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The Great Apostasy
James E. Talmage's thorough discussion of the significance of the great apostasy as a condition for the reestablishment of the Church in modern times. A summary of the most important evidences of the decline and final extinction of the primitive church. Helpful for missionaries and investigators. Offers a clear understanding of the apostasy and the restoration of the priesthood.
176 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1909
About the author
James E. Talmage
352 books124 followersJames Edward Talmage was a member of the Council of the Twelve Apostles, and a resident of Salt Lake City, Utah. He was born Sunday Sept. 21, 1862, at Hungerford, Berkshire, England, the son of James Joyce Talmage and his wife, Susannah Preater. He is the first son and second child in a family of eight. He was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the place of his birth, June 15, 1873, and on the 18th of the following August was ordained a Deacon in the Ramsbury branch of the London conference.
The entire family left England May 24, 1876, landed in New York June 5th, and arrived in Salt Lake City June 14th following. His career in the Church was upward and onward from the time of his baptism. In Provo, Utah, where the family had established a home, he was ordained a Teacher December 17, 1877, and an Elder June 28, 1880. On September 29, 1884, he was ordained a High Priest, and was set apart as an alternate High Councilor in the Utah Stake of Zion.
On December 7, 1911, he was appointed and sustained to be one of the Apostles, to fill the vacancy caused by the appointment of Elder Charles W. Penrose as second counselor in the First Presidency, and on the following day (Dec. 8th) was ordained an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ and was set apart as one of the Council of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, under the hands of President Joseph F. Smith, assisted by his counselors and members of the Council of the Twelve.
In 1888 (June 14th) he married Mary May Booth (daughter of Richard Thornton Booth and his wife, Elsie Edge Booth), at the Manti Temple, and from this union there came the following children: Sterling B., born May 21, 1889; Paul B.,born Dec. 21, 1891; Zella, born Aug. 3, 1894, died of pneumonia April 27, 1895; Elsie, born Aug. 16, 1896; James Karl, born Aug. 29, 1898; Lucile, born May 29, 1900; Helen May, born Oct. 24, 1902, and John Russell, born Feb. 1, 1911.
` Elder Talmage obtained his early schooling in the National and Board schools of his home district in England, and was an Oxford diocesan prize scholar in 1874. He entered the Brigham Young Academy (now University) at Provo, Utah, in 1876, and followed to completion the high school and normal courses, and in his 17th year was a teacher of elementary science and English in the institution named. His early predilection was for the sciences, and in 1882-83 he took a selected course, mainly in chemistry and geology, at Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pa. Though a special student and not a candidate for a degree, he passed during his single year of residence nearly all the examinations in the four-year course and was later graduated; and in 1883-84 he was engaged in advanced work at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md.
He returned to Utah in the fall of 1884, in response to a summons from the home institution, and served as professor of geology and chemistry, with varied activities in other departments, in the Brigham Young Academy from 1884 to 1888. While still a member of the faculty, he was elected a member of the board of trustees of the Brigham Young Academy. During his residence in Provo, he served successively as city councilman, alderman and justice of the peace.
In 1888 he was called to Salt Lake City to take the presidency of the Latter-day Saints College, which position he held until 1893. He was president of and professor of geology in the University of Utah, 1894-97. In the year last named he resigned the presidency, but retained the chair of geology, which had been specially endowed; and ten years later (1907) he resigned the professorship to follow the practical work of mining geology, for which his services were in great demand. In 1891 he received the degree of Bachelor of Science, and in 1912 the honorary degree of Doctor of Science, from his old alma mater, Lehigh University. In 1890 he was given the honorary degree
The entire family left England May 24, 1876, landed in New York June 5th, and arrived in Salt Lake City June 14th following. His career in the Church was upward and onward from the time of his baptism. In Provo, Utah, where the family had established a home, he was ordained a Teacher December 17, 1877, and an Elder June 28, 1880. On September 29, 1884, he was ordained a High Priest, and was set apart as an alternate High Councilor in the Utah Stake of Zion.
On December 7, 1911, he was appointed and sustained to be one of the Apostles, to fill the vacancy caused by the appointment of Elder Charles W. Penrose as second counselor in the First Presidency, and on the following day (Dec. 8th) was ordained an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ and was set apart as one of the Council of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, under the hands of President Joseph F. Smith, assisted by his counselors and members of the Council of the Twelve.
In 1888 (June 14th) he married Mary May Booth (daughter of Richard Thornton Booth and his wife, Elsie Edge Booth), at the Manti Temple, and from this union there came the following children: Sterling B., born May 21, 1889; Paul B.,born Dec. 21, 1891; Zella, born Aug. 3, 1894, died of pneumonia April 27, 1895; Elsie, born Aug. 16, 1896; James Karl, born Aug. 29, 1898; Lucile, born May 29, 1900; Helen May, born Oct. 24, 1902, and John Russell, born Feb. 1, 1911.
` Elder Talmage obtained his early schooling in the National and Board schools of his home district in England, and was an Oxford diocesan prize scholar in 1874. He entered the Brigham Young Academy (now University) at Provo, Utah, in 1876, and followed to completion the high school and normal courses, and in his 17th year was a teacher of elementary science and English in the institution named. His early predilection was for the sciences, and in 1882-83 he took a selected course, mainly in chemistry and geology, at Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pa. Though a special student and not a candidate for a degree, he passed during his single year of residence nearly all the examinations in the four-year course and was later graduated; and in 1883-84 he was engaged in advanced work at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md.
He returned to Utah in the fall of 1884, in response to a summons from the home institution, and served as professor of geology and chemistry, with varied activities in other departments, in the Brigham Young Academy from 1884 to 1888. While still a member of the faculty, he was elected a member of the board of trustees of the Brigham Young Academy. During his residence in Provo, he served successively as city councilman, alderman and justice of the peace.
In 1888 he was called to Salt Lake City to take the presidency of the Latter-day Saints College, which position he held until 1893. He was president of and professor of geology in the University of Utah, 1894-97. In the year last named he resigned the presidency, but retained the chair of geology, which had been specially endowed; and ten years later (1907) he resigned the professorship to follow the practical work of mining geology, for which his services were in great demand. In 1891 he received the degree of Bachelor of Science, and in 1912 the honorary degree of Doctor of Science, from his old alma mater, Lehigh University. In 1890 he was given the honorary degree
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June 3, 2020
At the behest of some Latter-Day Saint colleagues, I have endeavoured to read through James E. Talmage’s The Great Apostasy, to examine the arguments proffered therein in support of the LDS view of the Great Apostasy. As I read through each chapter, I made note of the main arguments presented therein, and offer my commentary on the validity thereof.
