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I have a friend with whom I talk regularly, and the Book of Mormon came up recently. He’s fully active and has read the Book of Mormon 40 times. I mentioned how it bothers me that the Bible was curated as a disparate set of writings by different authors, and not provided all collected in one place like the Book of Mormon. Also, how the Book of Mormon seems kind of homogenous in its style, with repeated “And it came to pass that…” and “Behold….” as standard phraseology throughout the book. His response is that a study of the language of the Book of Mormon indicates there were 15 different voices or writing styles in the Book of Mormon. He uses this to justify the idea that the Book of Mormon was in fact written by different authors, with the plates being collected over time into one package.
What are your thoughts on this — do you really think the Book of Mormon was written by 15 different authors, or is it really one voice — the voice of Joseph Smith?
It looks like there is something to this: https://evidencecentral.org/recency/evidence/voice-diversity It also appears that a single author is able to generate different voices for different characters and narrators.
From what I understand of the translation process, some part of the mind of JS ended up on the page. He was not merely a transcription machine.
The BoM is definitely impressive and the different voices is one point of evidence. However, I do not think that the analysis is “proof.”
SilentDawning wrote:
What are your thoughts on this — do you really think the Book of Mormon was written by 15 different authors, or is it really one voice — the voice of Joseph Smith?
That’s a loaded question were there ever a loaded question. Of course much of the answer will depend on the individual’s point of view. I agree a good author can “speak” with different voices. I also don’t believe there were actual Nephites or Lamanites, but that doesn’t necessarily mean Joseph Smith made it all up – inspiration could have been involved. (I also don’t believe many of the Old Testament people and stories are real and the same is true for many of the New Testament people and stories.)
So, no, I don’t believe the BoM was written by 15 different authors, but I’m also not sure it was all Joseph Smith.
I was just thinking about the Jesus nativity story. Depending on the narrative and angle that the storyteller is trying to push, some parts or emphasized or omitted. Those that want to really highlight the humble beginnings of the birth of Jesus or that He was rejected by humanity can play up the “turned away by the innkeeper” element. Scholars now feel that Jesus would have been born with extended family but could have been born in the common area of the house because of all the visitors (they didn’t get a private room). Even knowing the more historically accurate take, the story is still tradition and can teach good things. Who wants to be THAT guy that rains on the Christmas story parade?
As LDS, we do similarly with JS. We tend to paint him as a barely literate country bumpkin in order to highlight how amazing and even miraculous it would be for a book like the BoM to come from such a fellow.
I believe that JS was amazing and extremely talented. I also believe that he believed in what he was selling mostly (I do believe that he felt that he was on a mission from God and that he was authorized to say some misleading things in the furtherance of that mission). The BoM is quite impressive. If JS had only translated the BoM and then never translated anything more then I believe that it would be more mysterious than it is currently. I believe that we learn additional context from the efforts to translate the bible and the PoGP that help us to gain additional understanding on the process.
I don’t know the answer – but 15 narrative voices could mean 15 different authors in an actual, historical record, or an inspired midrash narrative, or a really good story teller, etc. I will not argue with anyone about the origin, since I can’t know for sure, I love it for what I choose to believe it is.
Roy, thanks for the reference to the website. Haha. I can go to the site, but I thought you would be able to click on everything and gets some actual information. It just looks like pictures. Hahah. Never mind, Roy. I website is a little different, but I think I’m figuring it out. My thoughts are similar to some of what’s been mentioned, but I’m willing to believe that there are multiple authors with one translator. There is a similar tone to the whole book, but there is some noticeable differences throughout too. For the repeated stuff like “And it came to pass…”, that phrase does show up quite a bit in the old testament as well. Did the Nephites continue to write that way or did JS just imitate what he read in the bible? Who’s to say, but I like to believe the former.
I’ve been watching a pastor on the Hello Saints YouTube channel, who’s been doing a BoM read-through, and he’s made interesting comments about the language used in it. He’s mentioned some differences between the wording of the OT and BoM, such as the BoM’s use of the word ‘church’ and its prophesying of Christ. I’ll leave a link to the playlist if anyone is interested in watching it.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0aRULRLrSEIwv34W5ATaK8Zyb-dkOA4i
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