Linguistics and the Book of Mormon
Encyclopedia
According to most adherents of the Latter Day Saint movement
, the Book of Mormon
is a 19th century translation of a record of ancient inhabitants of the American continent, which was written in a script which the book refers to as "reformed Egyptian
." This claim, as well as virtually all claims to historical authenticity of the Book of Mormon, are generally rejected by non-Latter Day Saint historians and scientists. Nonetheless, linguistically based claims are frequently cited and discussed in the context of the subject of the Book of Mormon, both in favor of and against the book's claimed origins.
Both critics and promoters of the Book of Mormon have used linguistic methods to analyze the text. Promoters have published claims of stylistic forms that Joseph Smith and contemporaries are unlikely to have known about, as well as similarities to Egyptian
and Hebrew
. Critics of the Book of Mormon claim there are places where the language is anachronistic
and suggestive of a 19th century origin consistent with Joseph Smith's upbringing and life experience, as well as the books and other literature published just preceding the time the Book of Mormon was published.
The problem with linguistic reviews of the Book of Mormon is that the claimed original text is either unavailable for study or never existed. Joseph Smith said that he returned the Golden Plates
to an angel after he finished the translation.
B. H. Roberts reviewed in depth the current research at the time regarding language development and dialects among the native American peoples, which was published in 1985 as Studies of the Book of Mormon
after his death in 1933.
Under the assumption that the majority of the Native Americans descend from the peoples described in the Book of Mormon, Roberts noted that linguistic evidence among the Native American peoples does not appear to support the Book of Mormon narrative, inasmuch as the diverse language stocks and dialects that exist would not have had enough time to develop from a single language dating from 400 A.D. (the date of the conclusion of the Book of Mormon record). He noted:
Apologists from FARMS
have published studies that claim that the linguistic evidence cited by Roberts above does not necessarily contradict narrative of the Book of Mormon. Specifically, if one adheres to the Limited Geography Model
, then it is possible that many of the peoples of the Book of Mormon are not the principal ancestors of the Native Americans. One Mormon linguist has published a survey of similarities between Semitic languages and Uto-Aztecan.
Specialists in the languages of Native America have accepted no proposals for a relationship between any Native American language or language family and the languages of the ancient Near East.
, Joseph Smith may have chosen words that he knew that were closest in meaning to the original concept written on the plates (i.e., a "translator's anachronism").
" and "Messiah
" are used several hundred times throughout the Book of Mormon. The first instance of the word "Christ" dates to between 559 and 545 B.C. The first instance of the word "Messiah" dates to about 600 B.C.
"Christ" is the English transliteration of the Greek word Χριστός (transliterated precisely as Christós); it is relatively synonymous with the Hebrew word משיח, pronounced Ma-SHEE-ach and rendered "Messiah
." Both words have the meaning of "anointed," and are used in the Bible to refer to "the Anointed One". In Greek translations of the Old Testament (including the Septuagint), the word "Christ" is used for the Hebrew "Messiah", and in Hebrew translations of the New Testament, the word "Messiah" is used for the Greek "Christ". Any passage in the Bible that uses the word "Christ" can substitute the word "Messiah" or "the Messiah" with no change in meaning (e.g. ).
The Book of Mormon uses both terms throughout the book. In the vast majority of cases, it uses the terms in an identical manner as the Bible, where it does not matter which word is used:
Jeff Lindsay notes that Joseph Smith's use of the form commonly used in English in the translation does not indicate that the original text used the same form. Joseph may have translated the original title into the more common English form.
Richard Packham argues that the Greek word "Christ" in the Book of Mormon challenges the authenticity of the work since, Joseph Smith clearly stated that, "There was no Greek or Latin upon the plates from which I, through the grace of the Lord, translated the Book of Mormon."
Apologists note that the word "Christ" is a translational equivalent to the term "Messiah", arguing that "It is no more anachronistic for pre-Christian era Book of Mormon peoples to believe in a coming Messiah/Christ than it was for Old Testament prophets to believe in a coming Messiah/Christ."
" first occurs in 1 Nephi 4:26, where a prophet named Nephi disguises himself as Laban, a prominent man in Jerusalem whom Nephi had slain:
According to the Book of Mormon
, this exchange happened in Jerusalem, around 600 B.C. The meaning of the word "church
" in the Book of Mormon is more comparable to usage in the Bible
than Modern English. The concept of a church, meaning a convocation of believers, existed among the House of Israel
prior to Christianity. For instance, Psalms
speaks of praising the Lord "in the congregation of the saints"; the Septuagint contains the Greek word ecclesia for "congregation," which is also translated as "church" in the New Testament
.
A similar question regards the word "synagogue
", found in Alma 16:13:
Critics of the Book of Mormon note that synagogues did not exist in their modern form before the destruction of the temple and the Babylonian captivity
. The oldest known synagogue is located in Delos, Greece has been dated to 150 BC. Mormon apologist William J. Adams cites archaeologist Lee I. Levine
in suggesting that synagogues did in fact exist before the Babylonian captivity, though in a different form.
and Marvin W. Cowan contend that certain linguistic properties show possible anachronisms in the text which question its claim as a historical document.
These critics cite linguistic anachronisms such as:
Scholars Gee, Roper and Tvedtnes report that the name Sam is found on a bronze ringmounted seal dated in the 7th century B.C. They also note that the name Samuel in Hebrew is a combination of two words—Shem and El. In early Hebrew, the same letter was used for “s” and “sh” and vowels were not specified. Judges 12:6 demonstrates that the tribe of Joseph pronounced the letter that Shem began with as “s.” Lehi was a descendant of Joseph.
Daniel H. Ludlow
contends that the anachronism of the French word "adieu", and others, may have been the result of Joseph Smith choosing the best word available to convey the meaning of the original text.
Professor Craig L. Blomberg has pointed out several verses in the Book Mormon apparently similar to biblical verses in the King James version of the Bible. According to Blomberg, includes overt references to , , , and were most likely written with their direct influence in mind. Furthermore, Blomberg claims that contains allusions to . Blomberg summarizes his overall position on Book of Mormon anachronisms as follows: "Indeed, the entire Book of Mormon abounds with explicit references to Christ, to his life and ministry and to the three persons of the Godhead long before New Testament times... even though none of these concepts or terms ever appear in these forms in the Old Testament or any other ancient Jewish literature."
is a form of rhetoric
al parallelism wherein key ideas familiar to the reader are inverted, usually for some kind of emphasis. Chiasmus appears in many languages, including English, Ugaritic, Biblical Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin. It is found in the Bible and other ancient Middle Eastern poetry; for example, :
Chiasmus has been identified in modern poetry and prose. The first lines of John Keats
' On First Looking Into Chapman's Homer, for instance, run,
Here "realms of gold" and "goodly states and kingdoms" are bookended by the verbs "travelled" and "seen" to form an ABBA pattern.
background of Nephi
and other authors of the Book of Mormon. They claim that such findings support claims of Hebrew origins in the text on the basis that chiasmus is often found in Hebrew texts such as the Bible.
Others argue that chiasmus is not evidence of Hebrew origin.
In 1969 John W. Welch
, later LDS Law and religion scholar, discovered a variety of instances of chiasmus in the Book of Mormon and along with his discovery came attention to the phenomenon. The most commonly cited example of chiasmus in the Book of Mormon is the prophet Alma's religious experience, as recorded in .
John Welch claims that it is unlikely, although not impossible, that Smith knew about chiasmus at the time of the Book of Mormon's publication implicating that chiasmus could only be present in the text if indeed the text is a translation and not a fabrication.
