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.
Joseph Smith's reference library
Contents
Introduction
Critics who attempt a naturalistic explanation of Joseph Smith's production of the Book of Mormon often resort to claiming that Joseph gleaned a certain idea from a book or other source in his New England environment.
There is little or no evidence of Joseph having contact with such books, but this page attempts to lay out all the books which critics have suggested were in young Joseph's "reference library."
(If you add to thist list, please include a specific record to a specific critical work. Do not simply list works "off the top of your head" or by memory. We want this to be well-documented.)
Religious texts
- King James Bible - of this claim, at least, we are certain. Though, whether Joseph had a Bible during the translation of the Book of Mormon is not clear. Substantial evidence suggests that he may not have. (See here).
Kabbalistic texts
Magical texts
- John Milton's defense of polygamy - George D. Smith, Nauvoo Polygamy: "...but we called it celestial marriage" (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2008), ??. ( Index of claims , (Detailed book review))