The money makers need to be more up front with this. The book of mormon also contains work written by more than one author. For instance, in the original manuscript, we have the following at the beginning of 2 nephi. The book of mormon is a volume of holy scripture comparable to the bible. In another post, there was a challenge to explain away a number of evidences of the book of mormon. However, does anyone have additional thoughts on the 1982 byu study. Those who believe that joseph smith translated it by the gift and power of god naturally have accepted that its source texts were written by multiple ancient prophets. The theory first appeared in print in the book mormonism unvailed, published in 1834 by e. About a year ago, i put together a database, splitting up the book of mormon electronic text, and spent some time doing computer wordprint analysis. Chiasmus in the book of mormon religious studies center.
The theory is that a spalding manuscript was stolen by sidney rigdon, who used it in collusion with joseph smith. Of course, wordprint analysis, while it can measure certain facts objec tively, cannot. Includes the book of mormon, doctrine and covenants, and pearl of great price bound in one book. This was the lords glorious promise to nephi, son of helaman. So, a word print match to ethan smith as a possible contributor would. The book was written by many ancient prophets by the spirit of prophecy and revelation. Second, chapters are assigned before the beginning of a book. Spaldingrigdon theory of book of mormon authorship. The work is not a serious, thoughtful certainly not scholarly translation of the book of mormon into hebrew. An account written by the hand of mormon upon plates taken from the plates of nephi.
This person really loves the book of mormon things to write on the title pg of my book of mormon scripture marking book of mormon title page markings i like this method of enhancing your study. I guess the study is not published yet, but they are presenting on this in a few months. Since the book of mormons publication in 1830, a number of different theories have been proposed concerning its authorship. Book of mormon wordprint or word pattern studies parent page. It contains crossreferences to all the standard works. Conflicting results of computer analyses of the book of mormon. Others, however, have assumed that joseph smith or one of his associates wrote it. Among those evidences was a reference to wordprints. Three scholars from stanford recently completed another wordprint analysis of the book of mormon, the newest in a series of studies completed by various researchers over the past few decades. Statisticians at brigham young university completed a computer analysis of the book of mormon. If he copied from someone, we should see that authors writing style likewise.
The people were wicked, so the lord caused them to all speak different languages so that they would break up into smaller families and not come together for wickedness. Ive seen tbms reference this study, numerous times, to argue that joseph smith couldnt have written the book of mormon. Printable for promises in the book of mormon book of. Book of mormon book crossword clue answer crossword. Word print analysis on the book of mormon update on my work. It also includes an index and a section of maps, pictures, and church history chronology. Like larsen, hilton assumed that characters such as nephi and alma can be viewed as candidate authors, and he selected blocks of text from what he. Can you tell me when this book was published year and place.
The book of mormon name helaman is translated ish geyhinom which essentially is a smarta way of saying. No matter what youre looking for or where you are in the world, our global marketplace of sellers can help you find unique and affordable options. The king james quotations in the book of mormon, the history of the text of the book of mormon. The meaning of the word church in the book of mormon is more comparable to usage in the bible than modern english. We have 6 answers for the clue book of mormon book. 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. The concept of a church, meaning a convocation of believers, existed among the house of israel prior to christianity. Grandin had purchased a palmyra newspaper, the wayne sentinel, and a bookstore on april 1827 from john gilbert. Check jeff lindsays response here, which notes some benefits and drawbacks to the new wordprint analysis. Book of mormon wordprint analysis three voice hypothesis.
Is it possible that a single author wrote the book of mormon. Printers manuscript of the book of mormon, circa august. Book of mormon doctrinal mastery allonone page possibly the most useful item in all our doctrinal mastery helps, this allonone page contains all 25 book of mormon doctrinal mastery passages, references, and key phrases in one place. Topics book, of, mormon, lds, cult, mormon, printers, manuscript collection opensource language english. Book of mormon computer studies are fascinating to me, and i believe in the future they will be key to understanding book of mormon origins. The book of mormon historic publication site is a historic site located in the village of palmyra, wayne county, new york, united states. Modern computers have given birth to a new science of analyzing word patterns in. This process includes evidence from the two book of mormon manuscripts. Actually, all that became obvious was the failure of both believers and unbelievers to cite much specific evidence.
Thus moroni will speak with a different wordprint to alma and nephi will be different to mormon. Modern word print analysis mesoamerican antiquities. Because of the buildings historical significance to. It is hard to tell just how much the nephite recordkeepers had altered the written. For his analysis of the book of mormon, however, hilton chose to analyze subjectively grouped and edited selections from the book of mormon put together in the form of 5,000 word blocks of text. The spaldingrigdon theory of book of mormon authorship is the theory that the book of mormon was plagiarized in part from an unpublished manuscript written by solomon spalding. The overarching theme of the book of mormon is that god will not abandon his people and will support them in their trials if they harken to his word, and that jesus christ, mankinds savior, sent. The seventh annual book of mormon symposium at byu all things shall be done unto thee according to thy word, for thou shalt not ask that which is contrary to my will. Translating and printing the book of mormon the book of. Im not a statistician or an expert in word print studies, so my studies will need to be validated by an expert. John hilton nephi mentions that he wrote on the small plates according to the learning of the jews and the language of the egyptians 1 nephi 1.
