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Book of Mormon

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Plain and Precious Things Lost: The Small Plates of Nephi

Dialogue 52.4 (Winter 2019): 85
Such inconsistencies may cause some readers to question the credibility of the text. Upon observing doctrinal andprophetic variation within the Book of Mormon, some dismiss the book’s divinity

Empirical Witnesses of the Gold Plates

Dialogue 52.2 (Summer 2019): 59–84
Due to the fact that visiting with angels isn’t part of the normal human experience, it makes it hard for historians to prove that it happened through an academic investigation. The best way, as discussed by the author, to determine what really happened is by studying other individual’s first-hand accounts about the Gold Plates.

THE GOLD PLATES AND ANCIENT METAL EPIGRAPHY: APPENDIX

The Gold Plates and Ancient Metal Epigraphy

Dialogue 52.2 (Summer 2019):37–58
Ryan Thomas highlights the different metal writing cultures from around the same time as the Book of Mormon periods to see if it is historically likely for the Gold Plates to exist from that time period.

Automatic Writing and the Book of Mormon An Update

Dialogue 52.2 (Spring 2019):1–58Attributing the Book of Mormon’s origin to supernatural forces has
worked well for Joseph Smith’s believers, then as well as now, but not so
well for critics who seem certain natural abilities were responsible. For over
180 years, several secular theories have been advanced as explanations.

“Behold, Other Scriptures I Would that Ye Should Write”: Malachi in the Book of Mormon

Scenes from the Book of Mormon | Doug Stewart, “A Day a Night and a Day”: A Three-act Play

As Mormon writers search their background for subject matter unique to their religion, one source that offers almost unlimited possibilities is the Book of Mormon. The most recent effort to dramatize a Book of Mormon…

Problems and Answers | Sidney B. Sperry, Answers to Book of Mormon Questions

Doctor Sidney Sperry has revised somewhat his 1964 book, Problems of the Book of Mormon, and Bookcraft here offers the new version under a new title. The author was probably the first Latter-day Saint to…

Prospects for the Study of the Book of Mormon as a Work of American Literature

Dialogue 3.1 (Spring 1970): 42–45
No one will want to deny that the Book of Mormon has been a book
of considerable impact and importance in America, insofar as it has
affected the lives of many millions of citizens; yet it has never really been
counted in the canon of American literature.

Ancient America and the Book of Mormon Revisited

Dialogue 4.2 (Summer 1971): 82–85
Secular scholarship and L.D.S. studies of archaeology and the Book of Mormon have had a discordant dialogue for some time. The scripture asserts, for example, that the civilizations it describes in ancient America had their fundamental inspiration in migrations from the Near East.

All Content

“I Am Commanded to Stand and Testify Unto This People The Things Which Have Been Spoken By Our Fathers”: Lehi’s and Nephi’s Influence on Alma 5

Dialogue 57.3 (Fall 2024): 39–80
In what follows, I will suggest that Alma 5, somewhat like Lehi’s dream, begins with an account of the forefathers (men and women) passing through a wilderness only to find a special tree and its fruit; I will demonstrate the allusive presence of the tree of life in Alma 5 and attempt to get at the language’s redemptive implications; and I will demonstrate the allusive presence of the great and spacious building (or its inhabitants) in Alma 5.

The Production of the Book of Mormon in Light of a Tibetan Buddhist Parallel

Dialogue 55.4 (Winter 2022): 41–83
Drawing on observations and suggestions from scholars of Tibetan Buddhism and Mormonism, this article compares the production of the Book of Mormon with that of the class of Tibetan Buddhist scripture known as gter ma (“Treasure,” pronounced “terma”)

“The Robe of Righteousness”: Exilic and Post-Exilic Isaiah in The Book of Mormon

Dialogue 55.3 (Fall 2022): 75-106
As a contribution to the larger project of examining the King James Bible’s influence on The Book of Mormon, this essay focuses on several aspects of the problem of Isaiah in The Book of Mormon as they relate to the more significant issue. I will focus on two problems with the use of Isaiah in The Book of Mormon. First, previous scholarship has assumed that none of Third Isaiah has had any effect on the text of The Book of Mormon and the Isaiah chapters it quotes

Book of Mormon Theology— Anticipating the Future of a Discipline Neal A. Maxwell Institute, The Book of Mormon: Brief Theological Introductions

The academic discipline of Book of Mormon theology is a relatively recent development that appears to have begun in earnest with a little-cited 1997 University of Nottingham PhD thesis by Tyler Rex Moulton entitled “Divine…

Review: Heavy Lifting on Broken Ground Elizabeth Fenton and Jared Hickman, Americanist Approaches to The Book of Mormon

Americanist Approaches to The Book of Mormon cannot quite be described as “groundbreaking.” It covers ground, the editors acknowledge right up front, that has been broken many times before. In their introductory essay, Elizabeth Fenton…

Review: On Truth-Telling and Positionalities P. Jane Hafen and Brenden W. Rensink, eds., Essays on American Indian and Mormon History

I struggle with beginnings. I always just want to get to it. However, allow me to take a bit of time to introduce myself before I tell the story of my experience with the collection…

Review: Brigham Young Wanted Every Thing  From the Indians Will Bagley, ed., The Whites Want Every Thing: Indian-Mormon Relations, 1847–1877

Will Bagley is a historian who has written and edited more than a dozen books on Mormon (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) history and the American West. His best known work is…

Roundtable: Efforts to Change the Culture of Columbus Day

As I approach the subject of the legacy of Columbus, I want to start by saying that we, as Indigenous people, seek to bring light and truth to the world. As a child, I learned…

Mette Harrison, The Women’s Book of Mormon: Volume One

The Maidservant’s Witness Mette Harrison. The Book of Abish.

