Book of Mormon

For other uses, see Book of Mormon (disambiguation).

Book of Mormon
Information
Religion	Latter Day Saint movement
Language	English
Period	19th century
Chapters	First Nephi Second Nephi Book of Jacob Book of Enos Book of Jarom Book of Omni Words of Mormon Book of Mosiah Book of Alma Book of Helaman Third Nephi Fourth Nephi Book of Mormon Book of Ether Book of Moroni

The Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement, which, according to Latter Day Saint theology, contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from approximately 2200 BC to AD 421. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith as The Book of Mormon: An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi. The Book of Mormon is one of the earliest of the unique writings of the Latter Day Saint movement, the denominations of which typically regard the text primarily as scripture, and secondarily as a historical record of God's dealings with ancient inhabitants of the Americas. Some Mormon academics and apologetic organizations strive to affirm the book as historically authentic through their scholarship, but mainstream archaeological, historical and scientific communities do not consider the Book of Mormon to be an ancient record of actual historical events.

According to Smith's account and the book's narrative, the Book of Mormon was originally written in otherwise unknown characters referred to as "reformed Egyptian" engraved on golden plates. Smith said that the last prophet to contribute to the book, a man named Moroni, buried it in the Hill Cumorah in present-day Manchester, New York, before his death, and then appeared in a vision to Smith in 1827 as an angel, revealing the location of the plates, and instructing him to translate the plates into English for use in the restoration of Christ's true church in the latter days. Some critics say that it was authored by Smith, drawing on material and ideas from his contemporary 19th-century environment rather than translating an ancient record.

The Book of Mormon has a number of doctrinal discussions on subjects such as the fall of Adam and Eve, the nature of the Christian atonement, eschatology, redemption from physical and spiritual death, and the organization of the latter-day church. The pivotal event of the book is an appearance of Jesus Christ in the Americas shortly after his resurrection.

The Book of Mormon is divided into smaller books, titled after individuals named as primary authors or other caretakers of the ancient record the Book of Mormon describes itself as and, in most versions, divided into chapters and verses. 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 112 languages. As of 2020, more than 192 million copies of the Book of Mormon had been printed.

Origin

A page from the original manuscript of the Book of Mormon, covering 1_Nephi 4:38 - 1_Nephi 5:14

Main articles: Origin of the Book of Mormon, Golden plates, and Criticism of the Book of Mormon

According to Joseph Smith, he was seventeen years of age when an angel of God named Moroni appeared to him and said that a collection of ancient writings was buried in a nearby hill in present-day Wayne County, New York, engraved on golden plates by ancient prophets. The writings were said to describe a people whom God had led from Jerusalem to the Western hemisphere 600 years before Jesus' birth. According to the narrative, Moroni was the last prophet among these people and had buried the record, which God had promised to bring forth in the latter days. Smith stated that this vision occurred on the evening of September 21, 1823, and that on the following day, via divine guidance, he located the burial location of the plates on this hill; was instructed by Moroni to meet him at the same hill on September 22 of the following year to receive further instructions; and that, in four years from this date, the time would arrive for "bringing them forth", i.e., translating them. Smith's description of these events recounts that he was allowed to take the plates on September 22, 1827, exactly four years from that date, and was directed to translate them into English.

Accounts of the way in which Smith dictated the Book of Mormon vary. Smith himself implied that he read the plates directly using spectacles prepared by the Lord for the purpose of translating. These spectacles, often called the "Nephite interpreters," or the "Urim and Thummim," after the Biblical divination stones, were described by witnesses as two clear seer stones bound together by a metal rim, and attached to a breastplate. Other accounts variously state that he used one or more seer stones placed in a top hat. Beginning around 1832, both the interpreters and the seer stone were at times referred to as the "Urim and Thummim". Most Latter-day Saint scholars now suppose he used both the interpreters provided along with the plates and the other seer stone(s) interchangeably throughout his translations. During the translation process itself, Smith sometimes separated himself from his scribe with a blanket between them. Additionally, the plates were not always present during the translation process, and when present, they were always covered up.

Smith's first published description of the plates said that the plates "had the appearance of gold". They were described by Martin Harris, one of Smith's early scribes, as "fastened together in the shape of a book by wires." Smith called the engraved writing on the plates "reformed Egyptian". A portion of the text on the plates was also "sealed" according to his account, so its content was not included in the Book of Mormon.

In addition to Smith's account regarding the plates, eleven others were formally allowed to see the uncovered golden plates and, in some cases, handle them. Their written testimonies are known as the Testimony of Three Witnesses, who described seeing the plates in a visionary encounter with an angel, and the Testimony of Eight Witnesses, who described handling the plates as displayed by Smith. These statements have been published in most editions of the Book of Mormon. In addition to Smith and these eleven, several others described encountering the plates by holding or moving them wrapped in cloth, though without seeing the plates themselves, and two women reported seeing the plates directly in visionary angelic encounters. Josiah Stowell was another informal witness to the plates and later testified under oath that he caught a glimpse of them uncovered, though he didn't describe an angel like the two women.

A depiction of Joseph Smith dictating the Book of Mormon through the use of a seer stone placed in a hat to block out light.

Smith enlisted his neighbor Martin Harris as a scribe during his initial work on the text. Harris later mortgaged his farm to underwrite the printing of the Book of Mormon. In 1828, Harris, prompted by his wife Lucy Harris, repeatedly requested that Smith lend him the current pages that had been translated. Smith reluctantly acceded to Harris's requests. Lucy Harris is thought to have stolen the first 116 pages. After the loss, Smith recorded that he had lost the ability to translate, and that Moroni had taken back the plates to be returned only after Smith repented. Smith later stated that God allowed him to resume translation, but directed that he begin translating another part of the plates (in what is now called the Book of Mosiah). In 1829, work resumed on the Book of Mormon, with the assistance of Oliver Cowdery, and was completed in a short period (April–June 1829). Smith said that he then returned the plates to Moroni upon the publication of the book. The Book of Mormon went on sale at the bookstore of E. B. Grandin in Palmyra, New York on March 26, 1830. Today, the building in which the Book of Mormon was first published and sold is known as the Book of Mormon Historic Publication Site. The first edition print-run was 5,000 copies. The publisher charged $3,000 for the production cost (wholesale to the author Joseph Smith at 60 cents per book; equivalent to $17 in 2023.

Since its first publication and distribution, critics of the Book of Mormon have claimed that it was fabricated by Smith and that he drew material and ideas from various sources rather than translating an ancient record. Works that have been suggested as sources include the King James Bible, The Wonders of Nature, View of the Hebrews, and an unpublished manuscript written by Solomon Spalding. FAIR and other Mormon apologetics organizations maintain that all these arguments have been disproven by Mormon and non-Mormon sources. The position of most adherents of the Latter Day Saint movement and the official position of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) is that the book is an accurate historical record.

Content

Cover page of The Book of Mormon from an original 1830 edition, by Joseph Smith
(Image from the U.S. Library of Congress Rare Book and Special Collections Division.)

