There are differing views on the origin of the book of mormon. Photograph of the book of mormon by jasmin gimenez rappleye. Spaldingrigdon theory of book of mormon authorship wikipedia. The mormon church teaches that the book of mormon was written by a series of ancient people, the first of whom was nephi, and that it was finally redacted and compiled by mormon. The first portion the first six books, ending with omni is a translation from the small plates of nephi. Howe suggested that the book of mormon was based on an unpublished novel called manuscript found, written by a former minister named solomon spalding. Mormons recognize it as divinely inspired and equal in authority to the bible, but others have reason to doubt its claims. The prophets who wrote the book of omni interpreter. Howard davis and arthur vanick, recently published by concordia, the highly respected publishing arm of the lutheran church missouri synod.
The work in question is who really wrote the book of mormon. More importantly however, the book of mormon is about gods dealings with these ancient peoples and testifies of gods love for and mercy toward all his children. Portrait of a man, said to be christopher columbus by sebastiano del piombo, ca. According to who really wrote the book of mormon the spalding enigma, it all began as an elaborate getrichquick scheme which joseph smith himself referred to as the goldbible business. The author is very thorough, though i wonder what kind of person publishes a book in 2007 about a 180 year old religions questionable roots. Who really wrote the book of mormon part 1 youtube. Chiasmus in the book of mormon religious studies center.
Critics have been quick to give credit to everyone and everything, except the very person the book of mormon writers themselves identified. Nephi passed the record to his younger brother jacob, who gave it to his son enos. The main nephite prophet writers of the book of mormon nephi, mormon, and moronisaw this day and wrote directly to modern readers see 1 nephi 14. Many writers contributed to the book of mormon as ive stated earlier the purpose of my blog is to bear my witness that the book of mormon is another witness of jesus christ. Davis and arthur vanick, who really wrote the book of mormon the spalding enigma, concordia, st. A readers guide, have attempted to move the discussion away from polemics to an appreciation for the book.
Did rigdon hook up with oliver cowdrey and joseph smith jr. One of the great sermons regarding repentance is the testimony of the prophet. Many studies have investigated book of mormon authorship because the book. Detractors, on the other hand, assume the book of mormon to be.
To date, the combined data from several valid stylometric studies on the book of mormon have demonstrated that it has multiple, distinct writing styles and that those styles are consistent with the authors designated within the text itself. Criticism of mormonismbookswho really wrote the book of. It was also a journal entry from joseph smith sr wife, referring to the story told by her husband 19 years prior to the publishing of the book of mormon. Mormon words of mormon through book of mormon 7 and his son moroni book of mormon 89, ether, and moroni. Opponents of the book have claimed that joseph smith wrote it himself, or that an accomplice such as solomon spaulding or sidney rigdon penned it and somehow transferred it to joseph smith. This blog says that bruce r mcconkie wrote it, but there is no source to back that up. Mormons believe that the book of mormon contains the fulness of jesus christs.
Mormon describes himself as a pure descendant of lehi 3 ne. The word repent and its most common forms is found over 120 times in the book of mormon, including chapter headings. When a distant cousin of one of the three founders of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints lds co authors a book with two other prominent scholars proving beyond the shadow of a doubt that. This blog post is the first of several about the writers and the construction of the book of mormon. A comprehensive commentary of the title page of the book of mormon, by paul nolan hyde.
By this stage, patience had dispensed with the ouija board, and transmitted her thoughts directly to mrs currans pen. Previous studies have shown that the book of mormon contains. President of the foundation for ancient research and mormon studies, he has contributed to byu studies and is coauthor and general editor of the recently published book, chiasmus in antiquity. Critical theories that sidney rigdon was a book of mormon author or co conspirator. This book critically examines key historical documents, personal testimonies, and records of 19thcentury mormon history concluding that the book of mormon is an adaptation of an obscure historical novel written by revolutionary war veteran solomon spalding during the war of 1812. The book of mormon records portions of these two civilizations social and political history.
In 1834, relying on testimony gathered by one doctor philastus hurlbut a former mormon who had been excommunicated from the church for immoral behavior, e. The bom is very likely a fraud, perpetrated on a gullible nation at a time of religious experimentation viz. Who really wrote the book of mormon part 2 youtube. The first author was the prophet nephi, who left jerusalem with his family in about 600 bc and sailed to the americas. Could joseph smith have written the book of mormon. Williams, journal of book of mormon studies 10, no. Examining the book of mormon a christian view probe. Book of mormon authorship the encyclopedia of mormonism. More light on who wrote the title page, by clyde j. Institute for religious research book of mormon witnesses, joel groat. All book of mormon quotations are from royal skousen, ed. The various books within the book of mormon differ from each other in.
