21ST CENTURY MORMONS BELIEVE THAT THE B.O.M. MAY BE JUST GOOD LITERATURE!
Two points about Book of Mormon geography
By Michael R. Ash
Mormon Times
Monday, Feb. 15, 2010
Before we can intelligently discuss supposed Book of Mormon
anachronisms we need to explore the possible New World location for
Book of Mormon events. A geographic model will help set the background
for understanding many of the future articles in this series. First,
however, some significant facts must be addressed to properly examine
this topic.
1. There is no official Book of Mormon geography.
In the quasi-official Encyclopedia of Mormonism, the production of
which was overseen by Elders Dallin H. Oaks and Neal A. Maxwell of the
Quorum of the Twelve, we find the following: "The church has not taken
an official position with regard to location of geographical places (in
the Book of Mormon)."
In 1993, in response to a query from the Foundation for Ancient
Research and Mormon Studies, the office of the First Presidency faxed a
statement, which reads in part:
"The church emphasizes the doctrinal and historical value of the Book
of Mormon, not its geography. While some Latter-day Saints have looked
for possible locations ... there are no conclusive connections between
the Book of Mormon text and any specific site."
George Q. Cannon, First Presidency counselor to Presidents Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff and Lorenzo Snow, said:
"The First Presidency has often been asked to prepare some suggestive
map illustrative of Nephite geography but have never consented to do
so. Nor are we acquainted with any of the Twelve Apostles who would
undertake such a task. The reason is, that without further information,
they are not prepared even to suggest (a map). The word of the Lord or
the translation of other ancient records is required to clear up many
points now so obscure...."
Without revelation on the matter, we are left to our own intellects and
theories. Why haven't we received revelation on this matter? Why
haven't we received revelation as to the age of the Earth, the exact
location of Jesus' birth, the precise location that the Israelites
crossed the Red Sea, the eternal purpose of dinosaurs or a definitive
answer about evolution? Do the pearly gates "swing" or "slide"?
Like Book of Mormon geography, such issues don't affect our salvation.
Some members, however, may struggle with their testimonies if they
believe the Book of Mormon cannot be correlated to any real-world
geography. Conversely, a reasonable geographic model can bolster the
faith of other members.
2. Joseph Smith's comments should not be construed as revelatory.
Although most members tacitly acknowledge that The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints has no official position on the location of
Book of Mormon events, some members seem to believe that statements
made by Joseph Smith implicitly represent revelation on the topic.
Some have even gone as far to suggest that those who disagree with
Joseph Smith's geographical comments are guilty of rejecting the
prophet or that they are out of harmony with the LDS Church. This is a
strange accusation and implies that those church leaders who have said
that there is no official Book of Mormon geography are also on the road
to apostasy, which is obviously untrue.
Just because Joseph translated the Book of Mormon doesn't mean he
received revelation as to whereabouts of those events. When we read his
statements on the matter, it becomes apparent that he had some strong
opinions but that his opinions changed with time and reflected his best
intellectual efforts to discover answers -- just as any curious
individual would do. Because he never claimed to know the geography
from revelation, we shouldn't make this claim for him.
This also applies to statements by all modern prophets. No prophet has
claimed revelation on Book of Mormon geography, and their comments
should be tempered by our discussion in issues 10-16.
Critics like to quote Joseph's mother, Lucy, who said that while Lord
prepared Joseph to acquire the plates, "God ... manifest(ed) to him"
some of the "particulars" concerning the Book of Mormon. According to
Lucy, Joseph described the "ancient inhabitants of this continent," as
well as their dress, mode of traveling, their cities and more (History
of Joseph Smith, 83).
According to the critics, this suggests that Joseph knew everything
about the Book of Mormon, saw exactly what their lives were like, and
would know where the events took place.
Firstly, Lucy dictated her thoughts nearly two decades after they
happened. Secondly, just because Joseph saw such things in vision
doesn't mean that Joseph knew the location of the events. Seeing people
and buildings is not the same as seeing a map or satellite image. There
is no evidence that God revealed the location of Book of Mormon events
to Joseph Smith.
BYU prof finds truth and error(s) in Book of Mormon
2009 edition » In new volume from Yale, linguist details hundreds of changes that could be made to match earliest text.
By Jeremiah Stettler
The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 09/11/2009
Spanish Fork » Joseph Smith may have called The Book of Mormon the
"most correct of any book on Earth," but that doesn't mean it couldn't
use some correcting -- even now, 179 years after it first came off the
press.
Regarded by a worldwide faith of nearly 14 million members as Holy
Writ, the book is not wholly without errors -- typos, omissions,
grammatical goofs and altogether wrong words. Mistakes have crept into
the text since LDS Church founder Joseph Smith dictated the original
manuscript, which he says he translated with God's help from gold
plates.
