Samuel M. Brown, "To Save the Bible, First You Must Kill It: A Book of Mormon Lecture"

Maxwell Institute Guest Lecture-July 25, 2017
In this lecture, Samuel M. Brown argues that the Book of Mormon hoped to save the Bible from things like religious voluntarism and the resulting interpretive chaos, from cessationist denial of miracles; it sought to make the Bible credibly American, to make evidential Christianity internally consistent. The Book of Mormon seemed to anticipate higher criticism and the threats posed to the Bible by late modernism. As such, the Book of Mormon is a crucial text of transitional readings of the Bible. It is a lens through which to view changes in biblical authority and interpretation.
But to save the Bible, the Book of Mormon had to “kill” the Bible: unmasking the nature of scripture-its tentative, regional character, its fundamental inadequacy as a written text.
Samuel M. Brown is Associate Professor of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and Medical Ethics and Humanities at the University of Utah and an intensive care physician in the Shock Trauma ICU at Intermountain Medical Center. His award-winning book "In Heaven as It Is on Earth: Joseph Smith and the Early Mormon Conquest of Death" was published by Oxford University Press in 2012. His other books include "Through the Valley of Shadows: Living Wills, Intensive Care, and Making Medicine Human," as well as "First Principles and Ordinances: The Fourth Article of Faith In Light of the Temple," part of the Maxwell Institute’s Living Faith series.

[@pamhall3081]

Great presentation, and easy to watch and listen to. I can’t always say that about some religious scholars. My only complaint is that at the end, I couldn’t hear the questions. In a setting like this, it would be good for the presenter to restate the questions.

[@byumaxwell]

Thanks, Pam. We're trying to do better at the Q&A parts for these lectures!

[@pamhall3081]

byumaxwellinstitute I’ll still watch, no matter what. Thanks for checking into it, though.

[@alvarolemos7086]

Los q hablamos español tambien queremos escuchar !

[@PierzStyx]

Fantastic presentation.

[@EpidemiologicKid]

Critical care for that shirt front, bro. Otherwise, some tasty religious Mormon thought. Very good. Please get a mike on the questions, NMI.

[@lifealiveandliving]

hope they post the lecture by Anthea Butler "Caught in Tentacles"

[@byumaxwell]

Yes, her lecture will be posted in the coming weeks. Thanks!