Book of Mormon/Authorship theories/Sidney Rigdon/CriticalSources

FAIR Answers—back to home page

Source(s) of the criticism

• A Little Talk, Between John Robinson and his Master about Mormonism, Shewing its Origin, Absurdity, and Impiety (Bedford: W. White, 1840), 1–8. off-site
• “The Book of Mormon and the Mormonites,” Athenaeum, Museum of Foreign Literature, Science and Art 42 (July 1841): 370–74. off-site
• “Mormonism (from the Scotsman),” The Christian Reformer; or, Unitarian Magazine and Review 8 (June 1841): 386. off-site
• [Letter on Mormonism, 26 July 1841,] Christian Advocate and Journal (New York) 15, no. 52 (11 August 1841). off-site
• “Mormonism,” Dayton Journal and Advertiser (Dayton, Ohio) 5, no. 45 (4 October 1831): 1. Reprinted from the Cincinnati Gazette (26 September 1831). off-site
• “Universalism in Ohio,” Evangelical Magazine and Gospel Advocate (Utica, New York) (12 September 1835): 291. off-site
• “Mormonism,” The Herald of Truth (Philadelphia) (December 1831): 406-407. Reprinted from Broome County Courier (Binghamton, New York) (22 December 1831). off-site
• “Mormon Religion—Clerical Ambition—Western New York—The Mormonites Gone to Ohio,” Morning Courier and New-York Enquirer (New York City, New York) 7, no. 1331 (1 September 1831). off-site [the earliest mention of this concept which FAIR has identified]
• “Mormonism—Its History,” Philadelphia Mirror (22 August 1836). off-site
• “The Mormon Bible,” Trumpet and Universalist Magazine (Boston) 11, no. 48 (18 May 1839), n.p.. off-site
• “The Mormon Mystery Developed,” Wayne Sentinel (Palmyra, New York) (20 December 1833). off-site
• Origen Bachelor, Mormonism Exposed Internally and Externally (New York: Privately Published, 1838), 1. off-site
• John A. Clark, “Gleanings by the Way. No. VII,” Episcopal Recorder (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) 18, no. 25 (12 September 1840), ??. off-site
• Clericus, “Mormonism,” Christian Register (Boston) 15, no. 52 (24 December 1836): 1. Reprinted from Hampshire Gazette, circa December 1836. (Cites Mormonism Unvailed). off-site
• Craig Criddle, "Sidney Rigdon:Creating the Book of Mormon," e-paper, sidneyrigdon.com (originally published 8 October 2005; revised 15 Mar 2009), sec 2., part 6.
• Thomas J. Farnham, Travels in the Great Western Prairies, the Anahuac and Rocky Mountains, and in the Oregon Territory, (Poughkeepsie, New York: Killey and Lossing, 1841), 8-9. off-site
• H, “Joe Smith-ism, alias Mormonism,” Christian Palladium (Union Mills, New York) 5, no. 16 (15 December 1836): 243-44. off-site
• Eber D. Howe, Mormonism Unvailed (Painesville, OH, 1834), 98, 289–. (Affidavits examined)
• Daniel P. Kidder, Mormonism and the Mormons (New York:Lane and Sandford, 1842), 35-49. off-site Full title
• Richard Livesey, An Exposure of Mormonism, being a statement of facts relating to the self-styled “Latter day Saints,” and the Origin of the Book of Mormon (Preston: J. Livesey, 1838), 4–5. off-site
• James M’Chesney, An Antidote To Mormonism, revised by G. J. Bennet (New York, NY: Burnett & Pollard, 1838), 59. off-site Full title (citing Mormonism Unvailed)
• W. J. Morrish, The Latter-day Saints and the Book of Mormon. A Few Words of Warning from a Minister to his Flock (Ledbury: J. Gibbs, 1840), 1-4.
• John Storrs, “Mormonism,” Boston Recorder (Boston, Massachusetts) 24 (19 April 1839). off-site
• William S. West, A Few Interesting Facts, Respecting the Rise Progress and Pretensions of the Mormons (1837), 15-16. off-site
• S. Williams, Mormonism Exposed (1838), 1-2. off-site (citing Mormonism Unvailed)

Past LDS response(s)

• Sidney Rigdon, letter to the editor, 27 May 1839, Quincy Whig (Quincy, Illinois) 2, no. 6 (8 June 1839): 1. off-site  (Key source)
  Rigdon denies any role in the Book of Mormon's authorship.
• John E. Page, “Mormonism Defended,” Morning Chronicle (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) (2 July 1842). off-site
• John E. Page, “Mormonism, alias Truth,” Morning Chronicle (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) (8 July 1842). off-site
• [Parley P. Pratt,] “Joe Smith and the Devil: A Dialogue,” The New York Herald (New York) 10, no. 236 (25 August 1844). off-site
• Parley P. Pratt, "The Mormonites. To the Editor of the New Era [Reprinted from New Era (New York) (27 November 1839)," Times and Seasons 1 no. 3 (January 1840), 45-46. off-site GospeLink (requires subscrip.) off-site
• Parley P. Pratt, "Reply to the Athenæum: Being An Exposition of the Ignorance and Folly of men Who Oppose the Truth," Millennial Star 2 no. 1 (May 1841), 1-5. off-site
• Parley P. Pratt, A Reply to...“Complete Failure,”...and...“Mormonism Exposed,” (Manchester: W. R. Thomas, 1840), 1-9. off-site Full title
• B[enjamin] Winchester, The Origin of the Spaulding Story, Concerning the Manuscript Found (Philadelphia: Brown, Bicking & Guilpert, 1840), 1-16, 20-21 off-site