Current facts about Mormonism:

  • Over 11 million members.
  • Over 60,000 full-time missionaries—more than any other single missionary-sending organization in the world.
  • More than 310,000 converts annually.
  • As many as eighty percent of converts come from Protestant backgrounds. (In Mormon circles, the saying is, “We baptize a Baptist church every week.”)
  • Within fifteen years, the numbers of missionaries and converts will roughly double.
  • Within eighty years, with adherents exceeding 267 million, Mormonism could become the first world-religion to arise since Islam.

You may know the statistics. What you probably don’t know are the advances the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) is making in apologetics and academic respectability. With superb training, Mormon scholars outclass many of their opponents. Arguments against Mormon claims are increasingly refuted as outdated, misinformed, or poorly argued. The New Mormon Challenge is a response to the burgeoning challenge of scholarly Mormon apologetics.

Written by a team of respected Christian scholars, it is free of caricature, sensationalism, and diatribe. The respectful tone and responsible, rigorous, yet readable scholarship set this book in a class of its own. It offers freshly researched and well-documented rebuttals of Mormon truth claims. Most of the chapter topics have never been addressed, and the criticisms and arguments are almost entirely new.

But The New Mormon Challenge does not merely challenge Mormon beliefs; it offers the LDS Church and her members ways to move forward. The New Mormon Challenge will help you understand the intellectual appeal of Mormonism, and it will reveal many of the fundamental weaknesses of the Mormon worldview. Whether you are sharing the gospel with Mormons or are investigating Mormonism for yourself, this book will help you accurately understand Mormonism and see the superiority of the historic Christian faith.

Outstanding scholarship and sound methodology make this an ideal textbook. The biblical, historical, scientific, philosophical, and theological discussions are fascinating and will appeal to Christians and Mormons alike. Exemplifying Christian scholarship at its best, The New Mormon Challenge pioneers a new genre of literature on Mormonism. The Editors Francis J. Beckwith, Carl Mosser, and Paul Owen are respected authorities on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the authors of various books and significant articles on Mormonism.

With contributors including such respected scholars as Craig L. Blomberg, William Lane Craig, J. P. Moreland, and others, The New Mormon Challenge is, as Richard Mouw states in his foreword, “an important event for both Protestant evangelicals and Mormons” that models “to the evangelical community what it is like to engage in respectful and meaningful exploration of a viewpoint with which we disagree on key points.”

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Written by an international team of respected Christian scholars, this freshly researched rebuttal of Mormon truth will aid those sharing the gospel with Mormons and those investigating Mormonism on their own. It will help readers to understand Mormonism through biblical, historical, scientific, philosophical, and theological discussions.
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Foreword . . . . . . . .. . 11 Richard J. Mouw General Editors . . . .. . . . 14 Contributors . . . .. . . . 15 Abbreviations . . .. . . . . 16 Introduction: A Much-needed and Challenging Book . . . . . 19 Francis J. Beckwith, Carl Mosser, and Paul Owen Part I: Mormonism’s Appeal, Growth, and Challenges Introductory Essay . . . . .. . . 28 1. The Apologetic Impulse in Early Mormonism: The Historical Roots of the New Mormon Challenge . . . 31 Craig J. Hazen 2. And the Saints Go Marching On: The New Mormon Challenge for World Missions, Apologetics, and Theology . . .. . 59 Carl Mosser Part II: The Mormon Worldview Introductory Essay . . . .. . . . . . . 90 3. Craftsman or Creator? An Examination of the Mormon Doctrine of Creation and a Defense of Creatio ex nihilo. . . . . . . . . . . 95 Paul Copan and William Lane Craig 4. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Joseph Smith? God, Creation, and Humanity in the Old Testament and Mormonism. . .. . . . 153 Jim W. Adams 5. A Tale of Two Theisms: The Philosophical Usefulness of the Classical Christian and Mormon Concepts of God . . . . . . . . . . . 193 Stephen E. Parrish (with Carl Mosser) 6. Moral Law, the Mormon Universe, and the Nature of the Right We Ought to Choose. . . . . . . . . . . 219 Francis J. Beckwith 7. The Absurdities of Mormon Materialism: A Reply to the Neglected Orson Pratt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243 J. P. Moreland Part III: Mormonism and Christianity Introductory Essay . . .. . . . . 268 8. Monotheism, Mormonism, and the New Testament Witness. . . .. . . 271 Paul Owen 9. Is Mormonism Christian? . . . . . . . . 315 Craig L. Blomberg Part IV: The Book of Mormon Introductory Essay . . . .. . . 334 10. Does the Book of Mormon Reflect an Ancient Near Eastern Background? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337 Thomas J. Finley 11. Rendering Fiction: Translation, Pseudotranslation, and the Book of Mormon . . . . . . 367 David J. Shepherd Final Conclusions. . .. . . . 397 Francis J. Beckwith, Carl Mosser, and Paul Owen Notes . . . . . . . . 401 Glossary . .. . . . . 507 Subject Index . . .. . . . 511 Index of Authors. . .. . 519 Index of Biblical and Ancient Literature . . . . . . . . . 523 Index of LDS Standard Works .. . . . . 533
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Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780310231943
Publisert
2002
Utgiver
Zondervan; Zondervan Academic
Vekt
552 gr
Høyde
229 mm
Bredde
152 mm
Dybde
36 mm
Aldersnivå
P, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Heftet
Antall sider
536

Foreword by

Om bidragsyterne

Francis J. Beckwith (PhD, Fordham University) is professor of philosophy and church-state studies and associate director of the graduate program in philosophy at Baylor University, where he also serves as a resident scholar in Baylor’s Institute for Studies of Religion. He has published widely in the areas of political philosophy, jurisprudence, applied ethics, philosophy of religion, and theology. Carl Mosser (PhD candidate, University of St. Andrews) has published significant articles on Mormonism in both evangelical and Mormon journals. Paul Owen (PhD, University of Edinburgh) is assistant professor of Bible and religion at Montreat College. He has published significant articles on Mormonism in both evangelical and Mormon journals. He lives in Asheville, North Carolina.