Review of The Book of Mormon: A Guide to Christian Living (Bennion)

Lowell Bennion's book is well titled. He addresses Christian principles thematically, generally emphasizing Book of Mormon scriptures that highlight these principles. His book is comprised of three divisions: 1) Wisdom in Everyday Living, 2) Principles and Ordinances of the Gospel, and 3) Some Universal Concepts. Some of the chapters seemed like Sacrament meeting talks - they had a few stories, a few scriptures, and were centered upon a specific gospel principle. The book is insightful and inspiring at times, thus, it achieves its objective to some degree; of course the degree to which one is inspired or enlightened will depend upon the reader, but some of the more memorable quotations (in my opinion) are captured below. What it is not is an exegetical treatise. Context, author and editorial perspective, historicity, literary function, and other approaches to Book of Mormon studies are absent in this book - it wasn't written for these purposes, rather, it serves as a good representation of Bennion's reflections on Christian principles highlighted by Book of Mormon scriptures.  

Review of Life In Ancient America (Leland Monson)

Leland H. Monson's book, Life in Ancient America: A Study of the Book of Mormon, was a Sunday School manual printed in 1958. This book contains 131 pages and comprises 48 lessons that are made up of disparate blocks of chapters, beginning with 1 Nephi and proceeding through each book of scripture until ending with Moroni. For some undisclosed reason the Book of Ether is excluded from these lessons. Each lesson begins with a summary outline of the prominent events or teachings in the selected chapters and then proceeds to provide some commentary as well as posing a handful of "Questions and Problems." The outlines provide more information than typical chapter headers, but are selective in what is disclosed. Monson's commentary generally consists of a handful of paragraphs that tends to restate, to some extent, what was already summarized in the lesson outline, but also contains an occasional quotation from B.H. Roberts, or other notable profiles, such as John Henry Evans, Henry Drummond or Shelley. The questions/problems portion of each lesson are rather generalized and are primarily concerned with modern applicability.

Review of An Other Testament (Joseph Spencer)

Joseph Spencer's An Other Testament is one of the more interesting and thought provoking books available on The Book of Mormon. It is the kind of book that generates greater appreciation for the sophistication and complexity of the literary and theological structure of the Book of Mormon. It is the kind of book that makes you wish that you could have identified the brilliant insights in your reading of the Book of Mormon that Joe Spencer identified in his reading of the Book of Mormon. It is the kind of book that I wish I was capable of writing. At the end of the day, we can be glad that we have great minds, like Joseph Spencer, to teach the profound ways in which we can appreciate The Book of Mormon, and in this case, appreciation for how The Book of Mormon intends to be read based upon its own terms. This last statement should be qualified, however, if we are to consider that The Book of Mormon is comprised of multiple authors, the appreciation is for how Nephi and Abinadi intend for their teachings and interpretations of Isaiah to be understood.