Friday, December 27, 2019

Example of An Anti-Mormon Author Engaging in Projection


In psychology, projection is where one "projects" their failings onto someone else. A prime example of this comes from Matthew A. Paulson in his assessment of LDS scholarship and "Mormonism," all of which fits rather perfectly his failings as a researcher:

In my research, Mormon scholars have abused the early Christian Fathers and contemporary Christian scholarship to support their doctrines . . . Certainly, LDS scholarship has distorted Christian history, selectively cited the Christian Church Fathers, committed numerous logical fallacies, equivocated theological words and in some instances impugned the character of certain Christian evangelical writers by name calling . . . There are certain descriptions which apply to the evidence and history of Mormonism. The reader will have to make up his or her own mind on what words are appropriate and which ones are not. Here is a list of words that might apply to the research of Mormon theology and history: enhancement, aggrandizement, embellishment, clumsiness, exaggeration, redaction, distortion, defraud, over-generalization, heresy, lie, cheat, fraud, and cult. within this range of words lies the appropriate assessment of Mormon theology. (Matthew A. Paulson, Breaking the Mormon Code: A Critique of Mormon Scholarship Regarding Classic Christian Theology and the Book of Mormon [Livermore, Calif.: WingSpan Press, 2006, 2009], 272, 273)

To see why Paulson is engaging in projection, see:


Listing of articles responding to "Breaking the Mormon Code"