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Book of Mormon Authorship Revisited: The Evidence for Ancient Origins

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A good understanding of the Book of Mormon is a most useful prerequisite for this book, as is some knowledge of LDS scholarship over the past several decades. This book is an anthology on a variety of topics relating to the Book of Mormon. The first section gives a brief account of its coming forth, and the background against which it was translated. It also includes first person accounts from several of the men who testified that they had seen the plates on which the Book of Mormon was written. The second section discusses alternate origin theories that people have proposed, and finds them inadequate. The third section focuses on the text itself, and discusses many of the internal evidences for ancient authorship, including chiasmus, wordprints, internal parallelism, and ancient parallels. To me, some of the most convincing physical evidence of the ancient origins of the Book of Mormon, and the impossibility of it being a nineteenth century forgery is discussed in the last section of the book. The recently uncovered location of an ancient place name (Nehem = Nahom) at exactly the right place, and with exactly the right activities occurring there anciently (burials) is remarkable. To then travel due east, as described in the Book of Mormon, and find a location on the eastern coast of the Arabian peninsula which is fruitful, well watered, and which fits a dozen other criteria described by the Book of Mormon is simply too much of a coincidence to have been dreamed up by a New York farm boy. Critics of the Book of Mormon will find explaining how Joseph Smith could have had such a clear knowledge of an area of the world unknown to the west until very recently a near impossible task. It isn't enough to dismiss the Book of Mormon out of hand. If one is going to claim an alternative origin, all of these evidences of antiquity must be accounted for.

This book presents scholarly arguments in favor of the thesis that the Book of Mormon is an "ancient book," i.e., not a hoax. It certainly evidences a higher respect for scholarship than most anti-mormon rants.

Theories about the authorship of "The Book of Mormon" have sprouted ever since the rumors of the books existence reached the public in Palmyra, New York through the present day. It is natural for questions about the book would occur to believers who study the book regularly and it is understandable that non-believers would be interested in the various stories that have been concocted to explain the origins of the book.

This fine book is a series of papers by Latter-day Saint scholars addressing various aspects of the origins of the book. The papers are grouped into four parts: 1) The Nineteenth-Century Origins of the Book of Mormon, 2) The Logical Structure of the Authorship Debate, 3) Letting the Text Speak for Itself, 4) Locating the Book of Mormon Geographically and Culturally. Each of the parts includes a brief introduction by the editor.

I enjoyed this book tremendously and found the logical approaches taken to these issues quite interesting and that they opened my own study of the scripture to new insights and approaches to understanding what I was reading. The first group takes us through what we really know about Joseph obtaining and translating the plates and then publishing the book. Those who reject the book usually take one aspect of the story or another, but when the whole story is taken together, it becomes their attacks bounce off the truth.

The second part takes a look at the various theories of alternative origins for the book than Joseph's translating it or even writing it himself. Whom did he plagiarize (he didn't)? If Joseph made it up, does it contain the qualities of a fiction?

The third part is my favorite, it helps those of us who are believers and have received so much "knowledge" about The Book of Mormon from many sources, that we don't realize what we are imposing on what the book actually says. These papers help remove some of the scales from our eyes so we can see what the scripture says for itself. Very enlightening and energizing.

The fourth part looks closely at Lehi's journey with what we know from modern archaeology, how the culture as described in The Book of Mormon lines up with Mesoamerican culture, and how the discussions of warfare in the book match what we know of warfare among the civilizations in the geographical areas under discussion.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in broadening their understanding of The Book of Mormon or for anyone who has had questions raised in their mind about the authorship of this scripture. Of course, only the Spirit can confirm the truth of the book in a way that will provide faith. However, prayerful study can also yield deeper insights and allow more meaning to flow out of the book and into our souls.

This is perhaps one of the best books on the Book of Mormon I have ever read. Apart from being an absolute must on the shelves of every LDS bookshelf, this collection of well-researched essays provides overwhelming evidence that critics cannot honestly ignore or nit-pick against as they have for years now.

