths, the Book of Mormon is undoubtedly one of the most influential religious texts produced in the western world. Written by Terryl Givens, a leading authority on Mormonism, this compact volume offers the only concise, accessible introduction to this extraordinary work. 
 
Givens examines the Book of Mormon first and foremost in terms of the claims that its narrators make for its historical genesis, its purpose as a sacred text, and its meaning for an audience which shifts over the course of the history it unfolds. The author traces five governing themes in particular—revelation, Christ, Zion, scripture, and covenant—and analyzes the Book's central doctrines and teachings. Some of these resonate with familiar nineteenth-century religious preoccupations; others consist of radical and unexpected takes on topics from the fall of Man to Christ's mortal ministries and the meaning of atonement. Givens also provides samples of a cast of characters that number in the hundreds, and analyzes representative passages from a work that encompasses tragedy, poetry, sermons, visions, family histories and military chronicles. Finally, this introduction surveys the contested origins and production of a work held by millions to be scripture, and reviews the scholarly debates that address questions of the record's historicity. 
 
Here then is an accessible guide to what is, by any measure, an indispensable key to understanding Mormonism. But it is also an introduction to a compelling and complex text that is too often overshadowed by the controversies that surround it.

Index: 

List of Illustrations

I The Book of Mormon Speaks for Itself
1. Origins, Narrators, and Structure
2. Themes
3. Stories and Characters
4. The Book of Mormon as Literature
5. Teachings

Part II The Coming Forth of the Book of Mormon
6. The Book of Mormon and its Audiences
7. Joseph Smith and the Angel

Part III The life and reception of the Book of Mormon
8. The Book of Mormon in LDS faith and worship
9. Book of Mormon wars
10. Conclusion: The Book of Mormon in the twenty-first century

Appendix: Manuscripts, editions, and translations
Book of Mormon timeline
References
Further reading
Index

About the author: 

Terryl L. Givens is Professor of Literature and Religion and holds the James Bostwick Chair of English at the University of Richmond. Some of his books include Viper on the Hearth: Mormons, Myths, and the Construction of Heresy (Oxford, 1997), By the Hand of Mormon: The American Scripture that Launched a New World Religion (Oxford 2002), which the New York Times called provocative reading, People of Paradox: A History of Mormon Culture, which was named Best Book of the Year by the Mormon History Association for 2007, and most recently, When Souls Had Wings: Pre-Mortal Existence in Western Thought (Oxford 2009).

Product details

ISBN : 9780195369311

Author: 
Terryl L. Givens
Pages
152 Pages
Format
Paperback
Size
111 x 174 mm
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The Book of Mormon: A Very Short Introduction

The Book of Mormon: A Very Short Introduction

The Book of Mormon: A Very Short Introduction