The book of mormon relates the religious history of the nephite nation for a thousand years until widespread apostasy about 400 ad. It describes the full background on the coming forth of the book and its translation process using insights gained from some of the earliest documents available. Though your name may or may not be a real book of mormon name documented in scripture, you might turn this quiz into a fun family night activity, sharing the names each family member gets. An account written by the hand of mormon upon plates taken from the plates of nephi.
Writing style of the book of mormon the writing style of the book of mormon is different than the bible. Moreover, previous stylometric studies have demonstrated that none of the 19th century writers usually suspected of authoring the book of mormon have writing samples that match any of its distinct styles. See more ideas about book of mormon, mormon, scripture study. In 1980,8 wayne larsen, alvin rencher, and tim layton relied on three different statistical methods9 which used noncontextual words10 to distinguish writing styles among the book of mormon s internally designated authors, including nephi, alma, mormon, and moroni, as well as several 19th century candidates, including joseph smith, sidney. Trey parker, matt stone and robert lopez, writers of the book of mormon. Verses make the scripture very manageable and are of great use in teaching situations, but reading the book of mormon as it was originally published, with only chapters, you get a real sense of the story within the book. May 09, 2011 trey parker and matt stone talk about the book of mormon, their blasphemous, hilarious and oddly endearing broadway hit, which leads the tony nominations field this year and will probably go. Since the book of mormon is largely the record of a hebrew people, is the writing characteristic of the hebrew language. Anyway, its been proven the book of mormon has multiple writing styles, not one. Perhaps welch could have strengthened his premise by demonstrating that the parallel members in the book of mormon consist of semitic word pairs, the basis of ancient hebrew poetry. It is the science of identifying authorship by measuring the words and phrases a person unconsciously uses. But time and again, critics emerging from the book of mormon the brainchild of south parks trey parker and matt stone, and avenue qs robert lopezused them. An analysis of style variations in the book of mormon 1958.
The chapters follow a narrative pattern that reflects a source from 1800s america far more closely. Smith is often cited as the author unless the person writing the. Chiasmus and the book of mormon utah lighthouse ministry. I was going through my notes when i found this paper that my trainer from my mission gave me. Members of the church have long held that its joseph smith. Wikidata item this is a version of the book of mormon adapted into plain english by timothy b. Even within the bible there are different writing styles because there were different authors. The book of mormon is a sacred text of the latter day saint movement, which, according to adherents, contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the american continent from approximately 2200 bc to ad 421. The book of mormon pokes fun at the confidence anyone might harbor in a literal interpretation of a. Additionally, its original cast album won a grammy award in 2012. However, i feel that the book of mormon can not only withstand the challenge, but the issue can actually be used to illuminate the nature of isaiah and shed light on why this is such a profound book. Why is it impossible for joseph smith to have been the. For example, if originally written in english, the book of mormon would speak about brass plates instead of plates of brass. Just ask alexa to read the missed reading by saying.
Book of mormon written in modernday english grace for grace. The book opens with a 32page introduction, the most comprehensive of any edition of the book of mormon. Partridge who commented on joseph smiths style of writing. Chiasmus and the book of mormon by sandra tanner some lds writers are trying to establish the historicity of the book of mormon by maintaining that it contains a poetic style, sometimes used in the bible, called chiasmus see. Clips from the book of mormon musical on 60 minutes youtube. You cannot be a college graduate, in fact, you can have only three years of schooling. It is the sacred text for the 15 millionstrong church of jesus christ of latterday saints. I would love to hear if you do, and i would also love to hear what scriptures you read that helped you know that the book of mormon. Even though mormon is a narrator, the actual books are written in 1st person. 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. I took my time rereadinglistening to this standard work of the latterday saints lds faith. Jun 26, 2012 i have read the book of mormon several times as i have the bible and to me they do not use the exact same vernacular as you indicate.
Nephi is the next most prolific writer with a theme around family. Other articles where the book of mormon is discussed. Can you explain the multiple writing styles in the book of. If joseph smith wrote the book of mormon, we should be able to see his literary style across the entire book. The tradition of writing in biblical style paved the way for the book of mormon by conditioning americans to reading american texts, and texts about america, in biblical language. Book of mormon literature the encyclopedia of mormonism. If the book of mormon was written by ancient authors, we should be able to see distinct writing styles among each different author.