Many though, argue against this being true chiasmus, and do not see a correlation between presence of chiasmus in the Book of Mormon and its authenticity. And still others disagree on the extent to which chiasmus occurs in the text. With regard to the Alma 36 chiasmus, one critic alleges that John Welch "fashioned a chiasm by selecting elements from repetitious language, creatively labeling elements, ignoring text, pairing unbalanced elements, and even including asymmetrical elements".
Welch himself offers the following caution regarding a tendency of enthusiastic readers to see chiasmus where it is not actually present:
Further, Hugh Pinnock, an LDS General Authority
, stated:
Critics argue that there is no correlation between the appearance of chiasmus and the authenticity of the Book of Mormon because among other things chiasmus appears in many languages including eighteenth and nineteenth-century English literature.
and The Pearl of Great Price
, two other works of scripture in the LDS cannon written by Smith. Critics believe this supports their claim that Joseph Smith knew about chiasmus, and that it may have been a characteristic of his personal writing style.
Apologists argue these examples should be considered a type of sporadic repetition rather than the full fledged chiasmus (that is claimed to be found in ), Charles G. Kroupa and Richard C. Shipp are notable for publishing arguments for chiasmus in the Doctrine and Covenants in 1972. Shipp also produced a masters thesis out of BYU titled "Conceptual Patterns of Repetition in the Doctrine and Covenants and Their Implications" in 1975 claiming that writings found in the Doctrine and Covenants had literary patterns similar to chiasmus. In 2004, a study was published by LDS researchers which used statistical analysis to determine the likelihood that a chiastic structure in LDS works appeared by chance as opposed to being created deliberately. Mathematical formulas were used to calculate a set of probabilities that provided the ability to distinguish between strong and weak chiastic structures. The authors concluded (as published by BYU):
, a purported translation of an ancient text by James J. Strang. This book is not considered authentic by most Latter Day Saints.
Critics point out that the presence of chiasmus in Strang's writing as well as in the literature of other cultures implies that the source could be non-Hebrew. Additionally, they claim that the examination of a post-translation text might make identifying chiasmus in the original language difficult, and that the presence of chiasmus is not necessarily indicative of ancient origins.
is a method of statistical analysis used to determine authorship of various texts. It has been used to analyze disputed works of Shakespeare, contrast books of the Bible
, identify the authors of twelve disputed Federalist Papers
, and compare styles of various authors such as Jane Austen
. In 1980, researchers at Brigham Young University
used stylometric techniques they called "wordprint analysis" to examine the possible authors of the Book of Mormon. They reached the conclusion that none of the Book of Mormon selections they studied resembled writings of any of the suggested nineteenth-century authors, including Joseph Smith.
Jerald and Sandra Tanner
challenged their findings on various points, most notably questioning the reliability of the data sources used and the methodology of the "wordprint analysis." Additionally, D. James Croft wrote in Sunstone
that there were several flaws in the methodology that were vulnerable to criticism.
A more sophisticated approach was taken by Mormon researcher John Hilton and non-LDS colleagues at Berkeley
, who "went to great pains to immunize the methodology from criticism" through the use of control tests.
The Berkeley Group first used a variety of control tests with non-disputed authors (e.g. works by Mark Twain, and translated works from German) in an effort to:
John Hilton concluded that, if wordprinting is a valid technique, then this analysis suggests that it is "statistically indefensible" to claim that Joseph, Oliver, or Solomon Spaulding wrote the 30,000 words in the Book of Mormon attributed to Nephi and Alma.
One prominent Mormon scholar, John A. Tvedtnes, has rejected the use of wordprint evidence as the foundation for a testimony of the Book of Mormon's validity, though he never dismissed its possible usefulness as a scientific tool to investigate the book's origins. Upon review of the Berkeley study, another scholar, Kevin L. Barney, remains unconvinced of the validity of wordprint analysis:
However, in the same article, Barney confessed, "I frankly do not understand the statistics well enough to offer a useful critique of the studies."
In a new peer-reviewed study using a traditional authorship method and a new pattern classification technique, several researchers at Stanford University concluded that Rigdon
, Spalding
, and Cowdery
were more likely to have written the book out of a pool of authors that also included Parley Pratt, and two statistical control authors Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
and Joel Barlow
. Joseph Smith himself was not included in the pool of authors because a set of original works written by Smith alone could not be identified with confidence. However, this study only examined the possibility of one of the five above mentioned authors writing the study, not the possibility that an author or authors outside of the pool of authors mentioned above writing the book. Another study was recently published in the same journal that critiqued the methodology used in the Jockers et al. 2008 study and, using Joseph Smith
's personal writings written in his own handwriting, concluded that stylometric evidence supports neither Joseph Smith
nor Spaulding-Rigdon authorship.
LDS scholars, however, say that the Book of Mormon
is a translation, not originally written by Smith, but translated into the language with which he was familiar. While wordprint studies (by the same team used to verify the identity of the Unabomber in court) may be compelling, the inclusion of modern phraseology shouldn't surprise anyone. The word book
, for example, was not used by the ancient Hebrews. Yet both in the King James Version of the Bible
and the Book of Mormon
, the word appears anachronistically. Scholars point out that this could well be the logical result of an ancient work translated by a modern man using the wording best suited to convey the ideas to a modern reader.
, are attested Hebrew names. Milton Hunter and Thomas Ferguson allege that Hebraic fragments and roots appear discernible in Nephite / Mulekite names such as "Zarahemla
". These names are often interpreted as evidence in favor of the Book of Mormon, since Joseph Smith's knowledge of Hebrew was limited to names found in the Bible.
Critics have pointed out that many of the names in the Book of Mormon that are not drawn from the King James Bible are found in the local environment around Palmyra, New York and would have been known to Smith. Richard Packham has pointed out that several Biblical Hebrew names, including Aaron, Ephraim, and Levi are listed as Jaredites in the Book of Ether
. He argues that these are anachronisms, since the Jaredites are supposed to have originated from the time of the Tower of Babel, and did not speak Hebrew.
has noted that some Jaredite
names may have become a part of later Nephite culture, suggesting that there may have been survivors or refugees of the great Jaredite battle besides Coriantumr. He cites the names Kib, Kish, Shule, and Com as examples of Jaredite names that are similar to names found in ancient Mesoamerica.
, John A. Tvedtnes, and Hugh Nibley
, argue that some Book of Mormon names appear to be Egyptian
. Tvedtnes, Gee, and Roper note that William F. Albright
considered the names Paanchi
and Pahoran
to be Egyptian names. In his book Lehi in the Desert, Dr. Hugh Nibley compares names found in the Book of Mormon with ancient Egyptian names from Upper Egypt
. The comparisons show that many names in the Book of Mormon are similar to names in a certain region and era of ancient Egypt
. Nibley postulates that names do not match exactly due to the process of metathesis
. Parallels drawn by Nibley between Egyptian names and Book of Mormon names include the aforementioned Paanchi and Pahoran, and further include several others including Korihor
(Kherihor, a High Priest at Thebes
) and Morianton (Meriaton, an Egyptian prince), and Ammon (Amun, the most common name in ancient Egypt).
Thomas Finley rebuts such claims by Nibley and other writers Critics claim that the parallels drawn by Nibley and others ignore the possibility of simple coincidence, and lack a defined methodology for assessing the importance of the parallels.(See Parallelomania section below). Tvetdnes and Roper responded by noting that there are too many coincidences for such an assessment to be credible.
