book controversy of tangential interest to M&D readers

[pynchonoid]

from PW Daily, 17 Dec 02:

"[...]
Mormon Book Ignites National Controversy

The Mormon intellectual community has been abuzz in
recent weeks with
the near-excommunication of Tom Murphy, a graduate
student whose
research challenges the idea that Native Americans are
the biological
descendants of the Israelites. Murphy, who teaches at
Edmonds
Community College in Lynnwood, Wash., and is
completing a dissertation
on Mormon representations of Native Americans, was
"called in" by an
LDS church leader at the end of November to discuss an
article he had
written for the anthology "American Apocrypha: Essays
on the Book of
Mormon" (Signature, May). Murphy learned that a church
disciplinary
hearing was scheduled to try his case on December 8.

But then the press got wind of the story. The first
week of December
saw a firestorm of publicity: the "New York Times,"
"Seattle Times,"
"Chronicle of Higher Education," "Wall Street
Journal," U.K.
"Guardian" and the Associated Press all covered the
controversy. On
the morning of the scheduled disciplinary hearing, the
"Los Angeles
Times" ran a front-page story on Murphy and his
probable
excommunication.

That day, however, Murphy's stake president (an area
leader who
presides over several thousand Latter-day Saints
within a diocese-like
boundary) announced that the hearing would be
postponed indefinitely.
Murphy told BookLine that the church leader
specifically mentioned
that the media attention had been a factor in his
decision, alongside
a concern for Murphy's emotional well-being.

Controversy, while generally unpleasant for all, often
has the side
effect of jump-starting sales of books, and "American
Apocrypha" seems
already to have benefited from the media brouhaha. Tom
Kimball,
publicist for Signature, said that interest in the
book has been high
and predicted that its small initial print run of
2,500 copies will
soon be exhausted. He noted that one irony of the LDS
Church's action
has been to attract new readers to the very ideas it
wanted to
suppress. "The best way to hide anything from Mormons
is to publish
it," he joked. "Without the controversy, none of the
church members
would ever know" about the ongoing discussions of DNA
and the Book of
Mormon. Kimball also noted that while some of the
media stories have
depicted Signature as a "church-bashing" press, the
small house seeks
to publish all sides of any issue. "In fact, next
year, we plan to
publish a book that takes on the issue of DNA and the
Book of Mormon
from a faithful standpoint. This book uses the same
analysis and
research, but discusses how Latter-day Saints can
reconcile that
research with their faith," he said.

For his part, Murphy is relieved by the church's
decision, and hopes
that "it is a sign that the church is going to be more
open to honest
and critical examination of the Book of Mormon. I may
be naive, but
that is my hope."--Jana Riess [...]"

-Doug


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