Opening the book of mormon itself, we find that it. T he book of mormon is a wholly american scripture. Book of mormon central teamed up with artist katie payne to create a beautiful and engaging video called the plates of mormon. Book of mormon, writing on the wall and aminadi mormon quotes. Using only the text of the book of mormon as the narration, get a.
If he copied from someone, we should see that authors writing style likewise. It was first published in march 1830 by joseph smith as the book of mormon. A secret pattern in the writing of the book of mormon. They compared twentyfour book of mormon authors each having at least 1,000 words to each other, and concluded on the basis of three separate statistical tests that these authors were distinct from each other and oliver cowdery, joseph smith, jr. Another testament of jesus christ, which is an english translation from the golden plates that was first published in 1830. What it can reliably demonstrate, and what valid data from the above studies collectively argue, is that 1 the book of mormon was written in multiple, distinct authorship styles, 2 these distinct styles are consistent with the authors designated within the text itself, and 3 none of the proposed 19th century authorsincluding joseph smith himselfhave writing styles that are similar to those found in the book of mormon. Unique literary styles in the book of mormon, further. Mar 07, 2011 book of mormon written in modernday english march 7, 2011 in book of mormon i was reading some of the book of mormon as well as the bible to my boss on a recent business trip as i prepared to teach my sunday school class this week. Book of mormon wordprint or word pattern studies parent page.
Its the calling card for thousands of missionaries, and part of the inspiration for a tony awardwinning broadway musical. Book of mormon sacred text of the latter day saint movement, which adherents believe contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the american continent from approximately 2200 bc to ad 421. Best mormon history books this list is for nonfiction works of objective history that examine all aspects of mormonism and mormon history. An understanding of chiasmus will also greatly enhance interpretation of book of mormon scriptures. Jun 09, 2011 but time and again, critics emerging from the book of mormonthe brainchild of south parks trey parker and matt stone, and avenue qs robert lopezused them to describe the musical, which. The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the book of mormon. New computer study purports to detect literary influences. A book of mistakes, error, and fraud by jon gary williams introduction the mormon church promotes the book of mormon as an inspired writing. Wordprint studies of the book of mormon fairmormon. It makes the text of the work more accessible and understandable to those who are not familiar with the style used in the original book of mormon, which resembles that of the king james version of the bible. The book of mormon contains many examples of this hebrewlike usage, such as this one found in 2 nephi 5. Mar 17, 2004 the lds church recognizes four main texts as divinely inspired and authoritative scripture. Mormons read the christian bible king james translation or kjv and the book of mormon. One may naturally wonder, though, if the book of mormon s diversity of style is in any way unique or impressive.
I have read the book of mormon several times as i have the bible and to me they do not use the exact same vernacular as you indicate. We find then that the lds claim that smith could not have written the book of mormon is without foundation. The broadway production, which parker codirected, received numerous tony awards, including best musical. In 2017 he voiced the character of a villaina former. King james english in the book of mormon an oddity in the book of mormon, published in 1830, is that it uses antiquated english resembling the style of the king james version kjv bible. Book of mormon and stylometry why the lds church is true. A number of scientific tests have been devised to examine the authenticity of the book of mormon. Joseph smiths other writings, such as his history and diary, reflect the modern english era of his day. Indeed, the presence of chiasmus in the book of mormon may be evidence of joseph smiths own literary style and genius. Or it is a forgery and joseph smith wrote it and was a conman who made it all up. Jan 03, 2011 you cant get an opinion if you dont read it.
The title page states that the book of mormon was written primarily to the lamanites so that they would know they are not cast off forever. You must write a book with 239 chapters, 54 of them about wars, 21 about history, 55 about prophecy, 71 about doctrine, 17 about missionaries, and 21 about the mission of jesus. Even when considering the renaissance of middle egyptian seen in the centuries after 664 bce, the initial chapters of the book of mormon are not written as being directly instructionalthe common style of educated egyptians of the time. The writing style of the book of mormon is different than the bible. Listen to todays verses alexa, ask the book of mormon to read todays scriptures. There are several theories as to the origin of the book of mormon.
