Example of a Major Self-Own by the Tanners in their 1964 "Mormonism: Shadow or Reality?" on John 8 and the Pericope Adulterae

 In the 1964 edition of Mormonism: Shadow or Reality? the Tanners engage in what can only be major “self ownage”:

 

CASTING THE FIRST STONE. In John 8:7 Jesus is recorded as saying, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone . . ." Now certainly after we have seen the charges made against the Bible by the Mormon Apostles, we would expect the Mormon writings to be completely free of changes or alternations of any kind. (Jerald Tanner and Sandra Tanner, Mormonism: Shadow or Reality? [2d ed.; Salt Lake City: Modern Microfilm Co., 1964], 63)

 

Here is a scan of the page:

Why is this a fail on their behalf (and maybe why this line is excised in later printings of their magnum opus)? John 8:7 is part of a longer passage, the pericope adulterae (John 7:53-8:11), a text which even James R. White concedes is a later interpolation to the text. In effect, by charging Latter-day Saints like Orson Pratt of making errant charges of interpolation to the biblical manuscripts by quoting a later interpolation? All you need to know about the Tanners’ lack of knowledge of the Bible.