To begin with, CHAPTER ONE details the establishment of the Church after the Resurrection of Christ. The description of the founding of the Church more or less corresponds with what is found in the book of Acts. It is interesting that in describing the appointment of Matthias, Talmage repeats the standard LDS view that there must be twelve apostles, saying: "It is evident that the apostles considered their council or quorum as definitely organized with a membership limit of twelve; and that the work of the Church required that the organization be made complete."
And yet, the verse in Acts specifically states that what Matthias is actually being elevated to is the "bishopric" (ἐπισκοπὴ). This points towards the historic Christian belief that the bishops of the Church are the successors of the apostles. Nor is the apostleship limited strictly to twelve, since Paul and Barnabas became apostles without necessarily succeeding the twelve, nor was James succeeded by anyone when he was killed in Acts 12. Talmage himself has to concede: “Nevertheless, we read of none others subsequently chosen to fill vacancies in the council of twelve."
The rest of the chapter is a straightforward summary of the story of the Book of Mormon. References to the Book of Mormon are also made in subsequent chapters, but since the truth or falsity of the Book of Mormon is beyond the scope of the book or its review, no further comment needs to be made about it.
CHAPTER TWO details some basic arguments for the Great Apostasy. The first half of the chapter talks about free agency and how free agency demands that the possibility of apostasy be maintained. It seems here that in his zeal to avoid the error of determinism, Talmage falls into the opposite error of denying God’s sovereignty over history. Scripture states that God is able to make His plans infallibly come to pass (Isaiah 46:10, 55:8-11). If this were not the case, He would not be able to make any kind of predictive prophecy, since God cannot guarantee that they would come to pass. Furthermore, if God was truly omnipotent and omniscient, then surely he would have both the knowledge and the power to make His plans come to pass in such a way that our free agency is preserved. One need not choose between free-will and sovereignty—the Bible teaches both, and a properly biblical theology would affirm both.
The second half of the chapter is a series of Scripture quotations used to support a great apostasy. Among his Old Testament quotations are Isaiah 24:1-6 and Amos 8:11-12. A quick perusal of the context of those passages quickly indicates that they are referring to events that are happening in the authors’ day. They certainly cannot be referring to a future apostasy. Talmage objects that the phrase “everlasting covenant” is used in Isaiah, but this is a weak argument, since that phrase is also used of the Abrahamic covenant (Genesis 17:7-8). This points us to two facts: 1) the word “everlasting” doesn’t always mean “without end,” but can just mean “for an indefinite period of time” (which is another possible meaning of the Hebrew word ‘olam), and 2) the reference in Isaiah could be referring to the Abrahamic Covenant, not the New Covenant.
CHAPTER THREE is a continuation of Talmage’s argument from Scripture, focusing primarily on the New Testament. A series of New Testament citations are given, but none of them are demonstrate that the Church would fall completely into apostasy. They scriptures quoted point to false teachers misleading many, but none of them state that these false teachers would completely overtake the church, nor that there would not be teachers of the truth who would remain to proclaim to the true Gospel.
A couple of passages are worth noting in a bit more depth: 2 Thessalonians 2, which figures prominently in most LDS apologetical literature, clearly states that the events described would not happen until the end of the age, when the man of sin (a.k.a the Antichrist) is revealed. Also, in commenting on Revelation 1-3, Talmage asserts that the seven churches addressed are the only pure churches left in John’s day. This is nowhere stated in Revelation, but is an assumption borne by eisegesis. The seven churches mentioned are named because they happen to be the ones that are still in contact with John. This ignores the fact that many churches elsewhere were still active, as evidenced in the letters that were being circulated amongst each other (e.g. the epistles of Ignatius and Clement).
Besides this, Talmage also cites the church fathers Hegesippus and Eusebius as evidence of the Great Apostasy. They speak of heresies springing up after the death of the apostles, which attempt to draw people away from the true church. Yet we know from the writings of these same church fathers that they believed that orthodoxy would prevail over heresy. They state that the heretics would attempt to subvert the Gospel, but never say that they would succeed in doing so. In fact, we know who these heretical groups are, since they are mentioned by name in the patristic writings, and all of them were ultimately defeated by orthodox Christians.
CHAPTER FOUR deals with external causes of the Great Apostasy. Talmage specifically names persecution as one of the causes of apostasy. He admits that persecution in and of itself would not cause a mass apostasy, as he states:
“Church membership was thus diminished; but such instances of apostasy from the Church may be regarded as individual desertions and of comparatively little importance in its effect upon the Church as a body. The dangers that affrighted some would arouse the determination of others; the ranks deserted by disaffected weaklings would be replenished by zealous converts. Let it be repeated that apostasy from the Church is insignificant as compared with the apostasy of the church as an institution.”
Nevertheless, he asserts that as teachers of true doctrine were martyred, false teachers entered the church and took their stead. This claim has no grounding in any historical evidence, but is a mere assertion. It ignores the fact that: 1) orthodox church fathers left their imprint on the church, both through their writings and their successors, and 2) Roman authorities did not distinguish between the orthodox and heretics, and would just as eagerly persecute both. And yet, for Talmage’s theory to work, persecution must have afflicted orthodox teachers alone.
Finally, it is curious to note that in one of his footnotes, Talmage states that God has allowed the church to apostatize in earlier times, but would not allowed the church to apostatize again in the latter-days. This contradicts his argument in chapter 2 where he states that free agency requires the possibility of apostasy. Either this possibility applies equally to both the early church and the LDS church, or it applies to neither. Thus, Talmage’s argument constitutes special pleading.
CHAPTER FIVE continues the narrative of persecution from the previous chapter, and details the persecutions of the various emperors from Nero to Diocletian. At no point does Talmage insinuate that any of these persecutions led to apostasy, so it is unclear what purpose this retelling of events serves in his overall argument. One notable error that he makes in this chapter is the assertion that Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the empire in the Edict of Milan (313), yet this edict merely made Christianity a licit religion, not the official religion. That is a development that would occur with the Edict of Thessalonica (380).