Joseph Smith, in a letter written in 1843 to the Latter Day Saints' publication, the Millennial Star
, wrote that the name "Mormon" came from "the Egyptian Mon, hence with the addition of more, or the contraction, mor, we have the word Mormon, which means, literally, more good." Benjamin Urrutia
suggests the name Mormon is derived from Egyptian Mor, "Love," and Mon, "firmly established" rendering Mormon as "Love is firmly established." Richard Packham criticizes Smith's interpretation, stating that the English word "more" or "mor" is out of place in an Egyptian name.
, "There was no Greek or Latin upon the plates from which I, through the grace of the Lord, translated the Book of Mormon." Brian D. Stubbs has stated that though the language of the Mulekites isn't put forward in the Book of Mormon, it could have consisted of Phoenician, Greek, or Arabic.
Nevertheless, Richard Packham points out that the Book of Mormon contains some Greek and Latin names, some of which are Hellenization
s of Hebrew names (e.g. Antipas, Archeantus, Esrom, Ezias, Judea and Zenos) and some of which are Greek or Latin. These are found in the King James Version and would have been known to Joseph Smith.
. Statements of the exact methods used in translation vary depending upon the account. A number of these accounts were written many years after the events occurred.
Nelson also noted statements made by Joseph's wife, Emma Hale Smith
, who gave her account of the translation method in 1856:
Martin Harris (as quoted by Edward Stevenson
in the Deseret News in 1881) described the translation process as follows:
One common criticism of the authenticity of the Book of Mormon is the belief that, if the accounts of the translation process are accurate, then there is very little room for error in the word choices used in the translation of the Book of Mormon (since each word was believed to be divinely approved and could not be written incorrectly). "Steel" must mean steel, "hilt" must mean hilt, "elephant" must mean elephant, and so forth. However, as Whitmer was never directly involved in the translation and Harris was involved for only a brief period of time, LDS scholars consider it unlikely that either of these accounts is as accurate as the accounts of Smith and Cowdery.
(Page numbers from an unknown edition before the text was divided into chapters and verses)
LDS leader President George Albert Smith responded to this issue thus: "...[when] the Lord reveals anything to men He reveals it in language that accords with their own. If any of you were to converse with an angel, and you used strictly grammatical language he would do the same. But if you used two negatives in a sentence the heavenly messenger would use language to correspond with your understanding, and this very objection to the Book of Mormon is an evidence in its favor."
In Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought
, one researcher, Douglas F. Salmon, alleged that Mormon scholars' work in drawing parallels between the Book of Mormon and other sources fits this classification. Salmon notes:
Douglas also notes that Nibley himself was a critic of parallelomania where it is used to disparage the Book of Mormon, despite his extensive scholarship on the subject in defense of the Book of Mormon, noting that Nibley "ignores" the fact that parallels may suggest a unity of religious thought, or simple coincidence. He also goes on to demonstrate several instances where Nibley misrepresented the parallels, and jumped to conclusions regarding the significance of his examples.
Douglas' analysis of Nibley was itself later critiqued in a response to his article from William Hamblin of FARMS . Among other things, Hamblin criticized Douglas for critiquing a few weakly supported parallels made by Nibley while ignoring both much more strongly supported parallels made by Nibley and "a broader analysis" of Nibley's arguments.
Book of Mormon linguistic and textual issues are not discussed in missionary lessons or in Sunday School, but are typically addressed in LDS institute classes and religion classes at BYU, as well as in books and magazine articles published by the Church.
Latter Day Saint movement
The Latter Day Saint movement is a group of independent churches tracing their origin to a Christian primitivist movement founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. in the late 1820s. Collectively, these churches have over 14 million members...
, the Book of Mormon
Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement that adherents believe contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from approximately 2600 BC to AD 421. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr...
is a 19th century translation of a record of ancient inhabitants of the American continent, which was written in a script which the book refers to as "reformed Egyptian
Reformed Egyptian
According to the Book of Mormon, that scripture of the Latter Day Saint movement was originally written in reformed Egyptian characters on plates of "ore" by prophets living in the Western Hemisphere from perhaps as early as 2600 BC until as late as AD 421. Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of the...
." This claim, as well as virtually all claims to historical authenticity of the Book of Mormon, are generally rejected by non-Latter Day Saint historians and scientists. Nonetheless, linguistically based claims are frequently cited and discussed in the context of the subject of the Book of Mormon, both in favor of and against the book's claimed origins.
Both critics and promoters of the Book of Mormon have used linguistic methods to analyze the text. Promoters have published claims of stylistic forms that Joseph Smith and contemporaries are unlikely to have known about, as well as similarities to Egyptian
Egyptian language
Egyptian is the oldest known indigenous language of Egypt and a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. Written records of the Egyptian language have been dated from about 3400 BC, making it one of the oldest recorded languages known. Egyptian was spoken until the late 17th century AD in the...
and Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
. Critics of the Book of Mormon claim there are places where the language is anachronistic
Anachronism
An anachronism—from the Greek ανά and χρόνος — is an inconsistency in some chronological arrangement, especially a chronological misplacing of persons, events, objects, or customs in regard to each other...
and suggestive of a 19th century origin consistent with Joseph Smith's upbringing and life experience, as well as the books and other literature published just preceding the time the Book of Mormon was published.
The problem with linguistic reviews of the Book of Mormon is that the claimed original text is either unavailable for study or never existed. Joseph Smith said that he returned the Golden Plates
Golden Plates
According to Latter Day Saint belief, the golden plates are the source from which Joseph Smith, Jr. translated the Book of Mormon, a sacred text of the faith...
to an angel after he finished the translation.
Native American language-development
In 1922, LDS General AuthorityGeneral authority
In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , a general authority is a member of certain leadership organizations who are given administrative and ecclesiastical authority over the church...
B. H. Roberts reviewed in depth the current research at the time regarding language development and dialects among the native American peoples, which was published in 1985 as Studies of the Book of Mormon
Studies of the Book of Mormon
Studies of the Book of Mormon, Brigham D. Madsen, ed. is a collection of previously unpublished manuscripts, written by LDS General Authority B.H...
after his death in 1933.
Under the assumption that the majority of the Native Americans descend from the peoples described in the Book of Mormon, Roberts noted that linguistic evidence among the Native American peoples does not appear to support the Book of Mormon narrative, inasmuch as the diverse language stocks and dialects that exist would not have had enough time to develop from a single language dating from 400 A.D. (the date of the conclusion of the Book of Mormon record). He noted:
The facts...developed up to this point seem to be--
1. That there are a large number of separate language stocks in America that show very little relationship to each other.
2. That it would take a long time - much longer than that recognized as "historic times" - to develop these dialects and stocks where the development is conceived of as arising from a common source of origin - some primitive language.
3. That there is no connection between the American languages and the language of any people of the Old World. New World languages appear to be indigenous to the New World.
4. That the time limits named in the Book of Mormon - which represents the people of America as speaking and writing one language down to as late a period as 400 A.D. - is not sufficient to allow for these divergences into the American language stocks and their dialects.
Apologists from FARMS
Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies
The Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies is an informal collaboration of academics devoted to Latter-day Saint historical scholarship. The group is formally part of the Neal A...
have published studies that claim that the linguistic evidence cited by Roberts above does not necessarily contradict narrative of the Book of Mormon. Specifically, if one adheres to the Limited Geography Model
Limited geography model (Book of Mormon)
A limited geography model for the Book of Mormon is one of several theories by Latter Day Saint movement scholars that the book's narrative was a historical record of people in a limited geographical region, rather than of the entire Western Hemisphere as believed by some early Latter Day Saints...
