Review of Avram R. Shannon and Kerry Hull, eds., A Hundredth Part: Exploring the History and Teachings of the Book of Mormon (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2023). 374 pages, $29.99 (hardback).

Abstract: This volume collects papers published in multiple venues over a wide time span. A diligent researcher might find all of them, but that difficult search has been done. The included papers represent multiple ways of approaching the Book of Mormon and therefore provide the reader with a rounded perspective on how and why a careful reading should be done.

A Hundredth Part collects articles and papers that have been previously published under the auspices of the Religious Studies Department of Brigham Young University. The benefit for the reader isn’t that this is new information but that it is doubly curated. First, it was originally accepted for publication after peer review. Second, the editors of the volume selected each of the articles from those available. Thus, this becomes a focused look at a range of topics related to the Book of Mormon. The selected articles were published in various books and magazines, from 1991 to 2021. Pulling them into a single volume makes important research available to a much wider audience. With the approaching Come, Follow Me year focusing on the Book of Mormon, this volume opens up a deeper and wider vista on the complexity of the Book of Mormon.

The editors declare in their introduction, “The authors’ contributions in the present volume approach the Book of Mormon from a variety of perspectives and approaches. This variety, in and of itself, speaks to the richness and the depth of the Book of Mormon record and to the value [Page 54]that can be found in an in-depth study of this important book” (p. x). The editors categorize the contributions into the following categories:

* Doctrinal Contributions

* Church and Priesthood

* Cultural Contributions and Close Readings

* Post-Book of Mormon Readings of the Text

Prior to the articles that are categorized under these headings comes one that does not fall under any of the categories but deserves its place as the introductory article.

“The Historicity of the Book of Mormon” (President Dallin H. Oaks)

Some read the Book of Mormon as an inspiring collection of wonderful teachings that has no connection to a real people with a real history. President Oaks writes in direct contradiction of that premise. “The historicity — historical authenticity — of the Book of Mormon is an issue so fundamental that it rests first upon faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, which is the first principle in this, as in all other matters” (p. 2).

President Oaks does not present evidence of historicity, but rather a discussion of the logic of the investigation and to what ends it might lead. Doubtless a result of his training in law, President Oaks examines positions and possibilities. He provides a useful summary of his important points in his conclusion:

In this message I have offered some thoughts on matters relating to the historicity of the Book of Mormon.

* On this subject, as on so many others involving our faith and theology, it is important to rely on faith and revelation as well as scholarship.

* I am convinced that secular evidence can neither prove nor disprove the authenticity of the Book of Mormon.

* Those who deny the historicity of the Book of Mormon have the difficult task of trying to prove a negative. They also have the awkward duty of explaining how they can dismiss the Book of Mormon as a fable while still praising some of its contents.

* We know from the Bible that Jesus taught His apostles that in the important matter of His own identity and mission they were “blessed” for relying [Page 55]on the witness of revelation (“the things that be of God”),