Deception by Design provides a comprehensive study of Mormonism; exposes the surprising source of Joseph Smiths conversion story; reveals the immense influence of others on Smiths beliefs; equips evangelical Christians with principals for witnessing to Mormons. Allen Harrod has written a wonderfully helpful and insightful book on Mormonism. It is both original in its research, as well as in its offering helpful conclusions and applications regarding the nature and history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Dr. R. Philip Roberts, president, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary Deception by Design represents the best book I have seen in terms of explicating the beliefs and theology of Mormonism and at the same time providing superb approaches to presenting the claims of Christ to Mormons. Dr. Paige Patterson, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

Few scholars of the Book of Mormon have read this volume of scripture as closely and rigorously as Joseph M. Spencer. And of those, none have devoted as much time and effort as he to a theological reading of that sacred text—that is, as Spencer writes, “how it might shape responsible thinking about questions pertaining to the life of religious commitment” (p. 1:173.) The Anatomy of Book of Mormon Theology divides into two volumes exploring and thinking about these pertinent questions. Each concerns a different part of the defense of the claim that theology is and ought to be particularly important for Book of Mormon studies. In this first volume, Spencer gathers early essays in which he gestures toward theological interpretation without knowing how to defend it; essays about why theology is important to Book of Mormon scholarship and how to ensure that it does not overstep its boundaries; and essays that do theological work on the Book of Mormon in relatively obvious ways or with relatively traditional topics. The last category of essays divides into two subcategories: essays specifically on the central theological question of Jesus Christ’s atonement, as the Book of Mormon understands it; and essays on a variety of traditional theological topics, again as the Book of Mormon understands them.

Questions run the breadth of the Mormon experience, including doctrinal questions as well as questions about the LDS lifestyle.

This book explores the literate and advanced cultures of two very separate groups in the Book of Mormon, (1) the Jaredites described in the book of Ether, and (2) the members of tribal Manasseh who dominate the remainder of the Book of Mormon. The first group flourished during the millennia before the arrival of the second group in a nearby area, and became extinct as a civilization not long after the arrival of that second group. Within the New World, only one complex culture arose which was literate, built great cities, and had a large population, namely the Olmec of southern Mexico -- the "mother culture" of the five subsequent advanced cultures of Mesoamerica. This book demonstrates how the Mesopotamian Jaredites brought with them a Sumero-Akkadian culture to the New World. The linguistics of Sumero-Akkadian are not only found systematically within the Jaredite onomasticon, but a comparison of Sumero-Akkadian with reconstructed ancient Olmec (Proto-Mixe-Zoque) strongly suggests the ultimate origin of that people in Mesopotamia at least 5 thousand years ago. In the second section of the book, an offshoot of tribal Manasseh (Clan Lehi) demonstrates its pervasive influence through an onomasticon almost exclusively showing derivation from Manassite names known from the Bible and archeology, and which are collocated geographically with each other and with a set of names known biblically to be associated with transjordanian tribes and southern areas, such as Midian (where Clan Lehi first goes to make good its escape from Judah).