, then it is possible that many of the peoples of the Book of Mormon are not the principal ancestors of the Native Americans. One Mormon linguist has published a survey of similarities between Semitic languages and Uto-Aztecan.
Specialists in the languages of Native America have accepted no proposals for a relationship between any Native American language or language family and the languages of the ancient Near East.
Linguistic anachronisms
Critics of the church have claimed that a variety of linguistic anachronisms exist in the Book of Mormon which cast doubt upon its historical authenticity. Linguistic anachronisms, in the Book of Mormon, are words that represent concepts that are not believed to have existed in the Americas between 2500 B.C. and 400 A.D., or in the Jewish world of Lehi's time - the period of history covered by the narrative of the Book of Mormon. Mormon apologists dispute these claims, with some counterarguments pointing out that during the translation of the golden platesGolden Plates
According to Latter Day Saint belief, the golden plates are the source from which Joseph Smith, Jr. translated the Book of Mormon, a sacred text of the faith...
, Joseph Smith may have chosen words that he knew that were closest in meaning to the original concept written on the plates (i.e., a "translator's anachronism").
"Christ" and "Messiah"
The words "ChristChrist
Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...
" and "Messiah
Messiah
A messiah is a redeemer figure expected or foretold in one form or another by a religion. Slightly more widely, a messiah is any redeemer figure. Messianic beliefs or theories generally relate to eschatological improvement of the state of humanity or the world, in other words the World to...
" are used several hundred times throughout the Book of Mormon. The first instance of the word "Christ" dates to between 559 and 545 B.C. The first instance of the word "Messiah" dates to about 600 B.C.
"Christ" is the English transliteration of the Greek word Χριστός (transliterated precisely as Christós); it is relatively synonymous with the Hebrew word משיח, pronounced Ma-SHEE-ach and rendered "Messiah
Messiah
A messiah is a redeemer figure expected or foretold in one form or another by a religion. Slightly more widely, a messiah is any redeemer figure. Messianic beliefs or theories generally relate to eschatological improvement of the state of humanity or the world, in other words the World to...
." Both words have the meaning of "anointed," and are used in the Bible to refer to "the Anointed One". In Greek translations of the Old Testament (including the Septuagint), the word "Christ" is used for the Hebrew "Messiah", and in Hebrew translations of the New Testament, the word "Messiah" is used for the Greek "Christ". Any passage in the Bible that uses the word "Christ" can substitute the word "Messiah" or "the Messiah" with no change in meaning (e.g. ).
The Book of Mormon uses both terms throughout the book. In the vast majority of cases, it uses the terms in an identical manner as the Bible, where it does not matter which word is used:
- "And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall" .
- "And after he had baptized the Messiah with water, he should behold and bear record that he had baptized the Lamb of God, who should take away the sins of the world." .
Jeff Lindsay notes that Joseph Smith's use of the form commonly used in English in the translation does not indicate that the original text used the same form. Joseph may have translated the original title into the more common English form.
Richard Packham argues that the Greek word "Christ" in the Book of Mormon challenges the authenticity of the work since, Joseph Smith clearly stated that, "There was no Greek or Latin upon the plates from which I, through the grace of the Lord, translated the Book of Mormon."
Apologists note that the word "Christ" is a translational equivalent to the term "Messiah", arguing that "It is no more anachronistic for pre-Christian era Book of Mormon peoples to believe in a coming Messiah/Christ than it was for Old Testament prophets to believe in a coming Messiah/Christ."
"Church" and "Synagogue"
The word "churchChristian Church
The Christian Church is the assembly or association of followers of Jesus Christ. The Greek term ἐκκλησία that in its appearances in the New Testament is usually translated as "church" basically means "assembly"...
" first occurs in 1 Nephi 4:26, where a prophet named Nephi disguises himself as Laban, a prominent man in Jerusalem whom Nephi had slain:
"And he [Laban's servant], supposing that I spake of the brethren of the church, and that I was truly that Laban whom I had slain, wherefore he did follow me" .
According to the Book of Mormon
Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement that adherents believe contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from approximately 2600 BC to AD 421. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr...
, this exchange happened in Jerusalem, around 600 B.C. The meaning of the word "church
Christian Church
The Christian Church is the assembly or association of followers of Jesus Christ. The Greek term ἐκκλησία that in its appearances in the New Testament is usually translated as "church" basically means "assembly"...
" in the Book of Mormon is more comparable to usage in the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
than Modern English. The concept of a church, meaning a convocation of believers, existed among the House of Israel
House of Israel
The House of Israel is a Jewish community in Ghana. This ethnic group claim to be one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.-History of Jews in Ghana:...
prior to Christianity. For instance, Psalms
Psalms
The Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...
speaks of praising the Lord "in the congregation of the saints"; the Septuagint contains the Greek word ecclesia for "congregation," which is also translated as "church" in the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
.
A similar question regards the word "synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
", found in Alma 16:13:
"And Alma and Amulek went forth preaching repentance to the people in their temples, and in their sanctuaries, and also in their synagogues, which were built after the manner of the Jews" .
Critics of the Book of Mormon note that synagogues did not exist in their modern form before the destruction of the temple and the Babylonian captivity
Babylonian captivity
The Babylonian captivity was the period in Jewish history during which the Jews of the ancient Kingdom of Judah were captives in Babylon—conventionally 587–538 BCE....
. The oldest known synagogue is located in Delos, Greece has been dated to 150 BC. Mormon apologist William J. Adams cites archaeologist Lee I. Levine
Lee I. Levine
Lee I. Levine is an American-born rabbi, archaeologist and historian of classical Judaism. He is a strong believer in the ability of the Jewish people and Judaism to adapt to local settings as a key to survival...
in suggesting that synagogues did in fact exist before the Babylonian captivity, though in a different form.
Other anachronisms
Critics Jerald and Sandra TannerJerald and Sandra Tanner
Jerald Dee Tanner was an American writer and researcher who, with his wife Sandra McGee Tanner spent nearly fifty years annotating and publishing archival and evidential materials which, the Tanners claim, accurately portrayed the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
and Marvin W. Cowan contend that certain linguistic properties show possible anachronisms in the text which question its claim as a historical document.
These critics cite linguistic anachronisms such as:
- The Americanized name "Sam" & 17
- The French word "Adieu"
- Exact copies of many verses of the King James version of the Bible, which was not published until 1611
Scholars Gee, Roper and Tvedtnes report that the name Sam is found on a bronze ringmounted seal dated in the 7th century B.C. They also note that the name Samuel in Hebrew is a combination of two words—Shem and El. In early Hebrew, the same letter was used for “s” and “sh” and vowels were not specified. Judges 12:6 demonstrates that the tribe of Joseph pronounced the letter that Shem began with as “s.” Lehi was a descendant of Joseph.
Daniel H. Ludlow
Daniel H. Ludlow
Daniel Hansen Ludlow was a professor of religion at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. He was also the chief editor of the Encyclopedia of Mormonism, published in 1992 by Macmillan.- Biography :...
contends that the anachronism of the French word "adieu", and others, may have been the result of Joseph Smith choosing the best word available to convey the meaning of the original text.
Professor Craig L. Blomberg has pointed out several verses in the Book Mormon apparently similar to biblical verses in the King James version of the Bible. According to Blomberg, includes overt references to , , , and were most likely written with their direct influence in mind. Furthermore, Blomberg claims that contains allusions to . Blomberg summarizes his overall position on Book of Mormon anachronisms as follows: "Indeed, the entire Book of Mormon abounds with explicit references to Christ, to his life and ministry and to the three persons of the Godhead long before New Testament times... even though none of these concepts or terms ever appear in these forms in the Old Testament or any other ancient Jewish literature."
