FAIR is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of the doctrine, practice, and history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Book of Mormon/Anachronisms/Chapter divisions
- REDIRECTTemplate:Test3
Contents
Does the fact that the Book of Mormon has chapters demonstrate that it is a modern production?
Questions
Critics claims that the fact that the Book of Mormon has chapters demonstrate that it is a modern production, since the "ignorant forger, in attempting to imitate the Bible, seems not to have known, that the division into chapters is a modern invention, and that the tables of contents are no part of the Bible, but are inserted or omitted at the option of the publisher of any edition."[1]
To see citations to the critical sources for these claims, click here
Answer
The table of contents and chapters were modern additions; the original manuscript shows no evidence of them.
The table of contents was a modern insertion; it had not counter-part in the dictated text of the Book of Mormon. It was added just as it is in modern Bibles.
The modern edition of the Book of Mormon was divided into chapters by Orson Pratt. However, the first edition of the Book of Mormon did contain chapters (though much longer than the modern chapters), and chapter markers were part of Joseph's dictated text.
Notes