Leap of Faith: Confronting the Origins of the Book of Mormon

As a disclaimer, I almost never read "Church" books by authors who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ aside from those by Apostles and the doctrinal canon. The fictional ramblings of standard Deseret Book reading, often imbued with the essence of Utah and Idaho church culture, tends to give me more cause to roll my eyes than to add to my personal beliefs. Combine that with the author of this book being a former senator from Utah and I was pretty much guaranteed to never even consider reading it. The doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ lies relies upon personal belief and revelation based on an individual relationship with God and Jesus Christ. If people find that this relationship and their own personal qualities are genuinely enhanced by reading such books then that is, of course, the path that they ought to follow.

However, I was lent this book by a family member, and with a desire to give it a shot in the spirit of ridding myself of negative preconceptions, I read it all the way through. The subject matter was interesting enough, and I found that it was a deeper read than I expected, primarily the first two-thirds. I am always bothered when people of any belief, especially my own, make factual claims involving their religion and then use facts solely from that belief system as their evidence. It's completely recursive. What's the point in making a scholarly claim that your book is true if the book and personal feelings are your only source? That's why any and all beliefs have to contain principles like faith and revelation; you must bridge the gap between the available evidence and your own experience.

Bennett took what was mostly an outsider view of the origins of the Book of Mormon and acknowledges many possible explanations of the Book. He titles his book Leap of Faith for exactly the reasons I am describing. Factually, it is more plausible in many instances to believe that the Book is a forgery. There is also evidence in support of Joseph Smith's story. There is factual evidence to support and detract from any theory concerning its existence. Anyone who cannot understand this principle in any system of belief ought to be actively pursuing a way to cope with such a truth.

Bennett presents the facts in a fairly straightforward matter and reinforces the idea that in order for someone to believe in the Book of Mormon, they will need to personally find out for themselves whether or not it is true (this lesson is in the Book itself, too). He even acknowledges that if you do choose to believe, such an experience might be the results of a confirmation bias based on years of positive reinforcement for such behavior from your family and culture. It really is a personal experience that requires years of contemplation. I was more interested at his diagnosis of the plot and its elements in relation to what would have been known to an author in 1830 than at his doctrinal dissection and the Book of Mormon's relevance in a modern world, since again, it is intended to be a book that, at its core, speaks to and teaches each individual at a personal level. His personal defense of the book was unnecessary, albeit expected and unavoidable.

Some bias is shown and is to be expected, which Bennett acknowledges at the very beginning; he is a "believer" in his own words. All in all, this is an interesting read that is a lot more open-minded (if we can call it that) than I expected it to be. As someone who is a member and thinks about these things often, it's refreshing to see this kind of perspective and intention in writing from the church with a lowercase "c" (the members). I can't say I'll be rushing to Deseret Book for my next read, but my mind has been opened a little bit, and that is a win for me.

Originally posted on my Goodreads page.