Chiasmus
ChiasmusChiasmus
In rhetoric, chiasmus is the figure of speech in which two or more clauses are related to each other through a reversal of structures in order to make a larger point; that is, the clauses display inverted parallelism...
is a form of rhetoric
Rhetoric
Rhetoric is the art of discourse, an art that aims to improve the facility of speakers or writers who attempt to inform, persuade, or motivate particular audiences in specific situations. As a subject of formal study and a productive civic practice, rhetoric has played a central role in the Western...
al parallelism wherein key ideas familiar to the reader are inverted, usually for some kind of emphasis. Chiasmus appears in many languages, including English, Ugaritic, Biblical Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin. It is found in the Bible and other ancient Middle Eastern poetry; for example, :
- Whoever sheds the blood of man,
- by man shall his blood be shed.
Chiasmus has been identified in modern poetry and prose. The first lines of John Keats
John Keats
John Keats was an English Romantic poet. Along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, he was one of the key figures in the second generation of the Romantic movement, despite the fact that his work had been in publication for only four years before his death.Although his poems were not...
' On First Looking Into Chapman's Homer, for instance, run,
- Much have I travelled in the realms of gold,
- and many goodly states and kingdoms seen.
Here "realms of gold" and "goodly states and kingdoms" are bookended by the verbs "travelled" and "seen" to form an ABBA pattern.
The Book of Mormon
Examples of chiasmus can be found in the Book of Mormon. Some have argued chiasmus is evidence of the text's historical authenticity, suggesting it reflects the SemiticSemitic
In linguistics and ethnology, Semitic was first used to refer to a language family of largely Middle Eastern origin, now called the Semitic languages...
background of Nephi
Nephi
According to the Book of Mormon, Nephi was the son of Lehi, a prophet, founder of the Nephite people, and author of the first two books of the Book of Mormon, First and Second Nephi.- Early life :Nephi was the fourth of six sons of Lehi and Sariah...
and other authors of the Book of Mormon. They claim that such findings support claims of Hebrew origins in the text on the basis that chiasmus is often found in Hebrew texts such as the Bible.
Others argue that chiasmus is not evidence of Hebrew origin.
In 1969 John W. Welch
John W. Welch
John Woodland "Jack" Welch is an LDS law and religion scholar who currently teaches at the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University .- Biography :...
, later LDS Law and religion scholar, discovered a variety of instances of chiasmus in the Book of Mormon and along with his discovery came attention to the phenomenon. The most commonly cited example of chiasmus in the Book of Mormon is the prophet Alma's religious experience, as recorded in .
John Welch claims that it is unlikely, although not impossible, that Smith knew about chiasmus at the time of the Book of Mormon's publication implicating that chiasmus could only be present in the text if indeed the text is a translation and not a fabrication.
Many though, argue against this being true chiasmus, and do not see a correlation between presence of chiasmus in the Book of Mormon and its authenticity. And still others disagree on the extent to which chiasmus occurs in the text. With regard to the Alma 36 chiasmus, one critic alleges that John Welch "fashioned a chiasm by selecting elements from repetitious language, creatively labeling elements, ignoring text, pairing unbalanced elements, and even including asymmetrical elements".
Welch himself offers the following caution regarding a tendency of enthusiastic readers to see chiasmus where it is not actually present:
Some people, of course, have gone overboard with this search, and caution must be employed; otherwise, it is possible to find chiasmus in the telephone book, and the effort becomes meaningless…One must be careful in this quest, however, to avoid the problems of the "hammer syndrome"—to the person holding a hammer, everything looks like a nail. To the person who knows only chiasmus and no other form of literary composition, everything may start looking like a chiasm.
Further, Hugh Pinnock, an LDS General Authority
General authority
In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , a general authority is a member of certain leadership organizations who are given administrative and ecclesiastical authority over the church...
, stated:
"Because the study of Hebrew writing forms in the Book of Mormon can strengthen testimony and be quite exciting, a number of researchers and laypersons have become overly enthusiastic, much to the detriment of the subject and integrity of their studies."
Critics argue that there is no correlation between the appearance of chiasmus and the authenticity of the Book of Mormon because among other things chiasmus appears in many languages including eighteenth and nineteenth-century English literature.
Occurrence in other LDS scriptures
Some claim writings in the form of chiasmus can also be found in the Doctrine and CovenantsDoctrine and Covenants
The Doctrine and Covenants is a part of the open scriptural canon of several denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement...
and The Pearl of Great Price
Pearl of Great Price (Mormonism)
The Pearl of Great Price is part of the standard works of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and some other Latter Day Saint denominations....
, two other works of scripture in the LDS cannon written by Smith. Critics believe this supports their claim that Joseph Smith knew about chiasmus, and that it may have been a characteristic of his personal writing style.
Apologists argue these examples should be considered a type of sporadic repetition rather than the full fledged chiasmus (that is claimed to be found in ), Charles G. Kroupa and Richard C. Shipp are notable for publishing arguments for chiasmus in the Doctrine and Covenants in 1972. Shipp also produced a masters thesis out of BYU titled "Conceptual Patterns of Repetition in the Doctrine and Covenants and Their Implications" in 1975 claiming that writings found in the Doctrine and Covenants had literary patterns similar to chiasmus. In 2004, a study was published by LDS researchers which used statistical analysis to determine the likelihood that a chiastic structure in LDS works appeared by chance as opposed to being created deliberately. Mathematical formulas were used to calculate a set of probabilities that provided the ability to distinguish between strong and weak chiastic structures. The authors concluded (as published by BYU):
Based on these estimates, we conclude that the likelihood is high that chiastic structure appeared by design in the Pentateuch and in the Book of Mormon. Our estimates do not support such a conclusion for the Doctrine and Covenants, the Book of Abraham… indicating instead that chiasms could have appeared in these works by chance.
Other works containing chiasmus
Chiastic patterns have also been found in the Book of the Law of the LordBook of the Law of the Lord
The Book of the Law of the Lord is a book accepted as scripture by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints . It is alleged to be a translation by the Strangite prophet James Strang of the Plates of Laban, originally acquired by Nephi, a leading character in the early portion of The Book of...
, a purported translation of an ancient text by James J. Strang. This book is not considered authentic by most Latter Day Saints.
Critics point out that the presence of chiasmus in Strang's writing as well as in the literature of other cultures implies that the source could be non-Hebrew. Additionally, they claim that the examination of a post-translation text might make identifying chiasmus in the original language difficult, and that the presence of chiasmus is not necessarily indicative of ancient origins.
Statistical analysis
StylometryStylometry
Stylometry is the application of the study of linguistic style, usually to written language, but it has successfully been applied to music and to fine-art paintings as well.Stylometry is often used to attribute authorship to anonymous or disputed documents...
is a method of statistical analysis used to determine authorship of various texts. It has been used to analyze disputed works of Shakespeare, contrast books of the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
, identify the authors of twelve disputed Federalist Papers
Federalist Papers
The Federalist Papers are a series of 85 articles or essays promoting the ratification of the United States Constitution. Seventy-seven of the essays were published serially in The Independent Journal and The New York Packet between October 1787 and August 1788...
, and compare styles of various authors such as Jane Austen
Jane Austen
Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.Austen lived...
. In 1980, researchers at Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University is a private university located in Provo, Utah. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and is the United States' largest religious university and third-largest private university.Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students...
used stylometric techniques they called "wordprint analysis" to examine the possible authors of the Book of Mormon. They reached the conclusion that none of the Book of Mormon selections they studied resembled writings of any of the suggested nineteenth-century authors, including Joseph Smith.
