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Impact of Mormon Critics on LDS Scholarship -&- The Protean Joseph Smith (WMV)

John Lynch, Remarks about FAIR and the presentation of the 2002 John Taylor Defender of the Faith Award to Allan Wyatt, 7 minutes.

Michael R. Ash, "The Impact of Mormon Critics on LDS Scholarship," Mesa, Arizona: The Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research (FAIR), 2002 FAIR Conference, Windows Media Video (WMV), 53 minutes.

Brother Ash believes we should be thankful for anti-Mormons. In his presentation he explores the many things that LDS scholars have researched and learned from studying the issues raised by LDS critics. Instead of fighting against the critics, maybe we should be thanking them.

Some of the topics he addresses are:

* Can Opposition be Beneficial?

* Biblical Studies - The Joseph Smith Translation, New Testament Definition of Christianity, Deification/Theosis, Baptism for the Dead, Martin Luther and the Apostasy, Book of Abraham Studies - Book of Abraham as Penned by Abraham.

* Book of Mormon Studies - Anachronisms, Geography, Environmental Influences, Which Book Came First?, Plagiarism from the KJV, DNA.
* FARMS

* Nahom

* History - Fawn Brodie, Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Seerstones and Treasure Digging, The Smith Family, The First Vision

Michael Ash has been in several Elder's Quorum presidencies and taught the Priests, Elder's Quorum, Gospel Doctrine for the Single Young Adults, and has been teaching general Gospel Doctrine for 5 years. His first real encounter with anti-Mormon literature came in about 1980 after reading The Kingdom of the Cults. About four years later, after seeing The God Makers, Mike became interested in LDS apologetics. He's been an active participant in on-line LDS apologetics since 1990, and he currently owns and operates the MormonFortress.com Web site, a repository of apologetic articles refuting anti-Mormon accusations. He has authored nearly four dozen articles on his Web site and provides links to dozens of other articles authored by other LDS apologists. Mike was a presenter at the 2000 FAIR Apologetics Conference in Alta, Utah, and has published in the FARMS Review of Books 13:2, and Dialogue 35:4.

The Question & Answer period with Brother Ash following the main presentation is included.

Daniel C. Peterson, "The Protean Joseph Smith," The Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research (FAIR), 2002 FAIR Conference, Windows Media Video (WMV), 40 minutes.

"Dr. Daniel Peterson took his familiar position as keynote speaker to end the conference and presented an absolute delightful view of the failure of the critics to find a sound, naturalistic explanation for the origins of the Book of Mormon. From the days of the early church, 170 years ago, to today, Dr. Peterson demonstrated the absolute failure, time and time again, of anyone to present an alternative explanation to the divine origins of the Book of Mormon and the prophetic call of Joseph Smith. There is nothing left, but the divine, to explain it." --Cooper Johnson, excerpt from Meridian Magazine

Daniel C. Peterson received a bachelor's degree in Greek and philosophy from Brigham Young University (BYU) and, after several years of study in Jerusalem and Cairo, earned his Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). Dr. Peterson is a professor of Islamic Studies and Arabic at BYU, as well as a member of the board and associate executive director of its Institute for the Study and Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts, which has produced a computer-digitized version of the Dead Sea Scrolls, electronically recovered damaged documents from the ruins of Herculaneum, Petra, and elsewhere, and is engaged in joint publishing ventures with such institutions as the Vatican Apostolic Library in Rome.

He is the executive editor of BYU's three-part Middle Eastern Texts Initiative, which includes not only the Islamic Translation Series but two sister series: Graeco-Arabic Sciences and Philosophy, and Eastern Christian Texts. These series publish dual-language editions of classical works of medieval Arabic and Persian philosophy, Arabic medicine and science, and early Coptic, Syriac, and Christian Arabic literature. (The University of Chicago Press distributes the volumes.) He is the author of several books and numerous articles on Islamic and Latter-day Saint topics. Dr. Peterson served in the Switzerland Znrich Mission, and, for approximately eight years, on the Gospel Doctrine writing committee for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS) he has been referred to as the "Chief apologist for the LDS Church." Dr. Peterson also edits the FARMS Review of Books.

The Question & Answer period with Brother Peterson following the main presentation is included.

2002 Speaker Panel Question & Answer Session, 30 minutes.

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Title: Impact of Mormon Critics on LDS Scholarship -&- The Protean Joseph Smith (WMV)

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