Plain and Precious Things Lost: The Small Plates of Nephi

Dialogue 52.4 (Winter 2019): 85
Such inconsistencies may cause some readers to question the credibility of the text. Upon observing doctrinal andprophetic variation within the Book of Mormon, some dismiss the book’s divinity

Empirical Witnesses of the Gold Plates

Dialogue 52.2 (Summer 2019): 59–84
Due to the fact that visiting with angels isn’t part of the normal human experience, it makes it hard for historians to prove that it happened through an academic investigation. The best way, as discussed by the author, to determine what really happened is by studying other individual’s first-hand accounts about the Gold Plates.

THE GOLD PLATES AND ANCIENT METAL EPIGRAPHY: APPENDIX

The Gold Plates and Ancient Metal Epigraphy

Dialogue 52.2 (Summer 2019):37–58
Ryan Thomas highlights the different metal writing cultures from around the same time as the Book of Mormon periods to see if it is historically likely for the Gold Plates to exist from that time period.

Automatic Writing and the Book of Mormon An Update

Dialogue 52.2 (Spring 2019):1–58Attributing the Book of Mormon’s origin to supernatural forces has
worked well for Joseph Smith’s believers, then as well as now, but not so
well for critics who seem certain natural abilities were responsible. For over
180 years, several secular theories have been advanced as explanations.

“Behold, Other Scriptures I Would that Ye Should Write”: Malachi in the Book of Mormon

Scenes from the Book of Mormon | Doug Stewart, “A Day a Night and a Day”: A Three-act Play

As Mormon writers search their background for subject matter unique to their religion, one source that offers almost unlimited possibilities is the Book of Mormon. The most recent effort to dramatize a Book of Mormon…

Problems and Answers | Sidney B. Sperry, Answers to Book of Mormon Questions

Doctor Sidney Sperry has revised somewhat his 1964 book, Problems of the Book of Mormon, and Bookcraft here offers the new version under a new title. The author was probably the first Latter-day Saint to…

Prospects for the Study of the Book of Mormon as a Work of American Literature

Dialogue 3.1 (Spring 1970): 42–45
No one will want to deny that the Book of Mormon has been a book
of considerable impact and importance in America, insofar as it has
affected the lives of many millions of citizens; yet it has never really been
counted in the canon of American literature.

Ancient America and the Book of Mormon Revisited

Dialogue 4.2 (Summer 1971): 82–85
Secular scholarship and L.D.S. studies of archaeology and the Book of Mormon have had a discordant dialogue for some time. The scripture asserts, for example, that the civilizations it describes in ancient America had their fundamental inspiration in migrations from the Near East.

Book of Mormon Archaeology: The Myths and the Alternatives

Dialogue 4.2 (Summer 1971): 73–76
Church members, from some General Authorities to some Sunday School teachers, are generally impressed with and concerned about “scientific proof” of the Book of Mormon. As a practicing scientist and Church member, I am singularly unconcerned about such studies — in fact, when it comes to such matters, I am hyper-conservative.

Beowulf and Nephi: A Literary View of the Book of Mormon

Dialogue 4.3 (Fall 1971): 42–45
It is tempting, of course, to redress the Book’s limited literary impress by recourse to history, sociology, psychology, and demonology. It is tempting to say that a hundred and forty years in the literary marketplace is too limited a test for such a grand design — but entire literary movements, like the pre￾Raphaelites, have come and gone in the same period

A Photographic Trip Through Ancient America | Paul R. Cheesman, Early America and the Book of Mormon: A Photographic Essay of Ancient America

There are beautiful pictures in this book. Some, like the take of Monte Alban at dawn, are works of art. The volume could make a valuable gift or an adequate addition to a photographical library.…

“And It Came To Pass” “: The Book of Mormon RLDS 1966 edition”

Dialogue 10.4 (Winter 1977): 139–143
Most Latter-day Saints probably would be surprised to learn the Book of Mormon is available in modern English and has been for over a decade. More recently the 1966 RLDS “reader’s edition” has been republished in paperback by Pyramid Publications and is now turning  up at local bookstores.

Passive Aggression and the Believer

A Priesthood group of six was contemplating an activity proposed by the group leader. One member objected, but the remaining five supported the proposal so enthusiastically that it was scheduled for the following Saturday. When…

The Liberal Institute: A Case Study in National Assimilation

In a time of the Chautauqua and the public meeting hall, when cultural values were established and reinforced by pulpit and lectern, there stood in the very heart of Brigham Young’s Zion the Liberal Institute,…

The Enigma of Solomon Spalding

“Every man’s life,” wrote Emerson, “is a secret known only to God.” Certainly this must be said of Solomon Spalding, much of whose story remains obsure. The events of his life suggest a pattern of…

The Spalding Theory Then and Now

Late in the summer of 1833 one Doctor Philastus Hurlbut, recently excommunicated from the Mormon church for “unchristianlike” conduct toward some of the sisters,[1] learned of a manuscript written some twenty years before by the late Reverend Solomon Spalding which was similar to the Book of Mormon. His interest piqued, he set out to investigate this story, principally through interviews with former residents of Conneaut, Ohio, where Spalding once had lived. 

The “Brass Plates” and Biblical Scholarship

One of the notable intellectual activities of the 19th and early 20th centuries was development of the view that the Old Testament was a composite of ancient documents of varied age and source. Although the…

Textual Variants in Book of Mormon Manuscripts

Dialogue 10.4 (Winter 1977): 10–45
A great value of these early manuscripts is that for the most part they substantiate the correctness of the present Book of Mormon text—fully 99.9% of the text is published correctly. In textual criticism, however, evidence should be weighed, not counted, since a unique reading in a reliable source may be better than any number of readings in less reliable sources.

