Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Latter-day Saint
History and Religion
An “Other Gospel”?

An “Other Gospel”?

Last updated on: May 26, 2026 at 5:39 pm by Dan Peterson

0 Comments

An “Other Gospel”? 2026-05-26T17:39:18-06:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, “Ruth im Feld des Boaz” (1828, “Ruth in the Field of Boaz”)
Wikimedia Commons public domain image

Once again, on the unchanging website of the Interpreter Foundation, Jonn Claybaugh has provided a concise set of notes for students and teachers of the Sunday School curriculum of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: Come Follow Me — Old Testament Study and Teaching Helps (2026): June 1-7: Ruth; 1 Samuel 1-7 — “My Heart Rejoiceth in the Lord”

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland greets an attendee at the 16 August 2017 “Chiasmus Jubilee” on the Provo, Utah, campus of BYU. Behind him, to the left, Elder Kim B. Clark, then a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy and the Church Commissioner of Education — as well as a former president of BYU-Idaho and a former dean of Harvard Business School — and I are engaged in conversation. (Photo by Jaren Wilkey/BYU)

I’m offering another reminder of the Interpreter Foundation conference on the Small Plates of Nephi that will convene on the Brigham Young University campus in Provo this coming Friday and Saturday:

“For a Wise Purpose in Him”
The 2026 Small Plates of Nephi Conference
In Honor of President Jeffrey R. Holland

I expect that, if you look over the program for the conference, you’ll be impressed by its variety and scope. I certainly am, and I want to thank Jim Smith for his having urged us to organize such a conference and for his generous financial support of the event. Moreover, I’m grateful to Matt Bowen and Karamea Wright (and to others) for their considerable work in putting it all together. I’m appreciative, too, of the Holland children for permitting us to dedicate the conference (and the volume of articles that will ultimately emerge from it) to the memory of their father, who is greatly missed.

A page from the original Book of Mormon manuscript, covering 1 Nephi 4:38-5:14 (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

I’m pleased to report that our copy of Royal Skousen (with the collaboration of Stanford Carmack), The History of the Text of the Book of Mormon, Part Eight, Textual Criticism of the Book of Mormon (Provo, Utah: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies/Brigham Young University Studies, 2025), was hand-delivered this morning by a neighbor who had received it on our behalf while we were in the United Kingdom. (I posted Royal Skousen’s description of its contents in yesterday’s blog entry.) Like its predecessors, Textual Criticism of the Book of Mormon is massive and solidly produced and has been beautifully typeset by Jonathan Saltzman. Few books are produced to such a standard of care. I’m happy that we were able to be involved, even if only peripherally, in this historic project, and I’m grateful to Royal Skousen and his associates for it and to all those who have supported his work over the past four decades. It is a permanent, lasting contribution to Latter-day Saint scholarship and to the Restoration. It will never become obsolete. It will never be replaced.

“Joseph Smith Receives the Gold Plates”
(Kenneth Riley, LDS Media Library)

The King James Bible renders Galatians 1:8-9 as follows:

But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.

As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.

And, just for good measure, I’ll give you the same verses from the translation of the New Testament by J. B. Phillips, which happens to be a personal favorite of mine:

Yet I say that if I, or an angel from Heaven, were to preach to you any other Gospel than the one you have heard, may he be damned! You have heard me say it before and now I put it down in black and white—may anybody who preaches any other Gospel than the one you have already heard be a damned soul!

I’ve often seen Galatians 1:8-9 cited as a decisive disproof of the claims of the Restoration. After all, believers in Joseph Smith’s story accept his account that he was directed to the plates of the Book of Mormon by the angel Moroni. Isn’t that enough by itself to damn them and to prove their beliefs false? Moreover, they can thereby be linked with yet another damnably and obviously false religion, that of Islam! Two birds with one stone! A twofer!

However, it has always seemed to me that such deployment of the passage against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints begs the very question at issue: It assumes in advance that “Mormonism” is an “other Gospel,” distinct from the actual Gospel of Jesus. But isn’t that precisely the point under discussion? It’s essentially like saying that false teachings should be rejected, and that, therefore, the teachings of the Church should be rejected. If there’s to be an actual logical argument, a syllogism, the minor premise is missing,

Further, if its having been delivered by an angel is sufficient, in and of itself, to condemn a teaching, wouldn’t it have been sufficient — and much clearer — for Paul to have written something like “Reject any doctrine or message brought to you by an angel.” But that isn’t at all what he wrote.

This seems completely obvious to me. Am I the only one?

On the frontiers of scientific inquiry (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

Deseret News: “Pope Leo calls to ‘disarm’ AI, embrace human limitations and focus on human dignity in his first major teaching: The development of AI must prioritize ‘the common good’ and truth, writes Pope Leo in his first encyclical ‘Magnifica Humanitas'”

In response to which, one writer of a letter to the editor demands to know “Why is it that LDS Church leaders never talk about matters that are current and relevant?” Whereupon, I offer the following:

Deseret News: “At summit in Athens, a Latter-day Saint apostle shares soaring hopes, hard questions for AI systems: Age of artificial intelligence needs religious faith and a moral compass to reach its gift of possibility, Elder Gerrit W. Gong says”

And, from the official Church Newsroom: “Elder Gong: With a Moral Compass AI Could Offer the Gift of Possibility: In Athens Summit, Apostle calls for faith leaders to influence artificial intelligence”

History and Religion

Travel and Religion

Previous Post

May 25, 2026

Where is our Thomas Aquinas?

Next Post

May 27, 2026 On "moral images"

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"The G-20 interreligious summit is happening in Salt Lake City for the first time. President ..."

John Pack Lambert

Walking through History

"Provo High may have some nostalgic value for some folks here--but I have to say ..."

Jack

From Serbia’s “White City,” Belgrade

"I have cpnsidered in my mond if the 4 volume Saints could be made into ..."

John Pack Lambert

From Serbia’s “White City,” Belgrade

"DP: “But Mr. Sutherland worries about the fact that our time, when we can communicate ..."

Theodore Brandley

Learning more about a region of ..."

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

According to Romans, how does faith come?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Through prayer From the Holy Spirit By reading Scripture By hearing the word