CHAPTER SIX shifts from external causes of apostasy to internal causes. Talmage quotes from St. Cyprian of Carthage to show that even before Constantine, the Church was already falling into decadence, and that this decadence was especially bad in the generation immediately preceding Diocletian. However, what Talmage fails to demonstrate is that this decadence led to a wholesale distinguishing of the Church. Even an apostasy of large numbers of individuals does not equate to a Great Apostasy, as long as faithful Christians remain. Besides this, it is rather ironic that Talmage quotes approvingly from St. Cyprian, given that he believed in classic Christian teaching, and would not have recognized LDS doctrine as legitimately Christian.
Besides this, Talmage lists three lines of evidence of apostasy that appeared in this early period, which he will then elaborate on in subsequent chapters. These three are:
(1). The corrupting of the simple principles of the gospel by the admixture of the so-called philosophic systems of the times.
(2). Unauthorized additions to the ceremonies of the Church, and the introduction of vital changes in essential ordinances.
(3). Unauthorized changes in Church organization and government.
CHAPTER SEVEN focuses on the first line of evidence. Talmage traces the influence of Gnosticism and Neo-Platonism in the early church, and charges these with being the chief culprits behind the introduction of foreign theological ideas within Christianity. The problem with this thesis is that Gnosticism was vigorously opposed by orthodox church fathers, who sought to stamp out all such ideas from Christianity. Almost all of them argued against Gnosticism, with its denial of the goodness of materiality and of the humanity of Christ. The orthodox doctrine of God was forged in the midst of arguments against Gnostic influences, so one can hardly charge that those same influences are the origins of that doctrine.
The attempt to link Greco-Roman Paganism with Christianity becomes even more ironic if one considers that the primary doctrine of historic Christianity which set it apart from Paganism was its unflinching commitment to monotheism. In that regard, Mormonism, with its teaching of an infinite number of divinities, comes closer to Paganism than orthodox Christianity ever could.
A further irony can be observed in Talmage’s approving quotation of Joseph Milner’s negative judgment of St. Justin Martyr. Milner, a Calvinist, disparages Justin’s view of free will. Yet Mormonism affirms free will, just as Justin does. So why would Talmage be quoting a Calvinist against Justin on the matter of free will? This strikes me as grossly inconsistent.
Finally, Talmage asserts that the influence of Gnosticism led to Monasticism, which is a wholly unfounded assertion. The monastics were orthodox Christians who rejected Gnosticism. Their ascetic practices are based on the belief that the decadence of the world could easily entice one to sin and was to be spurned at all costs. Their eschewing of marriage, rather than being a denial of the teaching of Christ, is actually based on Christ’s own words when he said: “There are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to receive this, let him receive it.” (Matthew 19:12). In like manner, there is the teaching of St. Paul, who said: “He who marries does well; and he who refrains from marriage will do better” (1 Corinthians 7:38). So one need not go beyond Scripture itself to find the impetus behind celibacy.
CHAPTER EIGHT focuses on the second line of evidence. Talmage accuses the early Christians of abandoning the simplicity of their early worship for elaborate ceremonies, under the influence of Paganism. While this is the sort of criticism that I often hear from Protestants, I find it highly ironic coming from a Latter-Day Saint theologian, whose temple rituals could just as easily be accused of similar elaborations (especially if one considers their parallels with Masonic rituals).
Further on, he alleges that massive changes must have occurred in the liturgy and sacramentology of the early Christians during the second and third centuries, such that little can be discerned of the original form. And yet one cannot find any evidence of the alleged “earlier form” of worship in any early Christian documents. If the earliest sources that we have for Christian worship (the Didache, the letters of St. Ignatius, St. Justin Martyr, etc.) all bear witness to the liturgy and sacramental theology of Catholicism, then it stands to reason that this is the primitive worship practice of apostolic Christianity. One need only quote from St. Ignatius’ letter to the Smyrneans (AD 107) to make this point:
“They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they confess not the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins, and which the Father, of His goodness, raised up again. Those, therefore, who speak against this gift of God, incur death in the midst of their disputes. But it were better for them to treat it with respect, that they also might rise again. It is fitting, therefore, that you should keep aloof from such persons, and not to speak of them either in private or in public, but to give heed to the prophets, and above all, to the Gospel, in which the passion [of Christ] has been revealed to us, and the resurrection has been fully proved. But avoid all divisions, as the beginning of evils.”
“See that you all follow the bishop, even as Jesus Christ does the Father, and the presbytery as you would the apostles; and reverence the deacons, as being the institution of God. Let no man do anything connected with the Church without the bishop. Let that be deemed a proper Eucharist, which is administered either by the bishop, or by one to whom he has entrusted it. Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church. It is not lawful without the bishop either to baptize or to celebrate a love-feast; but whatsoever he shall approve of, that is also pleasing to God, so that everything that is done may be secure and valid.”
Elsewhere, the same St. Ignatius writes in a letter to the Romans:
“I have no delight in corruptible food, nor in the pleasures of this life. I desire the bread of God, the heavenly bread, the bread of life, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who became afterwards of the seed of David and Abraham; and I desire the drink of God, namely His blood, which is incorruptible love and eternal life.”
(Unfortunately, due to length constraints, I have to cut the review short here. See the rest of my review in the comments section)
To begin with, CHAPTER ONE details the establishment of the Church after the Resurrection of Christ. The description of the founding of the Church more or less corresponds with what is found in the book of Acts. It is interesting that in describing the appointment of Matthias, Talmage repeats the standard LDS view that there must be twelve apostles, saying: "It is evident that the apostles considered their council or quorum as definitely organized with a membership limit of twelve; and that the work of the Church required that the organization be made complete."
And yet, the verse in Acts specifically states that what Matthias is actually being elevated to is the "bishopric" (ἐπισκοπὴ). This points towards the historic Christian belief that the bishops of the Church are the successors of the apostles. Nor is the apostleship limited strictly to twelve, since Paul and Barnabas became apostles without necessarily succeeding the twelve, nor was James succeeded by anyone when he was killed in Acts 12. Talmage himself has to concede: “Nevertheless, we read of none others subsequently chosen to fill vacancies in the council of twelve."
The rest of the chapter is a straightforward summary of the story of the Book of Mormon. References to the Book of Mormon are also made in subsequent chapters, but since the truth or falsity of the Book of Mormon is beyond the scope of the book or its review, no further comment needs to be made about it.
