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Home , Automatic writing, A Course in Miracles, Dean Radin, Gary Schwartz, Mediumship, Ouija

Journal of Studies

Volume 15 Number 1 Article 3

1-31-2006

The Book of Mormon and

Robert A. Rees

Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jbms

BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Rees, A. (2006) "The Book of Mormon and Automatic Writing," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies: Vol. 15 : No. 1 , Article 3. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jbms/vol15/iss1/3

This Feature Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Book of Mormon Studies by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more , please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Title The Book of Mormon and Automatic Writing

Author(s) Robert A. Rees

Reference Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 15/1 (2006): 4–17, 68–70.

ISSN 1065-9366 (print), 2168-3158 (online)

Abstract Some critics of the Book of Mormon have suggested that produced the book through a pro- cess known as “automatic writing,” a rapid flow of language claimed to be generated through means such as -like states or claimed communi- cations with spirits. This paper presents an overview of some prominent claims of automatic writing and examines the historical and for the authenticity of at least some of these cases. After discussing the similarities between these works and the Book of Mormon, the paper outlines a number of features in the Book of Mormon that clearly dif- ferentiate it from any known case of automatic writ- ing, features such as the presence of Near Eastern and Mesoamerican geographic, cultural, and linguistic details that were unknowable to anyone in 1830. Based on this and other evidence, the Book of Mormon does not fit the profile of automatic writing but is best explained by Joseph’s own account of its ancient and divine origins. the book of mormon and Automatic Writing

Oliver Cowdery served as scribe while Joseph dictated from the plates.

 Volume 15, number 1, 2006 b y r o b e r t a . r e e s

The Lord has a hand in bringing to pass his strange act, and proving the Book of Mormon true in the eyes of all the people. . . . Surely “ facts are stubborn things.” It be and ever has been, the world Automatic Writing will prove Joseph Smith a true by circumstantial evidence, in experimentis, as they did Moses and .

—Times and Seasons, September 18421

aving exhausted the more bizarre expressions from another source. This latter defini- and byzantine explanations of the coming tion is the one addressed in this paper. forth of the Book of Mormon (written by Claims about the existence of automatic writ- H ing have existed since at least the 19th century, Joseph Smith, plagiarized from Solomon Spauld- ing or Ethan Smith, written by Oliver Cowdery or although some contend that “records of its occur- Sidney Rigdon, dictated under the spell of epileptic rence are found in the most ancient works on the seizures, etc.), some naturalist critics have postulated subject [of phenomena], and it was perfectly what appears to be a more rational explanation2—it familiar to those early and mediaeval students of was the product of “automatic writing.” That is, by phenomena whose researches throw so much some mysterious process, “psychic forces,” “angelic light on that which we now find so perplexing.”3 voices,” “discarnate personalities,” “goddesses of Automatic writing of this kind is normally classified wisdom,” or other sources dictate a rapid and volu- as paranormal. minous flow of words that somehow turns out to be coherent, inspiring, and often amazing in its bril- Challenges of Evaluating Automatic Writing liance and inclusion of esoteric facts, some of which One problem with exploring this phenomenon may be beyond the author’s knowledge. In this paper is that it covers such a wide array of experiences. I examine the proposition that the Book of Mormon Some human “conduits” of communications from can be explained as a product of automatic writing. another realm use boards on which the com- Automatic writing, also called at times “ munication is spelled out letter by letter; others use writing,” “psychography,” “abnormal writing,” crystals or stones in which words and sentences “direct writing,” “trance writing,” and “independent appear; and still others merely listen to, see, or writing,” is a term used to explain a self-induced understand the messages being sent (sometimes in flow of language from the unconscious or a form visions, dreams, or trance states). Scribes for these of writing the source of which supposedly comes communications may use pens (sometimes writing from outside the conscious or subconscious of in shorthand), typewriters, or computers to quickly © 1984 Robert Barrett. the person receiving the communication. In other record what is being dictated or revealed; or they words, the “author” is merely a conduit for some may dictate messages to a recording device. Some other intelligence, an amanuensis for ideas and communications take place during a single period

