Are you in agreement with the Book of Mormon being published this way?
From the Church site:
The new hardcover edition will reflect design changes introduced by Doubleday to make the volume more easily read and understood by a non-Mormon audience, but will remain faithful to the text itself.
For example, the new edition will not include the exhaustive cross-references and index included in the volume used by Church members. Footnotes have been eliminated, and the approximate dates at the bottom of many pages will appear in the brief chapter headings. A special seven-page Reference Guide will be included to help orient the reader who is less familiar with the Church and its teachings.
Ref. https://lds.org/newsroom/showrelease/0,1550...1-19735,00.html
LEE BENSON: SECULAR BOOK OF MORMON: WILL IT SELL?
In the publishing business, it must be some kind of record: 175 years after the manuscript is completed, it finally gets picked up by a big time New York City publishing house.
https://deseretnews.com/dn/view/1%2C1249%2C...76628%2C00.html
I'm not really sure. Seems like an "image" thing, but there are some good arguments. Most of them seem to be that people who wouldn't be caught dead calling for a free Book of Mormon, or talking to the missionaries, might just purchase a nice one. Again, seems like an "image" concept - pride. So, if this is a "nice" edition that is attractive and looks good in their bookcase, they will buy it. Doesn't mean that they will read it, or even open it up.
But then again, maybe they will.
So, it doesn't really matter to me.
I'm not totally keen about it, specially because I don't like the idea of people assuming now that you have to buy the Book of Mormon or that the missionaries are 'selling' the book. I don't know, if the need was a nice publishing book with easy reading and no footnotes and stuff for new members and investigators, why the Church will all their resources created one?. Why people will need to pay $25?.
I don't like it at all. I don't mind that you can buy the Book of Mormon in book stores, but I think the Church should be the one putting it in those book stores.
Now, my biggest objection is that it won't be exactly like the ones the Church sells. Why not? I think the footnotes are essential to understanding it.
I wonder if we will see the Church stop producing the nicer volumes that we can now buy for reasonable money and if we want a nice leather bound edition some day will we be forced to buy one at the local bookstore where the bookstore and the printer are looking to make a hefty profit? I don't like it at all, but who am I?
I read about this somewhere else (not sure how I missed this thread!) not long ago, and was kind of intrigued. I've been sort of off-and-on pondering this ever since.
While it would be a nice gesture to give a nicely bound BoM as a gift to a loved one or to an investigator, I'm not sure that the footnotes and cross-references should have been removed.
Talk about becoming "acceptable to Babylon"! We surely live in interesting times...
Roz
QUOTE |
Talk about becoming "acceptable to Babylon"! We surely live in interesting times... |
Availability to the general public is what most of this is about. Sadly, the lack of footnotes could be a major drawback, and no doubt I'm sure it won't have a Dictionary (that's usually packed along with the Bible, or at least the version the church uses). As a whole, I think it's a good move. If people aren't interested in the church by what's in the text, I don't think footnotes are going to make much difference. Not to mention the interesting history behind it's relation to Native American Indians might be a draw for some, and will slip in a spiritual message along with it.
For now, I'm just curious as to how this will all turn out.