Analyzing blocks of words from 24 of the book of mormons ostensible authors. The book of mormon is one of the most influential, as well as controversial, religious documents in american history, and is regarded as sacred scripture by followers around the world, including members of the church of jesus christ of latterday saints, the fourthlargest. The book of mormon narrative begins at the tower of babel, which is an event also included in the bible. Those who were not so convinced insisted that it obviously read like anything but a hebrew text. Here is what will probably be the first of several book of mormon wordprint analysis posts, based on a database i put together and curiosity ive had for many years about voices in the book of mormon. The book of mormon has been described as the bible of north america i. Black extralarge economy triple combination deseret book. Book of mormon wordprint studies have been used by both critics and apologists to provide valuable insights into the text of the bom. It is a record of gods dealings with ancient inhabitants of the americas and contains the fulness of the everlasting gospel. At least three computer analyses have been completed to date in an effort to determine who wrote the book of mormon, and whether it was a single individual or a group. The 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. Grandin printed and sold the first copies of the book of mormon.
Various authors in the book of mormon have distinctive styles of wordprints. He looks at such things as chiasmus, wordprint analysis, geographical evidence, and much more as he shares his witness that the book of mormon is the word of god, brought forth by the prophet joseph smith. What can stylometry tell us about book of mormon authorship. According to the book of mormon, this exchange happened in jerusalem, around 600 b. The book of mormon is a book that claims to tell the history of 3 groups of people from ancient america, two groups, the nephites and the lamanites, that came from the city of jerusalem around 600bc before the babylonians destroyed the city.
It was first published in march 1830 by joseph smith as the book of mormon. The original manuscript is the dictated manuscript the scribes wrote down as joseph smith translated the book of mormon. Grandin began to advertise himself as a book printer. This is a page that can be printed again and again and be used with activities, studying, discussion, etc. According to most adherents of the latter day saint movement, the book of mormon is a. The book of mormon by joseph smith, paperback barnes. A primary takeaway seems to be that wordprint analysis is an imprecise tool for determining authorship of the book of mormon. Book of mormon wordprint analysis three voice hypothesis posted by churchistrue this is an introduction to a series of posts that i will be making to define the three voice hypothesis for book of mormon authorship attribution, developed from analyzing book of mormon wordprint data. Modern computers have given birth to a new science of analyzing word patterns in documents whose authorship is disputed. I took the text of the book of mormon not including chapter summaries that were added later and ran each book through a program that looks at everything from the mostused words and phrases in the text to its level of readability, number of characters, longest sentence captain moroni holds the record with a sentence of 5 words in alma 60. A pdf of the printers manuscript of the book of mormon. Here is an example of how insincere this translation attempt is.
From the day the book of mormon rolled off the press in 1830, those who gave it credence asserted that it obviously read like a hebrew text. Book of mormon wordprint analysis lds church is true blog. Only three months before joseph smith finished the translation of the book of mormon, e. Hilton, byu studies, on verifying word print studies, 101.
In contrast to this scenario, the book of mormons own claims about its authorship can easily accommodate the results of this recent stylometric analysis. The word print analysis conducted in 2008 indicates a probable spaldingrigdon contribution to the book of mormon text. If the book of mormons source texts were truly written by a large number of ancient prophets over the course of 1,000 years, then that would naturally explain why its voice diversity is. Book of mormon journaling scripture study lds, book of. Book of mormon title page markings that is amazing. Wordprint studies of the book of mormon fairmormon. As john hilton put the matter, if wordprinting is a valid technique, then this analysis suggests that it is statistically indefensible to claim that joseph, oliver, or solomon spaulding wrote the 30,000 words in the book of mormon attributed to nephi and alma. Easyread book of mormon large print format spiral bound the church of jesus christ of latter day saints neverseenit 4. John gilberts 1892 account of the 1830 printing of the. In this article, i will survey the printing history of the book of mormon in the english language, focusing on the first edition of 1830 as well as on the other editions that were published before joseph smiths death in 1844. Ive read a number of the wordprint studies, so i responded to it. Rather than go into full detail, ill list each of the. The problem of book of mormon authorship has challenged historians and.
Fields roper book of mormon wordprint study general. Through computer based statistical analysis a unique wordprint can be developed for each author. Book of mormon historic publication site wikipedia. The spiritual text that forms the basis of mormonism, in the last edition edited by its founder, joseph smith, jr. Taken from the book step by step through the book of mormon by alan c. Etsy is the home to thousands of handmade, vintage, and oneofakind products and gifts related to your search. I saw a video that came from the book of mormon central team that showed a chart from the fields roper book of mormon wordprint study project. Petersons engaging style and convincing presentation will make this video a valuable resource for every gospel library. The initial book of mormon wordprint studies were carried out by larsen, rencher, and layton.
621 689 1202 1573 1082 250 1094 1544 557 147 1314 1158 1306 1408 116 118 811 1601 355 79 678 919 1577 523 409 1302 432 1365 758 1216 494 1473 842 1333 1351 1438