A closer look at FROB 3, Part 1
-
_Gadianton
- _Emeritus
- Posts: 9947
- Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2007 5:12 am
Re: A closer look at FROB 3, Part 1
If that's the case LoP, then the apologists sure did the right thing the way they went after Quinn.
Lou Midgley 08/20/2020: "...meat wad," and "cockroach" are pithy descriptions of human beings used by gemli? They were not fashioned by Professor Peterson.
LM 11/23/2018: one can explain away the soul of human beings...as...a Meat Unit, to use Professor Peterson's clever derogatory description of gemli's ideology.
LM 11/23/2018: one can explain away the soul of human beings...as...a Meat Unit, to use Professor Peterson's clever derogatory description of gemli's ideology.
-
_Tom
- _Emeritus
- Posts: 1023
- Joined: Mon Jun 11, 2007 5:45 pm
Re: A closer look at FROB 3, Part 1
Gadianton wrote:I did have one question, as most of my familiarity with the FROB has been the first volumes (I only own the first two), how does an "editors pick" line up with "one star"? I just don't get it.
Dr. Peterson uses an idiosyncratic rating system. It runs as follows:
**** Outstanding, a seminal work of the kind that appears only rarely
*** Enthusiastically recommended
** Warmly recommended
* Recommended
Some of the biggest misses by Dr. Peterson over the years include the following:
Todd Compton, In Sacred Loneliness (not an editor's pick)
Newell Bringhurst, Fawn McKay Brodie: A Biographer's Life (not an editor's pick)
Carmon Hardy, Doing the Works of Abraham: Mormon Polygamy, Its Origin, Practice, and Demise (not an editor's pick)
Gregory A. Prince and William Robert Wright, David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism (one star)
D. Michael Quinn, Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power (not an editor's pick)
D. Michael Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View (not an editor's pick)
D. Michael Quinn, Same-Sex Dynamics (not an editor's pick)
Overrated books:
Four stars:
Terryl L. Givens, By the Hand of Mormon: The American Scripture That Launched a New World Religion.
John W. Welch, with Erick B. Carlson, eds., Opening the Heavens: Accounts of Divine Manifestations, 1820–1844.
Three stars:
John Gee, A Guide to the Joseph Smith Papyri.
Arnold K. Garr. Christopher Columbus: A Latter-day Saint Perspective.
Heroes from the Book of Mormon.
Two stars:
George Q. Cannon, Life of Joseph Smith the Prophet.
One star:
Considering the books listed earlier that were not selected as editor's picks, more than 80% of the 36 books given one star were overrated.
Underrated books:
Two stars:
Douglas J. Davies, An Introduction to Mormonism.
Jan Shipps. Mormonism: The Story of a New Religious Tradition.
Scott H. Faulring, Kent P. Jackson, and Robert J. Matthews, eds. Joseph Smith's New Translation of the Bible: Original Manuscripts.
One star:
Richard N. Ostling and Joan K. Ostling, Mormon America: The Power and the Promise.
“A scholar said he could not read the Book of Mormon, so we shouldn’t be shocked that scholars say the papyri don’t translate and/or relate to the Book of Abraham. Doesn’t change anything. It’s ancient and historical.” ~ Hanna Seariac
-
_harmony
- _Emeritus
- Posts: 18195
- Joined: Fri Oct 27, 2006 1:35 am
Re: A closer look at FROB 3, Part 1
Tom wrote:Gadianton wrote:I did have one question, as most of my familiarity with the FROB has been the first volumes (I only own the first two), how does an "editors pick" line up with "one star"? I just don't get it.
Dr. Peterson uses an idiosyncratic rating system. It runs as follows:
**** Outstanding, a seminal work of the kind that appears only rarely
*** Enthusiastically recommended
** Warmly recommended
* Recommended
Tom, you continue to surprise me.
Concerning the list of unstarred and underrated books: do you have a sense of why they were not chosen or underrated? Is there a common theme? Could one reason be that FROB didn't want people to read them?
(Nevo, Jan 23) And the Melchizedek Priesthood may not have been restored until the summer of 1830, several months after the organization of the Church.
