The
Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (
FARMS) is an informal collaboration of academics devoted to
MormonMormonism comprises the religious, institutional, and cultural elements of the early Latter Day Saint movement and its modern denominations deriving from the leadership of Brigham Young...
historical scholarship. The group is formally part of the
Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, formerly known as the Institute for the Study and Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts at
Brigham Young UniversityBrigham Young University , located in Provo, Utah, United States, is a private, coeducational research university owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
(BYU), which is operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
FARMS supports and sponsors what it considers to be "faithful scholarship", which includes academic study and research in support of
ChristianityChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
and
MormonismMormonism comprises the religious, institutional, and cultural elements of the early Latter Day Saint movement and its modern denominations deriving from the leadership of Brigham Young...
, and in particular, where possible, the official position of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This research primarily concerns the
Book of MormonThe Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr. as The Book of Mormon: An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi...
, the
Book of AbrahamThe Book of Abraham is a purported translation in 1835 by Joseph Smith, Jr. of a set of Egyptian papyri purchased from a traveling mummy exhibition. According to Smith, the book was "a translation of some ancient records....purporting to be the writings of Abraham, while he was in Egypt, called...
, the
Old TestamentIn Christianity, the Old Testament is the collection of books that form the first of the two-part Christian Biblical canon. These works correspond to the Hebrew Bible , with some variations and additions. In the Eastern Orthodox Church the comparable texts are known as the Septuagint, from the...
, the
New TestamentThe New Testament is the name given to the second major division of the Christian Bible, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament, both terms being associated with Supersessionism...
, early Christian history, ancient temples, and other related subjects. While the organization allows some degree of academic freedom within these topics, FARMS is committed to the conclusion that Latter-day Saint scriptures are authentic, historical texts written by prophets of God. FARMS has garnered criticism from other scholars and critics who consider it as an apologetic organization that operates under the auspices of the LDS church, which fully funds and operates BYU, its parent organization.
History
FARMS was organized in 1979 as a private not-for-profit organization. In 1997, FARMS became part of
Brigham Young UniversityBrigham Young University , located in Provo, Utah, United States, is a private, coeducational research university owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
after an invitation by
Gordon B. HinckleyGordon Bitner Hinckley was an American religious leader who served as the fifteenth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from March 12, 1995 until his death. He was the oldest person to preside over the church in its history...
,
President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsIn the Latter Day Saint movement, the President of the Church is generally considered to be the highest office of the church. It is the office held by Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the movement, and the office assumed by many of Smith's claimed successors, such as Brigham Young, Joseph Smith III,...
and chairman of the BYU Board of Trustees. In extending the invitation, Hinckley noted: "FARMS represents the efforts of sincere and dedicated scholars. It has grown to provide strong support and defense of the Church on a professional basis. I wish to express my strong congratulations and appreciation for those who started this effort and who have shepherded it to this point."
In 2001,
Brigham Young UniversityBrigham Young University , located in Provo, Utah, United States, is a private, coeducational research university owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
consolidated FARMS with the Center for the Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts (CPART) and the Middle Eastern Texts Initiative (METI) to form the Institute for the Study and Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts (ISPART). ISPART was renamed as the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship in 2006. However, FARMS still exists as a sub-unit of the Maxwell Institute with its own distinctive cluster of BYU faculty and staff.
As of September 2008, the new Director of the Maxwell Institute is
Paul Y. HoskissonPaul Y. Hoskisson is an American professor of ancient scripture and former associate dean of Religious Education at Brigham Young University . In 2008, he was appointed director of the Laura F...
, an American Assyriologist and former Associate Dean of Religious Education.
Controversy
FARMS has also been a focus of some controversy from both within and outside the Mormon community.
Critic Matthew Paulson argues that the research activities of the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS) are not subjected to peer review, that FARMS limits peer review only to members of the LDS church, and that FARMS's primary goal is to defend the LDS faith rather than promote truthful scholarship. Molecular biologist
Simon SouthertonSimon Southerton is an Australian plant geneticist. Southerton published the book Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA, and the Mormon Church. The book uses genetic evidence to examine the historical accuracy of The Book of Mormon. The book received heavy criticism from members of The...
