Nephis Obsession, Or, How to Talk with Nephi about God
Review of Joseph M. Spencer, 1 Nephi: A Brief Theological Introduction (Provo, UT: The Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, 2020). 146 pages. $9.99 (paperback).

Abstract: Joseph Spencer's intimate familiarity with the Book of Mormon text, based upon years of close textual study and informed by a well-developed theological sensibility, is in full evidence in this lead-off volume in Neal A. Maxwell Institute's new series of books on the various books of the Book of Mormon. Leaving to prophets and apostles the responsibility for "declaring official doctrine," this new series approaches the book with the tools of the "scholarly practice" of theology. In Spencer's case at least, his practice is understood to be (1) informed by an emphasis on grace that is skeptical of claims of personal righteousness and (2) very much engaged with contemporary moral and social issues grounded in a fundamental concern for "equality." Accordingly, Spencer's reading is much more interested in "what God is doing in history with what we call the Abrahamic covenant" than with the more popular (non-scholarly) concerns of "everyday faithful living;" it is also more interested in Nephi's "realistic" and "mature" regret over his youthful over-boldness than in his confident statements of righteous faith. In the end, Spencer's extremely careful but theologically tendentious reading alerts us very skillfully to certain features of Nephi's imperfect humanity but reveals a consistent preoccupation with any possible faults in the prophet that might be extracted from an ingenious reading of the text. Finally, concerning women in the Book of Mormon, Spencer again expertly raises provocative questions about barely heard female voices but is too eager to frame these questions from the standpoint of the "modern sensibility" of "sexual egalitarianism."
1138384190
Nephis Obsession, Or, How to Talk with Nephi about God
Review of Joseph M. Spencer, 1 Nephi: A Brief Theological Introduction (Provo, UT: The Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, 2020). 146 pages. $9.99 (paperback).

Abstract: Joseph Spencer's intimate familiarity with the Book of Mormon text, based upon years of close textual study and informed by a well-developed theological sensibility, is in full evidence in this lead-off volume in Neal A. Maxwell Institute's new series of books on the various books of the Book of Mormon. Leaving to prophets and apostles the responsibility for "declaring official doctrine," this new series approaches the book with the tools of the "scholarly practice" of theology. In Spencer's case at least, his practice is understood to be (1) informed by an emphasis on grace that is skeptical of claims of personal righteousness and (2) very much engaged with contemporary moral and social issues grounded in a fundamental concern for "equality." Accordingly, Spencer's reading is much more interested in "what God is doing in history with what we call the Abrahamic covenant" than with the more popular (non-scholarly) concerns of "everyday faithful living;" it is also more interested in Nephi's "realistic" and "mature" regret over his youthful over-boldness than in his confident statements of righteous faith. In the end, Spencer's extremely careful but theologically tendentious reading alerts us very skillfully to certain features of Nephi's imperfect humanity but reveals a consistent preoccupation with any possible faults in the prophet that might be extracted from an ingenious reading of the text. Finally, concerning women in the Book of Mormon, Spencer again expertly raises provocative questions about barely heard female voices but is too eager to frame these questions from the standpoint of the "modern sensibility" of "sexual egalitarianism."
0.0 In Stock
Nephis Obsession, Or, How to Talk with Nephi about God

Nephis Obsession, Or, How to Talk with Nephi about God

by Ralph C. Hancock
Nephis Obsession, Or, How to Talk with Nephi about God

Nephis Obsession, Or, How to Talk with Nephi about God

by Ralph C. Hancock

eBook

FREE

Available on Compatible NOOK devices, the free NOOK App and in My Digital Library.
WANT A NOOK?  Explore Now

Related collections and offers

LEND ME® See Details

Overview

Review of Joseph M. Spencer, 1 Nephi: A Brief Theological Introduction (Provo, UT: The Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, 2020). 146 pages. $9.99 (paperback).

Abstract: Joseph Spencer's intimate familiarity with the Book of Mormon text, based upon years of close textual study and informed by a well-developed theological sensibility, is in full evidence in this lead-off volume in Neal A. Maxwell Institute's new series of books on the various books of the Book of Mormon. Leaving to prophets and apostles the responsibility for "declaring official doctrine," this new series approaches the book with the tools of the "scholarly practice" of theology. In Spencer's case at least, his practice is understood to be (1) informed by an emphasis on grace that is skeptical of claims of personal righteousness and (2) very much engaged with contemporary moral and social issues grounded in a fundamental concern for "equality." Accordingly, Spencer's reading is much more interested in "what God is doing in history with what we call the Abrahamic covenant" than with the more popular (non-scholarly) concerns of "everyday faithful living;" it is also more interested in Nephi's "realistic" and "mature" regret over his youthful over-boldness than in his confident statements of righteous faith. In the end, Spencer's extremely careful but theologically tendentious reading alerts us very skillfully to certain features of Nephi's imperfect humanity but reveals a consistent preoccupation with any possible faults in the prophet that might be extracted from an ingenious reading of the text. Finally, concerning women in the Book of Mormon, Spencer again expertly raises provocative questions about barely heard female voices but is too eager to frame these questions from the standpoint of the "modern sensibility" of "sexual egalitarianism."

Product Details

BN ID: 2940162706984
Publisher: Interpreter Foundation
Publication date: 11/26/2020
Series: Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship , #41
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
File size: 979 KB

About the Author

Ralph C. Hancock (PhD Harvard) is Professor of Political Science at Brigham Young University, where he teaches the tradition of political philosophy as well as contemporary political theory. He has taught three times as Visiting Professor at the University of Rennes, France, and was a Visiting Scholar at Liberty Fund in Indianapolis. He is the author of Calvin and the Foundations of Modern Politics (Saint Augustine’s Press, 2011; Cornell University Press, 1989) as well as The Responsibility of Reason: Theory and Practice in a Liberal-Democratic Age (Rowman & Littlefield, 2011). He is also the editor of America, the West, and Liberal Education (Rowman & Littlefield, 1999) and, with Gary Lambert, of The Legacy of the French Revolution (Rowman & Littlefield, 1996) and translator of numerous books and articles from the French, including Pierre Manent’s Natural Law and Human Rights (Notre Dame University Press, 2020). He has published many academic articles as well as articles in the press and online on the intersection of faith, reason and politics. Professor Hancock is a Consulting Editor of Perspectives on Political Science and a member of the editorial board of Square Two, an online journal of “Faithful Scholarship by Members of the Restored Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Saints on Contemporary Issues.” He is also co-founder of Fathom the Good, which provides a history and humanities curriculum for home schools and independent schools grounded in the Western tradition of political philosophy.
From the B&N Reads Blog

Customer Reviews