07-20-2007, 04:41 PM | #11 | |
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If you find Palmer's assertions truly that novel, then you really have been out of the loop. Some of your aspertions on the FARMS article are out of place, if you are not simply being sarcastic. Although his book is of interest, I don't find some of his observations that empirical. Take for instance the claim that Mormons receive confirmations from the Holy Ghost. Mormons never claim nonMormons can have the same sensations. In fact, if you read what is said, we claim all can feel those sesnsations and not just on matters affecting LDS claims. He uses that episode to disabuse us of the notion that religion should not seek nonempirical confirmation of religious issues. Your departure from LDS culture seems to have been at a time before a vast amount of information was released and digested, or at least during the time much of it was redigested. Thus, it is amusing to read, if you're not being polemical, your childlike revelations to old information.
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07-20-2007, 04:51 PM | #12 | |
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I confess to being out of the loop. Responding to Pelagius' comment that Palmer's not a "historian," as I've noted, many authors of estimable even classic historical works--Shelby Foote and Barbara Tuchman are two examples among many--don't have formal training as historians. Plamer certainly has an impressive platform for this work, and, as I've noted, this isn't rocket science. There isn't that much there there.
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07-21-2007, 02:33 AM | #13 |
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I read the book ~ a year ago. I thought the discussion on the parallels between camp meeting preaching language and the language used in the BOM was interesting. It gives a plausible explanation for how the BOM could have been written by other than miraculous means.
It reads more like an opinion piece than an actual scholarly work. However, the title of the book tells you as much. It is one insiders view. It is an interesting quick read. |
07-21-2007, 02:40 AM | #14 | |
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John Dehlin interviewed Palmer for his Mormon Stories podcast last year. In the interview, Palmer says that the original title of the book was "New York Mormons" and then something like "the Origins of Mormonism." But as a marketing ploy, his publisher (Signature Books) elected to change the title to "An Insider's View of Mormon Origins." So the FARMS criticism -- that Palmer isn't really an "insider" (e.g. GA, official church historian) -- is really a hollow criticism.
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07-21-2007, 03:42 AM | #15 | |
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07-21-2007, 03:50 AM | #16 |
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Wasn't he an instructor with the CES for years and years? Why doesn't that make him an insider?
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07-21-2007, 04:30 AM | #17 |
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Please tell me you are joking.
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07-21-2007, 05:52 AM | #18 |
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07-21-2007, 02:29 PM | #19 |
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Hollow in the sense that whether or not he is a "Insider" has nothing to do with the quality of his research and conclusions.
Hollow in the sense that the title was a marketing ploy to which he freely admits was his publisher's decision. Hollow in the sense that "Insider" is an ambiguous term with plenty of room for reasonable interpretations.
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07-21-2007, 02:49 PM | #20 |
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I'm not joking. I have no idea if he is an insider. Is he a notorious character or something? I assume BKP and others like him want his head on a pike.
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Interrupt all you like. We're involved in a complicated story here, and not everything is quite what it seems to be. —Paul Auster |
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