Examples of what is discussed are as follows -

A brief analysis and discussion of the geography of 1 Nephi 16 and 17 in the Book of Mormon and the discoveries of plausible locations for Nahom and Bountiful in the Ababian Peninsula that, on its own, disprove that theory that Joseph Smith or anyone else from 1830 authored the Book of Mormon

How the Book of Mormon can plauibly be understood as an ancient Mesoamerican text, with it fitting perfectly into the cultural milleau of that age and locality

Book of Mormon warfare and how it provides stong evidence for its ancient roots, as no modern author (Joseph Smith) could have based it on what he would have known in his enviornment

The authentic Semitic nature of the text as a result of the strong presence of chiasmus and other forms of Hebraic poetry that permeate the text

I have only scratched the surface with thei synopsis. This book is a must-read for anyone, LDS or otherwise, to understand the evidence supporting the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon volume.

This is a great text to read if you are interested in where Book of Mormon scholarship stands in our time, at present. Most, if not all, the contributing authors are from FARMS, a foundation devoted to Book of Mormon scholarship. Reading this book is like reading a journal of science, published today, from the leading scientists from NASA. It is, as they say, the horses mouth when it comes to Mromon scholarship.
Each essay is obviously scholarly and well written. You will find that they are more inviting than the ending of the whole matter. Topics differ in topic and research, but each rely upon demonstrating the ancient origin of the book. Skousen is the LDS faiths leading "original manuscrpit" scholar; Welch is the Mormons cutting-edge and new "brilliant" scholar; and Peterson is the faiths keynote defender. When desiring to know what the best of the flock are saying, in regards to the defense and research of the Book of Mormon, this is the book to read. Though out-dated now, it is still worthy of reading. Topics from chiasmus, the translation, and the position of "anti-" mormons, are considered and evaluated. So, it is general in presentation but potent in content.
One reviewer asked, "where is Christ?" or "God" after reading this book. I ask, why did you come to this book for your inquiry? Detractors will scoff at this text while never being able to refute its finer points. If you want to read a book about God, read the Book of Mormon or Bible... if you are looking into LDS research on the book, read this text.

This book is the Mormon's most significant stand on scholarship and defense. IT is a froce to be reckoned with!

This is a great book, it answers many of the questions put forth by anti-mormons about the book of mormon, goes into word print analysis, book of mormon translation, populations, coming forth of the book of mormon, the witnesses, the text, chiasmus, etc...after reading this book it leaves you with only one conclusion, Joseph Smith nor anyone in 1820-30's could have possibly wrote the book of mormon, and the only reasonable conclusion, translated by the gift and power of God!!! I would reccommend reading this book along with the Book of Mormon and praying to know the truth!!!!

I had an adamantly atheist friend who had read the Book of Mormon, with whom I had many conversations concerning religion. I asked him, if the Book of Mormon is ancient, will you believe in God? He responded in the affirmative. I gave him Book of Mormon Authorship Revisited. Well, he admitted to me that it caused him severe anxiety to read the book, as some of the chapters were disturbingly strong evidence of the existence of God. Needless to say, he still wouldn't believe in God. For the rest of us, I have to say, this book can arm a person against many of the gleefully insulting and condescending critics of religion. It's much easier to brush them off without a second thought. This book is an amazing read to believers--anxiety inducing and denial invoking to non-believers. Don't use this to give atheists anxiety attacks. Just read it for yourself. You'll like it.

This is a solid piece of work, parts of which are even quite impressive. There is a great deal of Mormon scholarship being generated in recent years, and very few outsiders -- emphatically including anti-Mormon critics -- seem even to be aware of it. This book is a reasonably good place to get a sample of that scholarship.

Book of Mormon Authorship Revisited addresses the question of who wrote the Book of Mormon (i.e., Joseph Smith, his contemporaries, or ancient peoples). I find the book worthy of recommendation on the following basis: (1) Rather than offering a single author's perspective, each subject area is discussed by a capable scholar (fifteen authors for sixteen chapters). (2) The majority of the evidences and arguments provided are satisfactorily sophisticated. (3) The writing and organization of the volume is of admirable quality.

To be expected, the essays in Authorship Revisited manifest bias in favor of the claims of the Book of Mormon. On this note, I recall S. J. Gould's complaint that it is neither practical nor ideal for scholars to reach absolute neutrality. He proposed that "Objectivity must be operationally defined as fair treatment of data, not absence of preference." I find the writers of Authorship Revisited not guilty of violating this standard of objectivity. In fact, where there is uncertainty or weakness in an argument, it is forthrightly acknowledged by the authors.

