Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Early Mormonism and the Magic World View/Chapter 7

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Claims made in "Chapter 6: Mormon Scriptures, the Magic World View, and Rural New York's Intellectual Life"

A FAIR Analysis of: Criticism of Mormonism/Books A work by author: D. Michael Quinn

Page	Claim	Response	Author's sources
298	The author claims that "Moshe Idel wrote that the Zohar 'is manifestly anthropomorphic'." The author claims that "Gershom Scholem wrote of the Cabala's 'almost provocatively conspicuous anthropomorphism'."	The author wants to attribute Joseph's idea of God having a physical human form (anthropomorphism) to the Jewish mystics who practiced Kabbalah. But, the author twists and distorts his source, which clearly states that the anthropomorphism of God is only allegorical in Kabbalah. The author uses his sources to make it appear as if Kabbalah has a literal, rather than allegorical, conception of God in a human form. Anthromorphism in Kabbalah?	Moshe Idel, Kabbalah: New Perspectives (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1988), 107. Gershom Scholem, Kabbalah (New York: Quadrangle, 1974), 141.
338n2, 339n60	Encyclopedia of Mormonism "was an official product of the LDS Church."	The author wants to make the Encyclopedia of Mormonism an 'official' work, when the book, its editor, its authors, and publisher all assert that it is not. Official Church publications	No source provided.