Title

Smith said the title page, and presumably the actual title of the 1830 edition, came from the translation of "the very last leaf" of the golden plates, and was written by the prophet-historian Moroni. The title page states that the purpose of the Book of Mormon is "to [show] unto the remnant of the house of Israel what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers; ... and also to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations."

Organization

The Book of Mormon is organized as a compilation of smaller books, each named after its main named narrator or a prominent leader, beginning with the First Book of Nephi (1 Nephi) and ending with the Book of Moroni.

The book's sequence is primarily chronological based on the narrative content of the book. Exceptions include the Words of Mormon and the Book of Ether. The Words of Mormon contains editorial commentary by Mormon. The Book of Ether is presented as the narrative of an earlier group of people who had come to America before the immigration described in 1 Nephi. First Nephi through Omni are written in first-person narrative, as are Mormon and Moroni. The remainder of the Book of Mormon is written in third-person 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).

Most modern editions of the book have been divided into chapters and verses. Most editions of the book also contain supplementary material, including the "Testimony of Three Witnesses" and the "Testimony of Eight Witnesses" which appeared in the original 1830 edition and every official Latter-day Saint edition thereafter.

Chronology

Main article: Book of Mormon chronology

The books from First Nephi to Omni are described as being from "the small plates of Nephi". This account begins in ancient Jerusalem around 600 BC. It tells the story of a man named Lehi, his family, and several others as they are led by God from Jerusalem shortly before the fall of that city to the Babylonians in 586 BC. The book describes their journey across the Arabian peninsula, and then to the "promised land", the Americas, by ship. These books recount the group's dealings from approximately 600 BC to about 130 BC, during which time the community grew and split into two main groups, which are called the Nephites and the Lamanites, that frequently warred with each other.

An artistic depiction of the climactic moment in the Book of Mormon, the visitation of Jesus to the Nephites.

Following this section is the Words of Mormon. This small book, said to be written in AD 385 by Mormon, is a short introduction to the books of Mosiah, Alma, Helaman, Third Nephi, and Fourth Nephi. These books are described as being abridged from a large quantity of existing records called "the large plates of Nephi" that detailed the people's history from the time of Omni to Mormon's own life. The Book of Third Nephi is of particular importance within the Book of Mormon because it contains an account of a visit by Jesus from heaven to the Americas sometime after his resurrection and ascension. The text says that during this American visit, he repeated much of the same doctrine and instruction given in the Gospels of the Bible and he established an enlightened, peaceful society which endured for several generations, but which eventually broke into warring factions again.

The book or section within the greater Book of Mormon dealing with events during Mormon's life is also called the Book of Mormon. Mormon is said to have received the charge of taking care of the records that had been hidden, once he was old enough. The book includes an account of the wars, Mormon's leading of portions of the Nephite army, and his retrieving and caring for the records. Mormon is eventually killed after having handed down the records to his son Moroni.

According to the text, Moroni then made an abridgment (called the Book of Ether) of a record from a previous people called the Jaredites. The account describes a group of families led from the Tower of Babel to the Americas, headed by a man named Jared and his brother. The Jaredite civilization is presented as existing on the American continent beginning about 2500 BC,—long before Lehi's family arrived shortly after 600 BC—and as being much larger and more developed.

The Book of Moroni then details the final destruction of the Nephites and the idolatrous state of the remaining society. It also includes significant doctrinal teachings and closes with Moroni's testimony and an invitation to pray to God for a confirmation of the truthfulness of the account.

Doctrinal and philosophical teachings

A depiction of Joseph Smith's description of receiving the golden plates from the angel Moroni at the Hill Cumorah

Interspersed throughout the narrative are sermons and orations by various speakers, making up just over 40 percent of the Book of Mormon. These passages contain doctrinal and philosophical teachings on a wide range of topics, from basic themes of Christianity and Judaism to political and ideological teachings. Some of the teachings found in the Book of Mormon reiterate themes common to nineteenth-century American Christianity such as describing the Bible as scripture and affirming covenantal theology. Other teachings are unique and distinctive, such as its rejection of original sin doctrine, depiction of inner revelation with propositional content, and descriptions of Jesus and the Atonement.

Jesus

See also: Godhead (Latter Day Saints)

As stated on the title page, the Book of Mormon's central purpose is for the "convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations." Jesus is mentioned every 1.7 verses on average and is referred to by one hundred different names.

Though much of the Book of Mormon's internal chronology takes place prior to the birth of Jesus, prophets in the book frequently see him in vision and preach about him, and the people in the book worship Jesus as, in the words of literature professor Terryl L. Givens, "pre-Christian Christians." For example, the book's first narrator Nephi describes having a vision of the birth, ministry, and death of Jesus, said to have taken place nearly 600 years prior to Jesus' birth. Later in the narrative (about 130 BC), King Benjamin dubs the Nephite believers "children of Christ". At another point in the book, faithful members of the church at the time of Captain Moroni (about 73 BC) are called "Christians" by their enemies because of their belief in Jesus Christ. By depicting ancient prophets and peoples as familiar with Jesus as a Savior, the Book of Mormon universalized Christian salvation as being the same in all times and places, and it implied that even more ancient peoples were familiar with Jesus.

In the Book of Mormon, Jesus visits some early inhabitants of the Americas after his resurrection, and this event is often described as the climax of the book. During this ministry, he reiterates many teachings from the New Testament and re-emphasizes salvific baptism. He also introduces the sacramental consumption of bread and water "in remembrance of [his] body," a teaching that became the basis for Latter-day Saints' "memorialist" view of their sacrament ordinance (analogous to communion). Jesus's ministry in the Book of Mormon has been compared to Jesus's portrayal in the Gospel of John, as Jesus similarly teaches without parables and preaches faith and obedience as a central message.

After this visit, the book states that for nearly 200 years after Jesus's appearance in the Americas, the land was filled with peace and prosperity because the joint Nephite-Lamanite society obeyed his commandments. After these 200 years, the people increasingly apostatized, during which time narrators and prophets Mormon and Moroni try to convince the faithless people of their times to have faith in Christ and teach their future readers about Jesus.

The Book of Mormon depicts Jesus with "a twist" on Christian trinitarianism, as historian John G. Turner describes. Jesus in the Book of Mormon is distinct from God the Father, much as he is in the New Testament, as he prays to God while during a post-resurrection visit with the Nephites. However, Turner explains that the Book of Mormon also emphasizes that Jesus and God have "divine unity," and other parts the book of call Jesus "the Father and the Son" or describe the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost as "one." As a result, beliefs among the churches of the Latter Day Saint movement range between nontrinitarianism (such as in the LDS Church) and trinitarianism (such as in Community of Christ).

Distinctively, the Book of Mormon describes Jesus as having, prior to his birth, a spiritual "body" "without flesh and blood" that looked similar to how he would appear during his physical life. According to the book, the Brother of Jared lived before Jesus and saw him manifest in this spiritual "body" thousands of years prior to his birth.