Truth is, the book -- which tells the story of ancient American
inhabitants who sailed from the Holy Land -- contained more than 2,000
textual errors in its first edition in 1830, according to Brigham Young
University professor Royal Skousen's new book, The Book of Mormon: The
Earliest Text , due out later this month from Yale University Press.
"If someone has the view that nobody has made a mistake, they are going
to be gravely disappointed," Skousen says. "You see the fingerprints of
human beings all over this text from its original dictation from Joseph
Smith."
Yet Skousen also sees the fingerprint of heavenly revelation in the
not-so-perfect text -- so closely analyzed by this professor of
linguistics and English that multicolored sticky tabs curl from the
pages of the 20 editions (some bound with rubber bands) in the basement
office of his Spanish Fork home.
He has unearthed Hebrew-like sentences within the original manuscript
containing conditional "if-and" phrases, instead of the more
traditional "if-then" English constructions, that were altered in the
earliest editions. He has discovered more than 130 words and phrases
that, although printed in different variations in today's 1981 text,
are fully consistent in the original documents. And he has identified
redundancies -- an extra 47 of the seemingly ubiquitous "and it came to
passes" deleted from various editions -- that reflect similar
redundancies that appeared in the Hebrew Bible but weren't included in
the King James version.
While The Book of Mormon's language has evolved since the dictation of
Smith's original manuscript, Skousen says he has found no changes or
errors within its pages that challenge fundamental LDS doctrines.
"It is a marvelous text," Skousen says. "I have never found anything that is not faith promoting."
Still, he has documented hundreds of cases of textual transformations
within the book -- the "sword" of justice becoming the "word" of
justice, the wicked being "rejected" rather than "separated" from the
righteous, and the Lord knowing how to "succor" his people instead of
"suffer" them.
He also has noted occasional mix-ups between Book of Mormon figures
Benjamin and Mosiah, an abundance of spelling and grammatical slips,
and sometimes-sentence-changing omissions such as this one from the
Book of Alma, in which a prophet-father counsels his promiscuous son on
how to find forgiveness.
"Acknowledge your faults and repair that wrong which ye have done," the
original manuscript reads. The 1830 edition changed "repair" to
"retain." The 1920 and 1981 editions omit "repair" and "retain."
Based on more than two decades of research, Skousen's new volume (due
out Sept. 22) features a reconstruction of The Book of Mormon's
original text, complete with an appendix that highlights more than 700
significant textual changes since Smith's dictation.
This new edition of the bedrock LDS scripture -- appearing in an
easier-to-read contemporary format -- emerges from Skousen's analysis
of the original transcript (only 28 percent of the document survived),
the printer's version of the manuscript (a copy of the original) and
the 1830 edition.
It also boasts a prestigious publisher: Yale University Press.
"What this says -- from the standpoint of being published by a press of
that stature -- is that Mormonism has become an exceedingly important
part of the story of American religion," says Jan Shipps, a longtime
scholar of Mormonism and an emeritus professor of history and religious
studies at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis.
The Yale edition also reflects Skousen's insistence on an independent
scholarly review of The Book of Mormon, which he argues is necessary to
bring the text "out of obscurity."
"The book stands on its own," Skousen says. "I don't think that anyone
needs to worry that by having it independently produced divorces it
from someone getting a spiritual experience reading it."
The LDS Church declined to comment on Skousen's work or the likelihood
of the faith someday revising its 1981 text to reflect his findings.
Instead, the church reprised a statement from 2008 noting that any
editorial revisions to The Book of Mormon have been to eliminate
typographical, grammatical and syntactical mistakes.
The church reports 4,000 edits since its first 1830 edition -- "which"
was changed to "who" 891 times, "was" became "were" 162 times and
"that" was deleted 188 times.
"The purpose of each new edition is to eliminate the human errors that
have occurred," the statement reads. "This is all aimed at bringing the
text into conformity with the message and meaning of the original
manuscripts."
Critics contend that changes to The Book of Mormon's text cast doubt on
Joseph Smith's claim that he translated the book through divine
revelation. If the words truly came from God, they argue, why would
they need correcting?
Perhaps one of the most controversial changes came in describing what
would happen to dark-skinned people who followed Jesus Christ. The
printer's manuscript suggests in 2 Nephi 30:6 they would become "a
white and delightsome people." Later editions state that they would
become "a pure and delightsome people."
Skousen dismisses any political motivations behind the current use of
the word "pure," saying similar phrases with possible racial
implications appear in 10 other places in the text. If the church meant
to sanitize the book racially, he asks, why didn't it change all of
those references?
As for Skousen, he has changed the text back to "white" to reflect the earliest manuscripts.
Daniel Peterson, a professor of Islamic studies and Arabic at Brigham
Young University, calls Skousen's work a "monument of LDS scholarship."