Jerald and Sandra Tanner
Jerald and Sandra Tanner
Jerald Dee Tanner was an American writer and researcher who, with his wife Sandra McGee Tanner spent nearly fifty years annotating and publishing archival and evidential materials which, the Tanners claim, accurately portrayed the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
challenged their findings on various points, most notably questioning the reliability of the data sources used and the methodology of the "wordprint analysis." Additionally, D. James Croft wrote in Sunstone
Sunstone Magazine
Sunstone is a magazine published by the Sunstone Education Foundation, Inc., a 501 nonprofit corporation, that discusses Mormonism through scholarship, art, short fiction, and poetry. The foundation began the publication in 1974 and considers it a vehicle for free and frank exchange in The Church...
that there were several flaws in the methodology that were vulnerable to criticism.
A more sophisticated approach was taken by Mormon researcher John Hilton and non-LDS colleagues at Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, who "went to great pains to immunize the methodology from criticism" through the use of control tests.
The Berkeley Group first used a variety of control tests with non-disputed authors (e.g. works by Mark Twain, and translated works from German) in an effort to:
- Demonstrate the persistence of wordprints despite an author's effort to write as a different 'character'
- Demonstrate that wordprints were not obliterated by translation (e.g. two different authors rendered by the same translator would still have different wordprints).
John Hilton concluded that, if wordprinting is a valid technique, then this analysis suggests that it is "statistically indefensible" to claim that Joseph, Oliver, or Solomon Spaulding wrote the 30,000 words in the Book of Mormon attributed to Nephi and Alma.
One prominent Mormon scholar, John A. Tvedtnes, has rejected the use of wordprint evidence as the foundation for a testimony of the Book of Mormon's validity, though he never dismissed its possible usefulness as a scientific tool to investigate the book's origins. Upon review of the Berkeley study, another scholar, Kevin L. Barney, remains unconvinced of the validity of wordprint analysis:
"I have always felt that the basis assumptions underlying Book of Mormon wordprint studies are faulty. I concur with the assessment of John Tvedtnes, who points out that (1) an English translation should reflect the language of the translator rather than the original author, and (2) the particles used in wordprint studies (such as "of") are often non-existent in Hebrew, which tends to use syntax to express the meaning of English particles."
However, in the same article, Barney confessed, "I frankly do not understand the statistics well enough to offer a useful critique of the studies."
In a new peer-reviewed study using a traditional authorship method and a new pattern classification technique, several researchers at Stanford University concluded that Rigdon
Sidney Rigdon
Sidney Rigdon was a leader during the early history of the Latter Day Saint movement.-Baptist background:...
, Spalding
Solomon Spalding
Solomon Spalding was the author of the Manuscript Story, a work of fiction about the lost civilization of the mound builders of North America...
, and Cowdery
Oliver Cowdery
Oliver H. P. Cowdery was, with Joseph Smith, Jr., an important participant in the formative period of the Latter Day Saint movement between 1829 and 1836, becoming one of the Three Witnesses of the Book of Mormon's golden plates, one of the first Latter Day Saint apostles, and the Second Elder of...
were more likely to have written the book out of a pool of authors that also included Parley Pratt, and two statistical control authors Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline...
and Joel Barlow
Joel Barlow
Joel Barlow was an American poet, diplomat and politician. In his own time, Barlow was well-known for the epic Vision of Columbus. Modern readers may be more familiar with "The Hasty Pudding"...
. Joseph Smith himself was not included in the pool of authors because a set of original works written by Smith alone could not be identified with confidence. However, this study only examined the possibility of one of the five above mentioned authors writing the study, not the possibility that an author or authors outside of the pool of authors mentioned above writing the book. Another study was recently published in the same journal that critiqued the methodology used in the Jockers et al. 2008 study and, using Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith was founder of what later became known as the Latter Day Saint movement or Mormons.Joseph Smith may also refer to:-Latter Day Saints:* Joseph Smith, Sr. , father of Joseph Smith...
's personal writings written in his own handwriting, concluded that stylometric evidence supports neither Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith was founder of what later became known as the Latter Day Saint movement or Mormons.Joseph Smith may also refer to:-Latter Day Saints:* Joseph Smith, Sr. , father of Joseph Smith...
nor Spaulding-Rigdon authorship.
Parallels
Non-Mormon Thomas Donofrio claims to have found hundreds of parallels between peculiar wordings in the Book of Mormon and the writings of well-known historical and religious figures of the 18th and 19th centuries. Unlike the earlier studies, Donofrio's research has not been peer-reviewed. Respondents to this study point out that the use of parallels to prove derivation can be used to illogical extremes. As an example, LDS apologist Jeff Lindsay composed a documented essay "proving" the parallels between The Book of Mormon and Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, which was published 25 years after the Book of Mormon.LDS scholars, however, say that the Book of Mormon
Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement that adherents believe contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from approximately 2600 BC to AD 421. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr...
is a translation, not originally written by Smith, but translated into the language with which he was familiar. While wordprint studies (by the same team used to verify the identity of the Unabomber in court) may be compelling, the inclusion of modern phraseology shouldn't surprise anyone. The word book
Book
A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of hot lava, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page...
, for example, was not used by the ancient Hebrews. Yet both in the King James Version of the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
and the Book of Mormon
Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement that adherents believe contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from approximately 2600 BC to AD 421. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr...
, the word appears anachronistically. Scholars point out that this could well be the logical result of an ancient work translated by a modern man using the wording best suited to convey the ideas to a modern reader.
Hebrew names
Apologists note that many of the proper names in the Book of Mormon are Hebrew names found in the Bible (e.g. Lehi, Lemuel, Ammon, and Enos). Tvedtnes, Gee, & Roper argue that there are a number of Hebrew names found in the Book of Mormon which do not appear in the Bible but occur in other ancient sources. Examples of these are Aha, Ammonihah, Chemish, Hagoth, Himni, Isabel, Jarom, Josh, Luram, Mathoni, Mathonihah, Muloki, and Sam. Hugh Nibley also claims that many non-biblical names found in the Book of Mormon resemble words from ancient Hebrew (e.g. Sariah, Jarom, and Josh). Some, like AlmaAlma
- Print media :* Alma , a 1922 novel by Oswald de Andrade* Alma , a drama by Joshua Sobol about Alma Mahler-Werfel* Alma Cogan , a 1991 novel by Gordon Burn...
, are attested Hebrew names. Milton Hunter and Thomas Ferguson allege that Hebraic fragments and roots appear discernible in Nephite / Mulekite names such as "Zarahemla
Zarahemla
Zarahemla is the name of a prominent land, a capital city, and a leader in the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is revered by members of various Latter Day Saint churches as sacred scripture....
". These names are often interpreted as evidence in favor of the Book of Mormon, since Joseph Smith's knowledge of Hebrew was limited to names found in the Bible.
Critics have pointed out that many of the names in the Book of Mormon that are not drawn from the King James Bible are found in the local environment around Palmyra, New York and would have been known to Smith. Richard Packham has pointed out that several Biblical Hebrew names, including Aaron, Ephraim, and Levi are listed as Jaredites in the Book of Ether
Book of Ether
The Book of Ether is one of the books that make up the Book of Mormon. The Book of Ether tells of an ancient people , descendants of Jared and his companions who were led by God to the Americas shortly after the confusion of tongues and the destruction of the Tower of Babel...
. He argues that these are anachronisms, since the Jaredites are supposed to have originated from the time of the Tower of Babel, and did not speak Hebrew.
