For a short time in the late 1970s CRI and Martin were involved in a controversy over claims that apologists had located part of the manuscript of the Book of Mormon, which allegedly had been plagiarized from a novel by Solomon Spaulding. The case was argued in a book, "Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon?" by Wayne Cowdrey, Howard Davis and Donald Scales. However, the case was seriously questioned by Christian apologists and Mormonism critics Jerald and Sandra Tanner in "Did Spaulding Write the Book of Mormon?" It was also rebutted by Mormon apologists Robert and Rosemary Brown in volume 2 of their series of books "They Lie In Wait To Deceive". Edward Plowman reported on the CRI claims in "Christianity Today" magazine in July 1977, and then in October 1977 updated his report with evidence that pointed to the collapse in credibility of the claims.