-
_Daniel Peterson
- _Emeritus
- Posts: 7173
- Joined: Thu Jul 05, 2007 6:56 pm
Re: A closer look at FROB 3, Part 1
To a certain degree, the reason is that the books not endorsed as "Editor's Picks" weren't reviewed at all by the FARMS Review. ("Editor's Picks" are picked from among the books that we review.)
And why were the books not reviewed?
For the most part, they were not reviewed simply because they fall beyond the purview of FARMS, which concentrates largely though not entirely on ancient studies, and beyond the focus of the FARMS Review, which was originally founded as the Review of Books on the Book of Mormon.
Even though Richard Bushman, Tom Alexander, and the late Davis Bitton have been friends of mine for years, we also failed to pick, or to review, such significant recent books as Tom Alexander's 1993 biography of Wilford Woodruff, Davis Bitton's 1999 biography of George Q, Cannon, and Richard Bushman's 2006 Believing History: Latter-day Saint Essays. We didn't review Hugh Hewitt's 2007 A Mormon in the White House? 10 Things Every American Should Know about Mitt Romney or Jeff Benedict's 2008 book on The Mormon Way of Doing Business. We haven't reviewed a single one of the novels in the Gerald Lund series The Work and the Glory.
We fail to review the vast majority of Mormon-related books. We have no intention of doing so.
As the Review has morphed (as shown by its changes in title), we have become less concerned with reviewing absolutely everything dealing with the Book of Mormon (e.g., novels and even games), and have opened our pages up to discussions of other topics. But our principal focus, as we see it, remains the Book of Mormon and other ancient-studies-related materials, as well as major publications that involve the truth-claims of Mormonism or are likely to occasion significant controversy that we feel we ought to address (and that we think our readers will expect us to address). But we make no claim to exhaustiveness, and feel no obligation to do so. We review what we find interesting and relevant to our primary focus.
Tom disagrees with our focus.
That's his prerogative.
Tom disapproves of our understanding of what we do.
That's his right.
Tom disagrees with our picks.
I disagree with his.
That's my right.
Tom disagrees with my ratings within the "Editor's Picks."
I disagree with his criticisms on that score.
That's my prerogative.
He's free to start his own journal to express his opinions. He's free to start his own journal to do it right.
As harmony would know if she had troubled to look, we have reviewed such books as Mike Quinn's Same-Sex Dynamics and the Ostlings' Mormon America -- an odd way to hide them from our audience, by the way -- and our reviewers have set forth reasons that explain why we have not endorsed them.
Tom doesn't mention our reviews or their criticisms, but, presumably, he disagrees with them.
That's entirely his privilege.
He's free to rebut those criticisms and/or to do his own reviews.
And why were the books not reviewed?
For the most part, they were not reviewed simply because they fall beyond the purview of FARMS, which concentrates largely though not entirely on ancient studies, and beyond the focus of the FARMS Review, which was originally founded as the Review of Books on the Book of Mormon.
Even though Richard Bushman, Tom Alexander, and the late Davis Bitton have been friends of mine for years, we also failed to pick, or to review, such significant recent books as Tom Alexander's 1993 biography of Wilford Woodruff, Davis Bitton's 1999 biography of George Q, Cannon, and Richard Bushman's 2006 Believing History: Latter-day Saint Essays. We didn't review Hugh Hewitt's 2007 A Mormon in the White House? 10 Things Every American Should Know about Mitt Romney or Jeff Benedict's 2008 book on The Mormon Way of Doing Business. We haven't reviewed a single one of the novels in the Gerald Lund series The Work and the Glory.
We fail to review the vast majority of Mormon-related books. We have no intention of doing so.
As the Review has morphed (as shown by its changes in title), we have become less concerned with reviewing absolutely everything dealing with the Book of Mormon (e.g., novels and even games), and have opened our pages up to discussions of other topics. But our principal focus, as we see it, remains the Book of Mormon and other ancient-studies-related materials, as well as major publications that involve the truth-claims of Mormonism or are likely to occasion significant controversy that we feel we ought to address (and that we think our readers will expect us to address). But we make no claim to exhaustiveness, and feel no obligation to do so. We review what we find interesting and relevant to our primary focus.
