Gilbert W. Scharffs

Gilbert Woodrow Scharffs (June 27, 1930 - February 26, 2015){{cite web | title=The Truth about "The God makers" / Gilbert W. Scharffs | work=Copyright Catalog (1978 to present) | publisher=United States Copyright Office | url=http://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v1=3&ti=1,3&Search_Arg=scharffs%20gilbert&Search_Code=NALL&CNT=25&PID=-iUoQf4TfcPuWK5Bw6jCw1chHc9V&SEQ=20091123085659&SID=3 | accessdate=2009-11-23}}{{cite web |url=http://www.holbrookmortuary.com/notices/Gilbert-Scharffs |title=Gilbert Woodrow Scharffs |publisher=Holbrook Mortuary | accessdate=2016-06-08}} was a Latter-day Saint religious educator and author.

Biography

Scharffs was born to Fritz and Louise Scharffs and raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).Gilbert Scharff's sister's obituary: {{cite news | title=Death: Virginia Faye Rasmussen | work=Deseret News | date=November 13, 1997 | url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/594602/Death--Virginia-Faye-Rasmussen.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100107200904/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/594602/Death--Virginia-Faye-Rasmussen.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=January 7, 2010 | accessdate=2010-03-02}} He served as a missionary in the German Mission of the LDS Church in the late 1950s,{{cite news | title=Book of Mormon Taught With Illustrated Lectures | work=Church News | publisher=Deseret News | date=March 16, 1957 | page= 8 | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=X2EzAAAAIBAJ&dq=gilbert%20scharffs&pg=4853%2C3257725 | accessdate=2010-01-20}} where he served as editor for publications and later second counselor to the Mission President.{{Citation | author=Harris, Elaine Robbins |author2=Lucile Christenson Tate | title=Burtis and Edythe: A life sketch of Brutis France Robbins and Edythe Lovena Christenson | chapter=Mission President, August 1957 – December 1959 | page= 397 | date=September 2008 | chapter-format=PDF | chapter-url=http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/u?/FH42,74672 | accessdate=2010-03-02}} In 1959 he was married in the Salt Lake Temple to Laura Virginia Smith, a granddaughter of LDS President Joseph F. Smith. They would have four children,Gilbert Scharffs's wife's obituary: {{cite news | title=Obituary: Laura Virginia Smith Scharffs | work=Deseret News | date=April 16, 2000 | url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/755449/Obituary-Laura-Virginia-Smith-Scharffs.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020021856/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/755449/Obituary-Laura-Virginia-Smith-Scharffs.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=October 20, 2012 | accessdate=2010-03-02}} one of which, Brett, would become a legal scholar.[https://litigation-essentials.lexisnexis.com/webcd/app?action=DocumentDisplay&crawlid=1&doctype=cite&docid=2004+B.Y.U.L.+Rev.+1217&srctype=smi&srcid=3B15&key=cd3e59cd66cf2d6fe307f564e476d197 Article from BYU Law Review by Brett Scharffs]{{cite book | author=Schaeper, Thomas J. |author2=Kathleen Schaeper | title=Rhodes Scholars, Oxford, and the Creation of an American Elite | year=2004 | publisher=Berghahn Books | location=New York | page= 388 | isbn=1-57181-683-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AlM1V90kHQsC&q=gilbert+scharffs&pg=PA388 | accessdate=2010-03-02}}

Scharffs received a B.A. in marketing from the University of Utah in the class of 1954,{{cite book | chapter=Juniors | title=Utonian | year=1953 | publisher=University of Utah | location=Salt lake City | page=191 | url=http://content.lib.utah.edu/u?/utonian,15042 | accessdate=2010-03-02 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110614012608/http://content.lib.utah.edu/u/?%2Futonian%2C15042 | archive-date=2011-06-14 | url-status=dead }} a master's degree in business from New York University, and a Ph.D. in religion from Brigham Young University (BYU) in 1969.{{cite web | title=History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Germany between 1840 and 1968 | work=iLink BYU Online Catalog | publisher=Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University | url=http://catalog.lib.byu.edu/uhtbin/cgisirsi/X/0/0/123/?srchfield1=TI^TITLE^SERIES^^keyword+anywhere&query_type=keyword&user_id=WEBSERVER&new_gatewaydb=ILINK&library=ALL&searchdata1=History%20of%20the%20Church%20of%20Jesus%20Christ%20of%20Latter-day%20Saints%20in%20Germany%20between%201840%20and%201968 | accessdate=2009-11-23}} His doctoral research was on the history of Mormons in Germany, where Scharffs had served as a missionary, and his dissertation was published by Deseret Book in 1970. Historian Donald Q. Cannon considers Scharffs' dissertation as part of the "major scholarly contribution to the study of Mormon history" that occurred during the 1960s.{{cite journal | author=Cannon, Donald Q. | author-link=Donald Q. Cannon | title=[Review of] Leland Homer Gentry. A History of the Latter-day Saints in Northern Missouri from 1836 to 1839 | journal=Journal of Mormon History | volume=30 | issue=1 | page=241 | date=Spring 2004 | url=http://content.lib.utah.edu/u?/jmh,18473 | accessdate=2010-03-02 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110614022458/http://content.lib.utah.edu/u/?%2Fjmh%2C18473 | archive-date=2011-06-14 | url-status=dead }}