, a former LDS bishop and author of
Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA, and the Mormon Church said, "I was amazed at the lengths that FARMS went to in order to prop up faith in the Book of Mormon. I felt that the only way I could be satisfied with FARMS explanations was to stop thinking.... The explanations of the FARMS researchers stretched the bounds of credibility to breaking point on almost every critical issue".
FARMS supports and sponsors what it considers to be 'faithful scholarship', which includes academic study and research in support of
ChristianityChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
and
MormonismMormonism comprises the religious, institutional, and cultural elements of the early Latter Day Saint movement and its modern denominations deriving from the leadership of Brigham Young...
, and in particular, where possible, the official position of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
After corresponding directly with
Neal A. MaxwellNeal Ash Maxwell was an apostle and a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1981 until his death.-Life:...
, former Mormon Steve Benson (grandson of
Ezra Taft BensonEzra Taft Benson was the thirteenth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1985 until his death and was United States Secretary of Agriculture for both terms of the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower.-Biography:Born on a farm in Whitney, Idaho, Benson was the oldest of...
), quoted Maxwell as saying that "one of the purposes of F.A.R.M.S. was to prevent the General Authorities from being outflanked by the Church's critics."
Peer review and scholarly credentials
Work produced under FARMS's auspices has been critiqued by Mormons, ex-Mormons, secular scholars, and evangelical Christians.
FARMS states that the work it supports "conforms to established canons of scholarship, is peer reviewed, and reflects solely the views of individual authors and editors."
John A. TvedtnesJohn A. Tvedtnes retired in 2007 as senior resident scholar with the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship at Brigham Young University. He holds an M.A. in Linguistics and an M.A. in Middle East Studies ....
of FARMS claims that, "the academic credentials of people who publish with FARMS are questioned only by the critics, never by bona fide scholars," noting that, "[t]he list of articles and books published in non-LDS scholarly presses by FARMS authors is impressive indeed. If the critics do not accept FARMS authors as scholars, those authors are at least so acknowledged by the world's scholarly community."
Faith-based arguments
Some critics assert that FARMS sometimes uses circular logic in their arguments. Similarly, some critics have suggested that FARMS' authors' reasoning is backwards from usual scientific or scholarly practices: They arrive at their
faithFaith is the confident belief or trust in the truth or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing. The word "faith" can refer to a religion itself or to religion in general....
-based conclusion first, then afterwards seeks out supporting evidence.
Polemics
Some have accused FARMS of engaging in mean-spirited polemics. One example of this occurred with
Signature BooksSignature Books is a press specializing in subjects related to Utah, Mormonism, and Western Americana. The company was founded in 1980 by George D...
' publication of Grant Palmer's book
An Insider's View of Mormon OriginsAn Insider's View of Mormon Origins is a book on the origins of Mormonism written by Grant H. Palmer, a retired CES instructor and Institute director with a master's degree in history, who is also a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints....
. The publication of this book immediately resulted in five negative book reviews by FARMS. Ron Priddis of Signature Books responded to these reviews by stating: "Is nothing beyond the reach of sarcasm by FARMS polemicists?" Priddis refers to the book reviews by FARMS as "tabloid scholarship."
Some authors associated with FARMS have been accused of making
ad hominemAn ad hominem argument, also known as argumentum ad hominem is an argument which links the validity of a premise to a characteristic or belief of a person advocating the premise....
attacks: attacking someone personally, rather than analyzing the merits of their ideas. FARMS has also been accused of labeling someone an "
anti-MormonAnti-Mormonism is discrimination, hostility or prejudice directed at members of the Latter Day Saint movement, particularly The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
", and then discounting their works as biased, based largely on this pronouncement. In a speech offered before the
Sunstone SymposiumSunstone Magazine is a publication by the Sunstone Education Foundation, Inc., a 501 nonprofit corporation, that discusses Mormonism through scholarship, art, short fiction, and poetry. The foundation began the publication in 1974 and considers it a vehicle for free and frank exchange in the Church...