I recommend John L. Hilton's essay as representative of the quality of most of the other chapters in the book. In Chapter 9, On Verifying Wordprint Studies: Book of Mormon Authorship, Hilton discusses the development of statistical models to identify probable authors where authorship is disputed, and its application to Book of Mormon authorship.

Noel B. Reynolds has commented on the soundness of the wordprinting techniques developed by Hilton, et al.:
During the 1980s John L. Hilton and several associates, some of whom were not Latter-day Saints, formed a group of scientists in Berkeley, California, to develop a more rigorous wordprinting model with which to test the Book of Mormon. Rather than test the frequency of letters or noncontextual words, Hilton's model measures noncontextual word-pattern ratios (such as the percentage of sentences beginning with a and and) using a list of sixty-five ratios first suggested by Scottish forensics specialist A. Q. Morton. Hilton's model also has the distinct advantage of being based on a large body of control author studies, which helped to establish statistical significance; additionally, its more conservative assumptions require the use of authors with at least five thousand words in a text. Hilton's techniques were critically reviewed and accepted by the University of Chicago Press prior to its publication of a recent book that used his model to identify previously unrecognized writings of the seventeenth-century English philosopher Thomas Hobbes.
Donald W. Parry, Daniel C. Peterson, and John W. Welch, Echoes and Evidences of the Book of Mormon, p. 134-135

Hilton's conclusion regarding Book of Mormon Authorship is as follows:
By using a new wordprint measuring methodology which has been verified, we show that it is statistically indefensible to propose Joseph Smith or Oliver Cowdery or Solomon Spaulding as the author of the 30,000 words from the Book of Mormon manuscript texts attributed to Nephi and Alma. Additionally these two Book of Mormon writers have wordprints unique to themselves and measure statistically independent from each other in the same fashion that other uncontested authors do. Therefore, the Book of Mormon measures multiauthored, with authorship consistent to its own internal claims. These results are obtained even though the writings of Nephi and Alma were "translated" by Joseph Smith. We also described control studies of modern language academic translations where, in practice, a single translator can consistently preserve the unique wordprints of the several original authors he has translated (p. 241).

Regarding critical evaluations that sometimes surface regarding the Book of Mormon (and Authorship Revisited for that matter), I am reminded of the experience of Allen E. Bergin, a noted clinical research psychologist and convert to the LDS church:
[For] fifteen years-three at Stanford, one at Wisconsin, and eleven at Columbia-I found some of my keen interests difficult to express... I did have many deep discussions with faculty members and some of their families over the years about my faith and its basis. These discussions were penetrating and mutually respectful. I often identified the Book of Mormon as a powerful evidence in support of the restored gospel. It is a tangible object, observable by the senses. Where did it come from? Was Joseph Smith a prophet? Some were intrigued and investigated to a degree. Very few were convinced. Most were honest enough to acknowledge that they had no answer for the book. These were brilliant and sincere individuals who made their peace with this evidence by choosing an honest course of benign avoidance. When I read contemporary critiques of the Book of Mormon, I am amazed by their inadequacies. Many of the more sophisticated doubters tend to leave it alone lest they risk their reputations against a document inspired by the mind of God.
Susan Easton Black, ed., Expressions of Faith: Testimonies of Latter-day Saint Scholars, p.11-12

It is my opinion that Authorship Revisited gives disbelievers reason to choose "an honest course of benign avoidance", if not reconsider their position altogether. Some of the "inadequacies" of Book of Mormon critiques alluded to by Bergin are made apparent in this book (and notably examined by Louis Midgley in Chapter 5). And indeed, the "brilliance" and/or "sincerity" of individuals is called into question when they relentlessly rail against the Book of Mormon with insistent, but often flawed arguments.

For those interested, Book of Mormon Authorship Revisited has been made publicly available (minus the figures) at http://farms.byu.edu/publications/books/?bookid=41&chapid=

I believe this book wasn't written to prove the book of mormon is true, I think the book of mormon proves itself. However, This book is widely directed to those interested in finding evidence for its ancient origins. It is a scholarly directed book and although the essays are persuasive, the introduction of evidence is entirely objective. I'll continue my search for the truth, and this book will be read and re-read throughout my lifetime.