In the Bible, Jesus spoke to the Jews in Jerusalem of "other sheep" who would hear his voice. The Book of Mormon claims this meant that the Nephites and other remnants of the lost tribes of Israel throughout the world were to be visited by Jesus after his resurrection.

Teachings about political theology

The book delves into political theology within a Christian or Jewish context. Among these themes are American exceptionalism. According to the book, the Americas are portrayed as a "land of promise", the world's most exceptional land of the time. The book states that any righteous society possessing the land would be protected, whereas if they became wicked they would be destroyed and replaced with a more righteous civilization.

On the issue of war and violence, the book teaches that war is justified for people to "defend themselves against their enemies". However, they were never to "give an offense," or to "raise their sword ... except it were to preserve their lives." The book praises the faith of a group of former Lamanite warriors who took an oath of complete pacifism, refusing to take arms even to defend themselves and their people. However, 2,000 of their descendants, who had not taken the oath of their parents not to take up arms against their enemies, chose to go to battle against the Lamanites, and it states that in their battles the 2,000 men were protected by God through their faith and, though many were injured, none of them died.

The book recommends monarchy as an ideal form of government, but only when the monarch is righteous. The book warns of the evil that occurs when the king is wicked, and therefore suggests that it is not generally good to have a king. The book further records the decision of the people to be ruled no longer by kings, choosing instead a form of democracy led by elected judges. When citizens referred to as "king-men" attempted to overthrow a democratically elected government and establish an unrighteous king, the book praises a military commander who executed pro-monarchy citizens who had vowed to destroy the church of God and were unwilling to defend their country from hostile invading forces. The book also speaks favorably of a particular instance of what appears to be a peaceful Christ-centered theocracy, which lasted approximately 194 years before contentions began again.

The book supports notions of economic justice, achieved through voluntary donation of "substance, every man according to that which he had, to the poor." In one case, all the citizens held their property in common. When individuals within a society began to disdain and ignore the poor, to "wear costly apparel", and otherwise engage in wickedness for personal gain, such societies are repeatedly portrayed in the book as being ripe for destruction.

Religious significance

Joseph Smith

Like many other early adherents of the Latter Day Saint movement, Smith referenced Book of Mormon scriptures in his preaching relatively infrequently and cited the Bible more often, likely because he was more familiar with the Bible, which he had grown up with. In 1832, Smith dictated a revelation that condemned the "whole church" for treating the Book of Mormon lightly, though even after doing so Smith still referenced the Book of Mormon less often than the Bible. Nevertheless, in 1841 Joseph Smith characterized the Book of Mormon as the "keystone" of Mormonism, and he called it "the most correct of any book on earth." While they were held in Carthage Jail together, shortly before being killed in a mob attack, Joseph's brother Hyrum Smith read aloud from the Book of Mormon, and Joseph told the jail guards present that the Book of Mormon was divinely authentic.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

The Book of Mormon is one of four sacred texts or standard works of the LDS Church. Church leaders have frequently restated Smith's claims of the book's significance to the faith. According to the church's "Articles of Faith"—a document written by Joseph Smith in 1842 and canonized by the church as scripture in 1880—members "believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly," and they "believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God," without the translation qualification. In the 1980s, the church placed greater emphasis on the Book of Mormon and on studying and reading it as a means for devotional communion with Jesus Christ. As part of this effort, in 1982 the church added the subtitle "Another Testament of Jesus Christ" to its official editions of the Book of Mormon.

The importance of the Book of Mormon was a focus of Ezra Taft Benson, the church's thirteenth president. Referencing Smith's 1832 revelation, Benson said the church was still under condemnation for treating the Book of Mormon lightly. In an August 2005 message, church president Gordon B. Hinckley challenged each member of the church to re-read the Book of Mormon before the year's end. The book's importance is commonly stressed at the twice-yearly general conference, at special devotionals by general authorities, and in the church's teaching publications. Since the late 1980s, the church has encouraged members to read from the Book of Mormon daily, and in 2016 historian John G. Turner noted, "Increasing numbers of Latter-day Saints use the [Book of Mormon] for private and family devotions."

The LDS Church encourages discovery of the book's truth by following the suggestion in its final chapter to study, ponder, and pray to God concerning its veracity. This passage is sometimes referred to as "Moroni's Promise."

As of October 2020, the LDS Church has published more than 192 million copies of the Book of Mormon.

Community of Christ

The Community of Christ, formerly known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, views the Book of Mormon as an additional witness of Jesus Christ and publishes two versions of the book through its official publishing arm, Herald House: the Authorized Edition, which is based on the original printer's manuscript, and the 1837 Second Edition (or "Kirtland Edition") of the Book of Mormon. Its content is similar to the Book of Mormon published by the LDS Church, but the versification is different. The Community of Christ also publishes a 1966 "Revised Authorized Edition," which attempts to modernize some language.

In 2001, Community of Christ president W. Grant McMurray reflected on increasing questions about the Book of Mormon: "The proper use of the Book of Mormon as sacred scripture has been under wide discussion in the 1970s and beyond, in part because of long-standing questions about its historical authenticity and in part because of perceived theological inadequacies, including matters of race and ethnicity."

At the 2007 Community of Christ World Conference, church president Stephen M. Veazey ruled out-of-order a resolution to "reaffirm the Book of Mormon as a divinely inspired record." He stated that "while the Church affirms the Book of Mormon as scripture, and makes it available for study and use in various languages, we do not attempt to mandate the degree of belief or use. This position is in keeping with our longstanding tradition that belief in the Book of Mormon is not to be used as a test of fellowship or membership in the church."

Greater Latter Day Saint movement

There are a number of other smaller churches that are part of the Latter Day Saint movement. Most of these churches were created as a result of issues ranging from differing doctrinal interpretations and acceptance of the movement's scriptures, including the Book of Mormon, to disagreements as to who was the divinely chosen successor to Joseph Smith. These groups all have in common the acceptance of the Book of Mormon as scripture. It is this acceptance which distinguishes the churches of the Latter Day Saint movement from other Christian denominations. Separate editions of the Book of Mormon have been published by a number of churches in the Latter Day Saint movement, along with private individuals and foundations not endorsed by any specific denomination.

Claimed fulfillment of biblical prophecy

Latter-day Saints believe the Book of Mormon to be a second witness to the Bible and another testament of Jesus Christ. Joseph Smith is believed by the faithful to be a prophet of God and his church to be a restoration of the ancient Christian Church. The Saints cite various Biblical passages that they believe to prophecy of the Great Apostasy, the restoration by Joseph Smith, and the coming forth of the Book of Mormon.

