It's been a while since we've seen a volume of solid scholarship on the subject of the "great apostasy." Recent volumes have done a fair job of trying to rein in a doctrine gone amok, thanks, to some degree, to "authoritative" teachers who just perpetuated early stereotypes and misunderstandings. Early Christians in Disarray is a cautionary book, with the noble goal of (hopefully) getting the thing right.

In many ways, Reynolds' "Introduction" is the most important chapter in the book. Here he lays out his thesis. Referring to LDS scholar Richard Bushman:

(h)e said that while noting the various changes to the doctrines and to the ordinances is helpful, it is not enough for it does not address the heart or causes of the apostasy, rather focusing on its effects. It is as if you were to approach the aftermath of a car wreck. You can conclude from the debris, the twisted metal frame, the shattered glass, the injured and dead bodies, that an accident has occurred. But you would not say that the broken and scattered parts, the injured and dead bodies, and the twisted frame caused the accident. (p. 3)

His other premise is interesting. He believes that the transformation of the "ordinances" -- celebrations of the covenant relationship between God and man -- into "sacraments" -- bestowals of God's grace through an intermediary -- marked a major shift in the Church's self-understanding and in her relationship with God. Reynolds gives us a nice essay at the end of the book that fleshes this out.

This is a big job -- disabusing generations of Latter-day Saints of outmoded thinking and teaching. But the writers give it their all, and, in my opinion, succeed wonderfully.

Eric R. Dursteler is the author the essay "Inheriting the 'Great Apostasy': The Evolution of Latter-day Saint Views on the Middle Ages and the Renaissance." Dursteler studies the increasing attention paid in Church literature -- beginning with B.H. Roberts and flowing through James E. Talmage and Joseph Fielding Smith -- to the periods mentioned in the essay title. He acknowledges that these three drew from sources that presented a rather dim view of the world during the "dark ages" in contrast to the light of the Renaissance. He also credits Bruce R. McConkie with perpetuating this idea, even in light of more current scholarship demonstrating that these historical eras were far more complex and nuanced than had been previously acknowledged. He calls upon LDS historians to move on from the old paradigms.

Richard E. Bennett and Amber J. Seidel follow with "'A World in Darkness' Early Latter-day Saint Understanding of the Apostasy, 1830-1834." How did the early Saints view the Great Apostasy? How do the First Vision, the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, and the call to Zion, factor into those understandings? And how did the teachings of other religious bodies affect the Latter-day Saint understanding? This is an interesting historical perspective, although much more could be written on this subject.

John W. Welch contributes "Modern Revelation: A Guide to Research About the Apostasy." He begins by studying 1 Nephi 13 as "the longest scriptural prophecy about the apostasy and the years between the first and nineteenth centuries..." His analysis is clear and cogent. He then moves to a comparison, laid out in table form, of Matthew 13 and D&C 86, the parable of the wheat and the tares. By studying these scriptural passages in parallel fashion (including emendations from the Joseph Smith Translation), the differences are made clear, the reader is aided in a wider understanding of this parable. He views Matthew's comments as a "softer view" of the apostasy, while the Doctrine and Covenants contain a "harder view."

Next is "The Concept of Apostasy in the New Testament" by James E. Faulconer. He begins with the Old Testament view of apostasy and leads the reader to Luke's gospel and the dedicatory prayer of Zacharias at the presentation of the Messiah at the Temple. Studying the content of this prayer, Faulconer concludes:

Zacharias's prophecy stands out radically, for it is a rejection of both the priestly families with which the Sadducees were associated and the powerful Pharisees who opposed them. Couched in terms of temple service, because that was the language of priesthood and covenant with which he was familiar, Zacharias's message is that, as Messiah, Jesus has come to restore priesthood service to its proper place in religious life as the service in which covenant is established and re-established. (p. 149)

John Gee, in "The Corruption of Scripture in Early Christianity," studies the many early Christians who made claims concerning the corruption of the holy writings. He cites church fathers and others in establishing that this was a concern early on. He then looks at "methods of corruption," the different ways in which changes crept into the canon. He takes a brief look at some possible motives behind making these changes. Two tables accompany his essay, although I found them less helpful than they might have been, wishing for more explanation.

We come now to "The Introduction of Philosophy into Early Christianity" by Daniel W. Graham and James L. Siebach. Let us stipulate that while a definition of the word "philosophy" can be elusive, in the current context we're talking about the Hellenistic influence so widely felt in the region at the time. The authors show how the earliest Christians saw Hellenism as a contender, an enemy of their newly founded faith, but as the third century emerged, the church found itself more willing to accommodate these views:

Clement and Origen see Greek learning as providing genuine insights but not as constituting a body of truth independent of the scriptures and revelation. We should learn what the world has to teach us of worldly knowledge but depend on revelation for our understanding of God and his ways. We may use rational methods to organize the teachings of the scriptures and we may profitably evaluate them by their use of reason. But we do not need to adhere to any school of Greek philosophy to understand Christian doctrine; on the contrary, we should use Christian doctrine to evaluate philosophical theories. (p. 208-9)

David L. Paulsen is the author of "Divine Embodiment: The Earliest Christian Understanding of God." While some may think this idea to be particular to Mormonism, in fact, according to Paulsen, it had its champions in the early church fathers, in particular Tertullian. Although the idea would ultimately fade from Christian orthodoxy, Paulsen provides a helpful body of evidence to show, in his words, that

Joseph Smith's declaration of divine embodiment is a sign of the "times of refreshing... the times of restitution of all things..." (p. 293)

While the defining treatment of the Christian apostasy in the Book of Mormon predicts that the covenants will be removed or lost (see 1 Nephi 13:26), this key element has never been systematically explored in Latter-day Saint thought. I will show that the covenantal understandings of ordinances were lost or de-emphasized very early, and that this change made the later accommodation of Greek philosophy much easier for the third- and fourth-century Christians. (p. 297)

ordinances had lost their covenantal basis, being redefined as sacraments by which God's grace could be transmitted to a recipient through the mediation of a priest. (p. 324)

Appendix A, assembled by Barry R. Bickmore, offers a "Guide to Important Christian Documents and Writers from the Early Church to the Restoration." It's a nice bibliography of writings on the Great Apostasy.

Appendix B summarizes the major "Christian Councils" as they occurred throughout Christian history. Written by Barry R. Bickmore and Adam W. Bentley, it offers a helpful look at the councils that defined, and continue to define, Christendom.

Noel B. Reynolds gives us Appendix C, "New Testament Evidences and Prophecies of Apostasy in the First-Century Church." It contains a list of scriptures helpful in understanding this subject.

Appendix D is titled "Bibliographical Note on Latter-day Saint Writings on the Apostasy" and is written by Ryan G. Christiansen. It offers a brief overview of the various works in the Latter-day Saint community concerning the Great Apostasy.

Citation and general indices close the book.

Early Christians in Disarray is not for the faint of heart. It is not a casual glance at the Apostasy, but rather a thoroughly researched and beautifully realized study of the subject, aimed at bringing Latter-day Saint research up to date, correcting ideas that some Saints may have held over the years, and perhaps forming a new corpus of research for future scholarship. It also demonstrates an exciting willingness on the part of LDS scholars to move beyond the limited views of those who came before, and embrace new ideas in their quest for clarity.

This is one of the best collections I've read in a long time. It truly merits a place in the library of any serious student of Mormonism.
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Jeff Needle
January 8, 2006