Turning from Truth: A New Look at the Great Apostasy

This is the one of three books I have read recently on the Great Apostasy. This is the shortest of the three and probably the best one if you want a quick overview of evidences of the Apostasy and a good summary of the restoration. Morrison briefly covers how the doctrines and ordinances changed quickly after the death of the Apostles and also summarizes the history of the church until the time of the restoration. He writes very clearly and convincingly. Years ago I had read "The Great Apostasy" by James Talmage which focused on the abuses that occurred in the middle ages and touched lightly on what occurred immediately after the apostles deaths since he did not have access to the writings of the early church fathers. Recent research has shown how quickly the Apostasy occurred immediately after time of the Apostles. It is fascinating to see how fast the doctrines changed. This book summarizes that data. The other two books I've recently read are "The Inevitable Apostasy and the Promised Restoration" by Tad R. Callister and "Where Have All the Prophets Gone? Revelation and Rebellion in the Old Testament and the Christian World" by Scott R. Petersen. Callister's and Petersen's books are much longer, but give more details and give more evidences. Both are well written, but from different perspectives. I recommend Morrison's book as the best concise summary of the subject, but I also liked the other two books, especially if you want more details on the subject.

This is a timely and concise review of the apostasy - that is, the process where the early Christian Church changed from the pure and simple doctrine and organization of Christ to the current abundance (1000+) of Christian churches - many of which teach diametrically opposed doctrines. The author is a high-ranking member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormon or LDS) and uses many quotes and doctrines from that church. The author has a doctorate from Cornell and also uses fairly scholarly, non-LDS sources for his research. (At the end of this review, I will place a short bibliography of essential works including whether or not they are LDS.) Any student of the New Testament realizes that an apostasy, rebellion, or falling away as Paul puts it, was prophesied by the Lord and his apostles. The only questions are when did it occur, how, why and by whom, and how extensive was it? The extensiveness of the apostasy is essential because this question is at the root of Protestantism and various restorationist churches like the LDS church. Past LDS and Protestant theologians often placed the blame on the dark ages and the Roman Catholic church. They would cite persecutions hundreds of years after the death of the apostles and cite the misdeeds of Popes and other clerics along with doctrines like Gnosticism that changed the original Christian ideas. Recent research and the wide availability of English translations of many original first century, second century, and later church documents have changed this perception. Morrison argues (as do many current writers) that the apostasy occurred very early on in the first and second century and was driven by members of the church who corrupted the doctrines and not by outsiders like Gnostics. The writings of Peter, Paul and John in the New Testament are in large part attempts by these apostles to call the membership of the church back to its original teachings. By the time of Revelations, there were almost no churches based on the true teachings of Jesus left according to John the Beloved Apostle himself. One strength of the book is the exposition on the early church fathers like Clement. Morrison notes that there is a lack of much essential material because each succesive wave of orthodoxy would naturally destroy or forget anything it deemed as wrong. I found the chapters of loss of Priesthood Authority and corruption of the scriptures to be the most compelling. He notes that we have only 10 words from the Gospel of John from the second century and greater fragments of some biblical books from the third century. All other sources are more recent and the Protestant authority Professor Ehrman notes "no two of these copies are exactly alike." I also found the authors summary of the history of the dark ages refreshing. He noted that there were great people and great advances during these times and that we could learn a lot from these people given the confusion that exists about