Origin of the Book of Mormon

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Origin of the Book of Mormon

Church response

The Book of Mormon is the word of God, like the Bible. It is holy scripture, with form and content similar to that of the Bible. Both books contain God’s guidance as revealed to prophets as well as religious accounts of different civilizations. While the Bible is written by and about the people in the land surrounding Israel, and takes place from the creation of the world until shortly after the death of Jesus Christ, the Book of Mormon contains the history and God’s revelations to the people who lived in the Americas between approximately 600 BC and 400 AD. The prophets in the Book of Mormon recorded God’s dealings with His people, which were compiled by a man named Mormon onto golden plates.

The faithful Christians among them died out, but not before their record was safely hidden away. Joseph Smith obtained these gold plates in 1827, and with the Lord’s help Joseph was able to translate the ancient writing into what we have today. The Book of Mormon, along with the Bible, testifies that Jesus Christ is our divine Redeemer and that by living according to His gospel we can find peace in this life and eternal happiness in the life to come.
—The Book of Mormon, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

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Topics

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Overview of secular authorship theories for the Book of Mormon

Summary: Latter-day Saints believe that the Book of Mormon was revealed by the "gift and power of God." Critics, however, must account for its existence, and entertain a number of authorship theories.

Apocrypha

Summary: Critics claim that Joseph Smith created the story of Nephi and Laban by plagiarizing concepts and phrases from the story of Judith and Holofernes in the Apocrypha. It is also claimed that Joseph Smith copied the name "Nephi" from the Apocrypha.

The King James Bible

Summary: Critics of the Book of Mormon claim that major portions of it are copied, without attribution, from the Bible. They present this as evidence that Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Mormon by plagiarizing the Authorized ("King James") Version of the Bible.

The Golden Pot

Summary: Former LDS Church Education System (CES) teacher Grant Palmer argues that Joseph Smith developed his story of visits by Moroni and the translation of a sacred book from The Golden Pot, a book by German author E.T.A. Hoffmann.

The Westminster Confession

Summary: Critics claim that the content of Alma Chapter 40 derived from a Presbyterian document called The Westminster Confession

The Wonders of Nature and Providence Displayed

Summary: Critics claim that Joseph Smith plagiarized Josiah Priest's The Wonders of Nature and Providence Displayed in order to write portions of The Book of Mormon. Critics also claim that Joseph Smith plagiarized Shakespeare.  ^{[needs work]}

The Spalding manuscript

Summary: Critics claim that Joseph Smith either plagiarized or relied upon a manuscript by Solomon Spaulding to write the Book of Mormon. There is a small group of critics who hold to the theory that the production of the Book of Mormon was a conspiracy involving Sidney Rigdon, Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery and others. These critics search for links between Spalding and Ridgon. Joseph Smith is assumed to have been Rigdon's pawn.

View of the Hebrews

Summary: Critics claim that a 19th century work by Ethan Smith, View of the Hebrews, provided source material for Joseph Smith's construction of the Book of Mormon. Critics also postulate a link between Ethan Smith and Oliver Cowdery, since both men lived in Poultney, Vermont while Smith served as the pastor of the church that Oliver Cowdery's family attended at the time that View of the Hebrews was being written.

North American place names

Summary: Critics claim that Joseph Smith is clearly the author of the Book of Mormon because many Book of Mormon place names supposedly have clear evidence of "borrowing" from geographic locations in the United States and Canada.

The Comoros Islands

Summary: Comoros is a small nation made up of three islands off the southeast coast of Africa. Its capital city is Moroni. Some critics have claimed that Joseph Smith created the Book of Mormon names Cumorah and Moroni by copying them from a map of the Comoros islands.

Joseph Smith, Sr.'s dream

Summary: Critics point to similarities between a Lucy Mack Smith's account of a dream Joseph Smith's father had and Lehi's dream of the tree of life as evidence that Joseph wrote the Book of Mormon based on his own experiences.