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Mormonism: The Faith of the Twenty-First Century

Edward K. Watson, Burnaby, B.C. Canada: Liahona Publications, 1998, 6.5x9.5" hardbound, 622 pages. ISBN: 1894161009

Edward Watson uses forty Bible versions and more than sixty Bible Dictionaries, Hebrew-English and Greek English Lexicons all of which are from the leading non-Mormon scholars in examining the usage and interpretation of pertinent biblical words and passages. He also draws from Kabbalistic writings, Rabbinical literature, the Pseudepigrapha, Apocrypha, the Church Fathers, Philo, Josephus, Dead Sea Scrolls, Targums and even theoretical physics and modern cosmology in presenting Mormon thought in a logical and biblical manner.

Contents

Definitions

Series Introduction: The best wayto know the Truth; Why are we called "Mormons"?; The intellectual appeal of Mormonism; The adaptability of Mormonism; What is Mormonism?; The Church is the Bride of Christ!; The four types of biblical experts; Is Mormonism a Cult?; Historical refutation vs Scriptural refutation; Coming back to the Book of Mormon.

Contents:

Section 1: Heavenly Father

1. Does Jesus Christ Currently Have a Humanoid, Immortal, Physical Body?

2. Is Jesus an Exact Replica of the Father? Does God have a "shape"? Does God have a "face"?

3. Is Our Physical Appearance after Heavenly Father's?

4. What is "Spirit" "Soul" and "Matter"?

5. Biblical Passages the anti-Mormons Use to Prove God the Father is a Nonmaterial Being

6. Biblical Passages Which Disprove God's Alleged Ontological Omnipresence

7. Biblical Passages the Anti-Mormons Use to Prove God's Alleged Ontological Omnipresence

8. Do the Latter-day Scriptures Teach God is an Immaterial Being?

9. Is God Unlimited and Infinite?

10. Can God be Called "Man"?

11. Many Early Christians Believed God Has a Physical Anthropomorphic Body

12. Is God Unchanging? Did He Create Everything?

13. Do the Terms, Everlasting, Eternal, Perpetual, Forever, Etc. Mean Without Beginning or Ending?

14. A Tale of Two Cosmologies: Multiversal and Universal

15. Is Heavenly Father Only a God of this World? / Is He Still Progressing?

16. God and the Problem of Evil

17. Biblical Passages used Against Mormonism's Concept of Heavenly Father

18. Is the Mormon "God" Inferior to the Traditional Christian's and What the Bible Says about God

Appendix: Important Greek Words

Section 2: Jesus Christ

PART I: Does Jesus have a pre-existence?

PART II: Is Jesus "God"?

1. Scriptural Passages that Describe Jesus as "God"

2. The Dual-Nature of Christ

3. Whose Gospel and Church?

4. Jesus: The Son of Man / The Son of God

5. Jesus is Lord!

6. Biblical Passages Some Use in Rejecting Jesus as "God"

7. Jesus: Created vs Uncreated

8. Is Jesus Subordinate to the Father?

PART III: Jesus and Jehovah

1. Jesus Christ is Jehovah

2. The Almighty God vs the Mighty God

3. The History of YHWH (Jehovah) in the Hebrew Scriptures

4. A Linguistical Error

5. Passages Used in Claiming Jesus Christ isn't YHWH

6. The Divine Bestowal of Authority

7. Jesus or Jehovah in the New Testament

8. Deliberate Deception

Section 3: The Holy Ghost

1. Uniterian vs Trinitarian. How Many Are They?

2. What is the Holy Ghost?

3. Is the Holy Ghost "God"?

4. Is the Holy Ghost Subordinate to the Father and Son?

Review Excerpt: "Encyclopedic in nature, and thoroughly apologetic in design, it grabs a question, turns it upside down and backwards, and squeezes every piece of information possible out of it. ... Clearly, this isn't a book one just sits and reads and pooliside. It is the kind of book you go to when you need support and reference on a specific question regarding LDS theology, providing tools that the average member will find useful.

Very intriguing are two opening statements, one called "Warning to Mormons" and the other "Warning to Non-Mormons." The first is a simple two-paragraph warns members not to depend on this book, or on scholarship at all, to produce a testimony. He understands that tools like this book may lead toward self-righteousness and pride as members present their critics with strong arguments. This is not his design.

The "Warning to Non-Mormons" is much more exhaustive. In five strong and non-compromising questions, Watson urges non-Mormon readers to "be honest with yourselves and with God," embracing those ideas which are demonstrably true and provable.

I thoroughly enjoyed perusing this volume. I've found myself turning to it for clear, sound discussions of questions concerning Mormon theology. And while Watson uses hundreds of sources and tackles some very difficult questions, his method is designed for comprehension and appeal to the non-scholar. ... And while some contemporary Mormon literature works its way around some of these difficult issues, Watson attacks them head-on, neither dodging issues nor spouting cliches to support them.

I'm very glad to have this book, and highly recommend it to serious students who will appreciate a major work of research and scholarship." --Jeffrey Needle, Reviewer, The Association for Mormon Letters

Title: Mormonism: The Faith of the Twenty-First Century

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