journal of Book of Mormon Studies  Oliver Cowdery Writing with a Feather Pen. because some contradict others. The portrayal in ’s The Sorry Tale (hailed by some contemporary critics as a “fifth gospel”) of the last days of Christ along the lines presented in the New Testament is contradicted by A Course in . The latter claims to have been dictated by Christ himself, yet it rejects the central Christian doctrines of the atonement, crucifixion, and resurrection, a position that is in turn at variance with The Aquar- ian Gospel of the Christ, an account of the “lost” 18 years of Christ’s life that the “author” (Levi Dowling) also claimed was dictated to him by Jesus Christ. While the account of Christ’s life in , as “supplied by a secondary midwayer who was onetime assigned to the superhuman watchcare of the Apostle Andrew,” is essentially the portrayal of Christ that one finds in the Gospels, it contradicts that original account in some impor- tant particulars, including the claim that Christ’s

The Urantia Book, first published in 1955, claims to be a from celestial beings to planet (Urantia) via an anonymous group in Chicago who received the dictated text over a period of years. One-third of the nearly 2,000-page book is a unique account of Christ’s earthly ministry. Photo courtesy of the Urantia Book Fellowship. with a flurry of “communication”; others, like A Course in Miracles4 or The Urantia Book,5 which are well known to adherents of automatic writing, take place over a period of years. Complicating the is the fact that the communications claim to come from a wide and unusual (and in some instances even strange) array of personalities. These include historic figures like and Oscar Wilde; unknown per- sonalities like Patience Worth, a 17th-century Eng- lish Quaker; creatures from other planets like “an Orvonton Divine Counselor, chief of the corps of superuniverse personalities,” who revealed the Uran­ tia (earth) chronicles; previously unknown from the past like Tahkamenon, Seth, and Levi; and Automatic writing is often attributed to spirit communications from even Jesus Christ. historical figures such as Irish playwright, poet, and novelist Oscar The task of evaluating these various communi- Wilde (1854–1900). Hester Dowden (1868–1949) achieved sudden cations is even more complicated and challenging fame after publishing, in 1924, Wildean material that she attributed to Wilde, then dead for 23 years. © British Library/HIP/Art Resource, NY.

 Volume 15, number 1, 2006 physical body was not resurrected but rather that and recited to the end” using intonation character- he came forth out of the sealed tomb “in the very istic of archaic Chinese.8 likeness of the morontia personalities of those who, There are other instances in which the medium as resurrected morontia ascendant beings, emerge who was the conduit of the automatic writing per- from the resurrection halls of the first mansion formed tasks that seem impossible to explain as the world of this local system of Satania.”6 The problem result of conscious, unconscious, or subconscious becomes even more challenging if one includes in processes. That is, these individuals received his- the category of automatic writing the account of torical facts and used linguistic styles that were not Jesus Christ found in the Book of Mormon. available in their information environment,9 and Skeptics of psychic experiences, including auto- they expressed them in language and forms that matic writing, tend to explain such phenomena as clever , unconscious processes, or “dis- were far beyond their expressive talents. One of the sociation,” which the dictionary defines as “the intriguing and most widely studied automatic writ- separation of whole segments of the personality ers was Pearl Curran, a St. Louis, , house- (as in multiple personality disorder) or of discrete wife who claimed to have received an enormous mental processes (as in the schizophrenias) from volume of material from a spirit personage over a the mainstream of or of behavior.”7 10-year period. According to Curran, the personage In other words, these communications are produced identified herself as Patience Worth and said she as conscious , unconscious delusions, or had lived in 17th-century . subconscious dissociations. As one examines the wide range of texts claimed to have been received through the process of automatic recording of communication from another realm, it is difficult, if not impossible, to conclude that all such communications are authen- tic and legitimate. This is an arena in which some writers of automatic texts seem to record informa- tion from their subconscious memories and in which magicians and others have used trickery or manipulated data to produce the illusion of auto- matic writing. While some such phenomena can be explained as the skeptics suggest, other phenomena apparently cannot. What, for example, does one make of the reported cases in which the communicant begins conversing in a language that, although unknown to the medium or scribe, is recorded with linguis- tic precision? Examples include communications in a variety of languages, including Greek, Welsh, Hungarian, and, in one of the most interesting cases, a Chinese dialect not spoken in for centuries. As an observer of this last case, Dr. Nev- ille Whymant, lecturer in Chinese at Oxford Uni- versity, reported, “The Chinese to which we were now listening was as dead colloquially as Sanskrit or Latin.” To test the authenticity of the speaker, who identified himself as Confucius, Dr. Whymant Automatic writer Pearl Curran (1883–1937) rapidly dictated novels recited the first and only line he knew of an obscure and other literary works purportedly received from a spirit entity who and difficult ancient Chinese poem and asked its identified herself as Patience Worth from 17th-century England. meaning. He reports, “The voice took up the poem Photo from the frontispiece of The Case of Patience Worth, by (1964).