CHAPTER TWO details some basic arguments for the Great Apostasy. The first half of the chapter talks about free agency and how free agency demands that the possibility of apostasy be maintained. It seems here that in his zeal to avoid the error of determinism, Talmage falls into the opposite error of denying God’s sovereignty over history. Scripture states that God is able to make His plans infallibly come to pass (Isaiah 46:10, 55:8-11). If this were not the case, He would not be able to make any kind of predictive prophecy, since God cannot guarantee that they would come to pass. Furthermore, if God was truly omnipotent and omniscient, then surely he would have both the knowledge and the power to make His plans come to pass in such a way that our free agency is preserved. One need not choose between free-will and sovereignty—the Bible teaches both, and a properly biblical theology would affirm both.
The second half of the chapter is a series of Scripture quotations used to support a great apostasy. Among his Old Testament quotations are Isaiah 24:1-6 and Amos 8:11-12. A quick perusal of the context of those passages quickly indicates that they are referring to events that are happening in the authors’ day. They certainly cannot be referring to a future apostasy. Talmage objects that the phrase “everlasting covenant” is used in Isaiah, but this is a weak argument, since that phrase is also used of the Abrahamic covenant (Genesis 17:7-8). This points us to two facts: 1) the word “everlasting” doesn’t always mean “without end,” but can just mean “for an indefinite period of time” (which is another possible meaning of the Hebrew word ‘olam), and 2) the reference in Isaiah could be referring to the Abrahamic Covenant, not the New Covenant.
CHAPTER THREE is a continuation of Talmage’s argument from Scripture, focusing primarily on the New Testament. A series of New Testament citations are given, but none of them are demonstrate that the Church would fall completely into apostasy. They scriptures quoted point to false teachers misleading many, but none of them state that these false teachers would completely overtake the church, nor that there would not be teachers of the truth who would remain to proclaim to the true Gospel.
A couple of passages are worth noting in a bit more depth: 2 Thessalonians 2, which figures prominently in most LDS apologetical literature, clearly states that the events described would not happen until the end of the age, when the man of sin (a.k.a the Antichrist) is revealed. Also, in commenting on Revelation 1-3, Talmage asserts that the seven churches addressed are the only pure churches left in John’s day. This is nowhere stated in Revelation, but is an assumption borne by eisegesis. The seven churches mentioned are named because they happen to be the ones that are still in contact with John. This ignores the fact that many churches elsewhere were still active, as evidenced in the letters that were being circulated amongst each other (e.g. the epistles of Ignatius and Clement).
Besides this, Talmage also cites the church fathers Hegesippus and Eusebius as evidence of the Great Apostasy. They speak of heresies springing up after the death of the apostles, which attempt to draw people away from the true church. Yet we know from the writings of these same church fathers that they believed that orthodoxy would prevail over heresy. They state that the heretics would attempt to subvert the Gospel, but never say that they would succeed in doing so. In fact, we know who these heretical groups are, since they are mentioned by name in the patristic writings, and all of them were ultimately defeated by orthodox Christians.
CHAPTER FOUR deals with external causes of the Great Apostasy. Talmage specifically names persecution as one of the causes of apostasy. He admits that persecution in and of itself would not cause a mass apostasy, as he states:
“Church membership was thus diminished; but such instances of apostasy from the Church may be regarded as individual desertions and of comparatively little importance in its effect upon the Church as a body. The dangers that affrighted some would arouse the determination of others; the ranks deserted by disaffected weaklings would be replenished by zealous converts. Let it be repeated that apostasy from the Church is insignificant as compared with the apostasy of the church as an institution.”
Nevertheless, he asserts that as teachers of true doctrine were martyred, false teachers entered the church and took their stead. This claim has no grounding in any historical evidence, but is a mere assertion. It ignores the fact that: 1) orthodox church fathers left their imprint on the church, both through their writings and their successors, and 2) Roman authorities did not distinguish between the orthodox and heretics, and would just as eagerly persecute both. And yet, for Talmage’s theory to work, persecution must have afflicted orthodox teachers alone.
Finally, it is curious to note that in one of his footnotes, Talmage states that God has allowed the church to apostatize in earlier times, but would not allowed the church to apostatize again in the latter-days. This contradicts his argument in chapter 2 where he states that free agency requires the possibility of apostasy. Either this possibility applies equally to both the early church and the LDS church, or it applies to neither. Thus, Talmage’s argument constitutes special pleading.
CHAPTER FIVE continues the narrative of persecution from the previous chapter, and details the persecutions of the various emperors from Nero to Diocletian. At no point does Talmage insinuate that any of these persecutions led to apostasy, so it is unclear what purpose this retelling of events serves in his overall argument. One notable error that he makes in this chapter is the assertion that Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the empire in the Edict of Milan (313), yet this edict merely made Christianity a licit religion, not the official religion. That is a development that would occur with the Edict of Thessalonica (380).
CHAPTER SIX shifts from external causes of apostasy to internal causes. Talmage quotes from St. Cyprian of Carthage to show that even before Constantine, the Church was already falling into decadence, and that this decadence was especially bad in the generation immediately preceding Diocletian. However, what Talmage fails to demonstrate is that this decadence led to a wholesale distinguishing of the Church. Even an apostasy of large numbers of individuals does not equate to a Great Apostasy, as long as faithful Christians remain. Besides this, it is rather ironic that Talmage quotes approvingly from St. Cyprian, given that he believed in classic Christian teaching, and would not have recognized LDS doctrine as legitimately Christian.
Besides this, Talmage lists three lines of evidence of apostasy that appeared in this early period, which he will then elaborate on in subsequent chapters. These three are:
(1). The corrupting of the simple principles of the gospel by the admixture of the so-called philosophic systems of the times.
(2). Unauthorized additions to the ceremonies of the Church, and the introduction of vital changes in essential ordinances.
(3). Unauthorized changes in Church organization and government.
CHAPTER SEVEN focuses on the first line of evidence. Talmage traces the influence of Gnosticism and Neo-Platonism in the early church, and charges these with being the chief culprits behind the introduction of foreign theological ideas within Christianity. The problem with this thesis is that Gnosticism was vigorously opposed by orthodox church fathers, who sought to stamp out all such ideas from Christianity. Almost all of them argued against Gnosticism, with its denial of the goodness of materiality and of the humanity of Christ. The orthodox doctrine of God was forged in the midst of arguments against Gnostic influences, so one can hardly charge that those same influences are the origins of that doctrine.