For many years Scharffs taught with the Church Educational System (CES). He was on the faculty of the Institute of Religion adjacent to the University of Utah for 27 years,{{cite web | title=An Insider's Look at The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown | work=Meridian Magazine | date=November 19, 2009 | url=http://www.ldsmag.com/books/091119symbol.html | accessdate=2010-01-05 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091231075046/http://www.ldsmag.com/books/091119symbol.html | archive-date=2009-12-31 | url-status=dead }} having served as director following Reed C. Durham in 1974.{{cite book | author=Scharffs, Gilbert W. | title=The Truth About "The God Makers" | chapter='A Marvelous Work' (Isaiah 29:14) | publisher=Publisher's Press | location=Salt Lake City, Utah | year=1989 | url=http://www.fairlds.org/The_God_Makers/tagm23.html | accessdate=2010-01-05}} Scharffs also taught at BYU.

Among other callings in the church, Scharffs has served multiple times as a stake missionary,{{cite journal | author=Scharffs, Gilbert W. | title=The Case against Easier Abortion Laws | journal=Ensign | date=August 1972 | page= 58 | url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1972/08/the-case-against-easier-abortion-laws | accessdate=2010-03-02}} a bishop in the early 1990s,{{cite news | title=Death: George Mills | work=Deseret News | date=September 23, 1990 | url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/123609/DEATH--GEORGE-MILLS.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020022026/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/123609/DEATH--GEORGE-MILLS.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=October 20, 2012 | accessdate=2010-03-02}}{{cite news | title=Death: Doris Barney | work=Deseret News | date=March 8, 1992 | url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/214242/DEATH--DORIS-BARNEY.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020034047/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/214242/DEATH--DORIS-BARNEY.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=October 20, 2012 | accessdate=2010-03-02}} and a counselor in a stake presidency.{{cite journal | author=Anderson, Lavina Fielding | author-link=Lavina Fielding Anderson | title=A Clarification | journal=Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought | date=Summer 1994 | volume=27 | issue=2 | page=ix | url=http://content.lib.utah.edu/u?/dialogue,14780 | accessdate=2010-02-03 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110613190229/http://content.lib.utah.edu/u/?%2Fdialogue%2C14780 | archive-date=2011-06-13 | url-status=dead }}

Writings

= Books =

{{cite book

| author = Scharffs, Gilbert W.

| title = Mormonism in Germany: A History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Germany Between 1840 and 1970

| publisher = Deseret Book

| location = Salt Lake City, Utah

| year = 1970

}}

{{cite book

|author=Scharffs, Gilbert W. |author-mask=2

| title = 101 Reasons Why I Like to Go to Church

| publisher = Hawkes Publishing

| location = Salt Lake City, Utah

| year = 1983

| isbn = 0-89036-181-9

}}

{{cite book

|author=Scharffs, Gilbert W. |author-mask=2

| title = The Truth About "The God Makers"

| publisher = Publishers Press

| location = Salt Lake City, Utah

| year = 1986

| url = http://www.fairlds.org/The_God_Makers/

}} Issued again in 1989, republished by Bookcraft in 1994.

{{cite book

|author=Scharffs, Gilbert W. |author-mask=2

| title = The Missionary's Little Book of Answers

| publisher = Covenant Communications

| location = American Fork, Utah

| year = 2002

| isbn = 1-59156-038-1

}}

{{cite book

|author=Scharffs, Gilbert W. |author-mask=2

| title = Mormons & Masons

| series = Setting the Record Straight

| publisher = Millennial Press

| location = Orem, Utah

| year = 2006

| isbn = 1-932597-37-9

}}

Scharffs response to The God Makers is also available online at the Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research's website.[http://www.fairlds.org/FAIR_Journal/FJ200209.html FAIR Journal, Sept. 2002]

= Articles =

{{cite journal

| author = Scharffs, Gilbert W.

| title = The Branch that Wouldn't Die

| journal = Ensign

| volume = 1

| issue = 4

| date = April 1971

| pages = 31–33

| url = https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1971/04/the-branch-that-wouldnt-die

