| Table of contents |
|
2 Linguistics and authorship and historicity 3 Changes in the book's language over time 4 See also |
Chiasmus is one of several types of poetic style apologists point to in the Book of Mormon.
More sophisticated Mormon apologists now focus on evidence with respect to The Book of Mormon authenticity as follows: There are many things in The Book of Mormon which should not be there if it was written by Joseph Smith or anyone else in the 1830s. Both apologists and critics continue to discuss the Book of Mormon in the background of the early 19th century vs. as an ancient text.
These kinds of evidences approach the book as an old world document springing from the well-documented old world cultures of the Jews, Egyptians, Arabs, etc. Many of the geographical, political, cultural and religious allusions in the Book of Mormon, (including proper names, quotations of texts undiscovered at the time, technology, idioms, poetic style, etc), were not known at the time of Joseph Smith. Doctrinally, the Book of Mormon, it is claimed, is more similar to the Ante-Nicene Fathers, some Gnostic sects and the Dead Sea scrolls, as well as other coptic writings, few of which were available (or popular) at the time.
The critics, on the other hand, have a long list of problem items in the same areas: proper names, anachronisms, quotations of texts that did not exist until after the story takes place (notably the KJV and Shakespeare), and the prevelance of religious and political sentiment of the 1830s. Critics point out further that Mormon apologists are too quick to find parallels between ancient cultures and Book of Mormon cultures.
Some Latter-day Saint apologists have offered various possible explanations based on both archaeology (recent finds have shown some technologies existed earlier than previously thought) and linguistics that some words like "horses" which presumably did not exist in North America in the period of the text actually refer to other words such as "tapirs", or that chariots in the Book of Mormon may have been carried vehicles, rather than drawn. (Alma 18:10-12)
The Book of Mormon and the Bible have whole chapters in common. Critics argue Smith plagiarized them from the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible. The Book of Mormon even includes "clarifying words" added to the KJV in AD 1611. These words were not in the original manuscripts. If the purpose were for clarification, critics ask, why was the Book of Mormon translated in an archaic form of English? LDS scholars often point out that of the 400+ verses quoted from the KJV, over half differ in some way from the KJV and some are more similar to translations of the Septuagint than the KJV. Critics argue that Smith could have made these changes in an attempt to show he was not plagiarizing.
Stylometry or Wordprinting, a sophisticated, though not undisputed statistical analysis developed at UC Berkeley by both LDS and non-LDS scholars to determine authorship of various texts such as some of the Federalist Papers, has been used on the Book of Mormon. Apologists point out that results of the test indicate that it was written by multiple authors, and also excluded Joseph Smith, Samuel Spaulding, and known associates as authors.
The book itself repeatedly refers to the authoring and abridgement process, which is quite complex. (See http://danieljordi.halfstrong.com/mormon/reverse_engineering_the_bom.htm )
Critics point to changes since first publication and charge the Book is inconsistent with Mormon doctrine.
There have been at least 3,913 changes to the text of the Book of Mormon between 1830 and the mid-1970's [1]. Most of these were changes in punctuation (the original manuscript had no punctuation, and was added by the printer), but some of these changes affect interpretation of the text.
This is more of a theological issue since changes to the text are not relevant to the question of authenticity in the sense of is The Book of Mormon an ancient document. Some critics charge that this is, at worst, an issue of either is The Book of Mormon inspired by God or is the Church changing its doctrines or meaning of the text in the book. They also point to the changes as evidence of re-writing history and practices. LDS scholars, however, claim that many of the changes to text were from pre-publication manuscripts and early edits by Joseph Smith, as stated in the introduction of the current edition (see below) of the Book of Mormon. This statement conveys the meaning there may have been some errors made by the transcriber and printer when the typeset was cast for the printing of the book. Other possible reason for changes, according to these scholars, were made to bring the book into conformity with current language usage, replacing words that are no longer used with their modern English counterpart, as done in other religious books such as the King James Version of the Bible that is used by the Mormon church.
According to the Church the original translation was done by placing two "seer stones" (known as the Urimm and Thummim) in bows attached to a breast plate, Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon from gold plates "one character at a time." Smith dictated the interpretation to Oliver Cowdery, who would repeat it to Smith. According to Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon is "the most correct of any book on earth." After translating the plates, he said "These plates have been revealed by the power of God, and they have been translated by the power of God. The translation of them which you have seen is correct."
Critics argue the translation process does not allow for even one error, as a) Smith called it the most correct book and b) the translation was directed by God.
After the church reported that black men would be permitted to enter the priesthood, on June 9, 1978, a change was made in the 1981 printing of the Book of Mormon that seemed suspicious to critics of the church.
In 2 Nephi 30:6, which formerly said:
The 1981 edition of the Book of Mormon includes this notice:
Lists of the changes since the first printing can be found numerous places online, and Project Gutenberg has the text of an early edition which can be compared with current editions.Poetics
Chiasmus
Linguistics and authorship and historicity
Word Usage
Common passages
Stylometry/Wordprinting
Changes in the book's language over time
Relevance of changes
An example of a controversial change
The word white was replaced with the word pure. This seemed to critics as proof of changing doctrines within the church, including the willingness to change the "ancient" text arbitrarily. But church apologists explain that the same change was first made in an 1840 edition edited by Joseph Smith, then lost in later editions until 1981. List of changes