Mormon Scholasticism | Paul R. Cheesman, The World of the Book of Mormon

As I read Paul Cheesman’s book I realized that the struggle between reason and faith is still very much alive in 1978. It seems to me there is as great a need for some Mormon…

The Book of Mormon as Faction | Blaine C. Thomsen, The Ammonite

Following the phenomenal success of his book-turned-TV mini-series, Alex Haley described his work Roots as “faction,” a careful combination of history and fiction. Using what names, dates and places he could find in the records as a skeleton, he proceeded…

Joseph Smith and Thomas Paine? | Robert N. Hullinger, Mormon Answer to Skepticism: Why Joseph Smith Wrote the Book of Mormon

Thirteen years ago a heavily publicized and startling book called The Passover Plot, by Dr. Hugh J. Schonfield, daringly asserted that Jesus Christ planned his own arrest, crucifixion and resurrection; that he had beforehand arranged…

Investigating the Investigation | Richard Lloyd Anderson, Investigating the Book of Mormon Witnesses

With over-generous portions of direct quotations, Richard Lloyd Anderson presents the reader with statements made by the wit nesses to the Book of Mormon, and statements made by others affirming their good character and the…

Responsible Apologetics | Noel B. Reynolds, ed., Book of Mormon Authorship: New Light on Ancient Origins

As the title indicates, Book of Mormon Authorship addresses the heart of LDS faith claims—the historicity of the Book of Mormon. Noel Reynolds has assembled studies ranging from computer wordprint analysis to source criticism of…

Among the Mormons: A Selected Bibliography of Recent Books on Mormons and Mormonism

Scholarly as well as popular interest in Mormonism continues at an almost unprecedented rate. The Saints remain, as they always have, a peculiar people. Their history, as Winfred E. Garrison aptly observed, “bristles” with controversial…

“Is There Any Way to Escape These Difficulties?”: The Book of Mormon Studies of B.H. Roberts

Dialogue 17.2 (Summer 1984): 96–105
In 1979 and 1981, members of the Roberts fam￾ily gave copies of these works to the University of Utah and Brigham Young Uni￾versity. Roberts’s two studies, with descriptive correspondence, will be pub￾lished this year by the University of Illinois Press.4

Book of Mormon Usage in Early LDS Theology

Dialogue 17.3 (Fall 1984): 37–75
As one step in that direction, this article explores Book of Mormon usage in the pre-Utah period (1830—46), and seeks answers to the following questions: Which passages from the Book of Mormon were cited and with what frequency? How were they understood?

Sign or Scripture: Approaches to the Book of Mormon

Dialogue 19.1 (Spring 1986): 69–75
How does the Book of Mormon present the basic doctrines of the gospel? What role should the Book of Mormon play in our religious and intellectual lives?

B.H. Roberts and the Book of Mormon | Studies of the Book of Mormon

Dialogue 19.4 (Winter 1988):157–192
The major problem with the “Study” is that, if one takes it as anything more than an analysis of possibilities, it must be viewed as an example of the genetic fallacy (that something can be explained solely by its cultural context).

The Third Nephite

Shortly after sunrise Otis Wadby was driving to work in Circleville. He stayed nights with his son in Junction, his wife having expelled him from his home in Circleville because he had taken up with…

The Book of Mormon as a Modern Expansion of an Ancient Source

Dialogue 20.1 (Spring 1987): 69–75
EVEN A CASUAL REFERENCE to studies treating the Book of Mormon reveals a range of divergent explanations of its origins. At one extreme are those who are skeptical of the book’s claims to antiquity who generally conclude that it is a pious fraud, written by Joseph Smith from information available in his immediate environment.

Disciplined Geography | John L. Sorenson, An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon

My acquaintance with this information packed, attractively printed, and modestly priced volume began in manuscript as a member of the Ensign editorial staff in 1975 when Sorenson, at the invitation of managing editor Jay M.…

The “New Mormon History” Reassessed in Light of Recent Book on Joseph Smith and Mormon Origins

In 1959, while a graduate student at the University of Chicago, I wrote a review of the historiography of Mormonism for Church History which incorporated the major books and articles from 1832 to 1959 in…

Drowning in Excess | Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, Book of Mormon Critical Text: A Tool for Scholarly Reference

Praise to the mostly anonymous team from F.A.R.M.S. who produced this massive work. They deserve praise first for dedicating so much time and effort to careful research through manuscripts, computer indexes, and printed material. Second,…

Why Nephi Killed Laban: Reflections on the Truth of the Book of Mormon

Until recently, attempts to vindicate the central claim of the Book of Mormon—that it is a divinely inspired book based on the history of an ancient culture—have focused mainly on external evidences. Such attempts have…

“Proving” the Book of Mormon: Archaeology Vs. Faith

Humor and Pathos: Stories of the Mormon Diaspora: Benediction: A Book of Stories by Neal Chandler

Book of Mormon Stories That My Teachers Kept From Me

Dialogue 24.4 (Winter 1993):15–50
n fact, it may be no more than a kind of perversity that brings me to admit what I will tell you now, namely, that when it comes to the Book of Mormon, that most correct of books, whose pedigree we love passionately to debate and whose very namesakes we have, all of us, become, I stand mostly with Mark Twain.

Apologetic and Critical Assumptions About Book of Mormon Historicity

Dialogue 26.3 (Summer 1995):163–180
FOR TRADITION-MINDED MEMBERS of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter￾day Saints the Book of Mormon’s historicity is a given: Book of Mormon events actually occurred and its ancient participants existed in ancient history

B.H. Roberts’s Studies of the Book of Mormon

Easy-to-Read: A Consumer’s Report: The Easy-to-Read Book of Mormon: Based on the Work Translated by Joseph Smith, Jr.

“Critical” Book of Mormon Scholarship: New Approaches to the Book of Mormon

The Structure of the Book of Mormon: A Theory of Evolutionary Development

Dialogue 29.2 (Summer 1998):129–154
WHEN JOSEPH SMITH BEGAN TO DICTATE the Book of Mormon, he did not understand the structure the book would ultimately take. He did not know that the first part of the manuscript would be lost, resulting in a major structural change in the first quarter of the book.

Hypertextual Book of Mormon Study

A Mosaic for a Religious Counterculture: The Bible in the Book of Mormon

Dialogue 29.4 (Winter 1998):59–83
THE BOOK OF MORMON HAS OCCASIONALLY been portrayed as a deficient
first novel. Its characters appear flat and stereotypical; the plots and char￾acters seem to lack moral subtlety; and so on. Should we wonder that to￾day’s high literary circles ignore it?

