1. Anthony F. Buzzard, Jesus Was Not a Trinitarian (Morrow, Ga.: Restoration Fellowship, 2007), 28; emphasis in original.

2. A Journal from the Radical Reformation, the journal of Buzzard’s theological community, has published an article that explicitly denounces Mormonism as “the fruit of the Trinitarian Christian tree” and as “a logical progression of Trinitarianism.” In a gross oversimplification, the article also condemns Mormonism for causing “God to be lowered to the level of people.” Alan M. Goldberg, “Every Tree Is Known by Its Own Fruit: Of Mormonism, Trinitarianism and Polytheism,” A Journal from the Radical Reformation 6, no. 1 (1996): 25, 29. Also, in appendix 1 (page 387) of Trinitarian, Buzzard reproduces an essay by Durousseau noting that the formulation “Jesus is God” was anathemized by the fifth ecumenical council (553 CE) at Chalcedon as Eutychianism or Monophysitism.

3. Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 44:6; Mark 12:29.

4. For a clear statement of the LDS understanding of the Trinity, see Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, “The Only True God and Jesus Christ Whom He Hath Sent,” Ensign 37 (November 2007): 40–42. Compare David Paulsen and Brett McDonald, “Joseph Smith and the Trinity: An Analysis and Defense of the Social Model of the Godhead,” Faith and Philosophy 25, no. 1 (2008): 47–74.

5. Buzzard, Trinitarian, 1.

6. See Buzzard’s analysis of this passage, Trinitarian, 31–35, 39–41.

7. Moshe Weinfeld, Deuteronomy 1–11: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, vol. 5 of The Anchor Bible (New York: Doubleday, 1991), 328–54.

8. Weinfeld, Deuteronomy, 337.

9. Weinfeld, Deuteronomy, 338.

10. Weinfeld, Deuteronomy, 349–51.

11. Joel Marcus, Mark 8–16: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, vol. 27A of The Anchor Yale Bible (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2009), 836–45.

12. Marcus, Mark 8–16, 842.

13. See R. Scott Chalmers, “Who Is the Real El? A Reconstruction of the Prophet’s Polemic in Hosea 12:5a,” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 68 (October 2006): 611–30; Otto Eissfeldt, “El and Yahweh,” Journal of Semitic Studies 1 (1956): 25–37; Daniel C. Peterson, “‘Ye Are Gods’: Psalm 82 and John 10 as Witness to the Divine Nature of Humankind,” in The Disciple as Scholar: Essays on Scripture and the Ancient World in Honor of Richard Lloyd Anderson, ed. Stephen D. Ricks, Donald W. Parry, and Andrew H. Hedges (Provo, Utah: FARMS, 2000), 496–501; E. Theodore Mullen Jr., The Assembly of Gods: The Divine in Canaanite and Early Hebrew Literature (Chico, Ca.: Scholars Press, 1980) 207, 226; Blake Ostler, Exploring Mormon Thought: Of God and Gods (Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2008); K. Toorn, Bob Becking, and Pieter Willem van der Horst, eds., Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, 2d ed. (Leiden: Brill, 1999).

14. Mark Smith, The Early History of God, 2d ed. (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2002), 144; emphasis added. Smith has detailed the prekingship Israelite belief in El’s council of gods, the later emergence of Yahweh as Israel’s warrior god, the eventual merging of El and Yahweh, and a final achievement of monotheism in the postexilic era. See Smith, Early History of God, chap. 1; and Mark Smith, The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel’s Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts, 2d ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), chap. 10. It is important to note that many Latter-day Saints may not be comfortable with some of the baggage that comes with Smith’s developmental approach to biblical history. These problems are not necessarily insoluble for Mormons but will not be treated here.

15. Ostler, Of God and Gods, 49–54.

16. Buzzard, Trinitarian, 98 n. 13. Buzzard even states that in a proper translation of John 20, Thomas is rebuked. Buzzard acknowledges, however, that Thomas is rebuked not for addressing Savior as God, but for his predisposition toward disbelief.

17. Buzzard, Trinitarian, 86–87.

18. Buzzard, Trinitarian, 87.

19. Marcus, Mark 8–16, 847; emphasis in original.

20. Robert M. Bowman Jr. and J. Ed Komoszewski, Putting Jesus in His Place: The Case for the Deity of Christ (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Kregel, 2007), 244.

21. Leslie C. Allen, Psalms 101–150, vol. 21 of Word Biblical Commentary (Waco, Tex.: Word Books, 1983) 85–86.

22. From the KJV, Matthew alone gives a multitude of examples, each deserving linguistic review: Matthew 2:2, 8, 11; 5:6; 8:2; 9:18; 14:33; 28:9–10; 15:25; 20:20; 28:9, 17.

