Oliver Cowdery
can plausibly be considered the co-founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints. Commonly called
the church's "second elder" and, at one time, its "assistant president," he
wrote most of the Book of Mormon out by hand from dictation as Joseph Smith's
principal scribe, recopied the entire manuscript for the printer, and, as one
of the Three Witnesses, beheld the angel Moroni, saw the plates and heard the
voice of God testify that the translation was correct.With Joseph Smith, he was ordained to
the Aaronic Priesthood by John the Baptist and to the Melchizedek Priesthood by
Peter, James and John. He was at
Joseph Smith's side in the Kirtland Temple on April 3, 1836, when Moses, Elias,
Elijah and the Savior himself appeared there, to accept the newly dedicated
building and to confer priesthood keys.Yet Oliver
Cowdery was excommunicated from the church in April 1838, and lived as a
non-Mormon for the next decade. In
1848, he was rebaptized, and, two years later, he died.For obvious
reasons, Latter-day Saint historians have found Cowdery extraordinarily
interesting, and they have written numerous articles about his life and
career. Several of the very best
of these have been gathered in John W. Welch and Larry E. Morris, eds., "Oliver Cowdery: Scribe, Elder, Witness"
(Provo: The Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, Brigham Young
University, 2006) — a book well worth the attention of anyone interested in the
truth-claims of Mormonism and in its early history.
The cover of the
book itself is important, as it features a recently discovered daguerreotype
image of Oliver Cowdery that is discussed in an essay by Patrick Bishop. Other treasures include a brief
biography of Cowdery by the premiere expert on the Witnesses, Richard Lloyd
Anderson, who also contributed pieces on "The Impact of the First Preaching in
Ohio" and on the reliability of the scribe who recorded Cowdery's testimony
upon his return to the church; John W. Welch's valuable essay on "The Coming
Forth of the Book of Mormon"; Steven Harper's "Oliver Cowdery and the Kirtland
Temple Experience"; and Royal Skousen's "Translating and Printing the Book of
Mormon." There are 17 articles in the volume, written by 13 named authors.
"Oliver Cowdery
and the Restoration of the Priesthood," compiled by Brian Q. Cannon and the BYU
Studies staff, gathers and analyzes several statements from Cowdery on that
important subject.Matthew Roper's
"Oliver Cowdery and the Mythical 'Manuscript Found'" scrutinizes the
zombielike "Spalding Theory" of Book of Mormon authorship and finds it wanting
(yet again).Scott H. Faulring's
"The Return of Oliver Cowdery," which won the T. Edgar Lyon Award of Excellence
from the Mormon History Association when it was first published in 2000,
provides fascinating and even moving background to that 1848 event, which
demonstrated Oliver Cowdery's continuing testimony of Mormonism at a time when
the Saints were headed westward and when casting one's lot with them was
anything but an easy road to prosperity or social status.
Larry Morris's
article on "Oliver Cowdery's Vermont Years and the Origins of Mormonism"
dismantles persistent attempts to link Joseph Smith Sr. with Oliver Cowdery's
father in a divining-rod incident that, so the theory goes, helps to explain
(away) the founding of the church 25 years later. It also demolishes equally persistent
efforts to tie Oliver Cowdery to Rev. Ethan Smith and, thereby, to portray the
Book of Mormon as plagiarized from Rev. Smith's "View of the Hebrews."As if that weren't contribution enough, Morris's "'The Private
Character of the Man Who Bore that Testimony': Oliver Cowdery and His Critics"
defends Cowdery's reputation, intelligence and honesty against writers who, in
their ardent desire to negate his testimony, have attempted to besmirch his
name. Morris, who is emerging as a
treasure in his own right, demonstrates that the critics rely upon weak
evidence, questionable sources and circular reasoning to make their
fatally flawed case.
The founding
events of the Restoration took place in the literal material world. They were not metaphorical. They were not merely symbolic. Accordingly, they are of immense
significance to all of humanity.
Oliver Cowdery's unwavering eyewitness testimony of them, through
persecution, suffering, illness, disappointment, anger and even
excommunication, is powerful evidence of their reality. This book, "Oliver Cowdery: Scribe, Elder, Witness," provides powerful scholarly
evidence that his testimony can be trusted.
E-mail: daniel_peterson@byu.edu
A
native of California, Daniel Peterson served a mission for the LDS
Church in German-speaking Switzerland in the early 1970s, then earned a
bachelor's degree in Greek and philosophy from Brigham Young University
and, after several years spent in the Middle East, a doctorate in
Arabic and Persian from UCLA. He is a professor of Islamic studies and
Arabic at BYU, where he also serves as editor in chief of the Middle
Eastern Texts Initiative and as director of outreach for the Neal A.
Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship.
Author of several books, including a biography of Muhammad, and
numerous articles on both Islamic and LDS subjects, he and his wife,
Deborah, are the parents of three sons.