The attempt to link Greco-Roman Paganism with Christianity becomes even more ironic if one considers that the primary doctrine of historic Christianity which set it apart from Paganism was its unflinching commitment to monotheism. In that regard, Mormonism, with its teaching of an infinite number of divinities, comes closer to Paganism than orthodox Christianity ever could.
A further irony can be observed in Talmage’s approving quotation of Joseph Milner’s negative judgment of St. Justin Martyr. Milner, a Calvinist, disparages Justin’s view of free will. Yet Mormonism affirms free will, just as Justin does. So why would Talmage be quoting a Calvinist against Justin on the matter of free will? This strikes me as grossly inconsistent.
Finally, Talmage asserts that the influence of Gnosticism led to Monasticism, which is a wholly unfounded assertion. The monastics were orthodox Christians who rejected Gnosticism. Their ascetic practices are based on the belief that the decadence of the world could easily entice one to sin and was to be spurned at all costs. Their eschewing of marriage, rather than being a denial of the teaching of Christ, is actually based on Christ’s own words when he said: “There are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to receive this, let him receive it.” (Matthew 19:12). In like manner, there is the teaching of St. Paul, who said: “He who marries does well; and he who refrains from marriage will do better” (1 Corinthians 7:38). So one need not go beyond Scripture itself to find the impetus behind celibacy.
CHAPTER EIGHT focuses on the second line of evidence. Talmage accuses the early Christians of abandoning the simplicity of their early worship for elaborate ceremonies, under the influence of Paganism. While this is the sort of criticism that I often hear from Protestants, I find it highly ironic coming from a Latter-Day Saint theologian, whose temple rituals could just as easily be accused of similar elaborations (especially if one considers their parallels with Masonic rituals).
Further on, he alleges that massive changes must have occurred in the liturgy and sacramentology of the early Christians during the second and third centuries, such that little can be discerned of the original form. And yet one cannot find any evidence of the alleged “earlier form” of worship in any early Christian documents. If the earliest sources that we have for Christian worship (the Didache, the letters of St. Ignatius, St. Justin Martyr, etc.) all bear witness to the liturgy and sacramental theology of Catholicism, then it stands to reason that this is the primitive worship practice of apostolic Christianity. One need only quote from St. Ignatius’ letter to the Smyrneans (AD 107) to make this point:
“They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they confess not the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins, and which the Father, of His goodness, raised up again. Those, therefore, who speak against this gift of God, incur death in the midst of their disputes. But it were better for them to treat it with respect, that they also might rise again. It is fitting, therefore, that you should keep aloof from such persons, and not to speak of them either in private or in public, but to give heed to the prophets, and above all, to the Gospel, in which the passion [of Christ] has been revealed to us, and the resurrection has been fully proved. But avoid all divisions, as the beginning of evils.”
“See that you all follow the bishop, even as Jesus Christ does the Father, and the presbytery as you would the apostles; and reverence the deacons, as being the institution of God. Let no man do anything connected with the Church without the bishop. Let that be deemed a proper Eucharist, which is administered either by the bishop, or by one to whom he has entrusted it. Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church. It is not lawful without the bishop either to baptize or to celebrate a love-feast; but whatsoever he shall approve of, that is also pleasing to God, so that everything that is done may be secure and valid.”
Elsewhere, the same St. Ignatius writes in a letter to the Romans:
“I have no delight in corruptible food, nor in the pleasures of this life. I desire the bread of God, the heavenly bread, the bread of life, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who became afterwards of the seed of David and Abraham; and I desire the drink of God, namely His blood, which is incorruptible love and eternal life.”
(Unfortunately, due to length constraints, I have to cut the review short here. See the rest of my review in the comments section)
August 5, 2008
A wonderful little treatise which gives the history of the Christian church after the death of Christ up until its restoration in 1830. This is a good jumping off place for newer material that deals with the early Christian church and the rise of Catholicism. An LDS classic.
February 9, 2017
In writing this review, I fear that some of my Mormon friends may feel that I am attacking them and their religion. This is not the case. I am attacking James Edward Talmage's 1909 work entitled The Great Apostasy; Considered in the Light of Scriptural and Secular History, and taking him to task for shoddy historical method, a general ignorance of his subject matter, and poor conclusions. I do not encourage you to try to defend him, for his work is seriously flawed in a multitude of ways.
After reading the introduction, I had high hopes for this work. Talmage starts off in the right spot, by stating, "if the alleged apostasy of the primitive church was not a reality, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is not the divine institution its name proclaims." This is the crux of the entire work, but unfortunately, it rapidly spiraled down from there. After a short historical introduction, he goes on to make the wild assumption that the true church of Christ can only exist with legitimate priestly succession. I suspect that this topic (given the overall geographical generalities Talmage would go on to discuss) is not really about historical scholarship at all, but rather an attempt to invalidate the Roman Catholic Church's claim of apolostolic succession from St. Peter. This fails to account for the "priesthood of all believers" that may be from I Peter 2:9, but it also fails to demonstrate any believable parallels between the ancient church and what the LDS believe today. Talmage argues that since the Roman Catholic Church changed the means of the ordinances they are thus apostate. One could claim that he fails to take into account the changes to the Mormon ordinances, but that is not the issue here. The issue is simply that Talmage failed to create any plausible case of discontinuity between the early church and the later, better-sourced, post-Constantinian church. It also entirely fails to account for Jesus' emphasis on the spirit of the law. Where exactly does Jesus teach the need for proper priestly succession done according to ritual, Mr. Talmage?
Talmage then goes on to an inane discussion of Biblical prophecy. This section is a fine example of what happens when one chains up the scriptures and leads them around like tame beasts; they say whatever he wants them to say, despite flying in the face of context and academic reasoning. He uses Paul's warnings to the churches that the Gospel would be perverted to claim that this was some sort of prophecy that Paul had made, however, he nowhere is able to make any sort of link between the alleged perversion of the Gospel, and his own pre-conceived notions of a Great Apostasy. Another example is what he does with the seven churches in Anatolia in Revelation. Talmage claims that these were the last seven non-apostate churches (completely without evidence, as per usual). This really shows nothing other than a strong desire to make the evidence suit his preconceived conclusions, for even a superficial reading of Revelation will reveal that John's use of the number seven is a sign of completeness.