journal of Book of Mormon Studies  It is interesting to speculate about the possibil- ity of a variety of communications coming from beyond the veil—some inspired and some not, some truthful and some not, some rational and some not. That is, since mortals, having , can commu- nicate with one another in ways that are manipula- tive and deceitful as well as in ways that are open and truthful, since communications range from the brilliant to the dull and from the clear to the inco- herent, and since they express conscious as well as unconscious material, might it not be possible that those in the spirit world can communicate with the living in the same ways? This runs counter to our general assumption about the spirit world, but since “whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life . . . will rise with us in the resurrection” ( 130:18), then it may also be that other aspects of our personality and charac- ter follow us into the next world and influence our communication with the living, if indeed such com- munications are possible.

Asserting a Connection What if anything does all of this have to do with the Book of Mormon? In an article entitled “Automaticity and the Dictation of the Book of Mormon,” Scott C. Dunn argues that the Book of Mormon is an example of automatic writing. He contends that “a number of parallels exist between Joseph Smith’s production of scripture and instances of automatic writing.”10 He uses the case of Pearl Curran to make his point. Curran claimed to receive communications from Patience Worth through use of a Ouija board, communications that she in turn dictated to various scribes. One of the Mass-produced in the beginning in the 1860s, the was a writing device said to facilitate by most curious aspects of these communications is responding to magnetic forces passing through the medium’s body. that they were given, Dunn writes, in “an antique Used by permission of the American Antiquarian Society. and archaic figurativeness,” in an amalgam of dia- lects from earlier English periods, and in a diction that was 90 percent Anglo-Saxon (as compared to ground, study, or experience that could account for 42 percent for the Declaration of Independence). this material.11 According to linguistic experts, the dictated text Dunn compares Curran’s experience to that contained no modernisms. Over the decade of these of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon: “Like communications, Curran recorded history, fiction, believers in the Book of Mormon, followers of poetry, proverbs, and . Those who knew her Patience Worth adduced linguistic evidence to intimately and those who studied her carefully, show that the writing dictated through Pearl Cur- including some of the leading psychologists and ran did indeed belong to antiquity. Although some literary and linguistic scholars of the time, were of the language was more ungrammatical than convinced that there was nothing in Curran’s back- archaic [which, by the way, one might expect of a

