Saturday, August 26, 2017

Groucho Marx meets Novak's Rule

Dr. Dale Tuggy seems to be channelling Groucho Marx (“From the moment I picked up your book until I put it down, I was convulsed with laughter. Some day I intend reading it") as well as proving Novak's Rule, all at the same time, in the following comment in reference to this forthcoming book:



I wonder how Tuggy would react if a Trinitarian were to dismiss his recent book on the Trinity (Tuggy is a Socinian ["Biblical Unitarian"]) by simply appealing to something by Sam Shamoun or James White or Robert Morey? If Tuggy or any other Unitarian would find that underwhelming, well, now you have an idea of how I felt when Tuggy posted his inane "response."

The confidence among critics to comment on texts they have not read (in this case, the forthcoming Book of Mormon Central text, but also the Book of Mormon itself) has not escaped commentators:

Many historians have written about the Book of Mormon. Few have read it. Or perhaps more fairly, few historians have carefully analyzed its content. (Max Perry Mueller, Race and the Making of the Mormon People [Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2017], 22)

The Book of Mormon has not been universally considered by its critics as one of those books that must be read in order to have an opinion of it. (Thomas F. O'Dea, The Mormons [Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1957], 26)


With respect to the CES Letter, by all means, read it (One can read Runnells' CES Letter and "responses" here). Here are some of the rather cogent responses to the various arguments therein, including those leveled against the Book of Mormon (has Tuggy read the Book of Mormon? I doubt it):

FairMormon, Response to "Letter to a CES Director" and "Debunking FAIR's Debunking"

Brian Hales, The CES Letter A Closer Look (youtube)

Letter to a CES Director: A Closer Look

Kevin Christensen, Image is Everything: Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain

Michael R. Ash, Bamboozled by the "CES Letter"

I have been making a page on this blog of Tarik LaCour's responses (featuring some guest posts by the likes of Stephen Smoot and Brian Hales) here.

Links to other online responses