Taylor, “Bring-to-Life Book of Mormon Stories” (reviewed by Elizabeth W. Roach)

Review
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Title: Bring-to-Life Book of Mormon Stories
Author: David S. Taylor
Publisher: iUniverse, Bloomington, Indiana
Genre: Religious commentary
Year Published: 2015
Number of Pages: 321
Binding: soft cover
ISBN10: N/A
ISBN13: 978-1-4917-7886-9
Price: $22.95

Reviewed by Elizabeth W. Roach for the Association for Mormon Letters

Holding this book in my hand along with my scriptures, I feel more prepared to understand and explain the scriptures in a variety of circumstances. Home evening lessons and family scripture study just got a lot easier. Writing talks and giving impromptu fireside talks or seminary devotionals just became simpler. Teaching my children or inviting them to teach me the gospel became approachable on their level. Helping new readers of the Book of Mormon understand passages just became more user friendly. Let me open this book to you as well.

Opening my copy of “Bring-to-Life Book of Mormon Stories” by David S. Taylor, I see 80 of the primary and secondary occurrences of the Book of Mormon retold and summarized in a clear easy to skim format. Each story is about a page to a page and a half long and begins with the scripture reference, story background, and outline. There is some cross-referencing to related stories that can help readers understand the flow of the narrative. This is very helpful if you remember part of a story and want to fill in details.

This section is followed by a page or so listing five to fifteen specific gospel principles that can be illustrated from that specific story. These are supported by related scriptural references. The principles include the expected ones like: faith, love, humility, patience but there are also references to stubbornness, grudge holding, spiritual blindness, and slothfulness, to name a few. Taylor puts a lot of information about individual Book of Mormon stories into two short pages apiece. Two indices at the end make it easy to find a story or a particular gospel principle. Much of the content about the application of the gospel principles is familiar, but there are also gems of new ideas and hidden challenges to see old stories in a new way.

My sons’ favorite character made the list, which is saying something because he is one of the lesser known: Orihah, one of the Jaredite kings. I don’t know why this man has fascinated my sons; maybe they just like saying his name. My eleven year old could easily read and understand the text and could explain back to me what was written. My favorite story is also in the book, which is Moroni counseling with Jesus Christ about how difficult he finds his role and the comfort Christ brings to him.

There is a story at the end of Alma about how the long war was brought to an end. Taylor’s summary stopped me cold. I saw a personal application in that scriptural account that I have never appreciated before. What would it really be like to be asked to welcome our former enemies into our communities and work to build a life together? How could the Ammonites be asked to take in and care for the surrendered Lamanite armies that had killed their family members and friends? How many of us have real identifiable enemies who are bent on our destruction? Could we sincerely and completely forgive those who had tried repeatedly to hurt or destroy our family members? As Enos asked of the Lord, “how is it done?” Taylor goes on to describe there is a choice, a point of decision. One can become hardened or one can seek forgiveness and grace.

The list of gospel principles throughout the book has a rather broad range, but I believe if I used the list as a guide to develop the positive principles discussed, I would both become a better person and I would understand the Book of Mormon stories on a more personal level.

My concern with this book is that it is so packed with concise information and is such a handy reference, that people may read it and think they are getting the full message instead of using it as a key to unlock the scriptures. Following that path would be like trying to eat the color photographs out of a cookbook and then saying you’re full instead of using them as a reference to the recipes so you can make your own food and truly be satisfied.

I would definitely use David Taylor’s “Bring-to-Life Book of Mormon Stories” to supplement my own and family study, to prepare talks and increase my depth on a topic, but I would not use it to replace a Sunday School or Seminary lesson manual. This is a great resource to keep close at hand.