Between the books of omni and mosiah is an insert called the words of mormon. Book of mormon witnesses the three part 1, dan vogel. The sorry tale, a 325,000 word book 50,000 words longer than the book of mormon of the life of a parallel christ was written in 108 days, a rate of 3,000 words per evening. Grant palmers golden pot theory related to the story of moronis visit. Theories that the book of mormon essentially wrote itself with no help from joseph smith. Bunyan wrote upwards of 60 books, tracts, and pamphlets, including grace. In 1975, after teaming up with howard davis and several others to conduct further research, he joined with dr. Is it possible that a single author wrote the book of mormon. Who wrote the 1981 introduction to the book of mormon. The tree of life vision of the book of mormon is an important piece in mormon culture and the book of mormon.
Some mormon scholars, like grant hardy, who wrote understanding the book of mormon. He is the author of several articles on literary structure in the book of mormon. The spalding enigma part 1 did an angel of god in the late 1820s really give 18yearold con artist joseph smith the mormon bible, as he claimed. Lds scholars should be terrified of this thorough, exhaustive, and downright exhausting examination of the circumstances surrounding joseph smiths discovery and translation of the golden plates that yielded the book of mormon. Mormon apostle orson pratt wrote in 1851, the book of mormon claims to be a divinely inspired record. As stated by president ezra taft benson, one reason why we must make the. Who wrote the chapter headings in the book of mormon answers. Co authors arthur vanick and wayne cowdrey discuss their 558page book concordia publishers, 2005.
Third, this argument, if applied consistently, precludes central america as a possible setting because the text never once mentions volcanoes, jungles, jade, tapirs, or. The book of mormon is actually a collection of histories passed down from one writer to another. Some have suggested that joseph smith admitted that he was the author of the book of mormon because the title page of the first edition lists him as author and proprietor. Inspired fiction, or an example of automatic writing. This oct 1981 ensign article published about the new edition to the book of mormon says as always, inspired direction came from the scriptures publication committee of the quorum of the twelve.
Second, book of mormon authors rarely mentioned weather, and when mormon did alma 46. To the convincing of the jew and gentile that jesus is. For the lord god hath said that the words of the faithful should speak as if it were from the dead. Who really wrote the book of mormon the spalding enigma. At least three computer analyses have been completed to date in an effort to determine who wrote the book of mormon, and whether it was a single individual or a group. The first author was the prophet nephi, who left jerusalem with. The book of mormon witnesses 1 papers of joseph smith, jesse, 296, also insiders view of mormon origins, 197. The book of mormon comprises fifteen main parts or divisions, known, with one exception, as books, usually designated by the name of their principal author. The other nine books are attributed to two authors. And i looked and beheld a man among the gentiles, who was separated from the seed of my. Many concepts from the book of mormon are present in this book notably 2000 stripling warriors, a liahonalike description of a metal device, the freeman movement, rod of iron, standard of liberty, brass plates, cataclysmic earthquakes followed by great darkness, chiasmus, and many, many more. There are some accusations by the author, but they amount mostly to paraphrased rigdon stole the manuscript from solomon spaulding and that was turned into the book of mormon. This book is the product of over thirty years research the authors published a first version in 1977. I have just recently finished reading the book by wayne l.
It would literally take me days to write out the evidence which leads me to my current conclusions, time that i don\t have. Chart comparing the voice of joseph smith to other 19th century authors. Some people believe the book of mormon is a new revelation from god given to joseph smith. Davis as a coauthor of the original version of who really wrote the book of mormon. In the history of the church, joseph smith made an important clarification about the title page of the book of mormon i wish also to mention here, that the title page of the book of mormon is a literal translation, taken from the very last leaf, on the left hand side of the collection or book of plates, which contained the record which has been translated. This language, however, comes from the federal statutes and legal forms in use in 1829 1 stat. Plates of mormon records compiled and abridged by mormon and moroni title page 1 nephi.
1216 1498 589 359 344 417 1297 1545 973 1302 1228 639 75 213 809 46 169 1365 815 1369 1321 168 957 65 616 988 442 1243 682 77 459 1291 90 414 179 1159 564 448 967 158