Laban’s Ghost: On Writing and Transgression

Reflections on LDS Disbelief in the Book of Mormon as History

Dialogue 30.3 (Fall 1999):90–103
To average LDS church members in 1909, Roberts’s New Witnesses for God substantiated their beliefs and further embellished his stature for them as a historian and defender of the Book of Mormon. But only thirteen years later Roberts was to change his mind and that dramatically.

Joseph Smith’s Interpretation of Isaiah in the Book of Mormon

Dialogue 31.4 (Winter 1999):190–199
It is noteworthy be￾cause, instead of laying out the original historical meaning of Isaiah, it re￾applies the text to the time of Joseph Smith and to the course of Jewish and Christian history up to his time.

Evidence Without Reconciliation: The Creation of the Book of Mormon: A Historical Inquiry by Lamar Petersen

The Book of Mormon and Religious Epistemology

Book of Mormon Stories: Digging in Cumorah: Reclaiming Book of Mormon Narratives

Critique of a Limited Geography for Book of Mormon Events

Dialogue 35.3 (Fall 2003):127–168
DURING THE PAST FEW DECADES, a number of LDS scholars have developed various “limited geography” models of where the events of the Book of Mormon occurred. These models contrast with the traditional western hemisphere model, which is still the most familiar to Book of Mormon readers.

Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, and the American Renaissance

Dialogue 35.3 (Fall 2003):9a–128
I am a literary critic who has spent a professional lifetime reading, teaching, and writing about literary texts. Much of my interest in and approach to the Book of Mormon lies with the text—though not just as a field for scholarly exploration.

Simply Implausible: DNA and a Mesoamerican Setting for the Book of Mormon

Dialogue 36.4 (Winter 2004):129–167
Instead of lending support to an Israelite origin as posited by Mormon scripture, genetic data have confirmed already existing archaeological, cultural, linguistic, and biological data, pointing to migrations from Asia as “the primary source of American In￾dian origins

Joseph Smith in the Book of Mormon

Dialogue 36.4 (Winter 2004):109–128
DID JOSEPH SMITH WRITE the Book of Mormon? To this over-familiar question the orthodox Latter-day Saint answer is a resounding “No” because the official belief is that a series of men with quasi-biblical names wrote the book over many centuries.

Scrying for the Lord: Magic, Mysticism, and the Origins of the Book of Mormon

Dialogue 36.4 (Winter 2004):109–128
JOSEPH SMITH GREW UP in a time and place where folk magic was an accepted part of the landscape. Before he was a prophet, he was a diviner, or more specif￾ically, a scryer who used his peepstone to discover the location of buried trea￾sure.

Anabaptism, the Book of Mormon, and the Peace Church Option

Dialogue 37.1 (Spring 2004): 75–94
However, Mennonites and Latter Day Saints may be spiritual cousins. A sympathetic comparison of the origins of both movements may illuminate their past and also assist in contemporary living of the gospel of shalom.

A Maturing View of the Book of Mormon: An Insider’s View of Mormon Origins by Grant H. Palmer

Lehi on the Great Issues: Book of Mormon Theology in Early Nineteenth-Century Perspective

Dialogue 38.4 (Winter 2006):83–104
Thus, regardless of how one chooses to resolve the issues surrounding its origins, one must conclude that the Book of Mormon’s theological arguments should be seen as designed to be read and understood by its early nineteenth-century audience.

A Marvelous Work and a Possession: Book of Mormon Historicity as Postcolonialism

Dialogue 38.4 (Winter 2006):45–82
the original text, unfortunately, no longer exists on this earth, and we are left only with the assurances of a “translator” that the testimony contained in the record is “true,” although we do not, in fact, have even the complete text as it left the hand of the translator/scribe.

Re-imagining Nephi: The Golden Plates: Volumes 1-3 by Michael D. Allred and Laura Allred

Who was Second Nephi?

A Gentile Recommends the Book of Mormon

Dialogue 45.3 (Fall 2013):188–206
The scripture I have in mind, of course, is the Book of Mormon. What follows is a Gentile’s appreciation—even recommen￾dation—of this well-known but largely unread example of world￾class scripture.

Terryl Givens and the Shape of Mormon Studies: A Review of Terryl Givens, The Book of Mormon: A Very Short Introduction

Review: Understanding the Book of Mormon: A Reader’s Guide

The Midrashic Imagination and the Book of Mormon

Elder Price Superstar

Review: Richard E. Turley Jr. and William W. Slaughter How We Got the Book of Mormon

Association of Mormon Letters Conference: “For All Things Must Fail”: A Post-Structural Approach to the Book of Mormon

Dialogue 45.3 (Fall 2013):138–177
In this paper, I argue that this preoccupation with structural collapse legitimizes a criti￾cal consideration of the way that language functions in the book, rendering the Book of Mormon particularly well-suited to a read￾ing that employs the techniques of post-structural criticism.

Mormon Scholars Foundation Summer Fellowship Conference: The Gold Plates in the Contemporary Popular Imagination

Mormon Scholars Foundation Summer Fellowship Conference: Lost “Wagonloads of Plates”: The Disappearance and Deliteralization of Sealed Records

Review: Paul C. Gutjahr. The Book of Mormon: A Biography

Review: Patrick Q. Mason, J. David Pulsipher, and Richard L. Bushman, eds. War and Peace in Our Time: Mormon Perspectives

Hospitality in the Book of Mormon

Dialogue 47.1 (Spring 2014):24–57
his article will examine hospitality as it is found in the Book of Mormon. We will look at instances when a person (or group) invites an outsider (or group of outsiders) into the home or community, making note of how the hospitality is exercised, what motivates it, what role it plays in the Book of Mormon narrative, and what spiritual or religious dimensions it is assigned.

The Book of Mormon, the Early Nineteenth-Century Debates over Universalism, and the Development of the Novel Mormon Doctrines of Ultimate Rewards and Punishments

Dialogue 47.1 (Spring 2014):1–23
This conclusion is obviously problematic, as it implies that the early Church repudiated teachings from the Book of Mormon immediate￾ly following its publication. Thus there is a need for a reassessment of the relation between early nineteenth-century Universalism and the teachings of the Book of Mormon and subsequent revelations.