23. See Buzzard, Trinitarian, 135–48.

24. Buzzard, Trinitarian, 143.

25. For proskuneō in reference to the Father, see Matthew 4:10; Luke 4:8; John 4:20–24; 1 Corinthians 14:25; Hebrews 11:21; Revelation 4:10; 5:14; 7:11; 11:16; 14:7; 15:4; 19:4, 10; 22:9.

26. In fact, the first instance of the word translated “worship” in the Old Testament Hebrew means precisely the same thing, and there is not another word used that is translated as “worship” until midway through the Book of Jeremiah: Gen. 22:5, where Abraham says that he and Isaac will go worship, presumably God, on Mount Moriah, in offering a sacrifice.

27. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich, trans. Geoffrey W. Bromiley, 10 vols. (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2003), 6:763. The reader should understand that Buzzard does not deny that proskuneō is used in reference to the Father. Buzzard’s primary argument is that latreuō is unique. See Buzzard, Trinitarian, 135–48.

28. Hebrews 1:6; the language is originally from Psalm 96:7 and Deuteronomy 32:43. Buzzard does not deal directly with this particular passage as implying worship. The three times this verse is cited in his book, Buzzard overlooks its worship implications and focuses on the phrase that says God “brings the firstborn into the world.”

29. Bowman and Komoszewski, Putting Jesus in His Place, 40.

30. Buzzard, Trinitarian, 287. Buzzard’s argument for prospective pre-existence is detailed. The old Jewish idea that religiously important figures or objects often held a form of pre-existence in God’s consciousness supports Buzzard’s theory. Adolf Von Harnack presented this theme long ago in a special appendix on pre-existence in his landmark work History of Dogma, wherein he contrasts Hellenic and Jewish ideas of pre-existence: “According to the theory held by the whole of the Semitic nations, everything of real value that from time to time appears on earth has its existence in heaven. . . . Its manifestation on earth is merely a transition from concealment to publicity. . . . The old Jewish theory of pre-existence is founded on the religious idea of the omniscience and omnipotence of God, that God to whom the events of history do not come as a surprise, but who guides their course.” Buzzard, Trinitarian, appendix 1, 318.

31. George R. Beasley-Murray, Word Biblical Commentary: John, vol. 36 (Waco, Tex.: Word Books, 1987), 297.

32. Buzzard, Trinitarian, 275.

33. Buzzard, Trinitarian, 274.

34. Beasley-Murray, John, 15.

35. For a fuller development and illustrations of this point, see David L. Paulsen, “Joseph Smith Challenges the Theological World,” BYU Studies 44, no. 4 (2005): 176–212.

36. Larry E. Dahl and Donald Q. Cannon, eds., Encyclopedia of Joseph Smith’s Teachings (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2000), 345.

37. Buzzard, Trinitarian, 47; italics added.

38. James E. Talmage, Articles of Faith: A Series of Lectures on the Principal Doctrines of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1909), 470–71; David R. Seely, “Jehovah, Jesus Christ,” in Encyclopedia of Mormonism, ed. Daniel H. Ludlow, 4 vols. (New York: Macmillan, 1992), 3:721; and Truman G. Madsen, “‘Putting on the Names’: A Jewish-Christian Legacy,” in By Study and Also By Faith: Essays in Honor of Hugh W. Nibley on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday, ed. John M. Lundquist and Stephen D. Ricks (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1990), 458–81.

39. The 1916 declaration from the First Presidency on the Father and the Son makes the point that the Son is often referred to in scripture as the Father because of this authority, because of his role as the Creator, because of stewardship over those who have entered the gospel covenant, and because of divine investiture of authority. The First Presidency makes clear the fact that the creation of the earth, clearly ascribed to God in the Bible, was enacted by the premortal Jesus Christ. See James R. Clark, comp., Messages of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 6 vols. (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1965–75), 5:26–34.

40. See Alma 42:13, 22, 25; see also Mormon 9:19.

41. K. Codell Carter, “Godhood,” in Encyclopedia of Mormonism, ed. Daniel H. Ludlow, 4 vols. (New York: Macmillan, 1992), 2:553–555; Donald W. Parry and Joseph Fielding McConkie, Guide to Scriptural Symbols (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1990), 113.

42. Ostler, Of God and Gods, 10.

43. Paulsen and McDonald, “Joseph Smith and the Trinity,” 54.

Jacob Hawken

BYU Studies Publications