The Great Apostasy, as spoken of within the LDS Church, is a doctrinal teaching that sometime after the death of the New Testament Apostles was a falling away from the true religion, a confusion of doctrines, and a loss of divine authority. Numerous Biblical passages are said to prophecy of this Great Apostasy. 2 Thessalonians 2:2-3 is one such passage. In the King James Version of the Bible, it reads:

"2. That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. 3. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition:"

It's implied from this verse that a falling away from the gospel must precede the Second Coming of Christ, and Latter-day Saints believe this "falling away" to be the Great Apostasy. Several other New Testament verses are also cited as detailing this event such as Acts 20:29, which speaks of "grievous wolves" entering the church, 2 Timothy: 4:3-4, which states that the time would come that the people wouldn't "endure sound doctrine" and would "turn away from the truth," 2 Timothy 3:1-5, which spoke of "perilous times" ahead and described the spiritual depravity of future generations, and 2 Peter 2:1-3, which described "false prophets" and "false teachers" who would bring heresies into the church. Various Old Testament verses are also given, such as Amos 8:11 or Proverbs 29:18.

Just as the Latter-day Saints believe in a general apostasy, they also believe in a restoration, based on their interpretation of the Bible. Acts 3:20-21 speaks of a restitution of all things in the last days, which is believed by the followers of Joseph Smith to be the formation of the church and restoration of the gospel. Ephesians 1:10 says that in the "dispensation of the fulness of times," all things that were "in Christ" would be gathered together, which, to Latter-day Saints, is another reference to the Restoration. Isaiah 2:2-3 is believed to speak of the Latter-day Saint temples and the gathering of Zion in the Rocky Mountains, where many of the followers of Joseph Smith settled after his martyrdom, and the angel Moroni is said to be the fulfillment of John's prophecy in Revelation 14:6, which speaks of an angel flying out of heaven in the last days "with the everlasting gospel to preach." The Book of Mormon is considered to be a part of this "everlasting gospel."

Many passages are also said to prophecy of the Book of Mormon or events described in it directly. The Biblical Joseph was blessed by Jacob in Genesis 49:22-26 to be a "fruitful bough," whose branches would run "over the wall" of a well, and whose descendants would be heir to divine blessings. Latter-day Saints identify his blessed descendants as the party of Lehi in the Book of Mormon, who the texts says were of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh (the tribes of Joseph). The party of Lehi were thus a branch of Joseph that ran over "the wall" of the ocean when they sailed to the Americas.

Ezekiel 37:15-17 reads:

"15. The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,

16. Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:

17. And join them one to another into one stick: and they shall become one in thine hand."

This is believed to be a prophecy concerning the Book of Mormon. The stick of Judah is thought to be the record of the tribe of Judah: the Bible. The stick of Joseph is thought to be the record of the Nephites: the Book of Mormon. These two records would be joined together as one scripture and bring many different people together in the last days.

Isaiah 29:4,9-18 is thought to also speak directly of the Book of Mormon. In this chapter, the destruction of Jerusalem is described (the event which Lehi and his party are said to have fled into the wilderness to avoid), a people, identified by Mormons as the Nephites, speak from the dust, the eyes of the prophets and seers are covered, and "the vision of all is become... as the words of a book that is sealed." In Joseph Smith's account of the First Vision, Jesus paraphrased verse 13 of this chapter, which stated that people drew near to him with their mouths, but had their hearts far from him. The chapter also states that a marvelous work would occur, the deaf would hear the words of the sealed book, and the eyes of the blind would see in the darkness. To Latter-day Saints, the sealed book is the Book of Mormon, the covering of the eyes of the prophets and seers is the Great Apostasy, and the marvelous work is the restoration of the gospel. The book was also to be delivered to a learned person, who Latter-day Saints identify as Professor Charles Anthon, who would say they could not read a sealed book.

The "other sheep" mentioned by Christ in John 10:16 are identified with the Nephites, and this verse is said to allude to Christ's visit with them in the Book of Mormon.

Historical authenticity

Main article: Historical authenticity of the Book of Mormon

See also: Criticism of the Book of Mormon, Archaeology and the Book of Mormon, Genetics and the Book of Mormon, Linguistics and the Book of Mormon, Origin of the Book of Mormon, and Book of Mormon anachronisms

Mainstream archaeological, historical and scientific communities do not consider the Book of Mormon an ancient record of actual historical events. Their skepticism tends to focus on four main areas:

• The lack of correlation between locations described in the Book of Mormon and known, intact American archaeological sites.
• References to animals, plants, metals and technologies in the Book of Mormon that archaeological or scientific studies have found little or no evidence of in post-Pleistocene, pre-Columbian America, frequently referred to as anachronisms. Items typically listed include cattle, horses, asses, oxen, sheep, swine, goats, elephants, wheat, steel, brass, chains, iron, scimitars, and chariots.
• The lack of widely accepted linguistic connections between any Native American languages and Near Eastern languages.
• The lack of DNA evidence linking any Native American group to the ancient Near East.

Despite this, most adherents of the Latter Day Saint movement consider the Book of Mormon to generally be a historically accurate account. Within the Latter Day Saint movement there are several apologetic groups and scholars that disagree with the skeptics and seek to reconcile the discrepancies in diverse ways. Among these apologetic groups, much work has been published by the Maxwell Institute and FAIR (Faithful Answers, Informed Response) defending the Book of Mormon as a literal history, countering arguments critical of its historical authenticity, or reconciling historical and scientific evidence with the text. One of the more common arguments is the limited geography model, which states that the people of the Book of Mormon covered only a limited geographical region in either Mesoamerica, South America, or the Great Lakes area. The LDS Church has published material indicating a belief that science will support the historical authenticity of the Book of Mormon.

Anachronisms and a lack of a concrete archaeological framework within which to situate the Book of Mormon remain as significant problems for those who defend the authenticity of the sacred text, however, the book itself is rather unique and critics remain divided on how to explain its origins. The Book of Mormon portrays a fairly consistent and complex narrative throughout. For example, the Book of Mormon exhibits a wide variety of literary forms, including sermons and speeches, allegory, figurative language and metaphor, imagery, symbolism, wisdom literature, and apocalyptic literature. Defenders of the book argue that the complexity and consistency is hard to explain in light of the fact that all accounts of the Book of Mormon translation agree that Smith never paused to review the previous page or sentence, and he used no notes, books, or other reference materials as he orally recited the stories while staring into a seer stone or stones.

Multiple stylometric analyses and studies of the Book of Mormon, in most cases, suggest that it was written by multiple authors, each corresponding accurately to the internal claims of the Book of Mormon. Each purported author, whether it was Nephi, Moroni, Alma, Mormon, etc., had a consistent writing style distinctly separate from the other purported authors. Several stylometric studies have also shown that neither Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, or Sidney Rigdon were likely authors of any of the Book of Mormon texts. Hebraisms and other distinctive Near Eastern writing styles are found throughout the text, which are made evident in cases such as Hebraic idioms, pronominal suffixes, Semitic if/and conditionals, and English correspondences to the Hebrew word bō. It also effectively employs complex Hebrew numerology and number symbolism. In Alma 27:22, the Book of Mormon records the Nephites as giving the land Jershon to the Anti-Nephi-Lehies "for an inheritance." The root of Jershon is y-r-sh, which means "to inherit" in Hebrew, making this a Hebrew play-on-words. In addition, many texts throughout the book, like Alma 36, utilize chiasmus, a poetic form of Near Eastern writing. LDS scholars argue that altogether this would suggest a Semitic origin for the Book of Mormon, and multiple authors.