Book Review: Shifting Attitudes: Nauvoo Polygamy Merina Smith. Revelation, Resistance and Mormon Polygamy: The Introduction and Implementation of the Principle, 1830–1853

Archaic Pronouns and Verbs in the Book of Mormon: What Inconsistent Usage Tells Us about Translation Theories

Dialogue 44.3 (Fall 2014):53–101
Initially, I intended only one article on the usage of archaic pronouns
and the implications of certain irregularities. But as I delved deeper
into the implications, particularly what the erratic usage suggests
about the translation of the Book of Mormon, it became obvious
that this particular detour needed to stand alone as a companion
piece to the main article

Learning to Read with the Book of Mormon

Dialogue 48.1 (Spring 2015):169–177
In this “From the Pulpit,” Jared Hickman discussed the self-confessed weaknesses of multiple authors in the Book of Mormon, indicating that the text is not the literal word of God. He observes that it still has sacred truths to teach us including on racism.

A Voice Crying from the Dust: The Book of Mormon as Sound

Dialogue Topic Pages #8: Book of Mormon Topics, Part 2

Dialogue Topic Pages #7: Book of Mormon Topics, Part 1

“I Am Commanded to Stand and Testify Unto This People The Things Which Have Been Spoken By Our Fathers”: Lehi’s and Nephi’s Influence on Alma 5

Dialogue 57.3 (Fall 2024): 39–80
In what follows, I will suggest that Alma 5, somewhat like Lehi’s dream, begins with an account of the forefathers (men and women) passing through a wilderness only to find a special tree and its fruit; I will demonstrate the allusive presence of the tree of life in Alma 5 and attempt to get at the language’s redemptive implications; and I will demonstrate the allusive presence of the great and spacious building (or its inhabitants) in Alma 5.

The Production of the Book of Mormon in Light of a Tibetan Buddhist Parallel

Dialogue 55.4 (Winter 2022): 41–83
Drawing on observations and suggestions from scholars of Tibetan Buddhism and Mormonism, this article compares the production of the Book of Mormon with that of the class of Tibetan Buddhist scripture known as gter ma (“Treasure,” pronounced “terma”)

“The Robe of Righteousness”: Exilic and Post-Exilic Isaiah in The Book of Mormon

Dialogue 55.3 (Fall 2022): 75-106
As a contribution to the larger project of examining the King James Bible’s influence on The Book of Mormon, this essay focuses on several aspects of the problem of Isaiah in The Book of Mormon as they relate to the more significant issue. I will focus on two problems with the use of Isaiah in The Book of Mormon. First, previous scholarship has assumed that none of Third Isaiah has had any effect on the text of The Book of Mormon and the Isaiah chapters it quotes

Book of Mormon Theology— Anticipating the Future of a Discipline Neal A. Maxwell Institute, The Book of Mormon: Brief Theological Introductions

The academic discipline of Book of Mormon theology is a relatively recent development that appears to have begun in earnest with a little-cited 1997 University of Nottingham PhD thesis by Tyler Rex Moulton entitled “Divine…

Review: Heavy Lifting on Broken Ground Elizabeth Fenton and Jared Hickman, Americanist Approaches to The Book of Mormon

Americanist Approaches to The Book of Mormon cannot quite be described as “groundbreaking.” It covers ground, the editors acknowledge right up front, that has been broken many times before. In their introductory essay, Elizabeth Fenton…

Review: On Truth-Telling and Positionalities P. Jane Hafen and Brenden W. Rensink, eds., Essays on American Indian and Mormon History

I struggle with beginnings. I always just want to get to it. However, allow me to take a bit of time to introduce myself before I tell the story of my experience with the collection…

Review: Brigham Young Wanted Every Thing  From the Indians Will Bagley, ed., The Whites Want Every Thing: Indian-Mormon Relations, 1847–1877

Will Bagley is a historian who has written and edited more than a dozen books on Mormon (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) history and the American West. His best known work is…

Roundtable: Efforts to Change the Culture of Columbus Day

As I approach the subject of the legacy of Columbus, I want to start by saying that we, as Indigenous people, seek to bring light and truth to the world. As a child, I learned…

Mette Harrison, The Women’s Book of Mormon: Volume One

The Maidservant’s Witness Mette Harrison. The Book of Abish.

Plain and Precious Things Lost: The Small Plates of Nephi

Dialogue 52.4 (Winter 2019): 85
Such inconsistencies may cause some readers to question the credibility of the text. Upon observing doctrinal andprophetic variation within the Book of Mormon, some dismiss the book’s divinity

Empirical Witnesses of the Gold Plates

Dialogue 52.2 (Summer 2019): 59–84
Due to the fact that visiting with angels isn’t part of the normal human experience, it makes it hard for historians to prove that it happened through an academic investigation. The best way, as discussed by the author, to determine what really happened is by studying other individual’s first-hand accounts about the Gold Plates.

THE GOLD PLATES AND ANCIENT METAL EPIGRAPHY: APPENDIX

The Gold Plates and Ancient Metal Epigraphy

Dialogue 52.2 (Summer 2019):37–58
Ryan Thomas highlights the different metal writing cultures from around the same time as the Book of Mormon periods to see if it is historically likely for the Gold Plates to exist from that time period.

Automatic Writing and the Book of Mormon An Update

Dialogue 52.2 (Spring 2019):1–58Attributing the Book of Mormon’s origin to supernatural forces has
worked well for Joseph Smith’s believers, then as well as now, but not so
well for critics who seem certain natural abilities were responsible. For over
180 years, several secular theories have been advanced as explanations.

