Jerald and Sandra Tanner


Jerald Dee Tanner was an American writer and researcher. With his wife Sandra McGee Tanner, he was noted for publishing archival and evidential materials about the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are both ex-Mormons. The Tanners founded the Utah Lighthouse Ministry, whose stated mission is "to document problems with the claims of Mormonism and compare LDS doctrines with Christianity". Sandra Tanner continues to operate it.
The Tanners printed original versions of early Mormon writings and scripture in which they annotated and highlighted doctrinal changes, such as the rejection of Brigham Young's "Adam–God theory". They jointly published more than 40 books about many aspects of the Church, primarily its history.

Biographies

Jerald Tanner was born in Provo, Utah, and was a fifth-generation Mormon. He studied at the University of Utah and received a degree from Salt Lake Trade Technical Institute. His great-great-grandfather, John Tanner, gave large donations to LDS founder Joseph Smith when the fledgling church was deeply in debt.
Like her husband, Sandra was a fifth-generation Mormon. She is a great-great-granddaughter of Brigham Young, the second president of the LDS church. Both families had longstanding ties to the Mormon community.
Soon after they were introduced, Jerald and Sandra began jointly researching the subject of Mormonism. Each had been raised in the LDS faith, but discovered that they each begun questioning the church in their teenage years.
Jerald and Sandra Tanner were married in Mission Hills, California, on June 14, 1959. The following year, both resigned from the LDS church. In 1964, they began an outreach to Mormons at their house in Salt Lake City, which grew into Utah Lighthouse Ministry. They had two daughters and a son together. After 47 years of marriage, Jerald Tanner died in Salt Lake City on October 1, 2006, as a result of complications arising from Alzheimer's disease. He had retired a few months before his death.

Publications

Joseph Smith Egyptian Papers

The Tanners have specialized in publishing original documents that would otherwise be inaccessible to the general public. For example, in 1966, they were the first to publish Joseph Smith's Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar. Prior to their publication, few LDS followers knew about these documents. The next year, Tanners' publication prompted discussions and debates about the content of the documents, which have continued for decades.
Joseph Smith said that, in addition to translating the golden plates, he translated the Book of Abraham papyri. These materials were thought to have been lost in the Great Chicago Fire. However, in 1966 scholars found ten fragments of the papyri in the archives of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Subsequently, an additional fragment was located in the LDS Church Historian's Office. Both Mormon and non-Mormon Egyptologists agree that the Book of Abraham, as published by Joseph Smith, is not a translation of these papyri, and that the papyri were not written by the Biblical Abraham.
Rather, the papyri have been determined to be portions of Egyptian funerary texts, dating to about the first century BC. The LDS Church disputes the Tanners' position stating in an Ensign article, "... some people have concluded that this Book of Breathings must be the text Joseph Smith used in his translation of the book of Abraham. However, there are some serious problems associated with this assumption. First of all, from paleographic and historical considerations, the Book of Breathings papyrus can reliably be dated to around A.D. 60-much too late for Abraham to have written it. Of course, it could be a copy-or a copy of a copy-of the original written by Abraham. However, a second problem arises when one compares the text of the book of Abraham with a translation of the Book of Breathings; they clearly are not the same..."
The Tanners contend that the Book of Abraham is a 19th-century work written only by Joseph Smith.

Other documents and books

The Tanners have also published photo-mechanical reproductions of texts such as complete sets of early-LDS periodicals, including Messenger and Advocate, Times and Seasons, and the Millennial Star. Also notable is a reproduction of the 1825 edition of Ethan Smith's View of the Hebrews. Their version contains the margin notes made by Elder B. H. Roberts, who compared this text with the Book of Mormon at the request of an LDS leader. His report was initially kept secret, but it gradually was distributed within Mormon circles and was published posthumously as part of A Book of Mormon Study and A Parallel. Again the LDS Church views the situation very differently than the Tanners, as statements made by individual member do not represent the official position of the Church, particularly when the source of such statements are hand written notes in the margin of a book and no one can substantiate who wrote said notes.
The Tanners have published compiled lists of changes to the text of the Book of Mormon and other texts used by the LDS church. They argue that the alterations are substantial and that the inconsistencies in the texts are evidence against LDS claims of their being divinely inspired. This is because of the Tanner's interpretation of Joseph Smith's claim the Book of Mormon was "the most correct book on the face of the earth... and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book."
The Tanners' best-known publication is Mormonism: Shadow or Reality?, originally published in 1963 as Mormonism: A Study of Mormon History and Doctrine, and reprinted five times since. Dean M. Helland of Oral Roberts University describes it as "the heavyweight of all books on Mormonism". The Tanners question the character and integrity of the :Category:Book of Mormon witnesses|witnesses to the Book of Mormon; they discuss the different accounts that Joseph Smith gave of the First Vision. Their book includes copies of original LDS documents.

Legal challenges

In 1999 the LDS Church sued the Tanners for internet linking from their website to the copyrighted Church Handbook of Instructions. The lawsuit was settled out of court before an appeals court could rule on what observers described as a potentially landmark case concerning internet linking.

Criticism

Lawrence Foster, a non-Mormon historian of Mormon history, has offered a mixed assessment of the Tanners and their work. On the negative side, Foster has written that, until the Tanners "are prepared to abide by accepted standards of scholarly behavior and common courtesy, they can expect little sympathy from serious historians." He criticized them for "a holier-than-thou stance, refusing to be fair in applying the same debate standard of absolute rectitude that they demand of Mormonism to their own actions, writings, and beliefs.... The Tanners seem to be playing a skillful shell game in which the premises for judgment are conveniently shifted so that the conclusion is always the same—negative."
On a more positive note, Foster says that some of the Tanners' "research and analysis... would do credit to any professional historian." He credits them with being "more than simply gadflies" and says that their work has helped stimulate serious Mormon scholarship.
D. Michael Quinn, a historian and former member of the LDS Church, takes issue with the Tanners' work. He noted that "although the most conscientious and honest researcher can overlook pertinent sources of information, the repeated omissions of evidence by the Tanners suggest an intentional avoidance of sources that modify or refute their caustic interpretation of Mormon history."

Challenging anti-Mormonism

On occasion, the Tanners have publicly challenged critics of Mormonism and earned praise from some LDS scholars. For instance, the historian Daniel C. Peterson, the chairman of Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies at Brigham Young University, suggested the Tanners' willingness to debunk false documents, regardless of their content, was a sign of integrity:
"There are some anti-Mormons out there that I hold in contempt. They're demagogic. They spread hatred and strife and disharmony. I don't see the Tanners in that way."

The Tanners were among the first public critics of the forger and later murderer Mark Hofmann. Hofmann's "discoveries" of important Mormon documents he had secretly forged appeared to bolster the Tanners' arguments, but by early 1984, Jerald Tanner had concluded there was significant doubt as to the Salamander Letter's authenticity. He even went as far as to publish an attack on the Salamander Letter, shocking many scholars, historians, and students who believed the document was genuine. By late 1984, he questioned the authenticity of most, if not all, of Hofmann's discoveries, largely for their undocumented provenance. He was ultimately vindicated when Hofmann's forgeries were exposed.
The Tanners have debunked what they characterize as misrepresentations of the LDS Church by Ed Decker, a Christian evangelist. They criticized his film The God Makers II, despite their involvement in his earlier film, The God Makers.

Selected publications