Mesoamerican Names
LDS archaeologist Bruce W. WarrenBruce W. Warren
Bruce W. Warren is a professor of archeology at Brigham Young University. He holds a Ph.D. in the subject from the University of Arizona. He coauthored The Messiah in Ancient America with Thomas Stuart Ferguson, although it is more accurate to say Warren completed this book several years after...
has noted that some Jaredite
Jaredite
The Jaredites are a people written of in the Book of Mormon, principally in the Book of Ether. In the Book of Ether, the Jaredites are described as the descendants of Jared and his brother, at the time of the Tower of Babel. According to the Book of Mormon, the people fled across the Ocean via...
names may have become a part of later Nephite culture, suggesting that there may have been survivors or refugees of the great Jaredite battle besides Coriantumr. He cites the names Kib, Kish, Shule, and Com as examples of Jaredite names that are similar to names found in ancient Mesoamerica.
Egyptian names
Some Mormon scholars, including John GeeJohn Gee
John Laurence Gee is a prominent Mormon apologist, and Egyptologist at Brigham Young University who is known for his writings in support of the Book of Abraham.-Background:...
, John A. Tvedtnes, and Hugh Nibley
Hugh Nibley
Hugh Winder Nibley was an American author, Mormon apologist, and professor at Brigham Young University...
, argue that some Book of Mormon names appear to be Egyptian
Egyptian language
Egyptian is the oldest known indigenous language of Egypt and a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. Written records of the Egyptian language have been dated from about 3400 BC, making it one of the oldest recorded languages known. Egyptian was spoken until the late 17th century AD in the...
. Tvedtnes, Gee, and Roper note that William F. Albright
William F. Albright
William Foxwell Albright was an American archaeologist, biblical scholar, philologist and expert on ceramics. From the early twentieth century until his death, he was the dean of biblical archaeologists and the universally acknowledged founder of the Biblical archaeology movement...
considered the names Paanchi
Paanchi
Paanchi , also spelled as Piankhi, Piankhy, and Piyi, was an ancient ruler of the kingdom of Nubia. In the 21st year of his reign , he conquered Egypt. He adopted the throne name Menkheperre...
and Pahoran
Pahoran
In the Book of Mormon, Pahoran was the third chief judge over the people of Nephi, having inherited the judgement-seat from his father Nephihah, at the end of the 24th year of the reign of the judges over the Nephites, or 67 BC...
to be Egyptian names. In his book Lehi in the Desert, Dr. Hugh Nibley compares names found in the Book of Mormon with ancient Egyptian names from Upper Egypt
Upper Egypt
Upper Egypt is the strip of land, on both sides of the Nile valley, that extends from the cataract boundaries of modern-day Aswan north to the area between El-Ayait and Zawyet Dahshur . The northern section of Upper Egypt, between El-Ayait and Sohag is sometimes known as Middle Egypt...
. The comparisons show that many names in the Book of Mormon are similar to names in a certain region and era of ancient Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. Nibley postulates that names do not match exactly due to the process of metathesis
Metathesis (linguistics)
Metathesis is the re-arranging of sounds or syllables in a word, or of words in a sentence. Most commonly it refers to the switching of two or more contiguous sounds, known as adjacent metathesis or local metathesis:...
. Parallels drawn by Nibley between Egyptian names and Book of Mormon names include the aforementioned Paanchi and Pahoran, and further include several others including Korihor
Korihor
Korihor is a skeptic mentioned in The Book of Mormon, in Alma . Korihor preached ...that there could be no atonement made for the sins of men, but every man fared in this life according to the management of the creature; therefore every man prospered according to his genius, and that every man...
(Kherihor, a High Priest at Thebes
Thebes, Egypt
Thebes is the Greek name for a city in Ancient Egypt located about 800 km south of the Mediterranean, on the east bank of the river Nile within the modern city of Luxor. The Theban Necropolis is situated nearby on the west bank of the Nile.-History:...
) and Morianton (Meriaton, an Egyptian prince), and Ammon (Amun, the most common name in ancient Egypt).
Thomas Finley rebuts such claims by Nibley and other writers Critics claim that the parallels drawn by Nibley and others ignore the possibility of simple coincidence, and lack a defined methodology for assessing the importance of the parallels.(See Parallelomania section below). Tvetdnes and Roper responded by noting that there are too many coincidences for such an assessment to be credible.
Joseph Smith, in a letter written in 1843 to the Latter Day Saints' publication, the Millennial Star
Millennial Star
The Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star was the longest continuously published periodical of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, being printed from 1840 until 1970....
, wrote that the name "Mormon" came from "the Egyptian Mon, hence with the addition of more, or the contraction, mor, we have the word Mormon, which means, literally, more good." Benjamin Urrutia
Benjamín Urrutia
Benjamin Urrutia is an author and scholar. With Guy Davenport, Urrutia edited The Logia of Yeshua, which collected what Urrutia and Davenport consider to be Jesus' authentic sayings from a variety of canonical and non-canonical sources...
suggests the name Mormon is derived from Egyptian Mor, "Love," and Mon, "firmly established" rendering Mormon as "Love is firmly established." Richard Packham criticizes Smith's interpretation, stating that the English word "more" or "mor" is out of place in an Egyptian name.
Greek names
Joseph Smith stated in a letter to the editor of Times and SeasonsTimes and Seasons
Times and Seasons was a 19th-century Latter Day Saint periodical published monthly or twice-monthly at Nauvoo, Illinois, from November 1839 to February 15, 1846...
, "There was no Greek or Latin upon the plates from which I, through the grace of the Lord, translated the Book of Mormon." Brian D. Stubbs has stated that though the language of the Mulekites isn't put forward in the Book of Mormon, it could have consisted of Phoenician, Greek, or Arabic.
Nevertheless, Richard Packham points out that the Book of Mormon contains some Greek and Latin names, some of which are Hellenization
Hellenization
Hellenization is a term used to describe the spread of ancient Greek culture, and, to a lesser extent, language. It is mainly used to describe the spread of Hellenistic civilization during the Hellenistic period following the campaigns of Alexander the Great of Macedon...
s of Hebrew names (e.g. Antipas, Archeantus, Esrom, Ezias, Judea and Zenos) and some of which are Greek or Latin. These are found in the King James Version and would have been known to Joseph Smith.
Word Choice in Translation
The mechanics of the method by which the Book of Mormon was claimed to have been translated have been examined by various scholars in order to determine how words were chosen. Various accounts from witnesses to the translation process exist, including David Whitmer and Martin Harris, two of the Three WitnessesThree Witnesses
The Three Witnesses were a group of three early leaders of the Latter Day Saint movement who signed a statement in 1830 saying that an angel had shown them the golden plates from which Joseph Smith, Jr. translated the Book of Mormon and that they had heard God's voice testifying that the book had...
. Statements of the exact methods used in translation vary depending upon the account. A number of these accounts were written many years after the events occurred.
Method of translation
LDS Church authorities do not claim to know the exact method by which translation and word choice was accomplished. In an address given 25 June 1992 at a seminar for new mission presidents at the Missionary Training Center, Mormon Apostle Russell M. Nelson stated that “[t]he details of this miraculous method of translation are still not fully known.” In order to illustrate this, Nelson quoted the words of Book of Mormon witness David Whitmer (who had not served as a Book of Mormon scribe), who wrote regarding the use of a seer stone in the translation process over 50 years after it had occurred,
Joseph Smith would put the seer stone into a hat, and put his face in the hat, drawing it closely around his face to exclude the light; and in the darkness the spiritual light would shine. A piece of something resembling parchment would appear, and on that appeared the writing. One character at a time would appear, and under it was the interpretation in English. Brother Joseph would read off the English to Oliver Cowdery, who was his principal scribe, and when it was written down and repeated to Brother Joseph to see if it was correct, then it would disappear, and another character with the interpretation would appear. Thus the Book of Mormon was translated by the gift and power of God, and not by any power of man.
