James L. Barker

James Louis Barker (27 July 1880 – 29 May 1958) was an American historian and a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).

Barker received his early education in the Weber County (Utah) School District and the University of Utah (B.A., 1901). Barker then served as a Mormon missionary in the Swiss–Austrian Mission of the LDS Church. After his return from this mission in 1904, he began an extensive study of foreign languages in Europe. He studied at the Sorbonne and the Catholic Institute in Paris. He also studied at the University of Marburg and at universities in Geneva and Neuchâtel. In 1907 Barker along with Joseph Evans completed a new translation of the Book of Mormon into French.

In 1906, Barker married Kate Montgomery. After his return to the United States, he was hired as Principal of Weber Academy (now Weber State University) and later as Chair of Brigham Young University's fledgling language department. In 1919, he was appointed head of the University of Utah's Modern Language Department, a position he held for almost three decades. He is the author of the book Apostasy from the Divine Church which is a scholarly account of what he viewed as the decline and fall of the Christian Church not too many years after the times of the early Apostles. His book cites extensively from early historical sources, not all of which are documented because of his death before the publication of the book. The point of view is that of the LDS Church, but it is not an official church publication. The book was published by Barker's wife in 1959, then went out-of-print for a number of years, was re-published in 1985, and is again out-of-print.

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