More quotes (1)

A few more quotes from Understanding the Book of Mormon. At some point in my reading, I realized I wasn't underling in my usual style, so I am going back through to catch some other things that struck my notice and marking some other parts for my own scripture study. Anything after this is either quoting Hardy or someone Hardy quotes:

The Book of Mormon should rank among the great achievements of American literature, but is has never been accorded the status it deserves, since Mormons deny Joseph Smith's authorship, and non-Mormons, dismissing the book as a fraud, have been more likely to ridicule than to read it.

-- Daniel Walker Howe

The reader must begin this book with an act of faith and end it with an act of charity. We ask him to believe in the sincerity and authenticity of this preface, affirming in return his prerogative to be skeptical of all that follows it.

-- John Barth in Giles Goat-boy


[The Book of Mormon] is basically is a tragedy. If there is any validity to the Talmud's observation that the phrase "it came to pass" signals impending trouble, we know that things will not turn out well in the Book of Mormon. ...

Although at times latter-day Saints want to speak of God as "the primary author of the Book of Mormon," clearly the Book of Mormon is not like the Qur'an, with God speaking in the first person (or even like Joseph's own revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants, for that matter). Rather, the word of God is articulated by very human narrators who continually draw attention to the editorial choices they have made.