Heavenly book motif in the Book of Mormon

Parent page: Book of Mormon/Elements

The Book of Mormon and the Heavenly Book Motif

The Book of Mormon was once dismissed with the assertion "you don't get books from angels; . . . it is just that simple." However, evidence from the ancient world indicates that angels or other heavenly beings have delivered many sacred works to men. Indeed, according to Orientalist Geo Widengren, "Few religious ideas in the Ancient East have played a more important role than the notion of the Heavenly Tablets or the Heavenly Books," which are "handed over [to a mortal] in an interview with a heavenly being."...

Deeply rooted in this Judeo-Christian prophetic mode, Lehi similarly reported that he saw a divine being come down from heaven, who gave him a book and asked him to read it. From that book Lehi learned not only the judgments of God upon Jerusalem, but also God's plan of mercy, and he was commanded to declare those things publicly.—(Click here to continue)^[1]

Notes

1. ↑ Brent E. McNeely, "The Book of Mormon and the Heavenly Book Motif," in Reexploring the Book of Mormon, edited by John W. Welch (Provo, Utah: FARMS, 1992), Chapter 7.