While some may view The Book of Mormon's textual imperfections as
destructive to the faith, Peterson doesn't see it that way. To the
contrary, the mistakes made in the earliest transcript confirm Smith's
story that he dictated the narrative to a scribe. Why? Because the
errors in that first manuscript were mistakes of hearing. Later errors
in the printing process were mistakes of seeing.
Shipps, who is not a Mormon, seems equally willing to give the book -- though flawed -- the benefit of a doubt.
"I don't think it raises serious questions about The Book of Mormon as
a text," Shipps says. Without modern-day recording equipment, "it makes
perfect sense that a book that was taken down by dictation would get
spelling wrong or words out of place."
Skousen doesn't expect all of his changes ever to appear in the
church's official version of The Book of Mormon. It would be tough to
read, for one thing, with nonstandard English and grammatical eyesores
that appeared before the first printing.
But he believes many of the more significant shifts, supported by his analysis of the manuscripts, someday will.
"It may take a while," he says, "but I think they will probably end up in the standard text."
And, when they do, his goal, finally, will have come to pass.
Book of Mormon as 'literature'
Forum to shift focus on possibility of it being fine reading
By Carrie A. Moore
August 5, 2006
Deseret Morning News
Since it was first published in 1830, the Book of Mormon has drawn both praise and scorn from those with a vested interest in promoting it as either legitimate ancient scripture or a brilliant fraud.
But a scholarly panel
discussion scheduled Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Salt Lake City Library
auditorium will examine the book from a variety of secular perspectives
including as a piece of "folk literature."
"Rediscovering the American Bible: An Invitation to Share the Book of
Mormon from New Perspectives" seeks to open a "dialogue of honest inquiry and
good will," according to Mark Thomas, one of the event's organizers and a
faculty member at Brigham Young University.
Panelists joining Thomas include Phyllis Tickle, noted Episcopal author
and Publisher's Weekly religion editor; Robert Price, a New Testament scholar
and member of the "Jesus Seminar"; Robert Rees, former editor of "Dialogue: A
Journal of Mormon Thought"; and Richard Bushman, LDS historian and author of the
recently released book, "Joseph Smith: Rough Rolling Stone."
Thomas said the event grew out of discussions among several of the
scholars who have come together each summer the past four years as the Book of
Mormon Round Table, which is seeking to compile and edit several scholarly
papers to be published in book form, explaining the book to an educated
audience.
The result is planned as "an introductory text that provides an eclectic
approach" to the book, "utilizing the tools that one would use to interpret any
text well: historical criticism, textual criticism and literary criticism, among
others."
Thomas said the forum is open to anyone "who wants to have a discussion in
good faith," but won't be an arena for bashing the book or The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints.
To date, the book "has been used almost exclusively as a rite of passage
into Mormonism. Essentially, the book has been buried by consensus and is still
a buried text" when it comes to an wide public understanding of it, he said.
The panel — which is sponsored by the Center for Documentary Arts/The
Leonardo — doesn't seek to defend the antiquity of the book, but to examine
whether it is worth reading "and why or why not? The fact that you label it
'ancient' doesn't necessarily mean that it's worth reading," he said.
"It seems to me the fundamental issue about the Book of Mormon is that it
has the possibility of being a life-changing book. Why do we have to decide
exactly where it came from before you can read it? Some people think 'You've got
to believe it's ancient or we're not talking to you.' I disagree with that."
Thomas believes in the past few years, "non-Mormons have become better
interpreters of the text than Mormons. Sometimes we're too literal and earnest
about it."
Tickle said the discussion "shifts some of the emphasis away from the Book
of Mormon just as a sacred text and opens up the possibility of it being fine
literature."
The book is not only sacred to some 12 million people worldwide, but she
sees it as "literarily and aesthetically important, and certainly culturally
important. It's probably the best single window in terms of sacred literature of
the American religious sensibility in the 19th century," when a potpourri of new
religious movements were brewing in New England.
From that perspective, "it's the clearest, most accessible explication or
example of what that upheaval was all about. If you want to take it as just
sacred literature, you can. Or if you want to see it sociologically as an
expression of where Americans were 150 years ago, you can do that as well. It
becomes an invaluable scholarly tool."
"New" scripture that is unfamiliar to the majority always goes through a
process of public scrutiny, she said. "Americans are just now getting to the
notion that the Koran might be holy writ — at least some fairly respectable
people see it that way, that something in there is universally true."
She believes the same may be said at some point about the Book of Mormon.
"I'm hearing that more now in urban settings and lectures — they will put it in
the same sentence with the Bhagavad Gita or other (religious) literature."
As Mormonism continues to gain members, prominent Latter-day Saints have
also prompted interest in a cultural conversation about the book, she said.
"There's a tipping point — and that is not just the number (of Latter-day Saints). It is things like an Orrin Hatch, people like Marriott, who puts a Book of Mormon in every hotel bedroom, right next to the Gideon bible. After a few million of us spend a few million nights in Marriotts with that book in the drawer, some of us begin to read."