Difference between revisions of "Question: Could the Book of Mormon be a clumsy, amateurish forgery?"

m (→‎The obvious complexity, textual depth, and beauty of the Book of Mormon has led most modern critics to abandon the claim that it is simply a clumsy or amateurish pastiche)
m
 
(2 intermediate revisions by the same user not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
−
{{FairMormon}}
+
{{Main Page}}
 
<onlyinclude>
 
<onlyinclude>
 
==Question: Could the Book of Mormon be a clumsy, amateurish forgery?==
 
==Question: Could the Book of Mormon be a clumsy, amateurish forgery?==
Line 11: Line 11:
  
 
</onlyinclude>
 
</onlyinclude>
−
{{CriticalSources}}
+
 
 +
 
 +
{{Critical sources box:Book of Mormon/Early reactions to/Clumsy or obvious forgery/CriticalSources}}
 
{{endnotes sources}}
 
{{endnotes sources}}
  
Line 17: Line 19:
  
 
<!-- PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE -->
 
<!-- PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE -->
 +
[[Category:Questions]]

Latest revision as of 17:35, 30 April 2024

FAIR Answers—back to home page

Question: Could the Book of Mormon be a clumsy, amateurish forgery?

The obvious complexity, textual depth, and beauty of the Book of Mormon has led most modern critics to abandon the claim that it is simply a clumsy or amateurish pastiche

Early critics of Mormonism charged that even a cursory examination reveals the Book of Mormon to be a clumsy, amateurish forgery.

See also: Joseph as author and proprietor and Difficult to explain Book of Mormon before Spalding theory

The obvious complexity, textual depth, and beauty of the Book of Mormon has led most modern critics to abandon the claim that it is simply a clumsy or amateurish pastiche. This has led later critics to insist that Joseph was either much more gifted than his contemporaries believed him to be, or to attribute the Book of Mormon to another author altogether.



Source(s) of the criticism:
Critical sources
  • A Letter to Those Who Have Attended Mormonite Preaching (London: J. B. Bateman, 1840), 1–4. off-site
  • 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
  • “Mormonism,” Supplement to the Connecticut Courant (Hartford, Connecticut) 5, no. 22 (15 December 1838): 175–76. off-site
  • “The Mormons,” Religious Herald (Richmond, Virginia) (9 April 1840). off-site
  • Alexander Campbell, “The Mormon Bible,” Millennial Harbinger 3, no. 6 (June 1839): 267–68. off-site
  • Henry Caswall, America, and the American Church (London: J.G. & F. Rivington, 1839), 322–23. off-site
  • John A. Clark, “Gleanings by the Way No. X,” Episcopal Recorder (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) (10 October 1840): 114-15. off-site
  • Benjamin Dobson to the editor, June 16, 1839, “The Mormons,” Peoria Register and North-Western Gazetteer (Peoria, Illinois) 3, no. 13 (27 July 1839). off-site
  • Samuel Haining, Mormonism Weighed in the Balances of the Sanctuary, and Found Wanting: The Substance of Four Lectures (Douglas: Robert Fargher, 1840), 22-23, 41-42. off-site
  • James M’Chesney, Supplement to an Antidote to Mormonism, &c. (Brooklyn, 1839), 1–4. off-site
  • H. Stevenson, A Lecture on Mormonism (Newcastle: J. Blackwell and Co., 1839), 3-32. off-site
  • John Storrs, “Mormonism,” Boston Recorder (Boston, Massachusetts) 24 (19 April 1839). off-site

Critical works that do not adopt this posture

  • “The Book of Mormon and the Mormonites,” Athenaeum, Museum of Foreign Literature, Science and Art 42 (July 1841): 370–74. off-site
  • [Letter on Mormonism, 26 July 1841,] Christian Advocate and Journal (New York) 15, no. 52 (11 August 1841). off-site
  • “Mormonism,” Christian Advocate and Journal (New York) 16, no. 6 (22 September 1841). off-site
  • Doctrine of the Mormonites (London: J. Wertheimer & Company, 1842.), 1-4. off-site
  • “The Book of Mormon,” The New-Yorker (New York) (12 December 1840): ??. off-site
  • “Gold Bible, No. 3,” The Reflector (Palmyra, New York) 2, no. 12 (1 February 1831): xxx. off-site
  • Charles Buck, A Theological Dictionary (London: Thomas Tegg, 1841), 537–38.; citing Cross and Baptist Journal, 1834. off-site Full title
  • J.A.H., “Origin of Mormonism,” Wayne County Whig (Lyons) 3, no. 51 (14 September 1842). off-site
  • James H. Hunt, Mormonism: Embracing the Origin, Rise and Progress of the Sect (St. Louis: Ustick and Davies, 1844), 13-14, 86. off-site
  • E. G. Lee, The Mormons, or Knavery Exposed (Frankford, Philadelphia: Webber & Fenimore, 1841), 2-3. off-site Full title
  • One Who Hates Imposture, Mormonism Dissected, or, Knavery “On Two Sticks,” Exposed (Bethania, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania: Reuben Chambers, 1841), 2. off-site Full title
  • Walter Scott, “Mormon Bible–No. I,” The Evangelist (Carthage, Ohio) 9, no. 1 (1 January 1841): 17–21. off-site
  • G.C. Stewart, “The Book of Mormon,” The Perfectionist (Putney, Vermont) 3, no. 7 (15 May 1843): 28. off-site
Past responses
  • Anon., "Difference Between the Baptists & Latter-Day Saints. From the North Staffordshire Mercury," Millennial Star 1 no. 12 (April 1841), 296–99. off-site

Notes

Retrieved from "https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/answers/index.php?title=Question:_Could_the_Book_of_Mormon_be_a_clumsy%2C_amateurish_forgery%3F&oldid=254659"