The Book of Mormon details the journeys of the party of Lehi in the wilderness before their voyage to the Americas. 1 Nephi 16:34 describes a place called Nahom, where Ishmael was said to have been buried. From the detailed account, Latter-day Saint scholars deduced that Nahom was probably somewhere in the southern Arabian peninsula. The late 20th-century discovery of an ancient altar bearing the placename Nahom in the Jawf Valley of Yemen, within the presupposed location of the Book of Mormon Nahom, is cited by many Latter-day Saint scholars as evidence of the Book of Mormon's historical authenticity. None of this has changed the general public consensus, however, that the Book of Mormon is not an authentic historical record.

Historical context

See also: Mound_Builders § Alternative_explanations, and View of the Hebrews

In the 1800s, most early European Americans had a biblical worldview, and numerous attempts were made to explain the origin of the Native Americans biblically. From the 16th century through the early 19th, a common belief was that the Jews, particularly the Lost Ten Tribes, were the ancestors of Native Americans. One of the first books to suggest that Native Americans were descended from Jews was written by Jewish-Dutch rabbi and scholar Manasseh ben Israel in 1650. The Book of Mormon provided theological backing to this proposition, and suggested that the lost Tribes of Israel would be found in other locations throughout the world as well.

Additionally, European settlers viewed the impressive earthworks left behind by the Mound Builder culture and had some difficulty believing that the Native Americans, whose numbers had been decimated over the previous centuries, could have produced them. A common theory was that a more technologically advanced people had built them, but were overrun and destroyed by a more savage, numerous group. Some observers have suggested that the Book of Mormon parallels others within the 19th-century "mound-builder" genre that was pervasive at the time. As historian Curtis Dahl wrote, "Undoubtedly the most famous and certainly the most influential of all Mound-Builder literature is the Book of Mormon (1830). Whether one wishes to accept it as divinely inspired or the work of Joseph Smith, it fits exactly into the tradition."

Manuscripts

Book of Mormon printer's manuscript, shown with a 19th-century owner, George Schweich (grandson of early Latter Day Saint movement figure David Whitmer)

Replica of the cabin in Fayette (Waterloo), New York (owned by Peter Whitmer) where much of the manuscript of the Book of Mormon was written

The Book of Mormon was dictated by Joseph Smith to several scribes over a period of 13 months, resulting in three manuscripts.

Although 13 months elapsed, the actual translation time was less than 65 actual days of translating. / Translation Work Days

The 116 lost pages contained the first portion of the Book of Lehi; it was lost after Smith loaned the original, uncopied manuscript to Martin Harris.

The first completed manuscript, called the original manuscript, was completed using a variety of scribes. Portions of the original manuscript were also used for typesetting. In October 1841, the entire original manuscript was placed into the cornerstone of the Nauvoo House, and sealed up until nearly forty years later when the cornerstone was reopened. It was then discovered that much of the original manuscript had been destroyed by water seepage and mold. Surviving manuscript pages were handed out to various families and individuals in the 1880s.

Only 28 percent of the original manuscript now survives, including a remarkable find of fragments from 58 pages in 1991. The majority of what remains of the original manuscript is now kept in the LDS Church's Archives.

The second completed manuscript, called the printer's manuscript, was a copy of the original manuscript produced by Oliver Cowdery and two other scribes. It is at this point that initial copyediting of the Book of Mormon was completed. Observations of the original manuscript show little evidence of corrections to the text. Shortly before his death in 1850, Cowdery gave the printer's manuscript to David Whitmer, another of the Three Witnesses. In 1903, the manuscript was bought from Whitmer's grandson by the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, now known as the Community of Christ. On September 20, 2017, the LDS Church purchased the manuscript from the Community of Christ at a reported price of $35 million. The printer's manuscript is now the earliest surviving complete copy of the Book of Mormon. The manuscript was imaged in 1923 and was recently made available for viewing online.

Critical comparisons between surviving portions of the manuscripts show an average of two to three changes per page from the original manuscript to the printer's manuscript, with most changes being corrections of scribal errors such as misspellings or the correction, or standardization, of grammar inconsequential to the meaning of the text. The printer's manuscript was further edited, adding paragraphing and punctuation to the first third of the text.

The printer's manuscript was not used fully in the typesetting of the 1830 version of Book of Mormon; portions of the original manuscript were also used for typesetting. The original manuscript was used by Smith to further correct errors printed in the 1830 and 1837 versions of the Book of Mormon for the 1840 printing of the book.

Ownership history: Book of Mormon printer's manuscript

In the late-19th century the extant portion of the printer's manuscript remained with the family of David Whitmer, who had been a principal founder of the Latter Day Saints and who, by the 1870s, led the Church of Christ (Whitmerite). During the 1870s, according to the Chicago Tribune, the LDS Church unsuccessfully attempted to buy it from Whitmer for a record price. LDS Church president Joseph F. Smith refuted this assertion in a 1901 letter, believing such a manuscript "possesses no value whatever." In 1895, Whitmer's grandson George Schweich inherited the manuscript. By 1903, Schweich had mortgaged the manuscript for $1,800 and, needing to raise at least that sum, sold a collection including 72-percent of the book of the original printer's manuscript (John Whitmer's manuscript history, parts of Joseph Smith's translation of the Bible, manuscript copies of several revelations, and a piece of paper containing copied Book of Mormon characters) to the RLDS Church (now the Community of Christ) for $2,450, with $2,300 of this amount for the printer's manuscript. The LDS Church had not sought to purchase the manuscript.

In 2015, this remaining portion was published by the Church Historian's Press in its Joseph Smith Papers series, in Volume Three of "Revelations and Translations"; and, in 2017, the LDS Church bought the printer's manuscript for US$35,000,000.

Editions

Chapter and verse notation systems

The original 1830 publication did not have verse markers, although the individual books were divided into relatively long chapters. Just as the Bible's present chapter and verse notation system is a later addition of Bible publishers to books that were originally solid blocks of undivided text, the chapter and verse markers within the books of the Book of Mormon are conventions, not part of the original text.

Publishers from different factions of the Latter Day Saint movement have published different chapter and verse notation systems. The two most significant are the LDS system, introduced in 1879, and the RLDS system, which is based on the original 1830 chapter divisions.

The RLDS 1908 edition, RLDS 1966 edition, the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) edition, and Restored Covenant editions use the RLDS system while most other current editions use the LDS system.