The next section discusses disputes in the church and its persecution. He claims that persecution killed the strong members of the church, forced the weak to flee, and put the unworthy in positions of honour. The problem with this thesis is quickly made manifold. Talmage is unable to back up his statement with any sort of evidence, which he isn't going to find due to the fact that most persecutions of Christians were localized (these are remarkable similar to persecutions of Jews in the middle ages; they were a visible minority, and while they generally made good neighbours there was still something subversive about them) and very half-hearted. Despite the lack of evidence for his previous thesis, Talmage doesn't seem to be concerned at all, and continues to push for this somehow representing his Great Apostasy. Dispute in the church apparently means apostasy for Talmage as well, but it shouldn't for any critical reader.
About halfway through the book, Talmage finally gets on to his criticism that Judaistic and Hellenistic ideas permeated the early church. It is true that various ideas crept into Christianity, but nowhere does Talmage demonstrate that they overrode the original message. He goes on to cite a highly-developed form of Gnosticism, but fails to account for the fact that the church viewed this as a heresy. One cannot argue that all of the Christian creeds were corrupt and abominable based on the fact there have been many splinter groups.
He blames the formulation of the doctrine of the Trinity on Neo-Platonism, but this also stumbles. He cites similarities between Neo-Platonist ideas and the opening few verses of the Gospel of John. It is certain that John was using Hellenistic concepts to illustrate Jesus' divinity here. There is nothing inherently wrong with this; Luke changes details in his Gospel all the time to make it more amenable to Gentile readers, and Paul adopts Hellenistic rhetoric to better reach his audience at the Aeropagus in Athens. What is wrong with this is Talmage's assumption that John is primarily Hellenistic, when in fact the noted Anglican scholar N.T. Wright has demonstrated that it has more in common with Sirach, an apocryphal Old Testament book than it does with Platonism. The second issue is that the Neo-Platonics did not yet exist in the form that he claims, since it wasn't created until the third century, whilst most scholars believe that John was written sometime around 90 A.D. The third and final problem here is that Talmage believes the doctrine of the Trinity to be a later creation. Technically, this isn't a huge flaw, for the doctrine of the Trinity itself emerged later, but he fails to account for the early church's predilection towards worshipping Jesus as God, not to mention the Trinitarian statements that were made by pre-definition Christians!
The final section reveals the same quality of research as the rest of the book. He lists off various crimes of the (apparently apostate) Catholic Church. We can all agree that these crimes were certainly not in the vein of what Jesus taught and set out to establish on Earth, and we should also be able to agree that this in itself means nothing. First, he only discusses the Catholic Church, and fails to discuss the others. Second, he provides no convincing [and usually just no] evidence that what Joseph Smith restored was ever taught by Jesus and lost in the early church. This last part is the ultimate crux of where he started; those teachings, ordinances and doctrines must have been lost in the first place in order for them to be restored, but Talmage cannot point to anything that suggested that what the Mormon Church teaches today is what Jesus taught. On that basis, this book is a miserable failure. The fact that the Deseret Book Company does not currently print this book emphasizes Auden's quote: "Some books are undeservedly forgotten; none are undeservedly remembered."
As for the edition itself, this reprint is quite awful. Since the text was OCR'd, it abounds with erroneous characters. It is never very clear where the chapters begin and end, and the notes run into the text. The index is also a hopeless mess. Considering the depth of research that this book has, combined with this being a rather awful edition, it is hopefully headed to literary oblivion.
After reading the introduction, I had high hopes for this work. Talmage starts off in the right spot, by stating, "if the alleged apostasy of the primitive church was not a reality, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is not the divine institution its name proclaims." This is the crux of the entire work, but unfortunately, it rapidly spiraled down from there. After a short historical introduction, he goes on to make the wild assumption that the true church of Christ can only exist with legitimate priestly succession. I suspect that this topic (given the overall geographical generalities Talmage would go on to discuss) is not really about historical scholarship at all, but rather an attempt to invalidate the Roman Catholic Church's claim of apolostolic succession from St. Peter. This fails to account for the "priesthood of all believers" that may be from I Peter 2:9, but it also fails to demonstrate any believable parallels between the ancient church and what the LDS believe today. Talmage argues that since the Roman Catholic Church changed the means of the ordinances they are thus apostate. One could claim that he fails to take into account the changes to the Mormon ordinances, but that is not the issue here. The issue is simply that Talmage failed to create any plausible case of discontinuity between the early church and the later, better-sourced, post-Constantinian church. It also entirely fails to account for Jesus' emphasis on the spirit of the law. Where exactly does Jesus teach the need for proper priestly succession done according to ritual, Mr. Talmage?
Talmage then goes on to an inane discussion of Biblical prophecy. This section is a fine example of what happens when one chains up the scriptures and leads them around like tame beasts; they say whatever he wants them to say, despite flying in the face of context and academic reasoning. He uses Paul's warnings to the churches that the Gospel would be perverted to claim that this was some sort of prophecy that Paul had made, however, he nowhere is able to make any sort of link between the alleged perversion of the Gospel, and his own pre-conceived notions of a Great Apostasy. Another example is what he does with the seven churches in Anatolia in Revelation. Talmage claims that these were the last seven non-apostate churches (completely without evidence, as per usual). This really shows nothing other than a strong desire to make the evidence suit his preconceived conclusions, for even a superficial reading of Revelation will reveal that John's use of the number seven is a sign of completeness.
The next section discusses disputes in the church and its persecution. He claims that persecution killed the strong members of the church, forced the weak to flee, and put the unworthy in positions of honour. The problem with this thesis is quickly made manifold. Talmage is unable to back up his statement with any sort of evidence, which he isn't going to find due to the fact that most persecutions of Christians were localized (these are remarkable similar to persecutions of Jews in the middle ages; they were a visible minority, and while they generally made good neighbours there was still something subversive about them) and very half-hearted. Despite the lack of evidence for his previous thesis, Talmage doesn't seem to be concerned at all, and continues to push for this somehow representing his Great Apostasy. Dispute in the church apparently means apostasy for Talmage as well, but it shouldn't for any critical reader.
About halfway through the book, Talmage finally gets on to his criticism that Judaistic and Hellenistic ideas permeated the early church. It is true that various ideas crept into Christianity, but nowhere does Talmage demonstrate that they overrode the original message. He goes on to cite a highly-developed form of Gnosticism, but fails to account for the fact that the church viewed this as a heresy. One cannot argue that all of the Christian creeds were corrupt and abominable based on the fact there have been many splinter groups.
