The Books of My Life: The Book of Mormon

As I have mentioned on several occasions, I have had a thirty year interest in Mormonism, something that surprises some since I am not now and have never been a Mormon. Given this intellectual interest it is not surprising that at some point I would get around to reading Terryl Givens's The Book of Mormon: A Very Short Introduction (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009).

Givens is probably the leading believing Mormon polemicist and apologist of the new generation in early 21st century America. As historian Daniel Walker Howe notes in the blurb on the back of this 140 page book, Givens's very brief introduction to the Book of Mormon is a "reverent" one. Givens's short book is a "reverent" or apologetic and polemical exploration of the origins, structure, themes, tales, characters, teachings, use by the Mormon faith community, and controversies associated with the Book of Mormon since it was first published in 1830.

One has to wonder who the target audience of Givens's very short introduction is. I can't imagine many non-Mormons picking it up to read given its apologetic and polemical character and tone. It is far too brief for academics and academics interested in Mormonism who are more likely to turn to Givens's equally apologetic and polemical but fuller introduction to the apologetics and polemics associated with the Book of Mormon,  By the Hand of Mormon (2002). Believing Mormons and perhaps introductory classes in Book of Mormon Studies at one of the church owned colleges and believing Mormons who see an acknowledgement of their faith in Oxford University Press publishing a book on the Book of Mormon, seem more likely target markets to me.  For these last, it seems to me, a good if too brief state of the Mormon intellectual apologetic and polemical art to the Book of Mormon that can be read very quickly.