Current

The Book of Mormon is currently printed by the following publishers:

Church publishers	Year	Titles and notes	Link
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints	1981	The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. New introductions, chapter summaries, and footnotes. 1920 edition errors corrected based on original manuscript and 1840 edition. Updated in a revised edition in 2013.	link
Community of Christ	1966	"Revised Authorized Version", based on 1908 Authorized Version, 1837 edition and original manuscript. Notable for the omission of repetitive "it came to pass" phrases.
The Church of Jesus Christ (Bickertonite)	2001	Compiled by a committee of Apostles. It uses the chapter and verse designations from the 1879 LDS version.
Church of Christ with the Elijah Message	1957	The Record of the Nephites, "Restored Palmyra Edition". 1830 text with 1879 LDS chapters and verses.	link
Church of Christ (Temple Lot)	1990	Based on 1908 RLDS edition, 1830 edition, printer's manuscript, and corrections by church leaders.	link
Fellowships of the remnants	2019	Based on Joseph Smith's last personally-updated 1840 version, with revisions per Denver Snuffer Jr. Distributed jointly with the New Testament, in a volume called the "New Covenants".	link
Richard Drew	1992	Photo-enlarged facsimile of the 1840 edition
Other publishers	Year	Titles and notes	Link
Herald Heritage	1970	Facsimile of the 1830 edition.
Zarahemla Research Foundation	1999	The Book of Mormon: Restored Covenant Edition. Text from Original and Printer's Manuscripts, in poetic layout.	link
Bookcraft	1999	The Book of Mormon for Latter-day Saint Families. Large print with numerous visuals and explanatory notes.
University of Illinois Press	2003	The Book of Mormon: A Reader's Edition. The text of the 1920 LDS edition reformatted into paragraphs and poetic stanzas and accompanied by some footnotes.	link
Doubleday	2006	The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. Text from the current LDS edition without footnotes. First Doubleday edition was in 2004.
Experience Press	2006	Reset type matching the original 1830 edition in word, line and page. Fixed typographical errors.
Stratford Books	2006	Facsimile reprint of 1830 edition.
Penguin Classics	2008	Paperback with 1840 text.	link
Yale University Press	2009	The Book of Mormon: The Earliest Text. Joseph Smith's dictated text with hundreds of corrections from Royal Skousen's study of the original and printer's manuscripts.	link
The Olive Leaf Foundation	2017	A New Approach To Studying The Book Of Mormon. This contains the complete text of the 1981 edition, but with more modern text formatting. Cross-references and footnotes are replaced by the authors' own marginal notes, and chapter and verse breaks are also removed.	link
Neal A. Maxwell Institute	2018	The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ, Maxwell Institute Study Edition. Text from the 1981/2013 LDS editions reformatted into paragraphs and poetic stanzas. Selected textual variants discovered in the Book of Mormon Critical Text Project appear in footnotes.
Digital Legend Press	2018	Annotated Edition of the Book of Mormon

Historic

The following non-current editions marked major developments in the text or reader's helps printed in the Book of Mormon.

Publisher	Year	Titles and notes	Link
E. B. Grandin	1830	"First edition" in Palmyra. Based on printer's manuscript copied from original manuscript.	link
Pratt and Goodson	1837	"Second edition" in Kirtland. Revision of first edition, using the printer's manuscript with emendations and grammatical corrections.
Ebenezer Robinson and Smith	1840	"Third edition" in Nauvoo. Revised by Joseph Smith in comparison to the original manuscript. Facsimiles of an original 1840 edition.	link
Young, Kimball and Pratt	1841	"First European edition". 1837 reprint with British spellings. Future LDS Church editions descended from this, not the 1840 edition.
Joseph Smith Jr.	1842	"Fourth American edition" in Nauvoo. A reprint of the 1840 edition. Facsimiles of an original 1842 edition.
Franklin D. Richards	1852	"Third European edition". Edited by Richards. Introduced primitive verses (numbered paragraphs).	link
James O. Wright	1858	Unauthorized reprinting of 1840 edition. Used by the early RLDS Church in 1860s.	link
Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints	1874	First RLDS edition. 1840 text with verses.	link
Deseret News	1879	Edited by Orson Pratt. Introduced footnotes, new verses, and shorter chapters.	link
Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints	1908	"Authorized Version". New verses and corrections based on printer's manuscript.	link
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints	1920	Edited by James E. Talmage. Added introductions, double columns, chapter summaries, new footnotes, pronunciation guide.	link

Non-print editions

The following versions are published online:

Online editions	Year	Description and notes	Link
Restoration Edition "New Covenants"	2019	The New Testament and Book of Mormon are published in one book. "It is not the will of the Lord to print any of the new Translation in the [Evening and Morning] Star; but when it is published, it will all go to the world together, in a volume by itself; and the New Testament and the Book of Mormon will be printed together."– Joseph Smith Jr. Letter, April 21, 1833. Also available in PDF	link
LDS Church internet edition	2013	Official Internet edition of the Book of Mormon for the LDS Church.	link
LDS Church audio edition	1994	Official LDS version of the Book of Mormon in mp3 audio format, 32 kbit/s	link

Textual criticism

Although some earlier unpublished studies had been prepared, not until the early 1970s was true textual criticism applied to the Book of Mormon. At that time BYU Professor Ellis Rasmussen and his associates were asked by the LDS Church to begin preparation for a new edition of the church's scriptures. One aspect of that effort entailed digitizing the text and preparing appropriate footnotes, another aspect required establishing the most dependable text. To that latter end, Stanley R. Larson (a Rasmussen graduate student) set about applying modern text critical standards to the manuscripts and early editions of the Book of Mormon as his thesis project—which he completed in 1974. Larson carefully examined the original manuscript (the one dictated by Joseph Smith to his scribes) and the printer's manuscript (the copy Oliver Cowdery prepared for the printer in 1829–1830), and compared them with the first, second, and third editions of the Book of Mormon; this was done to determine what sort of changes had occurred over time and to make judgments as to which readings were the most original. Larson proceeded to publish a set of well-argued articles on the phenomena which he had discovered. Many of his observations were included as improvements in the 1981 LDS edition of the Book of Mormon.

By 1979, with the establishment of the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS) as a California non-profit research institution, an effort led by Robert F. Smith began to take full account of Larson's work and to publish a critical text of the Book of Mormon. Thus was born the FARMS Critical Text Project which published the first volume of the three-volume Book of Mormon Critical Text in 1984. The third volume of that first edition was published in 1987, but was already being superseded by a second, revised edition of the entire work, greatly aided through the advice and assistance of a team that included Yale doctoral candidate Grant Hardy, Dr. Gordon C. Thomasson, Professor John W. Welch (the head of FARMS), and Professor Royal Skousen. However, these were merely preliminary steps to a far more exacting and all-encompassing project.

In 1988, with that preliminary phase of the project completed, Skousen took over as editor and head of the FARMS Critical Text of the Book of Mormon Project and proceeded to gather still scattered fragments of the original manuscript of the Book of Mormon and to have advanced photographic techniques applied to obtain fine readings from otherwise unreadable pages and fragments. He also closely examined the printer's manuscript (then owned by RLDS Church) for differences in types of ink or pencil, in order to determine when and by whom they were made. He also collated the various editions of the Book of Mormon down to the present to see what sorts of changes have been made through time.

