To All the World: The Book of Mormon Articles from the Encyclopedia of Mormonism

The trouble with apologetic works is in the nature of what causes them: argument and criticism. Few people write apologetically about issues or ideas that are not already often hotly disputed. The pleasant aspect of this book is that, for the most part, it reminds that because the Book of Mormon is an actual text, it can also be treated objectively, whatever one believes about the ideas or issues that surround its origin and purposes. Many of the writers here -- whose articles are drawn from the somewhat monumental academic undertaking, The Encyclopedia of Mormonism -- allow the Book of Mormon to speak for itself. Therefore, we can see what the Book of Mormon appears to be when it is taken on face value that it is what it says it is: a text containing selected writings of an ancient people who were removed from the Near East and arrived and developed a multi-faceted cultural milieu in the Americas.In this way, 'Mormons' and non-'Mormons' alike are able to determine whether the Book of Mormon has the kind of internal consistency that could make its self-contained assertions credible. This might not be the way that 'Mormons' want us to "test" their sacred literature, but it certainly bows to the scientific objectivity of contemporary academic standards.In so doing, the book also proves that 'Mormon' scholars are genuine scholars and capable of participating in a broader academic field (as many of the contributors to this volume regularly do).