Believing History: Latter-day Saint Essays Rating :
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25 of 26 people found the following review helpful.
Believable Scholarship
By Raymond Swenson
One of the values of Professor Bushman's essays on the history of Mormons and Mormonism is that he is up front with the reader about his own views on the truth claims of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He does not hide his commitment to the Church and its teachings, but is simultaneously honest about the facts he reports and the facts he does not know. Reading the essays is like sitting down over dinner with an intelligent friend who relates his own understanding with integrity and lays out the reasons for his analysis. Whether or not you accept the assertions of Joseph Smith about his experiences, Bushman notes, the evidence, of the kind that historians rely on for all other facts, shows that Smith himself spoke and acted consistently with HIM actually believing in the truth of his experiences. Similarly, whether or not you accept Bushman's conclusions on various issues, it is clear that Bushman himself has come honestly to his conclusions, while recognizing your right to disagree. His writing is lucid and does not conceal facts behind glittering generalities. Where facts are unclear he does not create a fictional version to satisfy our desire to speculate. Reading these essays, one wishes that more scholars who study the New Testament were willing to be similarly frank when they tell us their assessment of that collection of texts.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful.great example of intellectual faith
By Tom Trails
Probably the best part of this book is the chapter in which Bushman tries to explain in a straightforward, sincere way why he believes in Mormonism and continues to devote his life to it, despite the areas of belief that cannot be intellectually understood. I consider that essay essential reading for every Latter-Day Saint that who tries to reconcile intellectual uncertainty and the spiritual stirrings of faith. For that matter, it is recommended for people of any religious background who struggle with that same thing. I think he exemplifies the way in which faith and spirituality can greatly complement reason and intellect, and that the process of intertwining them is deeply satisfying in a way that neither half can be on its own.
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful.Great Book about Joseph Smith and the Histroy of The Latter-Day Saints
By Brandon Homer
Bushman has written some very good essays over the years, which are compiled in this book. Previous to reading these essays, I read his most recent book, Rough Stone Rolling. Both of these books are great. Bushman does not tell you, the reader, what to think because of the events that happened many years ago. All that he does is report the history & report it in the context of what was happening at the time & the general attitudes of the peoples of America at the time history happened. This book is good for Member and Non Member of the LDS Faith.
Product Description
The eminent historian Richard Bushman here reflects on his faith and the history of his religion. By describing his own struggle to find a basis for belief in a skeptical world, Bushman poses the question of how scholars are to write about subjects in which they are personally invested. Does personal commitment make objectivity impossible? Bushman explicitly, and at points confessionally, explains his own commitments and then explores Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon from the standpoint of belief.
Joseph Smith cannot be dismissed as a colorful fraud, Bushman argues, nor seen only as a restorer of religious truth. Entangled in nineteenth-century Yankee culture -- including the skeptical Enlightenment -- Smith was nevertheless an original who cut his own path. And while there are multiple contexts from which to draw an understanding of Joseph Smith (including magic, seekers, the Second Great Awakening, communitarianism, restorationism, and more), Bushman suggests that Smith stood at the cusp of modernity and presented the possibility of belief in a time of growing skepticism.
When examined carefully, the Book of Mormon is found to have intricate subplots and peculiar cultural twists. Bushman discusses the book's ambivalence toward republican government, explores the culture of the Lamanites (the enemies of the favored people), and traces the book's fascination with records, translation, and history. Yet Believing History also sheds light on the meaning of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon today. How do we situate Mormonism in American history? Is Mormonism relevant in the modern world?
Believing History offers many surprises. Believers will learn that Joseph Smith is more than an icon, and non-believers will find that Mormonism cannot be summed up with a simple label. But wherever readers stand on Bushman's arguments, he provides us with a provocative and open look at a believing historian studying his own faith.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #1489622 in Books
- Published on: 2007-02-13
- Original language:English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.06" h x5.79" w x.55" l,.91 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 312 pages
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