Including the mormon churches conflicting results of computer analyses of the book of mormon. Trey parker, matt stone and robert lopez, writers of the. The hebrew background of the book of mormon book of mormon. If you accept the book of mormon as true, there is no deuteroisaiah problem. As a believer in the book of mormon, i was attracted by this assertion. 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. The late war, a narrative of the war of 1812 written in pseudobiblical style, contains a remarkably high number of direct parallels in language, phrasing, and ideas with the book of mormon. For example, phenomenon such chiasmus poetry exist throughout the book of mormon, yet were not even known to the western world until mere decades ago. Using a series of book of mormon sounding prefixes and suffixes based on your birthday month and the first letter of your first name, this quiz can tell you.
If one other person wrote a part of the book of mormon, then joseph smith wrote none of it. Includes ancient hebrew literary writing styles such as idioms and chiasmus. If joseph smith wrote it then it would have just one writing style seeing how everyone has a certain writing style. The golden plates, now the book of mormon, has multiple authors. He teaches the book of mormon alongside herman melvilles mobydick, harriet beecher stowe s dred, and lew wallace s epic benhur.
How do you reference the book of mormon in apa style answers. Book of mormon plain english version wikisource, the free. This study of this is called analyzing word patterns, wordprinting or stylometry. The translation of the book of mormon did not really take place in less than three months. This paper identifies four distinct writers, and when you know what to look for, a casual reading of the book of mormon will illustrate the point.
To hickmans mind, placing these weighty tomes together makes perfect sense given their stylistic. The book of mormon is not written in good english but its phraseology partners well with semitic writing styles that were contemporary for the time. For example, parallelisms, which abound in the book of mormon, serve many functions. Most adherents to the latter day saint movement view the book as a work of inspired scripture. There are only two options when it comes to the book of mormon.
The internets been abuzz with hype this week about a new computer study by duane and chris johnson which purports to identify four literary influences on the book of mormon besides the king james bible. And yet it also states it was written to jew and gentile to convince them that jesus is the christ, the eternal god, manifesting himself unto all nations. As early as 1831, eber howe, in his antimormon book mormonism unvailed, noted the use of names desolation and bountiful from pilgrims progress reappear in the book of mormon. The book of mormon begins about 600 bc with a small group who fled jerusalem, landed in america, and quickly split into two antagonistic nations, the nephites and the lamanites. Am aiwj5l of tyl1tylitylaiti171 w1014lvahittom0111 in tf11i book of mitmon a thesis presented to the. The book of mormon is an account of the former inhabitants of this continent that contains the fulness of the everlasting gospel. Mormon included in his compilation the first six books as they were written. It is either a true record and joseph is a prophet who was called to translate it. The remainder of the book of mormon is written in thirdperson historical narrative, said to be compiled and abridged by mormon with moroni abridging the book of ether and writing the latter part of mormon and the book of moroni. An analysis of style variations in the book of mormon.
No credible person can claim that joseph smith wrote the book of mormon, and it does not require a phd or a computer to prove it. The book of mormon bom is an abbreviated account of the inhabitants of the ancient americas from 2200 bc to 421 ad. Testimony of the book of mormon bookmark little lds ideas. Chiasmus in the book of mormon religious studies center. At johns hopkins university in baltimore, english professor jared hickman celebrates the audacity of the book of mormons style in his american bibles course. For example, mormon as a writer contributed about 36% of the words in the book of mormon with a central theme around war. Could joseph smith have written the book of mormon. If the book of mormon is found to contain true chiastic forms in an ancient style, then is not the book s own repeated claim to be the product of an ancient culture veritably substantiated. Hunt, the late war, between the united states and great britain, from june 1812, to february 1815 1816.
