In 1980, researchers at brigham young university used stylometric techniques they called wordprint analysis. Larsen was director of advanced research systems, eyring research institute, inc. I have done some seraching on the internet and the best answer i have found, is church leaders, but i am looking more specifically which church leaders if it was in fact church leaders, which i do tend to believe. Fields, and atul nepal, joseph smith, the times and seasons, and central american ruins, journal of the book of mormon and other restoration scripture 22.
I concur with the assessment of john tvedtnes, who points. How the book of mormon was translated let us reason. In this he shows that the book of mormon likely had multiple authors, and authorship seemed to correspond with the characters in the book. Book of mormon wordprints reexamined a look at the byu study. Wordprint comparisons between the book of mormon and the. Book of mormon central addressed this in a post about a month ago, but what was. Aug 31, 2006 i am curious as to who wrote the introduction the page after the title page in the book of mormon. Critics who wish to reject josephs account of the book of mormons.
Book of mormon historic publication site wikipedia. Typographical facsimile of the entire text in two parts. Organized in 1830, the church had recently issued february 2000 the one hundred millionth copy of the book of mormon, the volume that has been central to. Grandin printed and sold the first copies of the book of mormon.
Word print analysis can evidently be slanted pro or con, but no ones testimony of the book s truthfulness ever came from such an analysis, and never will. Ive seen tbms reference this study, numerous times, to argue that joseph smith couldnt have written the book of mormon. Feb, 2010 i have wordread the book of mormon, and find plenty of variety among its different authors. The most significant structural studies of the book of mormon derive from john w. Book of mormon central archive who wrote the book of mormon. Previous studies have shown that the book of mormon contains multiple. Opponents of the book have claimed that joseph smith wrote it himself. The book of mormon bom is an abbreviated account of the inhabitants of the ancient americas from 2200 bc to 421 ad. Joseph smith at the age of 16 maybe 14,15 or 17 was led to the site of the plates by the angel moroni, joseph was instructed not to remove the items until he was given permission.
Pratt as key players in the authorship of the book of. Indeed, the presence of chiasmus in the book of mormon may be evidence of joseph smiths own literary style and genius. May 15, 2001 the printers manuscript of the book of mormon. In understanding the book of mormon, hardy offers the first comprehensive analysis of the works narrative structure in its 180 year history. In 1982, the focus was on solomon spalding and sidney rigdon. The book of mormon historic publication site is a historic site located in the village of palmyra, wayne county, new york, united states. Joseph smith once wrote, i wish to mention here that the titlepage of the book of mormon is a literal translation, taken from the very last leaf, on the left hand side of the collection or book of plates, which contained the record which has been translated. A scientific analysis was done by john hilton and nonlds colleagues at berkeley. Members of the church have long held that its joseph smith. Hilton, byu studies, on verifying word print studies, 101.
Rencher, and tim lay ton the problem of book of mormon authorship has challenged historians and theologians since the book was published in 1830. It is almost impossible to read more than a page without encountering mormon. His is the voice that narrates the story of the book of mormon. There are a variety of attitudes of what i term as nonbelievers as to who wrote the book of mormon. Senior missionary explains book of mormon wordprint analysis.
The book of mormon has been described as the bible of north america i. Is it possible that a single author wrote the book of mormon. To produce the sentiment analysis visualization of the book of mormon, i wrote a custom program that submitted every verse to the same sentiment analysis service that had been used to produce the bible visualization. Unlike virtually all other recent world scriptures, the book of mormon presents itself as an integrated narrative rather than a series of doctrinal expositions, moral injunctions, or devotional hymns. The problem of book of mormon authorship has challenged historians and theologians since the book was published in 1830. If joseph smith wrote the book of mormon, we should be able to see his literary style. In every set comparing the book of mormon texts against these three writers, at least seven and often many more rejections were measured. Good things to discuss when starting the bofm again as a family the book of mormon is the keystone in our witness of jesus christ. I took my time rereadinglistening to this standard work of the latterday saints lds faith. As john hilton put the matter, if wordprinting is a valid technique, then this analysis suggests that it is statistically indefensible to claim that joseph, oliver, or solomon spaulding wrote the 30,000 words in the book of mormon attributed to nephi and alma. It attempted to prove that natives had descended from the ancient israelites. Book of mormon mormonism, the mormon church, beliefs. The first was whether the wordprints of authors within the book of mormon differ.
