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Wesley P. Walters

Wesley Preston Walters (20 de enero de 1926 - 9 de noviembre de 1990) fue pastor de la Iglesia Presbiteriana Unida en Marissa, Illinois . [ 1 ] [ 2 ] Es conocido por su investig...

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Wesley Preston Walters (20 de enero de 1926 - 9 de noviembre de 1990) fue pastor de la Iglesia Presbiteriana Unida en Marissa, Illinois . [ 1 ] [ 2 ] Es conocido por su investigación histórica crítica del Movimiento de los Santos de los Últimos Días , específicamente del relato de la Primera Visión de Joseph Smith . El historiador Richard Bushman , quien a menudo discrepaba de las opiniones de Walters, dijo que Walters "prestó un servicio muy positivo a la causa de la historia mormona porque era un investigador profundo . Se adentró en el corazón de los archivos. [Él] nos hizo comprender que no podemos dar nada por sentado. Todo tenía que ser demostrado y probado". [ 3 ]

Biografía

Walters se convirtió al cristianismo y al presbiterianismo en su adolescencia en Baltimore , Maryland , tras quedar impresionado por la predicación de Donald Barnhouse . [ 4 ] [ 5 ] Siendo adolescente en Baltimore, convenció a dos de sus amigos de no convertirse a la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días (Iglesia SUD). [ 4 ] Para 1960, Walters estaba casado con su esposa, Helen, tenía cuatro hijos y era pastor de la congregación presbiteriana unida en Marissa, Illinois. [ 4 ] Le pidieron que escribiera un artículo sobre la Iglesia SUD en la revista Christianity Today , pero se sintió incapaz, por lo que los líderes de su iglesia financiaron su investigación enviándolo a Salt Lake City, Utah, para estudiar. [ 4 ] Esto lo encaminó hacia la investigación y la escritura que definirían el resto de su vida, investigando y publicando trabajos críticos del movimiento de los Santos de los Últimos Días. [ 4 ]

Walters continuó como pastor durante 30 años en Marissa hasta su repentina muerte en noviembre de 1990, después de someterse a una cirugía de vesícula biliar. [ 6 ] [ 7 ]

Obras críticas

In 1967, Walters published a pamphlet, "New Light on Mormon Origins from Palmyra Revival" that challenged the canonical history of the LDS Church. It asserted that, contrary to Smith's claim, there was no revival where Smith grew up in Palmyra, New York prior his first vision, and that the setting for his story better fit a revival from 1823 to 1824.[8] The pamphlet written by Walters created a stir, and provoked a strong response from scholars at Brigham Young University (BYU). By spring of 1968, BYU professor Truman G. Madsen organized approximately three dozen scholars to respond to Walters, and wrote to the LDS Church's First Presidency that the "first vision has come under severe historical attack."[9] The thesis written by Walters and the subsequent response has framed the modern historical debate.[10]

In 1971, he discovered a key document of evidence for the 1826 trial of Joseph Smith in the basement of a sheriff's office in Norwich, New York.[11] Prior to this discovery, the reality of the 1826 trial had been questioned by some Latter-day Saint scholars.[12]

Publications

  • The Challenge of the Cults co-authored chapter, Jan 1, 1961
  • New light on Mormon Origins from Palmyra Revival Bulletin of the Evangelical Theological Society 10, no.4 (1967), republished in Dialogue 4 no.1 (1969)
  • Joseph Smith among the Egyptians Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society Volume 16 No.1, Winter 1973
  • Joseph Smith's Bainbridge, N.y., Court Trials and from Occult to Cult with Joseph Smith, Jr. 1977 reprint of two articles printed in 1974 and 1977
  • The human origins of the Book of Mormon - 1979
  • An Examination of B. H. Roberts' Secret Manuscript Paperback – Utah Lighthouse Ministry 1979
  • Jehovah's Witnesses (IVP Booklets) Pamphlet with M. Kurt Goedelman – January 12, 1983
  • The Use of The Old Testament In The Book of Mormon Utah Lighthouse Ministry – 1990
  • Is Mormonism Christian?: A Look at the Teachings of the Mormon Religion with Harry L. Ropp and Charles Arthur Crane College Pr Pub Co – November 1, 1995
  • Inventing Mormonism: Tradition and the Historical Record with H. Michael Marquardt – Signature Books October 15, 1998

See also

References

  1. ↑Wesley Preston Walters Manuscript Collection - Index, www.pcahistory.org/mo/walters/index.html.
  2. ↑Harper, Steven Craig. Joseph Smiths First Vision: a Guide to the Historical Accounts. Deseret Book, 2012. e-book location 1061 of 1932
  3. ↑Harper, Steven Craig. Joseph Smiths First Vision: a Guide to the Historical Accounts. Deseret Book, 2012. e-book location 1067 of 1932
  4. 12345Walters, Helen "Wesley Walters, Sleuth for the Truth," 2, unpublished manuscript in Presbyterian Church of America Historical Archives, St. Louis, Missouri. As relayed in, Harper, Steven C. First Vision: Memory and Mormon Origins. Oxford University Press, 2019.
  5. ↑Barnhouse, Margaret N. That Man Barnhouse (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1983)
  6. ↑"Mormon Critic Dies" Sunstone Magazine December 1990, page 62. online at: https://www.sunstonemagazine.com/pdf/080-59-65.pdfArchived 2015-12-03 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ↑Huggins, R. V. (2022). Lighthouse: Jerald and Sandra Tanner: Despised and beloved critics of Mormonism. Signature Books. page 339
  8. ↑Walters, Wesley P. New Light on Mormon Origins from Palmyra Revival Bulletin of the Evangelical Theological Society 10, no. 4 1967:pg 227-244
  9. ↑Harper, Steven C. First Vision: Memory and Mormon Origins. Oxford University Press, 2019. page 220
  10. ↑Exploring the First Vision, ed. Samuel Alonzo Dodge and Steven C. Harper (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, 2012), 1–40
  11. ↑Hill, Marvin S. (1972) "Joseph Smith and the 1826 Trial: New Evidence and New Difficulties," BYU Studies Quarterly: Vol. 12 : Iss. 2, Article 7. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol12/iss2/7
  12. ↑Hugh Nibley wrote in 1961, "If this court record is authentic, it is the most damning evidence in existence against Joseph Smith." Nibley, Hugh. The Myth Makers Bookcraft in Salt Lake City, Utah 1961.