Is the writing in the book of mormon characteristic of the. This volume will change the way you read and study the book of mormon. It might be the funniest thing in the world to me when someone tells me with absolute certainty that the book of mormon isnt true after having admitted never actually reading the book themselves. Alexa, get the reading for yesterday from the book of mormon oralexa, ask the book of mormon to get the reading from december 1st, 2016. There are too many distinct writing styles in the book of mormon to be the work of a single author. The initial book of mormon wordprint studies were carried out by larsen, rencher, and layton. Two tests which deal with writing styles have produced some largely ignored results which our critics cannot explain. From a geographical standpoint, some lds scholars believe mesoamerica to be the setting of the book of mormon. I know that as you study the words in this book, you can gain a testimony that it is true i hope you can use my testimony bookmark for your own personal study of the book of mormon. Without offering either support or explanation, millet declared, it may well be that the perfect pattern for the writing of our story a sacred history is contained in the book of mormon. But hebrew usually uses a conjunction before each item. The most common belief of adherents is that promoted by joseph smith, who said he translated ancient golden plates inscribed by prophets. Their lack of ability, in each case, did not seem to deter them from producing works which equal, or easily surpass, the book of mormon in literary style and quality. With its approachable writing style and wealth of usable information, teachings and commentaries on the book of mormon is an invaluable resource for personal study, family instruction, speaking assignments, lesson preparation, missionary work, and more.
Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading understanding the book of mormon. That book shows four major authors or abridgers, who among them go on include many more writing styles from other book of mormon contributors. It is written in english very similar to the early modern english linguistic style of the king james version of the bible, and has since been fully or partially translated into 111. Matt roper and paul fields, who presented at the 2018 book of mormon central conference earlier this month, used stylometry to answer one. The research is interesting, but it looks like theres a. A hebraism is a way of speaking or writing that uses the grammatical or rhetorical styles of hebrew. They were taking the word of their pastor, or mom, or friend and writing off the book for good. The book of mormon gets the literary treatment religion. Jun 18, 2015 when i first started investigating how the book of mormon was written, i thought this theory was compelling. This is not a list for theological texts, such as the book of mormon.
The book of mormon comprises fifteen books, each named after its principal writer. Yet the book of mormon, an american narrative told in the english of the king james bible, has thrived long after americans abandoned the practice of recounting. The book of mormon is a musical comedy with music, lyrics and book by trey parker, robert lopez, and matt stone first staged in 2011, the play is a satirical examination of the church of jesus christ of latterday saints beliefs and practices that ultimately endorses the positive power of love and service. Is it possible that a single author wrote the book of mormon. Opening the book of mormon itself, we find that it more than fulfills our expectations. In my opinion, the writing style of the book of mormon is very dissimilar from that of the bible. Most modern editions of the book have been divided into chapters and verses. See more ideas about book of mormon, lds and book of mormon stories.
As it turned out, we began to encounter problems in the book of mormon which made it increasingly difficult to continue in the course we had planned. Several critics have pointed to grammatical errors in the early modern english style of the book of mormon and made the argument that because the original ms, the printers ms, and the first edition of the book of mormon appear to have contained hundreds of grammatical errors, the book was therefore fabricated by smith and not divinely inspired. Meet trey parker, matt stone and robert lopez, the creators of the new broadway musical the book of mormon. However, after a fair and candid examination of the evidence, many thousands of. Tvedtnes, specialist in near eastern studies and instructor at the brigham young universitysalt lake center. These writers include sidney rigdon, solomon spalding, w. Part of the research includes a wordprint study that attempts to show which chapters in the book of mormon were likely written by rigdon, cowdery, spalding, or parley p.
Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. Thus, the presence of chiasmus in the book of mormon would reveal new ways in which the book of mormon is true to itself, true to its general cultural origins, and truly a remarkable piece of religious literature in its own right. The style of the book of mormon has been criticized by some as being verbose and redundant, but in most cases these repetitions are orderly and effective. The book of mormon is divided into smaller books, titled after the individuals named as primary authors and, in most versions, divided into chapters and verses. While it is clear that there has been extensive plagiarism in the book of mormon, we believe the evidence shows that one style of writing pervades the entire book, and it is the same style found in joseph smiths other scriptural works. When applied to the book of mormon, wordprinting reveals that the word patterns of the book of mormon differ significantly from the personal writings of joseph smith, solomon spaulding, sidney rigdon, and oliver cowdery, who served as joseph smiths scribe. Jun 11, 2012 clips from the book of mormon musical on 60 minutes from cbs. And the king spake and said unto daniel, art thou that daniel, which art of the children of the captivity of judah. The more familiar we became with the bible, the more questions we had concerning the book of mormon. They add emphasis to twicerepeated concepts and give definition to sharply drawn contrasts.