30717

30

113

Book

English

Givens, Terryl L.

The Pearl of Greatest Price : Mormonism's Most Controversial Scripture

New York, NY

Oxford University Press

2019

The Pearl of Greatest Price narrates the history of Mormonism's fourth volume of scripture, canonized in 1880. The authors track its predecessors, describe its several components, and assess their theological significance within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Four principal sections are discussed, along with attendant controversies associated with each. The Book of Moses purports to be a Mosaic narrative missing from the biblical version of Genesis. Too little treated in the scholarship on Mormonism, these chapters, produced only months after the Book of Mormon was published, actually contain the theological nucleus of Latter-day Saint doctrines as well as a virtual template for the Restoration Joseph Smith was to effect.

In The Pearl of Greatest Price, the author covers three principal parts that are the focus of many of the controversies engulfing Mormonism today. These parts are The Book of Abraham, The Book of Moses, and The Joseph Smith History. Most controversial of all is the Book of Abraham, a production that arose out of a group of papyri Smith acquired, along with four mummies, in 1835. Most of the papyri disappeared in the great Chicago Fire, but surviving fragments have been identified as Egyptian funerary documents. This has created one of the most serious challenges to Smith's prophetic claims the LDS church has faced. LDS scholars, however, have developed several frameworks for vindicating the inspiration of the resulting narrative and Smith's calling as a prophet. The author attempts to make sense of Smith's several, at times divergent, accounts of his First Vision, one of which is canonized as scripture. He also assesses the creedal nature of Smith's "Articles of Faith," in the context of his professed anti-creedalism. In sum, this study chronicles the volume's historical legacy and theological indispensability to the Latter-day Saint tradition, as well as the reasons for its resilience and future prospects in the face of daunting challenges.

Pearl of Great Price, Book of Abraham
Pearl of Great Price
Pearl of Great Price, Book of Moses

A Backstory for the Brass Plates
Adam, Eve, the Book of Moses, and the Temple : The Story of Receiving Christ's Atonement
A Guide to the Book of Abraham
Anchored in Revelation: Scripture and Schism in the Restoration
“Being of that Lineage”: Generational Curses and Inheritance in the Book of Abraham
Beneath, Below, Under: Joseph Smith's Queen Kahtoumun, Summer 1835
Charisma under Pressure: Joseph Smith, American Prophet, 1831–1839
Could Joseph Smith Have Drawn on Ancient Manuscripts When He Translated the Story of Enoch? : Recent Updates on a Persistent Question
Did Joseph Smith Use a Seer Stone in the Translation of the Book of Abraham?
Discussing Difficult Topics: The Book of Abraham
“From the Catecombs of Egypt” : Latter-day Saint Engagement with Ancient Egypt and the Contest of Religious Identity
Joseph Fielding Smith’s Evolving Views on Race: The Odyssey of a Mormon Apostle-President
Lectures on Faith in the Latter Day Saint Tradition
Let's Talk About Race and Priesthood
Let's Talk About the Book of Abraham
On Signifiers and Signified: Terryl Givens and Twenty-First-Century Book of Mormon Studies
Producing Ancient Scripture: Joseph Smith's Translation Projects in the Development of Mormon Christianity
Prophets and Prophecy in the Qur'an and the Book of Mormon
Prophets, Pagans, and Papyri: The Jews of Greco-Roman Egypt and the Transmission of the Book of Abraham
Returning to the Sources : Integrating Textual Criticism in the Study of Early Mormon Texts and History
“Strong Like unto Moses” : The Case for Ancient Roots in the Book of Moses Based on Book of Mormon Usage of Related Content Apparently from the Brass Plates
The Bible and the Latter-day Saint Tradition (book)
The Book of Enoch "Revised, Corrected, and the Missing Parts Restored"
The Book of Mormon Translation Process
The Book of Moses: From the Ancient of Days to the Latter Days
The LDS Gospel Topics Series : A Scholarly Engagement
The Lost Prologue : Reading Moses Chapter One as an Ancient Text
The Triangle and the Sovereign : Logics, Histories, and an Open Canon
Translation as Expansion : The Method of Joseph Smith's Revision of Genesis in Moses 1 and 7
Yet to Be Revealed: Open Questions in Latter-day Saint Theology