He blames the formulation of the doctrine of the Trinity on Neo-Platonism, but this also stumbles. He cites similarities between Neo-Platonist ideas and the opening few verses of the Gospel of John. It is certain that John was using Hellenistic concepts to illustrate Jesus' divinity here. There is nothing inherently wrong with this; Luke changes details in his Gospel all the time to make it more amenable to Gentile readers, and Paul adopts Hellenistic rhetoric to better reach his audience at the Aeropagus in Athens. What is wrong with this is Talmage's assumption that John is primarily Hellenistic, when in fact the noted Anglican scholar N.T. Wright has demonstrated that it has more in common with Sirach, an apocryphal Old Testament book than it does with Platonism. The second issue is that the Neo-Platonics did not yet exist in the form that he claims, since it wasn't created until the third century, whilst most scholars believe that John was written sometime around 90 A.D. The third and final problem here is that Talmage believes the doctrine of the Trinity to be a later creation. Technically, this isn't a huge flaw, for the doctrine of the Trinity itself emerged later, but he fails to account for the early church's predilection towards worshipping Jesus as God, not to mention the Trinitarian statements that were made by pre-definition Christians!
The final section reveals the same quality of research as the rest of the book. He lists off various crimes of the (apparently apostate) Catholic Church. We can all agree that these crimes were certainly not in the vein of what Jesus taught and set out to establish on Earth, and we should also be able to agree that this in itself means nothing. First, he only discusses the Catholic Church, and fails to discuss the others. Second, he provides no convincing [and usually just no] evidence that what Joseph Smith restored was ever taught by Jesus and lost in the early church. This last part is the ultimate crux of where he started; those teachings, ordinances and doctrines must have been lost in the first place in order for them to be restored, but Talmage cannot point to anything that suggested that what the Mormon Church teaches today is what Jesus taught. On that basis, this book is a miserable failure. The fact that the Deseret Book Company does not currently print this book emphasizes Auden's quote: "Some books are undeservedly forgotten; none are undeservedly remembered."
As for the edition itself, this reprint is quite awful. Since the text was OCR'd, it abounds with erroneous characters. It is never very clear where the chapters begin and end, and the notes run into the text. The index is also a hopeless mess. Considering the depth of research that this book has, combined with this being a rather awful edition, it is hopefully headed to literary oblivion.
July 29, 2024
Mormonism was built on this great lie of a great apostasy. But here’s where the LDS church gets it wrong, apostasy is the abandonment of a truth standard, not the loss of a truth standard. It’s logically impossible that apostasy could be the loss of the truth standard, because without the truth standard, there would be no way to gauge the apostasy. The standard of God’s word and the principles of the gospel, apostolic authority and the church were never lost. I can find all of those things in my Bible right now.
March 4, 2020
The one word I would use to describe this book is j u i c y. I thoroughly enjoyed Talmage's break down of the apostasy, it felt like sitting in a really engaging very insightful lecture or fireside. So yeah it was juicy.
August 25, 2020
This was a pretty good book.Except I didn't understand all the words in it.
July 2, 2010
Most Mormons would be surprised I gave this book a two, but the book suffers from a few problems, most notably a huge reliance on Protestant historical propaganda. As a result, the image of the Catholic Church is grossly exaggerated; this is, of course, not Elder Talmage's fault as he was surely limited by his sources. When the lectures upon which the book is based were delivered, Talmage would have had a very difficult time getting hold of pro-Catholic works. Nowadays, with the benefit of better historical research by parties that attempt neutrality we have a better idea of the historical apostasy. From our modern viewpoint we can look back in time and see the pieces of the wreck, but we still cannot truly determine the cause of the crash - Talmage's work (which is NOT a book written by an Apostle like his later Jesus the Christ) discusses the evidences of the wreck as though those evidences caused the wreck. Sadly, for all of the work that was put into this book, it's best to look to modern Mormon works that discuss the Apostasy for better information.
September 27, 2016
It's a little too reliant on the anti Catholic protestant modernist histories that were popular around the time Elder Talmadge wrote it. I would recommend it as an illustration of how the church thought of the apostasy around the turn of the century, but wouldn't take it as the last word on the history. At the very least, it should be read with Miranda Wilcox's Standing Apart as a more updated companion piece.
August 11, 2016
I happened to ask my dad about a book that explained the evolution of the Catholic Church. This was the perfect book. It was not too much information. Very well documented and answered my questions good enough. Now I want to find something about the non-Christian religions.
December 31, 2011
Talmage tears down the Catholic Church's claim to spiritual authority based on historical discrepancies in order to make a claim for Mormonism's spiritual authority based on anecdotal drivel.
March 5, 2018
Old fashioned but it gave me some alternate sources if I ever have the time or the talent.
December 17, 2018
I honestly don't love Elder Talmage's writing style that much when compared to more recent works by LDS authors. He cites himself a lot, especially in this work, there's not a lot of nuance or understanding for opposing points of view, but the work is a product of its time and a lot of the scholarly-ish work used as sources in Church instruction manuals comes from this time period, so you take what you can get.
I give this book four stars because of its historical value in the understanding of LDS religious scholarship, and for the clear outlining of the LDS view of the beginnings of the apostasy, which is very much watered down in current church literature. My favorite part of this book is the notes on the Papacy (especially the 8th-10th centuries) in the second-to-last chapter. That's why I bought the book in the first place--I remember reading it one Monday when I was 19 and found a copy in a meetinghouse library somewhere, I laughed and laughed, and when I saw a copy of this for a dollar at a thrift store 14 years later I decided it was time to read the whole thing. I'm glad I did.
I give this book four stars because of its historical value in the understanding of LDS religious scholarship, and for the clear outlining of the LDS view of the beginnings of the apostasy, which is very much watered down in current church literature. My favorite part of this book is the notes on the Papacy (especially the 8th-10th centuries) in the second-to-last chapter. That's why I bought the book in the first place--I remember reading it one Monday when I was 19 and found a copy in a meetinghouse library somewhere, I laughed and laughed, and when I saw a copy of this for a dollar at a thrift store 14 years later I decided it was time to read the whole thing. I'm glad I did.
November 1, 2021
This took longer for me to read than I anticipated. It's not a long book, and it's not hard to read. But I found myself stopping to ponder, sometimes not returning to the text for several days. I found myself thinking about the internal and external causes of the Great Apostasy and considering them in light of what I was studying in the scriptures at the same time. Revelations in the Doctrine & Covenants, teachings of Book of Mormon prophets, and words of church leaders at General Conference took on new meaning as I considered them in the light of what I was learning from Talmage.
