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Summarized by Kent Larsen
Publishers Weekly Negative on Book About Jews & Mormons
NEW YORK, NEW YORK -- Publisher's Weekly doesn't think much about a
new book about Jews and Mormons. "Jews and Mormons: Two Houses of
Israel" by LDS convert Frank J. Johnson and Jew Willaim J. Leffler
tries to do for Mormons and Jews what the outstanding 1997 book "How
Wide the Divide? A Mormon and an Evangelical in Conversation" did for
Mormons and Evangelicals.
Johnson and Leffler were Dartmouth roommates, according to Publishers
Weekly, but the magazine complains that their 'conversation' never
gets to the level of the earlier book for Mormons and Evangelicals
because "the writing is mediocre and because the authors lack the
fundamental attitude of interfaith respect that characterized the
earlier work."
In the book, the authors review the history, theologies and basic
practices of their respective religions, and then focus on areas of
common misunderstanding. One of the areas of misunderstanding
explored is the LDS Church's performance of baptisms for the dead for
holocaust victims, which became controversial when discovered by the
New York publication Forward.
Publishers Weekly also complains that the book suffers from a
"stilted, impersonal tone," noting that the authors refer to each
other as "Mr. Johnson" and "Rabbi Leffler" despite a friendship of
more than 50 years. PW also complains that Johnson never tells why he
joined the LDS Church 30 years ago.
Source:
Jews and Mormons: Two Houses of Israel
Publishers Weekly pg61 10Jul00 A2
By Jana Riess
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More about "How Wide the Divide: A Mormon &Evangelical in Conversation" at Amazon.com