(titled "Why I No Longer Trust the FARMS Review of Books"), John Hatch said, "After reading the (FARMS) reviews myself, it appears to me, and is my opinion, that FARMS is interested in making Mormonism's past appear as normal as possible to readers by attacking history books that discuss complex or difficult aspects of the church's past. As one who hopes to some day contribute to the body of the New Mormon History, I am deeply troubled by what I see as continued efforts to attack honest scholarly work."
Scholars associated with FARMS have been the subject of ad hominem attacks as well. In the film
The Bible vs. The Book of Mormon, Dr.
Thomas W. MurphyThomas W. Murphy is a Latter Day Saint anthropologist and writer. Murphy earned his Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Washington in 2003, and he now teaches in the Department of Anthropology at Edmonds Community College in Washington State...
, responding to comments made by Dr.
Daniel C. PetersonDaniel C. Peterson is a Mormon apologist and professor at Brigham Young University.-Background:Peterson is a professor of Islamic Studies and Arabic in the Department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages at Brigham Young University and currently serves as editor-in-chief of BYU's Middle Eastern...
in a FARMS video entitled
Evidences of the Book of Mormon, stated that "Dan Peterson is lying." Murphy was responding to Peterson's statement that the
Book of MormonThe Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr. as The Book of Mormon: An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi...
"makes sense" and "seems right" and contains nothing, apart from its religious claims, that a secular historian would find troublesome. In addition to his accusation that Peterson was a liar, Murphy states that "the problem, first and foremost, with the Book of Mormon is its secular history--it gets the history wrong." The film also asserts, via comments from Murphy and others, that FARMS focuses on helping Latter-day Saints keep the faith rather than scholarship. In response FARMS has published rebuttals to the film.
"Metcalfe is Butthead"
William J. HamblinWilliam James Hamblin is a professor of history at Brigham Young University and an expert in ancient and medieval Near East history, the Crusades, and the history of Solomon's Temple. He is a former board member of the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies at BYU.- Biography...
published an essay in a FARMS publication entitled
Review of Books on the Book of Mormon criticizing an essay by Brent Metcalfe, a writer who criticized the
Book of MormonThe Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr. as The Book of Mormon: An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi...
. Hamblin's review included an
acrosticAn acrostic is a poem or other form of writing in an alphabetic script, in which the first letter, syllable or word of each line, paragraph or other recurring feature in the text spells out a word or a message...
spelling out "Metcalfe is
Butthead"Butthead" may refer to:* The English language definition that means a person who is stupid or inept.* Butt-head, a character from the MTV animated series Beavis and Butt-head....
," a reference to one of the two title characters in the popular cartoon
Beavis and Butt-headBeavis and Butt-head is an American animated television series created by Mike Judge. Judge's short film "Frog Baseball", starring the characters Beavis and Butt-head was featured on Liquid Television, a show featuring short animated and live action material that could be considered the precursor...
that aired during the mid-1990s. (The acrostic was made up of the first letters of paragraphs spanning nine pages of the essay.) After the 1994 publication went to press and a few early issues were distributed, it was caught by a FARMS editor who stopped the press run, recalled the issues, and edited part of the acrostic out. Portions still remained, with the post-editing acrostic spelling out "METWHSFE IA BUTAHEAT."
Associated PressThe Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
writer Vern Anderson wrote an article concerning the matter which was published in the Deseret News:
"The salvos contained in the 566-page 'Review of Books on the Book of Mormon' come as no surprise, given the longstanding animus between scholars associated with FARMS, many of them professors at church-owned Brigham Young University, and those published by the independent Signature Books.... Recently a review by BYU history professor William Hamblin containing an encrypted message 'Metcalfe is butthead' — was hastily edited out after the 'Review' had gone to press."
