Book of Mormon at Harvard: The Metaphysical Elders report in a Nov. 7 blog that Terryl Givens, an LDS scholar who has published thoughtful work on LDS and Book of Mormon themes, recently presented at the Harvard Divinity School. He is trying to do work in the no-man's land between apologists and critics, a task likely to garner appreciation from neither camp. The Historian comments here: A close non-LDS friend of mine characterized Givens’ talk as “apologetic.” Perhaps it was. It celebrated in how Mormonism had closed the “sacred distance” that “other Christian religions” had seen as central to their religious experience. It was enthusiastic, and perhaps even triumphalistic. As a Mormon, I loved it.
. . . For short, sympathetic FARMS reviews of Givens' The Viper on the Hearth: Mormons, Myth, and the Construction of Heresy (Oxford Univ. Press, 1997), click here and here. A short review of Givens' By the Hand of Mormon: The American Scripture that Launched a New World Religion (Oxford Univ. Press, 2002) at AML (Association for Mormon Letters) is given here. Sample: Givens' clearly orthodox approach to the Book of Mormon, and to the authority of the church, sometimes affects his views on various questions. His bias clearly shows, for example, in his discussion of the "New Mormon History," already discussed. That makes it pretty clear why The Historian's non-LDS friend perceived Givens as apologetic. Yet his approach, examining rather than dismissing or defending LDS texts and claims, is the best hope for the future of Mormon Studies.
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