Tom disagrees with our focus.
That's his prerogative.
Tom disapproves of our understanding of what we do.
That's his right.
Tom disagrees with our picks.
I disagree with his.
That's my right.
Tom disagrees with my ratings within the "Editor's Picks."
I disagree with his criticisms on that score.
That's my prerogative.
He's free to start his own journal to express his opinions. He's free to start his own journal to do it right.
As harmony would know if she had troubled to look, we have reviewed such books as Mike Quinn's Same-Sex Dynamics and the Ostlings' Mormon America -- an odd way to hide them from our audience, by the way -- and our reviewers have set forth reasons that explain why we have not endorsed them.
Tom doesn't mention our reviews or their criticisms, but, presumably, he disagrees with them.
That's entirely his privilege.
He's free to rebut those criticisms and/or to do his own reviews.
-
_harmony
- _Emeritus
- Posts: 18195
- Joined: Fri Oct 27, 2006 1:35 am
Re: A closer look at FROB 3, Part 1
Tom wrote:
Some of the biggest misses by Dr. Peterson over the years include the following:
Todd Compton, In Sacred Loneliness (not an editor's pick)
Newell Bringhurst, Fawn McKay Brodie: A Biographer's Life (not an editor's pick)
Carmon Hardy, Doing the Works of Abraham: Mormon Polygamy, Its Origin, Practice, and Demise (not an editor's pick)
...
D. Michael Quinn, Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power (not an editor's pick)
D. Michael Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View (not an editor's pick)
D. Michael Quinn, Same-Sex Dynamics (not an editor's pick)
Daniel, why were none of these Editor's Picks? Personal bias or not something you're personally interested in?
(Nevo, Jan 23) And the Melchizedek Priesthood may not have been restored until the summer of 1830, several months after the organization of the Church.
-
_Daniel Peterson
- _Emeritus
- Posts: 7173
- Joined: Thu Jul 05, 2007 6:56 pm
Re: A closer look at FROB 3, Part 1
Post deleted
Last edited by Guest on Wed Oct 01, 2008 4:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
-
_harmony
- _Emeritus
- Posts: 18195
- Joined: Fri Oct 27, 2006 1:35 am
Re: A closer look at FROB 3, Part 1
Is your answer written in invisible ink? I don't see any response, just a quote of my question.
(Nevo, Jan 23) And the Melchizedek Priesthood may not have been restored until the summer of 1830, several months after the organization of the Church.
-
_Daniel Peterson
- _Emeritus
- Posts: 7173
- Joined: Thu Jul 05, 2007 6:56 pm
Re: A closer look at FROB 3, Part 1
Tom wrote:Some of the biggest misses by Dr. Peterson over the years include the following:
I disagree that these were misses.
harmony wrote:Daniel, why were none of these Editor's Picks? Personal bias or not something you're personally interested in?
We reviewed them all. Our reviews were not sufficiently positive for me to recommend them as "Editor's Picks."
You're welcome to read one or more of the relevant reviews. They're easily accessible on line.
-
_harmony
- _Emeritus
- Posts: 18195
- Joined: Fri Oct 27, 2006 1:35 am
Re: A closer look at FROB 3, Part 1
Daniel Peterson wrote:harmony wrote:Daniel, why were none of these Editor's Picks? Personal bias or not something you're personally interested in?
We reviewed them all. Our reviews were not sufficiently positive for me to recommend them as "Editor's Picks."
Then you never disagree with your reviewers?
(Nevo, Jan 23) And the Melchizedek Priesthood may not have been restored until the summer of 1830, several months after the organization of the Church.
-
_Daniel Peterson
- _Emeritus
- Posts: 7173
- Joined: Thu Jul 05, 2007 6:56 pm
Re: A closer look at FROB 3, Part 1
harmony wrote:Then you never disagree with your reviewers?
I've disagreed with my reviewers on occasion.
I didn't in these cases.
You're welcome to read the reviews.