The Book of Mormon
Joseph Smith Jr. (translator; LDS tradition: ancient American prophets) (1830)
“Published in Palmyra, New York, in March 1830, the Book of Mormon is the founding scripture of a distinctly American religion — claiming to recover a thousand-year record of ancient Israelite migrations to the Western Hemisphere, Christ's post-resurrection visit to the Americas, and the eventual destruction of the Nephite civilization at the Hill Cumorah.”
Characters in The Book of Mormon
by Joseph Smith Jr. (translator; LDS tradition: ancient American prophets) · 1830 · 9 characters analyzed
Cast: Joseph Smith Jr., Lehi, Nephi, Laman, Alma the Younger, Captain Moroni, Jesus Christ, Mormon, Moroni.
Character Analysis
Claimed to have translated the plates by divine gift; founded the Latter Day Saint movement within weeks of the book's publication. LDS tradition: prophet-seer-revelator inspired by God. Academic view: religious innovator whose role in the book's composition is the central historical question. In either reading, the book is inseparable from his life and death (murdered June 27, 1844).