“Behold, Other Scriptures I Would that Ye Should Write”: Malachi in the Book of Mormon

Scenes from the Book of Mormon | Doug Stewart, “A Day a Night and a Day”: A Three-act Play

As Mormon writers search their background for subject matter unique to their religion, one source that offers almost unlimited possibilities is the Book of Mormon. The most recent effort to dramatize a Book of Mormon…

Problems and Answers | Sidney B. Sperry, Answers to Book of Mormon Questions

Doctor Sidney Sperry has revised somewhat his 1964 book, Problems of the Book of Mormon, and Bookcraft here offers the new version under a new title. The author was probably the first Latter-day Saint to…

Prospects for the Study of the Book of Mormon as a Work of American Literature

Dialogue 3.1 (Spring 1970): 42–45
No one will want to deny that the Book of Mormon has been a book
of considerable impact and importance in America, insofar as it has
affected the lives of many millions of citizens; yet it has never really been
counted in the canon of American literature.

Ancient America and the Book of Mormon Revisited

Dialogue 4.2 (Summer 1971): 82–85
Secular scholarship and L.D.S. studies of archaeology and the Book of Mormon have had a discordant dialogue for some time. The scripture asserts, for example, that the civilizations it describes in ancient America had their fundamental inspiration in migrations from the Near East.

Book of Mormon Archaeology: The Myths and the Alternatives

Dialogue 4.2 (Summer 1971): 73–76
Church members, from some General Authorities to some Sunday School teachers, are generally impressed with and concerned about “scientific proof” of the Book of Mormon. As a practicing scientist and Church member, I am singularly unconcerned about such studies — in fact, when it comes to such matters, I am hyper-conservative.

Beowulf and Nephi: A Literary View of the Book of Mormon

Dialogue 4.3 (Fall 1971): 42–45
It is tempting, of course, to redress the Book’s limited literary impress by recourse to history, sociology, psychology, and demonology. It is tempting to say that a hundred and forty years in the literary marketplace is too limited a test for such a grand design — but entire literary movements, like the pre￾Raphaelites, have come and gone in the same period

A Photographic Trip Through Ancient America | Paul R. Cheesman, Early America and the Book of Mormon: A Photographic Essay of Ancient America

There are beautiful pictures in this book. Some, like the take of Monte Alban at dawn, are works of art. The volume could make a valuable gift or an adequate addition to a photographical library.…

“And It Came To Pass” “: The Book of Mormon RLDS 1966 edition”

Dialogue 10.4 (Winter 1977): 139–143
Most Latter-day Saints probably would be surprised to learn the Book of Mormon is available in modern English and has been for over a decade. More recently the 1966 RLDS “reader’s edition” has been republished in paperback by Pyramid Publications and is now turning  up at local bookstores.

Passive Aggression and the Believer

A Priesthood group of six was contemplating an activity proposed by the group leader. One member objected, but the remaining five supported the proposal so enthusiastically that it was scheduled for the following Saturday. When…

The Liberal Institute: A Case Study in National Assimilation

In a time of the Chautauqua and the public meeting hall, when cultural values were established and reinforced by pulpit and lectern, there stood in the very heart of Brigham Young’s Zion the Liberal Institute,…

The Enigma of Solomon Spalding

“Every man’s life,” wrote Emerson, “is a secret known only to God.” Certainly this must be said of Solomon Spalding, much of whose story remains obsure. The events of his life suggest a pattern of…

The Spalding Theory Then and Now

Late in the summer of 1833 one Doctor Philastus Hurlbut, recently excommunicated from the Mormon church for “unchristianlike” conduct toward some of the sisters,[1] learned of a manuscript written some twenty years before by the late Reverend Solomon Spalding which was similar to the Book of Mormon. His interest piqued, he set out to investigate this story, principally through interviews with former residents of Conneaut, Ohio, where Spalding once had lived. 

The “Brass Plates” and Biblical Scholarship

One of the notable intellectual activities of the 19th and early 20th centuries was development of the view that the Old Testament was a composite of ancient documents of varied age and source. Although the…

Textual Variants in Book of Mormon Manuscripts

Dialogue 10.4 (Winter 1977): 10–45
A great value of these early manuscripts is that for the most part they substantiate the correctness of the present Book of Mormon text—fully 99.9% of the text is published correctly. In textual criticism, however, evidence should be weighed, not counted, since a unique reading in a reliable source may be better than any number of readings in less reliable sources.

Mormon Scholasticism | Paul R. Cheesman, The World of the Book of Mormon

As I read Paul Cheesman’s book I realized that the struggle between reason and faith is still very much alive in 1978. It seems to me there is as great a need for some Mormon…

The Book of Mormon as Faction | Blaine C. Thomsen, The Ammonite

Following the phenomenal success of his book-turned-TV mini-series, Alex Haley described his work Roots as “faction,” a careful combination of history and fiction. Using what names, dates and places he could find in the records as a skeleton, he proceeded…

Joseph Smith and Thomas Paine? | Robert N. Hullinger, Mormon Answer to Skepticism: Why Joseph Smith Wrote the Book of Mormon

Thirteen years ago a heavily publicized and startling book called The Passover Plot, by Dr. Hugh J. Schonfield, daringly asserted that Jesus Christ planned his own arrest, crucifixion and resurrection; that he had beforehand arranged…

Investigating the Investigation | Richard Lloyd Anderson, Investigating the Book of Mormon Witnesses

With over-generous portions of direct quotations, Richard Lloyd Anderson presents the reader with statements made by the wit nesses to the Book of Mormon, and statements made by others affirming their good character and the…

Responsible Apologetics | Noel B. Reynolds, ed., Book of Mormon Authorship: New Light on Ancient Origins

As the title indicates, Book of Mormon Authorship addresses the heart of LDS faith claims—the historicity of the Book of Mormon. Noel Reynolds has assembled studies ranging from computer wordprint analysis to source criticism of…

Among the Mormons: A Selected Bibliography of Recent Books on Mormons and Mormonism

Scholarly as well as popular interest in Mormonism continues at an almost unprecedented rate. The Saints remain, as they always have, a peculiar people. Their history, as Winfred E. Garrison aptly observed, “bristles” with controversial…

“Is There Any Way to Escape These Difficulties?”: The Book of Mormon Studies of B.H. Roberts

Dialogue 17.2 (Summer 1984): 96–105
In 1979 and 1981, members of the Roberts fam￾ily gave copies of these works to the University of Utah and Brigham Young Uni￾versity. Roberts’s two studies, with descriptive correspondence, will be pub￾lished this year by the University of Illinois Press.4

Book of Mormon Usage in Early LDS Theology

Dialogue 17.3 (Fall 1984): 37–75
As one step in that direction, this article explores Book of Mormon usage in the pre-Utah period (1830—46), and seeks answers to the following questions: Which passages from the Book of Mormon were cited and with what frequency? How were they understood?