Skousen and the Critical Text Project have published complete transcripts of the Original and Printer's Manuscripts (volumes I and II), parts of a history of the text (volume III), and a six-part analysis of textual variants (volume IV). The remainder of the eigh-part history of the text and a complete electronic collation of editions and manuscripts (volumes 5 of the Project) remain forthcoming. In 2009, Yale University published an edition of the Book of Mormon which incorporates all aspects of Skousen's research.

Differences between the original and printer's manuscript, the 1830 printed version, and modern versions of the Book of Mormon have led some critics to claim that evidence has been systematically removed that could have proven that Smith fabricated the Book of Mormon, or are attempts to hide embarrassing aspects of the church's past. Latter-day Saint scholars view the changes as superficial, done to clarify the meaning of the text.

Non-English translations

Translations of the Book of Mormon

See also: List of Book of Mormon translations

The LDS version of the Book of Mormon has been translated into 83 languages and selections have been translated into an additional 25 languages. In 2001, the LDS Church reported that all or part of the Book of Mormon was available in the native language of 99 percent of Latter-day Saints and 87 percent of the world's total population.

Translations into languages without a tradition of writing (e.g., Kaqchikel, Tzotzil) have been published as audio recordings and as transliterations with Latin characters. Translations into American Sign Language are available as video recordings.

Typically, translators are members of the LDS Church who are employed by the church and translate the text from the original English. Each manuscript is reviewed several times before it is approved and published.

In 1998, the LDS Church stopped translating selections from the Book of Mormon, and instead announced that each new translation it approves will be a full edition.

Representations in media

Still from The Life of Nephi (1915)

Events of the Book of Mormon are the focus of several LDS Church films, including The Life of Nephi (1915), How Rare a Possession (1987) and The Testaments of One Fold and One Shepherd (2000). Such films in Mormon cinema (i.e., films not officially commissioned by the LDS Church) include The Book of Mormon Movie, Vol. 1: The Journey (2003) and Passage to Zarahemla (2007).

Second Nephi 9:20–27 from the Book of Mormon is quoted in a funeral service in Alfred Hitchcock's film Family Plot.

In 2003, a South Park episode titled "All About Mormons" parodied the origins of the Book of Mormon.

In 2011, a long-running religious satire musical titled The Book of Mormon, written by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone in collaboration with Robert Lopez, premiered on Broadway, winning nine Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Its London production won the Olivier Award for best musical. Though it is titled The Book of Mormon, musical does not depict Book of Mormon events, though characters do make references to the content of the Book of Mormon. Its plot tells an original story about Latter-day Saint missionaries in the twenty-first century.

In 2019, the LDS Church began producing a series of live-action adaptations of various stories within the Book of Mormon, titled Book of Mormon Videos, which it distributed on its website and YouTube channel.

Distribution

The LDS Church, which distributes free copies of the Book of Mormon, reported in 2011 that 150 million copies of the book have been printed since its initial publication.

The initial printing of the Book of Mormon in 1830 produced 5000 copies. The 50 millionth copy was printed in 1990, with the 100 millionth following in 2000 and reaching 150 million in 2011.

In October 2020, the church announced it had printed over 192 million copies of the Book of Mormon.

Literary criticism

The Book of Mormon has occasionally been analyzed in a non-religious context for its literary merits.

The author labored to give his words and phrases the quaint, old-fashioned sound and structure of our King James's translation of the Scriptures; and the result is a mongrel -- half modern glibness, and half ancient simplicity and gravity. The latter is awkward and constrained; the former natural, but grotesque by the contrast. Whenever he found his speech growing too modern -- which was about every sentence or two -- he ladled in a few such Scriptural phrases as "exceeding sore," "and it came to pass," etc., and made things satisfactory again. "And it came to pass" was his pet. If he had left that out, his Bible would have been only a pamphlet.

— Mark Twain, Roughing It, Chapter XVI

Non-Mormons attempting psychiatric analyses [of Joseph Smith] have been content to pin a label upon the youth and have ignored his greatest creative achievement because they found it dull. Dull it is, in truth, but not formless, aimless, or absurd. Its structure shows elaborate design, its narrative is spun coherently, and it demonstrates throughout a unity of purpose. Its matter is drawn directly from the American frontier, from the impassioned revivalist sermons, the popular fallacies about Indian origin, and the current political crusades.

— Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History, (New York, 1945), pp. 68-69

Terryl Givens wrote,

Searching for literary wonders in the Book of Mormon is a bit like seeking lyrical inspiration in the books of Chronicles or Judges. The Book of Mormon is a work of substantial complexity, however, with numerous well-spun narratives subsumed with a larger comprehensive vision. There is a neat symmetry to the Bible as we have received it.

Givens later concluded,

The Book of Mormon remains a potent and disruptive force in the twenty-first century, challenging analysis with its authoritative claims. The Book remains an important cultural document of the nineteenth century and its literary merits are beginning to encourage further enquiry. The growth of Mormonism worldwide is also challenging older questions of wider appeal and accessibility of the Book of Mormon. The themes of the dislocation and decentring are coming to greater relevance in a globalised world.

Grant Hardy wrote,

The Book of Mormon began as 588 densely printed pages in 1830, and the current official edition (reformatted with substantial grammatical editing) still runs to 531 pages. In some ways this is surprising. If the primary purpose of the Book of Mormon were to function as a sign—as tangible evidence that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God—that mission could have been accomplished much more concisely. A fifty page book delivered by an angel is no less miraculous than a thick volume; it's the heavenly messenger part that makes it hard to believe.

True or not, the Book of Mormon is a powerful epic written on a grand scale with a host of characters, a narrative of human struggle and conflict, of divine intervention, heroic good and atrocious evil, of prophecy, morality, and law. Its narrative structure is complex. The idiom is that of the King James Version, which most Americans assumed to be appropriate for divine revelation.... The Book of Mormon should rank among the great achievements of American literature, but it has never been accorded the status it deserves, since Mormons deny Joseph Smith's authorship, and non-Mormons, dismissing the work as a fraud, have been more likely to riducule than to read it.

— Daniel Walker Howe, What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848, Pg. 314

In 2019, Oxford University published Americanist Approaches to The Book of Mormon.