Having read tens of thousands of pages of material, pro and con, here in a nutshell is my current best guess, included with a preface that i dont care what anyone has to refute my position. Could joseph smith have authored the book of mormon. Wordprint studies of the book of mormon fairmormon. From a geographical standpoint, some lds scholars believe mesoamerica to be the setting of the book of mormon. Larsen, wayne a rencher, alvin c and layton, tim 1980 who wrote the book of mormon. Feb 20, 2018 for the lord god hath said that the words of the faithful should speak as if it were from the dead. What can stylometry tell us about book of mormon authorship.
Opponents of the book have claimed that joseph smith wrote it himself, or that an accomplice such as solomon spaulding or sidney rigdon penned it and somehow transferred it to joseph smith. Book of mormon sacred text of the latter day saint movement, which adherents believe contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the american continent from approximately 2200 bc to ad 421. The nature of the original language of the book of mormon. Wordprints wayne a larsen alvin c rencher and tim layton the problem of book of. One of the first big ones was who wrote the book of mormon.
The king james quotations in the book of mormon, the history of the text of the book of mormon. A printing history of the book of mormon 101 the year 2000 marked an important event in the publishing history of the church of jesus christ of latterday saints. The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the book of mormon. Perhaps welch could have strengthened his premise by demonstrating that the parallel members in the book of mormon consist of semitic word pairs, the basis of ancient hebrew poetry.
An analysis of wordprints, in book of mormon authorship. These results yield strong statistical evidence that the wordprints of joseph smith, oliver cowdery, and solomon spaulding are not measurable in the book of mormon. At least three computer analyses have been completed to date in an effort to determine who wrote the book of mormon, and whether it was a single individual or a group. Rencher, and tim layton, who wrote the book of mormon. Ive read both sides many times over, and i can argue the pro mormon side just as easily as the no mormon side, with the prime diference being that the. International journal of mormon studies by david morris. An analysis of wordprints, book of mormon authorship 1982 matthew roper, paul j. The original book of mormon transcript the book of mormon.
I wrote a series of blog posts in 2016 as i was doing analysis. One challenge in performing a linguistic analysis of the book of mormon is that no original text is available for analysis. The book of mormon also contains work written by more than one author. Book of mormon study notes insights from my daily study of. In march, 2019, i studied 20 different names or titles of jesus christ which appear in the book of mormon. Structural studies have identified an artistic literary form, chiasmus, that appears in rich diversity in both the bible and the book of mormon see book of mormon literature. He added his colleagues, wayne larsen and alvin rencher, used statistical analysis software he partially developed to help us understand how the book of mormon was translated and who wrote it. An american, james adair, wrote a book a history of the american indians in 1775. God commanded these prophets to keep a record of their teachings, prophecies, missionary labors, and wars so that we could know concerning the doings of the lord in other lands, among people of old 1 nephi 19. Mormon was one of the two abridgers of the numerous records that went into making up the book of mormon, the other being his son, moroni.
Does wordprint prove the book of mormon is the real deal. Close scrutiny of the methodology of the byu authorship study reveals several areas which seem vulnerable to criticism. Book of mormon title page markings i like this method of enhancing your study. The book of mormon is a sacred text of the latter day saint movement, which, according to adherents, contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the american continent from approximately 2200 bc to ad 421. Conflicting results of computer analyses of the book of mormon. I was particularly interested in the way each name was used, both in the book of mormon and in the bible.
1218 1104 1488 915 50 1258 21 1035 743 673 358 176 909 743 282 1103 1099 1192 104 400 196 511 1257 1323 380 1432 470 329 1498 51