Upon learning of the acrostic, Metcalfe responded, stating:
"When I heard rumors that William J. Hamblin, FARMS board member and BYU historian, had a caustic encryption in his review... I summarily dismissed them. Surely no legitimate scholar would stoop to such an inane level. However, it seems that I underestimated Hamblin's 'scholarly' prowess."
"Do Hamblin and Peterson's methods typify the brand of 'scholarship' FARMS, BYU Department of History, and BYU Department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages cultivates and endorses? Evidently some have shifted from apologist to misologist."
Those critical of FARMS use the incident as primary evidence of the mean-spirited nature of what FARMS produces. Those supportive of FARMS counter that the critics seem unable to look beyond the incident to address the actual scholarship in FARMS publications. Both sides periodically resurrect the incident and discuss it anew on Internet message boards and blog posts.
Apologetics
While scholars associated with FARMS often resist being characterized as apologists because of that term's pejorative connotations, FARMS has been an important center for producing work that critiques claims by many, including amateur Mormon enthusiasts and antagonistic opposition movements of evangelical Christianity, especially through the organization's longest-running journal, the
FARMS Review.
FARMS has been cited as representative of a new trend within Mormonism: the emergence of progressive forms of Mormon
orthodoxyThe word orthodox, from Greek orthodoxos "having the right opinion", from orthos + doxa , is typically used to mean adhering to the accepted or traditional and established faith, especially in religion.The term did not conventionally exist with any degree of formality The word orthodox, from Greek...
. This trend is committed to the literal reality of Mormon faith claims, but is simultaneously willing to rethink traditional understandings of those claims. A prominent example of this trend is the work FARMS has produced supporting a
limited geography modelA limited geography model for the Book of Mormon is one of several theories by Latter Day Saint movement scholars that the book's narrative was a historical record of people in a limited geographical region, rather than of the entire Western Hemisphere as believed by some early Latter Day Saints...
for the
Book of MormonThe Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr. as The Book of Mormon: An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi...
: suggesting that the events chronicled in the Book of Mormon occurred in a much smaller region than the traditional understanding, which argues the same events occurred across the entire
Western hemisphereThe Western Hemisphere, also Western hemisphere or western hemisphere, is a geographical term for the half of the Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian , the other half being the eastern hemisphere...
. Supporters of this limited geography idea—including some high-ranking church leaders—believe this model is consistent with anthropological,
archaeologicalSince the introduction of the Book of Mormon in 1830, both Mormon and non-Mormon archaeologists have studied its claims in reference to known archaeological evidence...
and
geneticThe Book of Mormon, one of the four books of scripture of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , is an account of three groups of people. Two of these groups originated from Israel...
findings about ancient American peoples, as well as with the Book of Mormon text.
Publications
A number of periodicals and books have been published under the FARMS
imprintIn the publishing industry, an imprint can refer to two different things:* It can mean a brand name under which a work is published. One single publishing company may have multiple imprints; the different imprints are used by the publisher to market the work to different demographic consumer segments...
, including:
- Journal of the Book of Mormon and Restoration Scripture. A scholarly journal, published semiannually, devoted to the latest research on the Book of Mormon. Started in 1992 as the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies and was renamed in 2008.
- The FARMS Review. A review journal, published semiannually, focusing on books and articles written about Mormonism
Mormonism comprises the religious, institutional, and cultural elements of the early Latter Day Saint movement and its modern denominations deriving from the leadership of Brigham Young...
and the Book of Mormon. Started in 1989 as Review of Books on the Book of Mormon, and from 1996 through 2002 it was titled FARMS Review of Books.
- Insights. A newsletter, published semimonthly, providing updates on the latest FARMS research, as well as current events, reports on conferences and symposia, scripture insights, and announcements of new publications. Started in 1980 under the title Newsletter.
FARMS has also republished many of the writings of LDS scholar
Hugh NibleyHugh Winder Nibley was a professor at Brigham Young University and an apologist for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
in the 15-volume
Collected Works of Hugh Nibley.
External links