I've seen a few friends lose their faith, and looking back I see shadows of what led to the Great Apostasy appear in their lives. Harmless-seeming at first, but then blinding. I wish I'd known how to recognize them sooner.
Evil is evil and ever has been limited, in time. Good is good and ever has been endless.
Anyway, this book is a great primer that establishes the need for the Restoration, which is, of course, the great sequel to the Apostasy.
I've seen a few friends lose their faith, and looking back I see shadows of what led to the Great Apostasy appear in their lives. Harmless-seeming at first, but then blinding. I wish I'd known how to recognize them sooner.
Evil is evil and ever has been limited, in time. Good is good and ever has been endless.
Anyway, this book is a great primer that establishes the need for the Restoration, which is, of course, the great sequel to the Apostasy.
November 23, 2019
Throughout his book, James E. Talmage uses strong evidence and resources to back up the claim that there was an apostasy from Christ’s original church. With that, he does a good job with providing the reader with applicable and relevant reasoning as he gives an analytical breakdown of ecclesiastical history. Unfortunately, however, it can be hard at times to stay engaged in the reading. He doesn’t fuse enough emotion in his writing to really engage the reader. In reading the book, it is easy to lose track of his points and ideas. I found myself rereading a sentence or paragraph every now and then because it was hard to stay engaged. Overall, James. E. Talmage’s “The Great Apostasy” is insightful and informational but can lack, at times, in capturing and maintaining the reader’s attention.
July 10, 2017
I enjoyed this read. It allowed me to go back to my academic religious study roots and read a book that is not flowery or sweet, but more just laying out the facts as presented. Having said that I have made about 100 notes of places that I would like to work on future study to verify facts, read original sources, and do further research. This book is a bit heavy for most casual readers. This did take quite a bit of time to digest...I took it slow so that I could really work with the information. I did enjoy this book and look forward to working with it again in the coming months.
June 28, 2020
2nd Reading
I read this book in my 20s and now again in my 60s. It explains the need for a restoration of the true Gospel of Jesus Christ because of the evidenced falling away from the true doctrine taught by the Savior, the corruptness of the Catholic church’s papal lineage, the only other church claiming an unbroken line of Priesthood authority. Not everyone will understand this book. Fill your lamps, people!
I read this book in my 20s and now again in my 60s. It explains the need for a restoration of the true Gospel of Jesus Christ because of the evidenced falling away from the true doctrine taught by the Savior, the corruptness of the Catholic church’s papal lineage, the only other church claiming an unbroken line of Priesthood authority. Not everyone will understand this book. Fill your lamps, people!
July 27, 2021
This is a very powerful book on what really happened in history
You can read for yourself what happened to the church of Jesus Christ after his death. It was replaced by men for their own benefit and gain. The common man suffered greatly as the powerful took advantage of them for their own personal gain. Finally the Lord restored his true church to the earth with the priesthood and the saving ordinances for all men and women what a wonderful blessing for all men!
You can read for yourself what happened to the church of Jesus Christ after his death. It was replaced by men for their own benefit and gain. The common man suffered greatly as the powerful took advantage of them for their own personal gain. Finally the Lord restored his true church to the earth with the priesthood and the saving ordinances for all men and women what a wonderful blessing for all men!
September 21, 2022
My first book written by Talmadge, and I found it fascinating! It is true that the apostasy had to happen in order bring about the Second Coming of our Savior. The explanations were thoughtfully thought out, and the origins of the other churches were explained after Christ’s apostles were killed. So grateful that our Savior’s Church- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is restored to the Earth! No other Church can have Jesus Christ’s name in it!
January 4, 2018
Talmage explains the great apostasy in such a simple and straight forward way. It's clear that an apostasy happened and that a restoration of the true church of Christ was necessary. Entertaining read with a lot of interesting historical facts mingled in.
January 12, 2018
An Overview of the Apostasy
A well documented assessment of changes and conditions in Christianity leading to an Apostasy from within and without the Church and the subsequent need for a restoration of Priesthood authority.
A well documented assessment of changes and conditions in Christianity leading to an Apostasy from within and without the Church and the subsequent need for a restoration of Priesthood authority.
January 6, 2019
Nailed it.
Great read. Very insightful yet brief. Touches on the history of the Roman Catholic Church, origin of many Protestant churches, and their apostasy, their (admitted) lack of authority, and their inconsistency with scripture.
Great read. Very insightful yet brief. Touches on the history of the Roman Catholic Church, origin of many Protestant churches, and their apostasy, their (admitted) lack of authority, and their inconsistency with scripture.
July 4, 2019
I would have given it 5 stars but the first part was a little dry. I really enjoyed the last part that covered the internal causes, the result of the apostacy, the popes, indulgences, and the reformation.
January 1, 2021
His arguments would work fine for a 19th century scholar, but resent research would debunk some of his arguments. When the book was released it was still a good piece of literature! Talmage is one of the few early LDS-scholars that acknowledges academic research on theological issues.
April 11, 2024
I enjoyed the history and exploration of the deeper effects of the falling away that members of the Church of Jesus Christ don't often talk about. Well sourced from old historians' texts. A bit dry. But a bit funny in some parts, such as the description of the popes
June 21, 2018
Scholarly treatise documenting the apostacy. Very comprehensive.
June 15, 2020
Really boring. The organization is logical, but it doesn't feel like it says anything new or that makes a difference. For its time period, maybe it fit better.
Read
September 8, 2020Como o afastamento geral da verdade levou à necessidade de uma restauração da Igreja de Jesus Cristo?
May 3, 2022
Apostasy
The book written partly as apologetics how apostasy made sense the writing of Nephi and any other related history in the book of Mormon.
The book written partly as apologetics how apostasy made sense the writing of Nephi and any other related history in the book of Mormon.
Read
July 2, 2023Outdated classic.
May 15, 2024
Muy bueno
Bien argumentado, claro, directo, James Talmage no defrauda con reseñas y bibliográfica abundante te deja las ideas claras y se lee en un rato, muy buen libro !
Bien argumentado, claro, directo, James Talmage no defrauda con reseñas y bibliográfica abundante te deja las ideas claras y se lee en un rato, muy buen libro !
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