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.”
Essay Questions & Food for Thought
12questions designed to challenge assumptions and provoke original thinking. These can't be answered from a summary — you need the actual text.
The Book of Mormon's Isaiah chapters reproduce italicized KJV translator additions — English words the KJV translators had marked as insertions not in the Greek or Hebrew originals. How should a reader of the Book of Mormon evaluate this textual feature?
Alma 36 is widely cited as an extended chiasm — a seventeen-part inverted parallel structure. How should readers evaluate the significance of this structure for the Book of Mormon's origin?
The Book of Mormon describes a 'cursed' Lamanite lineage marked by dark skin (2 Nephi 5:21). The LDS Church repudiated literal readings of this passage in 2013 and 2020. How does the text's racial discourse read against its nineteenth-century American context?
Christ's post-resurrection visit to the Americas (3 Nephi 11-28) is the book's theological climax. How does the text's Christology compare with that of the New Testament, and what does the visit add that would require a separate scripture?
The 1830 edition included testimonies from Three Witnesses (who saw an angel) and Eight Witnesses (who handled the plates). Evaluate the evidential weight of these testimonies, given that all eleven witnesses eventually left the LDS Church at some point and none retracted their testimony.
Compare the Book of Mormon's narrative structure (multiple named books, multiple editorial voices, abridgment-by-Mormon framing) with the Bible's narrative structure. What similarities and differences are most consequential?
The text of the Book of Mormon contains extensive references to technologies and species (horses, steel, silk, chariots, wheat, barley) that are not documented in pre-Columbian American archaeology. How have LDS apologists and critical scholars addressed these anachronisms?
Ethan Smith's View of the Hebrews (1823) proposed that Native Americans were descended from Israelite migrations — the same thesis the Book of Mormon develops in fictional form. B. H. Roberts's posthumously published comparison study (1985) identified extensive parallels. How should readers evaluate the significance of this possible source?
The Book of Mormon was published in March 1830, and the Church of Christ was organized April 6, 1830. How does this near-simultaneity shape our reading of the book as both scripture and organizational document?
Joseph Smith said the Book of Mormon 'is the most correct of any book on earth.' Yet the 1830 edition contained many typos, and subsequent editions have made thousands of corrections. How should readers understand Smith's claim?
The LDS Church restricted African-descended men from the priesthood until 1978. The Book of Mormon's 'cursed' skin passage (2 Nephi 5:21) was one scriptural basis for this restriction. How should the relationship between scripture, interpretation, and institutional practice be understood?
The Book of Mormon has inspired a 2011 Broadway musical that won nine Tony Awards while caricaturing Mormon beliefs. The LDS Church responded with full-page program ads inviting audiences to read the book. What does this interaction reveal about the Book of Mormon's place in 21st-century American culture?