Sign or Scripture: Approaches to the Book of Mormon

Dialogue 19.1 (Spring 1986): 69–75
How does the Book of Mormon present the basic doctrines of the gospel? What role should the Book of Mormon play in our religious and intellectual lives?

B.H. Roberts and the Book of Mormon | Studies of the Book of Mormon

Dialogue 19.4 (Winter 1988):157–192
The major problem with the “Study” is that, if one takes it as anything more than an analysis of possibilities, it must be viewed as an example of the genetic fallacy (that something can be explained solely by its cultural context).

The Third Nephite

Shortly after sunrise Otis Wadby was driving to work in Circleville. He stayed nights with his son in Junction, his wife having expelled him from his home in Circleville because he had taken up with…

The Book of Mormon as a Modern Expansion of an Ancient Source

Dialogue 20.1 (Spring 1987): 69–75
EVEN A CASUAL REFERENCE to studies treating the Book of Mormon reveals a range of divergent explanations of its origins. At one extreme are those who are skeptical of the book’s claims to antiquity who generally conclude that it is a pious fraud, written by Joseph Smith from information available in his immediate environment.

Disciplined Geography | John L. Sorenson, An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon

My acquaintance with this information packed, attractively printed, and modestly priced volume began in manuscript as a member of the Ensign editorial staff in 1975 when Sorenson, at the invitation of managing editor Jay M.…

The “New Mormon History” Reassessed in Light of Recent Book on Joseph Smith and Mormon Origins

In 1959, while a graduate student at the University of Chicago, I wrote a review of the historiography of Mormonism for Church History which incorporated the major books and articles from 1832 to 1959 in…

Drowning in Excess | Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, Book of Mormon Critical Text: A Tool for Scholarly Reference

Praise to the mostly anonymous team from F.A.R.M.S. who produced this massive work. They deserve praise first for dedicating so much time and effort to careful research through manuscripts, computer indexes, and printed material. Second,…

Why Nephi Killed Laban: Reflections on the Truth of the Book of Mormon

Until recently, attempts to vindicate the central claim of the Book of Mormon—that it is a divinely inspired book based on the history of an ancient culture—have focused mainly on external evidences. Such attempts have…

“Proving” the Book of Mormon: Archaeology Vs. Faith

Humor and Pathos: Stories of the Mormon Diaspora: Benediction: A Book of Stories by Neal Chandler

Book of Mormon Stories That My Teachers Kept From Me

Dialogue 24.4 (Winter 1993):15–50
n fact, it may be no more than a kind of perversity that brings me to admit what I will tell you now, namely, that when it comes to the Book of Mormon, that most correct of books, whose pedigree we love passionately to debate and whose very namesakes we have, all of us, become, I stand mostly with Mark Twain.

Apologetic and Critical Assumptions About Book of Mormon Historicity

Dialogue 26.3 (Summer 1995):163–180
FOR TRADITION-MINDED MEMBERS of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter￾day Saints the Book of Mormon’s historicity is a given: Book of Mormon events actually occurred and its ancient participants existed in ancient history

B.H. Roberts’s Studies of the Book of Mormon

Easy-to-Read: A Consumer’s Report: The Easy-to-Read Book of Mormon: Based on the Work Translated by Joseph Smith, Jr.

“Critical” Book of Mormon Scholarship: New Approaches to the Book of Mormon

The Structure of the Book of Mormon: A Theory of Evolutionary Development

Dialogue 29.2 (Summer 1998):129–154
WHEN JOSEPH SMITH BEGAN TO DICTATE the Book of Mormon, he did not understand the structure the book would ultimately take. He did not know that the first part of the manuscript would be lost, resulting in a major structural change in the first quarter of the book.

Hypertextual Book of Mormon Study

A Mosaic for a Religious Counterculture: The Bible in the Book of Mormon

Dialogue 29.4 (Winter 1998):59–83
THE BOOK OF MORMON HAS OCCASIONALLY been portrayed as a deficient
first novel. Its characters appear flat and stereotypical; the plots and char￾acters seem to lack moral subtlety; and so on. Should we wonder that to￾day’s high literary circles ignore it?

Laban’s Ghost: On Writing and Transgression

Reflections on LDS Disbelief in the Book of Mormon as History

Dialogue 30.3 (Fall 1999):90–103
To average LDS church members in 1909, Roberts’s New Witnesses for God substantiated their beliefs and further embellished his stature for them as a historian and defender of the Book of Mormon. But only thirteen years later Roberts was to change his mind and that dramatically.

Joseph Smith’s Interpretation of Isaiah in the Book of Mormon

Dialogue 31.4 (Winter 1999):190–199
It is noteworthy be￾cause, instead of laying out the original historical meaning of Isaiah, it re￾applies the text to the time of Joseph Smith and to the course of Jewish and Christian history up to his time.

Evidence Without Reconciliation: The Creation of the Book of Mormon: A Historical Inquiry by Lamar Petersen

The Book of Mormon and Religious Epistemology

Book of Mormon Stories: Digging in Cumorah: Reclaiming Book of Mormon Narratives

Critique of a Limited Geography for Book of Mormon Events

Dialogue 35.3 (Fall 2003):127–168
DURING THE PAST FEW DECADES, a number of LDS scholars have developed various “limited geography” models of where the events of the Book of Mormon occurred. These models contrast with the traditional western hemisphere model, which is still the most familiar to Book of Mormon readers.

Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, and the American Renaissance

Dialogue 35.3 (Fall 2003):9a–128
I am a literary critic who has spent a professional lifetime reading, teaching, and writing about literary texts. Much of my interest in and approach to the Book of Mormon lies with the text—though not just as a field for scholarly exploration.

Simply Implausible: DNA and a Mesoamerican Setting for the Book of Mormon

Dialogue 36.4 (Winter 2004):129–167
Instead of lending support to an Israelite origin as posited by Mormon scripture, genetic data have confirmed already existing archaeological, cultural, linguistic, and biological data, pointing to migrations from Asia as “the primary source of American In￾dian origins

Joseph Smith in the Book of Mormon

Dialogue 36.4 (Winter 2004):109–128
DID JOSEPH SMITH WRITE the Book of Mormon? To this over-familiar question the orthodox Latter-day Saint answer is a resounding “No” because the official belief is that a series of men with quasi-biblical names wrote the book over many centuries.

Scrying for the Lord: Magic, Mysticism, and the Origins of the Book of Mormon

Dialogue 36.4 (Winter 2004):109–128
JOSEPH SMITH GREW UP in a time and place where folk magic was an accepted part of the landscape. Before he was a prophet, he was a diviner, or more specif￾ically, a scryer who used his peepstone to discover the location of buried trea￾sure.

Anabaptism, the Book of Mormon, and the Peace Church Option

Dialogue 37.1 (Spring 2004): 75–94
However, Mennonites and Latter Day Saints may be spiritual cousins. A sympathetic comparison of the origins of both movements may illuminate their past and also assist in contemporary living of the gospel of shalom.

A Maturing View of the Book of Mormon: An Insider’s View of Mormon Origins by Grant H. Palmer

Lehi on the Great Issues: Book of Mormon Theology in Early Nineteenth-Century Perspective

Dialogue 38.4 (Winter 2006):83–104
Thus, regardless of how one chooses to resolve the issues surrounding its origins, one must conclude that the Book of Mormon’s theological arguments should be seen as designed to be read and understood by its early nineteenth-century audience.

A Marvelous Work and a Possession: Book of Mormon Historicity as Postcolonialism

Dialogue 38.4 (Winter 2006):45–82
the original text, unfortunately, no longer exists on this earth, and we are left only with the assurances of a “translator” that the testimony contained in the record is “true,” although we do not, in fact, have even the complete text as it left the hand of the translator/scribe.

Re-imagining Nephi: The Golden Plates: Volumes 1-3 by Michael D. Allred and Laura Allred

Who was Second Nephi?

A Gentile Recommends the Book of Mormon

Dialogue 45.3 (Fall 2013):188–206
The scripture I have in mind, of course, is the Book of Mormon. What follows is a Gentile’s appreciation—even recommen￾dation—of this well-known but largely unread example of world￾class scripture.

Terryl Givens and the Shape of Mormon Studies: A Review of Terryl Givens, The Book of Mormon: A Very Short Introduction

Review: Understanding the Book of Mormon: A Reader’s Guide

The Midrashic Imagination and the Book of Mormon

Elder Price Superstar

Review: Richard E. Turley Jr. and William W. Slaughter How We Got the Book of Mormon

Association of Mormon Letters Conference: “For All Things Must Fail”: A Post-Structural Approach to the Book of Mormon

Dialogue 45.3 (Fall 2013):138–177
In this paper, I argue that this preoccupation with structural collapse legitimizes a criti￾cal consideration of the way that language functions in the book, rendering the Book of Mormon particularly well-suited to a read￾ing that employs the techniques of post-structural criticism.

Mormon Scholars Foundation Summer Fellowship Conference: The Gold Plates in the Contemporary Popular Imagination

Mormon Scholars Foundation Summer Fellowship Conference: Lost “Wagonloads of Plates”: The Disappearance and Deliteralization of Sealed Records

Review: Paul C. Gutjahr. The Book of Mormon: A Biography

Review: Patrick Q. Mason, J. David Pulsipher, and Richard L. Bushman, eds. War and Peace in Our Time: Mormon Perspectives

Hospitality in the Book of Mormon

Dialogue 47.1 (Spring 2014):24–57
his article will examine hospitality as it is found in the Book of Mormon. We will look at instances when a person (or group) invites an outsider (or group of outsiders) into the home or community, making note of how the hospitality is exercised, what motivates it, what role it plays in the Book of Mormon narrative, and what spiritual or religious dimensions it is assigned.

The Book of Mormon, the Early Nineteenth-Century Debates over Universalism, and the Development of the Novel Mormon Doctrines of Ultimate Rewards and Punishments

Dialogue 47.1 (Spring 2014):1–23
This conclusion is obviously problematic, as it implies that the early Church repudiated teachings from the Book of Mormon immediate￾ly following its publication. Thus there is a need for a reassessment of the relation between early nineteenth-century Universalism and the teachings of the Book of Mormon and subsequent revelations.

Book Review: Shifting Attitudes: Nauvoo Polygamy Merina Smith. Revelation, Resistance and Mormon Polygamy: The Introduction and Implementation of the Principle, 1830–1853

Archaic Pronouns and Verbs in the Book of Mormon: What Inconsistent Usage Tells Us about Translation Theories

Dialogue 44.3 (Fall 2014):53–101
Initially, I intended only one article on the usage of archaic pronouns
and the implications of certain irregularities. But as I delved deeper
into the implications, particularly what the erratic usage suggests
about the translation of the Book of Mormon, it became obvious
that this particular detour needed to stand alone as a companion
piece to the main article

Learning to Read with the Book of Mormon

Dialogue 48.1 (Spring 2015):169–177
In this “From the Pulpit,” Jared Hickman discussed the self-confessed weaknesses of multiple authors in the Book of Mormon, indicating that the text is not the literal word of God. He observes that it still has sacred truths to teach us including on racism.

A Voice Crying from the Dust: The Book of Mormon as Sound