Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: Notesfiles $Revision: 1.6.2.17 $; site uiucdcsb.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!ihnp4!inuxc!pur-ee!uiucdcsb!stout From: stout@uiucdcsb.UUCP Newsgroups: net.religion Subject: Re: Re: MHCS results Message-ID: <11900029@uiucdcsb.UUCP> Date: Wed, 23-Jan-85 10:09:00 EST Article-I.D.: uiucdcsb.11900029 Posted: Wed Jan 23 10:09:00 1985 Date-Received: Fri, 25-Jan-85 07:41:30 EST References: <1784@uvacs.UUCP> Lines: 33 Nf-ID: #R:uvacs:-178400:uiucdcsb:11900029:000:1768 Nf-From: uiucdcsb!stout Jan 23 09:09:00 1985 I don't know what the original survey was about, so I can't comment about it. I did want to respond to a couple of dgary's points: The novel referred to is almost certainly Solomon Spaulding's "Manuscript Found," a story about a group of Romans who wind up in America and get involved in local conflicts. I have a copy, and its stylistic similarities are even weaker than its plot similarities. Most non-Mormons who have really looked at it, whether anti- or neutral, don't put much credence in it as a source for the Book of Mormon, but look to other sources, or possibly a combination of things. The surviving papyri from the Egyptian collection contain the Book of Breathings. They don't match Joseph Smith's description of the papyri he said was the source of the book of Abraham, so it is plausible that those papyri are lost, whether or not one believes in his gift of translation. Joseph Smith never associated the language of the Book of Mormon--reformed Egyptian--with these papers. As was pointed out by someone else, Mormons believe godhood equally accessible by men and women--in fact, they believe such exaltation is only available to those who have been married for eternity in the temple, though the marriage alone is no guarantee for exaltation. Those wanting a good outsider's view of Mormonism should get a book by Jan Shipps due to appear any time now from the U of Illinois press, with a title like "Mormonism--A New Religious Tradition." I have heard her lecture on topics that will be covered in the book. She is neither pro- nor anti- Mormon in her aproach, and her insights have the rare property that they make sense both to believers and nonbelievers. W Bryan Stout University of Illionois ihnp4!uiucdcs!stout (roughly)