 Volume 15, number 1, 2006 person of Patience Worth’s purported education The Extent of Common Ground and background], there appear to be occasional uses of genuinely obsolete English words which Curran To what extent are Dunn’s observations accu- would probably not have known.” Dunn continues, rate? To begin with, if one takes all of the texts that “Another startling thing about the works attrib- might fit into the category of automatic writing, a uted to Patience Worth is their accuracy on fac- great number of books, many of which make no tual details that Curran apparently could not have claim to have been written or dictated by anyone known, a defense often applied to writings given other than the author, might also be said to have through Joseph Smith.”12 content similar to automatic texts. Indeed, the Extending his argument, Dunn writes, “Like works identified as automatic texts have very little Joseph Smith, Pearl Curran appears to have lacked in common with one another. They range from the the education necessary to produce such works. . . . absurd to the inspired, from the mundane to the Just as Joseph Smith eventually began to dictate esoteric, from short story to voluminous chronicle, without the aid of a seer stone, so Cur- from realistic narrative to what could best be ran began to dictate the words of Patience Worth described as speculative fiction. And their styles are without any physical object. Curran ‘simply saw the as varied as their subject matter. So while it may pictures and the words in her head and called them be true that the Book of Mormon “fits comfortably out, as coming from the hand of Patience Worth.’” within the larger world of . . . automatic writing,” According to Dunn, “Pearl Curran is like Joseph it also fits comfortably within the larger world of Smith in still another way: for both, available evi- narrative fiction and the narrower world of sacred dence militates against the likelihood of conscious literature. .”13 It is surprising that Dunn seems to take at face Dunn then asks, “But beyond these general value the claims of other automatic scribes about parallels to the experience of automatic writers, the source of their manuscripts but doesn’t seem to what is the evidence that Joseph Smith’s transla- accept Joseph Smith’s own account of his sources as tion is an example of this phenomenon?” Dunn’s valid. That is, if Dunn uncritically accepts the wit- answer: “To begin with, the content of automatic ness of writers of automatic texts regarding the pro- texts is often similar to that of the Book of Mor- cesses by which they received their material, why mon: Examples include multiple authorship, use question the source Joseph Smith claimed for the of archaic language, accounts of bygone historical Book of Mormon?17 Joseph was clear and specific figures, accurate descriptions of times and places about the manner in which he received the ancient apparently unfamiliar to the writer, narratives with record he claims to have translated. As Terryl L. well-developed characters and plot, accounts of var- Givens summarizes: “His self-described excavation ious ministries of Jesus Christ, poetics, occasionally of the plates, repeated secreting of them in bean impressive literary quality, doctrinal, theological, barrels, under hearthstones, and in smocks, his dis- and cosmological discussions, and even discourses playing of them to eight corroborating witnesses, by deity.”14 and his transcription of them into hieroglyphics Dunn also argues that the manner in which and translation of them into English—this con- the Book of Mormon was produced “bears strong tinual, extensive, and prolonged engagement with resemblance to the process of automatic writing,” a tangible, visible, grounding artifact is not com- including “the speed and ease with which Smith patible with a theory that makes him an inspired worked” on his translation.15 After countering the writer reworking the stuff of his own dreams into a arguments of some critics who feel the Book of product worthy of the name scripture.”18 Nor, one Mormon is not a good example of automatic writ- could argue, is it compatible with the theory that he ing, Dunn concludes, “It is clear that Smith’s trans- was an automatic writer in the in which that lation experience fits comfortably within the larger term is generally understood. world of , channeling, and automatic writ- What is true of Dunn’s argument is that ing. Indeed, the automatic processes . . . provide the there are many similarities between the processes best model for understanding the translation of the described by automatic writers and that described Book of Mormon.”16 by Joseph Smith and his various stenographers of

journal of Book of Mormon Studies  Nephite history. Joseph receiving information from personages such as Moroni, Elijah, Moses, John the some source outside himself, seeing words in the Baptist, and Peter, James, and John could appear seer stone (or in his mind’s eye), dictating a sort to Joseph Smith, as he claimed and as Mormons of stream-of-consciousness narrative, being able believe, then it is easy to accept the possibility that to pick up dictation/translation after interruptions revelations from Nephi, Mormon, Alma, and oth- and delays with no break in the narrative flow, ers could have come to him as well. In fact, it is producing a large body of material over a short interesting to speculate, as some early scholars of period of time, and leaving the final text essentially the Book of Mormon did,20 that these figures actu- unrevised—all of these have similarities to the pro- ally appeared to Joseph and told their stories in the ducers of some automatically written texts. same way that the authors of some automatic texts But if one postulates that some automatic texts claim past prophets and historical figures appeared or some sacred literature really is the product of to or communicated through them.

If one accepts the possibility that Jehovah could reveal his law to Moses and that Jesus could reveal to John the strange and wonderful things contained in the book of Revelation, surely one must accept that the Lord could reveal the record of his New World peoples to Joseph Smith. How he would do so seems much less important than that he could do so.

communication beyond the veil, then one would expect some correspondence between such texts A Look at Scientific Evidence and a text that the translator claimed was given to What evidence exists that such communications him by an , assisted in its translation by use of from the spirit world actually take place? While the Urim and Thummin,19 and inspired by the Holy there is good reason to doubt the authenticity of . That is, if communications do come from some, if not most, texts claimed to be the result of the spirit world, it seems likely that they may come automatic writing, not all examples of such writ- in different ways and for different purposes. A com- ing can be explained as the result of naturalistic munication that purports to be the scriptural record influences or causes. Obviously, this is a landscape of ancient Israelites and a second testament of Jesus on which believer and skeptic have contended for Christ makes a bold and important claim for our centuries—and will continue to contend, since at consideration and should be of great interest to us. present we seem to lack the scientific tools and tech- For those who believe that the veil between the nology to establish incontrovertibly the existence mortal and immortal worlds is penetrable by those of communication from another sphere, including who have special gifts or sensitivities, it is not dif- what is sometimes referred to as “the spirit world.” ficult to believe in the possibility of automatic con- Nevertheless, respected researchers are probing this veyance or of inspired/revealed translation. If one possibility, some with support from the National accepts the possibility that Jehovah could reveal his Institutes of Health. One such researcher is Dr. law to Moses and that Jesus could reveal to John the Gary E. Schwartz, professor of , medi- strange and wonderful things contained in the book cine, neurology, psychiatry, and surgery at the Uni- of Revelation, surely one must accept that the Lord versity of Arizona and director of the university’s could reveal the record of his New World peoples Human Systems Laboratory. to Joseph Smith. How he would do so seems much For the past decade, Dr. Schwartz and his associ- less important than that he could do so. And if ates at the have been conduct-