}}

{{cite journal

|author=Scharffs, Gilbert W. |author-mask=2

| title = The Case Against Easier Abortion Laws

| journal = Ensign

| volume = 2

| issue = 8

| date = August 1972

| pages = 53

| url = https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1972/08/the-case-against-easier-abortion-laws?lang=eng

}}

{{cite journal

|author=Scharffs, Gilbert W. |author-mask=2

| title = [Book review of] Discovering the World of the Bible

| journal = BYU Studies

| volume = 14

| issue = 3

| date = Spring 1974

| pages = 393–395

| url = http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/u?/byustudies,328

}}

{{cite journal

|author=Scharffs, Gilbert W. |author-mask=2

| title = Unique Insights on Christ from the Book of Mormon

| journal = Ensign

| volume = 18

| issue = 12

| date = December 1988

| pages = 8–13

| url = https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1988/12/unique-insights-on-christ-from-the-book-of-mormon?lang=eng

}}

{{cite book

|author=Scharffs, Gilbert W. |author-mask=2

| chapter = Apostate

| title = Encyclopedia of Mormonism

| editor = Daniel H. Ludlow

| editor-link = Daniel H. Ludlow

| year = 1992

| publisher = Macmillan

| location = New York

| volume = 1

| pages = 59

| chapter-url= http://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Apostate

}}

{{cite journal

|author=Scharffs, Gilbert W. |author-mask=2

| title = Some people say it is best to leave alone materials that claim to 'expose' the Church and its teachings. What counsel has been given on this? How do we respond when a friend comes to us with questions found in such materials?

| journal = Ensign

| volume = 25

| issue = 1

| date = January 1995

| pages = 61–62

| url = https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1995/01/i-have-a-question

}}

{{cite journal

|author=Scharffs, Gilbert W. |author-mask=2

| title = Das Buch Mormon: The German Translation of the Book of Mormon

| journal = Journal of Book of Mormon Studies

| volume = 11

| issue = 1

| year = 2002

| pages = 35–39, 109

|doi=10.5406/jbookmormstud.11.1.0035

|s2cid=254215978

| url = http://mi.byu.edu/publications/jbms/?vol=11&num=1&id=295

}}

= Other =

{{Citation

| author = Scharffs, Gilbert W.

| title = A Decade of Mormonism in U.S. Journalism

| year = 1960

| series = Unpublished paper in the BYU Harold B. Lee Library

}}.

{{Citation

| author = Stout, Hosea

| author-link = Hosea Stout

|author2=Gilbert W. Scharffs |author-mask2=2

| title = Excerpts from the Journal of Hosea Stout Arranged in Topic form Giving Dates, Places and Page Numbers for Each Entry

| year = 1967

| series = Unpublished paper in the BYU Harold B. Lee Library

}}.

{{Citation

| author = Scharffs, Gilbert W. |author-mask=2

| title = An Appraisal of the Current Trends in the Growth and Geographic Distribution of the Mormon Church

| year = 1967

| series = Unpublished paper in the BYU Harold B. Lee Library

}}.

{{Citation

|author=Gilbert W. Scharffs |author-mask=2

| title = No Sir, That's Not Research: A Search for the References Cited in Quest for Empire; The Political Kingdom of God and the Council of Fifty in Mormon History

| year = 1967

| series = Unpublished paper in the BYU Harold B. Lee Library

}}.

{{Citation

|author=Gilbert W. Scharffs |author-mask=2

| title = History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Germany Between 1840 and 1968

| series = Ph.D. dissertation

| publisher = Brigham Young University, Department of Graduate Studies in the College of Religious Instruction

| location = Provo, Utah

| year = 1969

}}

References

;Sources

{{MormonLit author|2509|Gilbert W. Scharffs}}
[https://web.archive.org/web/20091231075046/http://www.ldsmag.com/books/091119symbol.html Meridian Magazine bio]
[https://archive.today/20121211082154/http://mi.byu.edu/authors/?authorID=358 FARMS bio listing]
[http://www.millenialpress.com/mormonsandmasons.html Millennial Press bio]{{dead link|date=November 2011}}
[https://books.google.com/books?id=83mC-jGpLekC&dq=%22Gilbert+Scharffs%22&pg=PT10 Robert C. Freeman and Jon R. Felt. German Saints At War. (Springville, UT: Cedar Fort Inc., 2005) p. xiv]
[https://books.google.com/books?id=83mC-jGpLekC&dq=%22Gilbert+Scharffs%22&pg=PT10 Daily Herald of Provo article that mentions Scharffs work]
{{cite journal

| author = Lord, Ken

| title = Brother Scharffs Directs Gospel Scholarship Program

| journal = Cadence Magazine

| publisher = LDS Institute of Religion

| location = Salt lake City, Utah

| date = September 1976

| pages = 2–3

| volume = 1

| issue =

}}