LDS "world famous scholar" publishes book

[_Ray A]

Not on AMAZON, ya goof - I mean a real review, like in "The Journal of Near Eastern Studies", or "First Things", or "The New Republic", or "Commentary", or anything close to an organ with pretensions to intellectual discussion. Any fool can post something on Amazon, for God's sake. I mean a real review - in a reputable journal.

Karen Armstrong's books, for example, have been reviewed LOADS of times in organs like those. Yet, nothing but being ignored for Mormonism's chief propagandist, writing on a topic he spent his grad career studying.

And because you haven't found any reviews in a netsearch you jump to conclusions. First of all you're creating a strawman with your claim about "world famous scholar" in your subject heading and OP. Who precisely has claimed that DCP is a "world famous scholar"?

by the way, Amazon "goof" reviewers tend to be well informed.

[_Ray A]

Again, I have to ask Tal, why your obsession with DCP? I am constantly psychoanalysed by the mob here, yet they don't seem to think your craven obsession with DCP amounts to any kind of neurosis. Again, are you jealous? Or just spiteful?

[_Ray A]

Ah, so Tal is also an email bomber!

There was a time when this would not have been as funny as you think. If ordered by his mission president Tal could have become an email bomber. Now his life's mission is to destroy the credibility of people like DCP. I've heard of Saul turning into Paul, but Tal is a Paul turning into a Saul.

[_beastie]

There was a time when this would not have been as funny as you think. If ordered by his mission president Tal could have become an email bomber. Now his life's mission is to destroy the credibility of people like DCP. I've heard of Saul turning into Paul, but Tal is a Paul turning into a Saul.

Boy, do you engage in histrionics, as well as possess an odd definition of "life's mission".

[_Ray A]

There was a time when this would not have been as funny as you think. If ordered by his mission president Tal could have become an email bomber. Now his life's mission is to destroy the credibility of people like DCP. I've heard of Saul turning into Paul, but Tal is a Paul turning into a Saul.

Boy, do you engage in histrionics, as well as possess an odd definition of "life's mission".

And Tal is the beacon of a sound mind. You are another anti-Mormon nutter.

[_Ray A]

Anyway, it is very strange - the world famous scholar's book on Muhammad, only two hundred and thirty eight thousand, three hundred and forty three places out of first place on the Amazon sales chart, wasn't published by any university press, or any mainstream publishing company. It was published by a religious publishing outfit called Eerdman's.

by the way, Herr Bachmann, please note why I responded by quoting Amazon reviews. YOU orignally brought this up, goof!

Eerdman's, in case you didn't know, has been a well known publisher of school textbooks and lesson materials for many years. I presume you went to school? And further, you use the "guilt by association" method because of your extremely narrow thinking. Publishers, unlike you and your denizens on RFM, accept a wide variety of viewpoints.

[_beastie]

beastie wrote:

Quote:

There was a time when this would not have been as funny as you think. If ordered by his mission president Tal could have become an email bomber. Now his life's mission is to destroy the credibility of people like DCP. I've heard of Saul turning into Paul, but Tal is a Paul turning into a Saul.



Boy, do you engage in histrionics, as well as possess an odd definition of "life's mission".



And Tal is the beacon of a sound mind. You are another anti-Mormon nutter.

So tell me, Ray, how many "life missions" have you been through? How many do you currently possess? You must be able to have, say, HUNDREDS of "life missions", since, apparently, in your worldview, a "life mission" requires very minimal time and effort.

I'm so glad you're back, by the way. You can't make this stuff up.

[_Ray A]

So tell me, Ray, how many "life missions" have you been through? How many do you currently possess? You must be able to have, say, HUNDREDS of "life missions", since, apparently, in your worldview, a "life mission" requires very minimal time and effort.

I've lost count. My most recent one is lobbying for more protection for taxi drivers. One was murdered in cold blood last week. Not the first. I'm also thinking of joining a campaign to save the whales from Greenies, since whale food tastes so delicious. Just ask the Japanese!

I'm so glad you're back, by the way. You can't make this stuff up.

I don't. I just read Tal's posts and go down to his level. Playing with little anti-Mormon piggies is fun.

[_beastie]

I've lost count. My most recent one is lobbying for more protection for taxi drivers. One was murdered in cold blood last week. Not the first. I'm also thinking of joining a campaign to save the whales from Greenies, since whale food tastes so delicious. Just ask the Japanese!

Wow. So how much time is required to constitute a "life's mission"?

I don't. I just read Tal's posts and go down to his level. Playing with little anti-Mormon piggies is fun.

Let your little light shine, Ray, let it shine. That's what I love to see, Jesus' little followers not hiding their lights in any barrels, just letting 'em shine all over the place. It must be so gratifying to him, eh?

[_guy sajer]

Anyway, it is very strange - the world famous scholar's book on Muhammad, only two hundred and thirty eight thousand, three hundred and forty three places out of first place on the Amazon sales chart, wasn't published by any university press, or any mainstream publishing company. It was published by a religious publishing outfit called Eerdman's.

by the way, Herr Bachmann, please note why I responded by quoting Amazon reviews. YOU orignally brought this up, goof!

Eerdman's, in case you didn't know, has been a well known publisher of school textbooks and lesson materials for many years. I presume you went to school? And further, you use the "guilt by association" method because of your extremely narrow thinking. Publishers, unlike you and your denizens on RFM, accept a wide variety of viewpoints.

I'm curious, how many other notable scholars have published with Eardman's?

I am wondering if Eardman's is something akin to a vanity press, but I have no idea whether it is. Just curious.

Hate to break it to you Ray, but there's a big diff between Amazaon sales chart and Amazon reviews. A snide, throwaway comment on the obscurity of the book by citing sales figures has nothing to do with who is reviewing it. You are using kumquats to justify persimmons.

I think we can all agree, can we not, that DCP is NOT a "renown" scholar of Middle Eastern studies by any stretch of the imagination.

Why is it necessary to point this out?

Simply because it removes the fig leaf of DCP's wider credibility and reveals that there's nothing there; he's not some world-class scholar weighing in on Mormon issues (and thus by implication giving added weight to his views), but he's an obscure professor at an obscure university whose views have no greater weight than anyone else's. This is a very unsettling thought to people unsure of their own views who take refuge in the shadow of DCP's presumed immense reputation and credibility.