A Comprehensive History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
A Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church, Volume 3, 1853-57
A Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church, Volume One, 1830-1847
A Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church, Volume Two, 1848-1852
A Family of Faith : An Intimate View of Church History through the journals of three generations of Apostles -- Willard Richards, Franklin D. Richards, and George F. Richards, 1837-1950
A Guide to the Joseph Smith Papyri
Among the Mormons : Historic Accounts by Contemporary Observers
A Mormon Midrash? : LDS Creation Narratives Reconsidered
A Mormon Mother : An Autobiography of Annie Clark Tanner
An Address to All Believers in Christ. By a Witness to the Divine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon
An Approach to the Book of Mormon
An Egyptian Context for the Sacrifice of Abraham
A[n] Interesting Account of Several Remarkable Visions, And of the Late Discovery of Ancient American Records
An Introduction to the Book of Abraham
A Plea in Bar of Final Conclusions
Approaching Antiquity : Joseph Smith and the Ancient World
As a Thief in the Night : The Mormon Millennialist View
A Translation and Commentary of the Joseph Smith Hypocephalus
British Isles, The Church in
By Study and Also by Faith : The Faculty at Brigham Young University Responds
By the Hand of Mormon : The American Scripture that Launched a New World Religion
Defense of the Faith and the Saints
Early Mormon Documents : Volume II
Early Mormonism and the Magic World View
Early Mormon Pamphleteering
Early Patriarchal Blessings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Egyptology and the Book of Abraham
Enoch the Prophet
'Essential Gestures' : Craft and Calling in Contemporary Mormon Letters
Evolving Faith : Wanderings of a Mormon biologist
Facts Relative to the Expulsion of the Mormons, or Latter-day Saints from the State of Missouri, under the 'Exterminating Order'
Feeding the Flock : The Foundations of Mormon Practice : Sacraments, Authority, Gifts, Worship
Franklin D. Richards and the Pearl of Great Price
From Historian to Dissident : The Book of John Whitmer
History and the Claims of Revelation : Joseph Smith and the Materialization of the Golden Plates
History of Joseph Smith and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints : A source- and text-critical edition
History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Period I : History of Joseph Smith, the Prophet, by Himself
In the Press : Early Newspaper Reports on the Initial Publication of the Book of Mormon
Joseph Knight's Recollection of Early Mormon History
Joseph Smith as a Translator
Joseph Smith as Scientist : A Contribution to Mormon Philosophy
Joseph Smith : Prophecy, Process, and Plenitude
Joseph Smith : Rough Stone Rolling
Joseph Smith's First Vision : A Guide to the Historical Accounts
Joseph Smith's New Translation of the Bible
Joseph Smith's Revision of the Bible : Notes, History, and Comparisons
Joseph Smith : the First Mormon
Kirtland Council Minute Book
Lehi in the Desert; The World of the Jaredites; There Were Jaredites
Lucy's Book : A Critical Edition of Lucy Mack Smith's Family Memoir
Manuscript History of Brigham Young, 1847-1850
Mémoires d'un Mormon
Minutes of the Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Mormon Doctrine
Mormonism Unvailed : Or, a Faithful Account of That Singular Imposition and Delusion From Its Rise to the Present Time
Mormonism Unveiled; Or, A History of Mormonism from its Rise to the Present Time
Mormon Redress Petitions : Documents of the 1833-1838 Missouri Conflict
No Weapon Shall Prosper : New Light on Sensitive Issues
Opening the Heavens : Accounts of Divine Manifestations 1820-1844
Parley P. Pratt : The Apostle Paul of Mormonism
Personal Writings of Joseph Smith
Producing Ancient Scripture: Joseph Smith's Translation Projects in the Development of Mormon Christianity
Reflections on the Mormon 'Canon'
Regional Studies in Latter-day Saint Church History : Europe
Religion of a Different Color : Race and the Mormon Struggle for Whiteness
Reminiscences of the Granddaughter of Hyrum Smith
Schooling the Prophet : How the Book of Mormon Influenced Joseph Smith and the Early Restoration
Solomon Chamberlain-Early Missionary
Some Puzzles from the Joseph Smith Papyri
Stories from the Early Saints : Converted by the Book of Mormon
The American Religion : The Emergence of the Post-Christian Nation
The Book of Mormon as a Modern Expansion of an Ancient Source
The Book of Moses and the Joseph Smith Translation Manuscripts
The Breathing Permit of Hor : A Translation of the Apparent Source of the Book of Abraham
The City of the Mormons : Or, Three Days at Nauvoo
The Complete Record of the Nauvoo Library and Literary Institute
The Dependence of Abraham 1:1-3 on the Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar
The Development of Early Latter-day Saint Marriage Rites, 1831-53
The Doctrinal Impact of the King Follett Discourse
The Earliest Documented Accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision
The Eliza Enigma
The Facsimiles of the Book of Abraham, A Study of the Joseph Smith Egyptian Papyri
The Heavens Resound : A History of the Latter-day Saints in Ohio, 1830-1838
The Impact of the First Preaching in Ohio
The Joseph Smith Egyptian Papyri : A Complete Edition : P. JS 1-4 and the Hypocephalus of Sheshonq
The Joseph Smith Egyptian Papyri : Phase One
The Lion of the Lord : A Biography of Brigham Young
The Meaning and Attraction of Mormonism Re-examined
The Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri : An Egyptian Endowment
The Millenarian World of Early Mormonism
The Missouri Persecutions
The Mormon Ideology of Place : Cosmic Symbolism of the City of Zion, 1830-1846
The Mormon Succession Crisis of 1844
The Original Length of the Scroll of Hor
The Papers of Joseph Smith, Volume 2 : Journal, 1832-1842
The Prophet Joseph : Essays on the Life and Mission of Joseph Smith
The Revised and Enhanced History of Joseph Smith by His Mother
The Rise of a New World Faith
The Second American Revolution : Era of Preparation
The Story of the Book of Abraham : Mummies, Manuscripts, and Mormonism
The Theological Foundations of the Mormon Religion
The Traditions of Their Fathers : Myth versus Reality in LDS Scriptural Writings
The Visionary World of Joseph Smith
The Weeping God of Mormonism
They Knew the Prophet
Translating Time : The Nature and Function of Joseph Smith's Narrative Cannon
Truman Coe's 1836 Description of Mormonism
Understanding the Book of Mormon : A Reader's Guide
Universalism and the Revelations of Joseph Smith
When Souls Had Wings : Pre-Mortal Existence in Western Thought
Wilford Woodruff's Journals
Women's Letters from Nauvoo
Wrestling the Angel : The Foundations of Mormon Thought : Cosmos, God, Humanity