Defending the Faith: Apostle 'idea' is growing in popularity among other faiths

And, surely, there really is a fundamental difference: Hirsch himself recognizes it in part when he calls apostolic leadership "translocal," in contrast to bishops. This is simply another way of saying that apostles were "general authorities," as opposed to local ones. (Hugh Nibley's posthumous book "Apostles and Bishops in Early Christianity" lays that historic distinction out very clearly.)

However much he may hope for modern apostles, though, even Hirsch plainly still wants to limit them in a way quite foreign to the biblical apostles: "The only distinction Hirsch has made," Metzger reports, "in the book and in other settings, is to say that present-day apostles cannot write new Scripture."

Latter-day Saints understand that apostles "must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority." We gratefully testify that, in modern times, they have been and are — and in the full New Testament sense.

Daniel C. Peterson is a professor of Islamic studies and Arabic at Brigham Young University, where he also serves as editor in chief of the Middle Eastern Texts Initiative. He is the founder of MormonScholarsTestify.org, the general editor of "Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture" online at www.mormoninterpreter.com and he blogs daily at Patheos.