Review: Samuel Morris Brown. Joseph Smith’s Translation: The Words and Worlds of Early Mormonism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020.

Authors

Douglas J. Davies

Keywords

Joseph Smith, writing, scholarship

Abstract

Why do we write books? Why did Joseph Smith write his, and why does Samuel Brown write on Smith writing his? I suppose this regressive query may sound mildly absurd coming from one academic to others, largely alert to career, pride, obligation and, optimistically, to the love of shared knowing. Perhaps I have written too many myself, read far more and—just now—for whatever reason, find this rhetorical question springing to mind. By contrast, it is usually easy to answer the question of how someone has written their book, ascertain its genre, and comment on its single disciplinary driver or, as here, its eclectic sources and contributory comments from friends and colleagues. In today’s exponential though often silo-like growth in information, our work is as often subject to serendipity as to intentional mastery. So, too, as far as reviews are concerned, not least this reflection, made more in support than criticism of a book I find as intellectually pleasing as, occasionally, methodologically problematic.

BYU ScholarsArchive Citation

Davies, Douglas J. (2023) "Review: Samuel Morris Brown. Joseph Smith’s Translation: The Words and Worlds of Early Mormonism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020.," Mormon Studies Review: Vol. 10: No. 1, Article 26.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/msr2/vol10/iss1/26