Thursday, March 7, 2019

Great New Book from Elder Callister

General Sunday School President Elder Tad R. Callister of the Seventy is well-known among Latter-day Saints as an author and engaging speaker.
Elder Callister from ChurchofJesusChrist.org
His titles The Infinite Atonement (2000),

The Inevitable Apostasy and the Promised Restoration (2006),

and The Blueprint of Christ's Church (2015)

have been well received. Now, Elder Callister has turned his talented pen (or more likely, keyboard) toward the Book of Mormon. His latest book is entitled A Case for the Book of Mormon. It is published by Deseret Book and appeared on store shelves March 4, 2019.

This handsome 262 page book should become a classic in Latter-day Saint letters. It strikes a wonderful balance between certitude and polemic, spiritual and intellectual, doctrinal and narrative. Elder Callister had a 34 year career as a tax attorney and logical precision is evident on every page. Some of my favorite parts were his personal stories from the mission field and from his many years in Church service. And, of course, since I volunteer as Executive Director of Book of Mormon Central, I was thrilled to see Book of Mormon Central and members of our staff (Jack Welch, Matt Roper, Neal Rappleye) mentioned or referenced over 40 times.

Congratulations to Elder Callister for a significant new contribution to Book of Mormon studies. I didn't just read this book. I devoured it in about six hours and highly recommend it. After finishing the read, I promptly authored positive reviews on Deseret Book and Amazon.