See also

Main article: Outline of the Book of Mormon

• Journal of Book of Mormon Studies
• List of Gospels
• Mulek
• Studies of the Book of Mormon
• Universalism and the Book of Mormon

References

• Brewster, Quinn (1996). "The Structure of the Book of Mormon: A Theory of Evolutionary Development". Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. 29 (2): 109–140. Archived from the original on July 22, 2007. .
• Brodie, Fawn M. (1971), No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (2nd ed.), New York: Knopf, ISBN 978-0-394-46967-6
• Bushman, Richard Lyman (2005). Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling. New York: Knopf. ISBN 978-1-4000-4270-8.
• Dunn, Scott C (2002). "Automaticity and the Dictation of the Book of Mormon". In Vogel, Dan; Metcalf, Brent Lee (eds.). American Apocrypha: Essays on the Book of Mormon. Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books. pp. 17–46. ISBN 978-1-56085-151-6.
• Faulring, Scott H (June 2000). "The Return of Oliver Cowdery". The Disciple as Witness: Essays on Latter-day Saint History and Doctrine in Honor of Richard Lloyd Anderson. Provo, Utah. Archived from the original on October 13, 2007.
• Givens, Terryl (2002). By the Hand of Mormon: The American Scripture That Launched a New World Religion. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-516888-4.
• Hitchens, Christopher (2007). god is not Great. New York: Twelve.
• Howe, Eber Dudley (1834). Mormonism Unvailed: Or, A Faithful Account of that Singular Imposition and Delusion, from its Rise to the Present Time. Painesville, Ohio: Telegraph Press.
• Jessee, Dean (1970). "The Original Book of Mormon Manuscript" (PDF). BYU Studies. 10 (3): 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 10, 2008.
• Midgley, Louis C (1997). "Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon?: The Critics and Their Theories". In Reynolds, Noel B (ed.). Book of Mormon Authorship Revisited: The Evidence for Ancient Origins. Provo, Utah: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies. pp. 101–139. ISBN 978-0-934893-25-1.
• Persuitte, David (2000). Joseph Smith and the Origins of The Book of Mormon (second ed.). McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0-7864-0826-9.
• Price, Robert M (2002). "Prophecy and Palimpsest". Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. 35 (3).
• Roberts, Brigham H (1985). Madsen, Brigham D. (ed.). Studies of the Book of Mormon. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-01043-9.
• Foundation for Ancient Research & Mormon Studies. (2001a). "Original manuscript of the Book of Mormon: typographical facsimile of the extant text". In Skousen, Royal (ed.). Book of Mormon Critical Text Project. Provo, Utah: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies. ISBN 978-0-934893-04-6.
• Foundation for Ancient Research & Mormon Studies. (2001b). Skousen, Royal (ed.). Book of Mormon Critical Text Project. Vol. 2–1. Provo, Utah: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies. ISBN 978-0-934893-05-3.
• Foundation for Ancient Research & Mormon Studies. (2001b). "Printer's manuscript of the Book of Mormon: typographical facsimile of the entire text in two parts". In Skousen, Royal (ed.). Book of Mormon Critical Text Project. Vol. 2–2. Provo, Utah: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies. ISBN 978-0-934893-06-0.
• Royal Skousen. (2004). "Analysis of textual variants of the Book of Mormon". In Skousen, Royal (ed.). Book of Mormon Critical Text Project. Vol. 4–1. Provo, Utah: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies. ISBN 978-0-934893-07-7.
• Royal Skousen. (2005). "Analysis of textual variants of the Book of Mormon". In Skousen, Royal (ed.). Book of Mormon Critical Text Project. Vol. 4–2. Provo, Utah: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies. ISBN 978-0-934893-08-4.
• Skousen, Royal (2006). "Analysis of textual variants of the Book of Mormon". In Skousen, Royal (ed.). Book of Mormon Critical Text Project. Vol. 4–3. Provo, Utah: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies. ISBN 978-0-934893-11-4..
• The Book of Mormon: An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon, Upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi. Palmyra, New York: E. B. Grandin. 1830.
• Smith, Joseph, Jr. (July 1838). "Editor's note". Elders' Journal of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. 1 (3).{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Spaulding, Solomon (1996). Reeve, Rex C (ed.). Manuscript Found: The Complete Original "Spaulding" Manuscript. Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University.
• Tvedtnes, John A (1984). "Isaiah Variants in the Book of Mormon". Featured Papers. Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute.
• Van Wagoner, Richard S.; Walker, Steven C. (Summer 1982). "Joseph Smith: The Gift of Seeing". Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. 15 (2): 48–68.
• Vogel, Dan (2004). Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet. Salt Lake City: Signature Books. ISBN 978-1-56085-179-0.
• Hardy, Grant, ed. (2003). The Book of Mormon: A Reader's Edition. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 9780252027970.

Further reading

• Paul C. Gutjahr (2012). The Book of Mormon: A Biography. Lives of Great Religious Books. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-14480-1. JSTOR j.ctt7s5sf.
• Noel B. Reynolds (1997). Book of Mormon Authorship Revisited: The Evidence for Ancient Origins. Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS). ISBN 978-0-934893-25-1. OCLC 36877441. Archived from the original on December 19, 2013. Retrieved December 18, 2013.
• Roy A. Cheville (1964). Scriptures from Ancient America: a Study of the Book of Mormon. Harald Publishing House.
• Brent Lee Metcalfe, ed. (1993). New Approaches to the Book of Mormon: Explorations in Critical Methodology. Signature Books. ISBN 978-1-56085-017-5. OCLC 25788077.
• Dan Vogel and Brent Metcalfe, ed. (2002). American Apocrypha: Essays on the Book of Mormon. Signature Books. ISBN 978-1-56085-151-6. OCLC 47870060.
• Grant H. Palmer (2002). An Insider's View of Mormon Origins. Signature Books. ISBN 978-1-56085-157-8. OCLC 50285328.
• Simon G. Southerton (2004). Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA, and the Mormon Church. Signature Books. ISBN 978-1560851813. OCLC 55534917.
• Daniel C. Peterson, ed. (2008). The Book of Mormon and DNA Research. Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship. ISBN 9780842527064. OCLC 226304684. Archived from the original on December 19, 2013. Retrieved December 18, 2013.
• Terryl L. Givens (2002). By the Hand of Mormon: The American Scripture that Launched a New World Religion. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195138184. OCLC 47838555.
• John L. Sorenson (2013). Mormon's Codex: An Ancient American Book. Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship (BYU) and Deseret Book. ISBN 9781609073992. OCLC 828334040.
• Reynolds, George (1888). The Story of the Book of Mormon. Salt Lake City, Utah: Jos. Hyrum Parry. p. 494.
• Ludlow, Daniel H., ed. (1992). "Book of Mormon". Encyclopedia of Mormonism. New York, NY: Macmillan. pp. 139–216. ISBN 978-0-02-904040-9. OCLC 24502140.
• Fenton, Elizabeth A.; Hickman, Jared, eds. (2019). Americanist Approaches to the Book of Mormon. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780190221928.
• Hardy, Grant (2010). Understanding the Book of Mormon: A Reader's Guide. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199745449.

External links

• Works related to Book of Mormon (1830 Edition) at Wikisource
• Media related to Book of Mormon at Wikimedia Commons
• Quotations related to Book of Mormon at Wikiquote
• Book of Mormon (from churchofjesuschrist.org)
• Project Gutenberg has the full text of the Book of Mormon in various formats (LDS chapters and numbering)
• RLDS 1908 Book of Mormon (RLDS chapters and numbering)
• The Book of Mormon; An Account Written By the Hand of Mormon Upon Plates Taken From the Plates of Nephi. From the Collections at the Library of Congress
• Photocopies and transcription of the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon by the Joseph Smith Papers project