Nelson also noted statements made by Joseph's wife, Emma Hale Smith
Emma Hale Smith
Emma Hale Smith Bidamon was married to Joseph Smith, Jr., until his death in 1844, and was an early leader of the Latter Day Saint movement, during Joseph Smith's lifetime and afterward as a member of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints...
, who gave her account of the translation method in 1856:
When my husband was translating the Book of Mormon, I wrote a part of it, as he dictated each sentence, word for word, and when he came to proper names he could not pronounce, or long words, he spelled them out, and while I was writing them, if I made any mistake in spelling, he would stop me and correct my spelling although it was impossible for him to see how I was writing them down at the time. Even the word Sarah he could not pronounce at first, but had to spell it, and I would pronounce it for him.
Martin Harris (as quoted by Edward Stevenson
Edward Stevenson
Edward Stevenson was a prominent Mormon missionary of the 19th century. He also served as a general authority in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as one of the seven presidents of the Seventy....
in the Deseret News in 1881) described the translation process as follows:
By aid of the seer stone, sentences would appear and were read by the Prophet... when finished [the Prophet] would say "Written," and if correctly written that sentence would disappear and another appear in its place, but if not written correctly it remained until corrected, so that the translation was just as it was engraven on the plates, precisely in the language then used.
Word substitution
One challenge in performing a linguistic analysis of the Book of Mormon is that no original text is available for analysis; only handwritten printers' copies transcribed from the original handwritten copies of the original English text, and a few pages of the original translation produced by Joseph Smith are available. As with any translation, the influence of the translator is inextricably part of the translated text in matters of word choice. Some Mormon scholars have theorized that when words are found in the Book of Mormon that seem anachronistic, or that refer to items not known to have existed in the pre-Columbian Americas during the period of time covered by the Book of Mormon (e.g. horse, elephant, chicken, cattle, swine, barley, bull, calf, and hilt), these words could be an approximation in translation to things that did exist in pre-Columbian America.One common criticism of the authenticity of the Book of Mormon is the belief that, if the accounts of the translation process are accurate, then there is very little room for error in the word choices used in the translation of the Book of Mormon (since each word was believed to be divinely approved and could not be written incorrectly). "Steel" must mean steel, "hilt" must mean hilt, "elephant" must mean elephant, and so forth. However, as Whitmer was never directly involved in the translation and Harris was involved for only a brief period of time, LDS scholars consider it unlikely that either of these accounts is as accurate as the accounts of Smith and Cowdery.
Grammar
Several critics have pointed to grammatical errors in the Early Modern English style of the Book of Mormon and made the argument that because the first edition of the Book of Mormon contained hundreds of grammatical errors (removed in later editions), the book was therefore fabricated by J. Smith and not divinely inspired. Examples include (page numbers from 1830 edition):- "Adam and Eve, which was our first parents" (p. 15)
- "This he done that he might subject them" (p. 225)
- "They did not fight against God no more" (p. 290)
(Page numbers from an unknown edition before the text was divided into chapters and verses)
- “thou remembereth” (page 27)
- "and I have not written but a small part of the things I saw" (page 35)
- "therefore they did not look unto the Lord as they had ought" (ibid.)
- "and this he done" (page 225)
- "and the words of Amulek which was declared unto the people" (page 245)
- "now the object of these lawyers were to get gain" (page 251)
- 2 Nephi 1:30-32, Lehi speaks to Zoram: "And now, Zoram, I speak unto you: Behold, thou art the servant of Laban...if ye shall keep the commandments of the Lord, the Lord hath consecrated this land for the security of thy seed with the seed of my son." You/ye are plural pronouns and thou/thy are singular pronouns, but the text inexplicably switches back and forth between them.
- 2 Nephi 3:1, Lehi says: "And now I speak unto you, Joseph, my last-born. Thou wast born in the wilderness of mine afflictions..." You is incorrectly used when addressing a single individual.
- Mosiah 2:19-20, King Benjamin says: "O how you ought to thank your heavenly King! ... if you should render all the thanks and praise...." You is the object form of the second person plural pronoun ye is the subject form, but the object form is incorrectly used in subject position here and also in dozens of other places throughout the text.
LDS leader President George Albert Smith responded to this issue thus: "...[when] the Lord reveals anything to men He reveals it in language that accords with their own. If any of you were to converse with an angel, and you used strictly grammatical language he would do the same. But if you used two negatives in a sentence the heavenly messenger would use language to correspond with your understanding, and this very objection to the Book of Mormon is an evidence in its favor."
Parallelomania
Critics of Book of Mormon linguistic studies often reject the claims of Mormon scholars on the grounds that the parallels they draw between Book of Mormon and other sources amounts to "parallelomania", which is defined as the "over use or improper use of parallels in the exposition of a text."In Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought
Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought
Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought is an independent quarterly journal of "Mormon thought" that addresses a wide range of issues on Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint Movement....
, one researcher, Douglas F. Salmon, alleged that Mormon scholars' work in drawing parallels between the Book of Mormon and other sources fits this classification. Salmon notes:
There has been an exegetical trend during the last several decades to draw endless parallels to text from the ancient Near East and beyond in an attempt to validate the writings in the Book of Mormon and Pearl of Great Price. The pioneer and leader in this effort has been the great LDS scholar Hugh NibleyHugh NibleyHugh Winder Nibley was an American author, Mormon apologist, and professor at Brigham Young University...
. In recent years the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS) has continued this legacy. The number of parallels that Nibley has been able to uncover from amazingly disparate and arcane sources is truly staggering. Unfortunately, there seems to be a neglect of any methodological reflection or articulation in this endeavor.
Douglas also notes that Nibley himself was a critic of parallelomania where it is used to disparage the Book of Mormon, despite his extensive scholarship on the subject in defense of the Book of Mormon, noting that Nibley "ignores" the fact that parallels may suggest a unity of religious thought, or simple coincidence. He also goes on to demonstrate several instances where Nibley misrepresented the parallels, and jumped to conclusions regarding the significance of his examples.
Douglas' analysis of Nibley was itself later critiqued in a response to his article from William Hamblin of FARMS . Among other things, Hamblin criticized Douglas for critiquing a few weakly supported parallels made by Nibley while ignoring both much more strongly supported parallels made by Nibley and "a broader analysis" of Nibley's arguments.
Book of Mormon linguistic and textual issues are not discussed in missionary lessons or in Sunday School, but are typically addressed in LDS institute classes and religion classes at BYU, as well as in books and magazine articles published by the Church.
External links
- LDS site with examples of chiasmus and hebraisms
- The Dynamics of Book of Mormon Parallelism
- Hebraisms and Other Ancient Peculiarities in the Book of Mormon
- Finding Biblical Hebrew and Other Ancient Literary Forms in the Book of Mormon
See also
- Book of MormonBook of MormonThe Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement that adherents believe contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from approximately 2600 BC to AD 421. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr...
- Reformed EgyptianReformed EgyptianAccording to the Book of Mormon, that scripture of the Latter Day Saint movement was originally written in reformed Egyptian characters on plates of "ore" by prophets living in the Western Hemisphere from perhaps as early as 2600 BC until as late as AD 421. Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of the...
- LinguisticsLinguisticsLinguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....