10 Volume 15, number 1, 2006 ing scientific research on as the mediums, sitters, communication between skeptics, and scientists the living and the dead. themselves. That’s what In the book The the experimental data Experiments, Schwartz unmistakably show.” 24 reports on studies using Obviously, such find- established mediums (peo- ings are controversial and, ple who seem to have a gift as one would expect, not for spirit communication) without challenges from whose integrity they had the scientific commu- come to trust. Schwartz nity. Some scholars have and Dr. Linda G. Russek questioned Dr. Schwartz’s up controlled, double-, as well as and triple-blind labora- his professional integrity. tory experiments in which Among Schwartz’s most the mediums were asked vigorous critics is James to communicate with the Randi, the founder of the spirit world on behalf of Educational people unknown to them. Foundation and a profes- In one experiment the sional of things mediums averaged an 83 paranormal. Randi and percent accuracy rate in For Latter-day Saints, angelic visitations and communications to the Schwartz have had a lively Prophet Joseph Smith and his associates were among the divinely identifying information authorized and orchestrated events necessary for the restoration of exchange on the subject ostensibly communicated the gospel. John the Baptist Appearing to Joseph Smith and Oliver that can be viewed on the from the spirit world, as Cowdery. © 2000 Del Parson. Internet.25 compared to 36 percent Another body of average for the control group.21 Dr. Schwartz con- research that seems to have some bearing on the cludes, “The statistical probability of this difference subject of “spirit communication” is that conducted occurring by chance alone was less than one in ten by the Institute of HeartMath on and million.”22 Of their latest and most scientifically rig- epigenetics. Epigenetics is defined as the “ orous experiments, Dr. Schwartz reports, “We per- that studies how the development, functioning, and formed statistical analyses indicating that the results evolution of biological systems are influenced by could have occurred by chance fewer than one in a forces operating outside the primary DNA sequence 100 trillion times.”23 of the genome (i.e., intracellular, environmental, and In reviewing their experiments and evaluating energetic influences).”26 Based on research studies them in light of what they consider their own high conducted under rigorous, conservative conditions standards for scientific integrity, their own skepti- on “how the body receives and processes prestimu- cal safeguards, and the challenges of nonbelieving lus information about a future event,” 27 HeartMath critics, Dr. Schwartz concludes, “I went through all scientists conclude that “both the heart and brain the experiments—each and every [psychic] reading, appear to receive and both within and beyond the formal data collection respond to information periods—and examined it all on the basis of eleven about a future emotional key points that form the core [of the experiments]. stimulus prior to actually I can no longer ignore the data and dismiss the experiencing the stimu- words. They are as real as the sun, the trees, and lus.” 28 Although differing our television sets, which seem to pull pictures out in some aspects of their of the air.” His conclusion: “In the experiments, information was consistently retrieved that can best James Randi, debunker of para­ be explained as coming from living . . . . The normal and pseudoscientific claims. data appear to be as valid, convincing and living Photo courtesy of the James Randi Educational Foundation.

journal of Book of Mormon Studies 11 methodology, these studies confirm earlier studies coming from a source beyond what was recorded on by Dean Radin, senior scientist at the Institute of the gold plates. Noetic .29 Another way in which Joseph Smith’s claim dif- These and additional studies by the Institute fers from the producers of automatic texts is that he of HeartMath on intuition and the heart30 provide is the only one of whom I am aware who claimed “strong evidence for the idea that intuitive processes to have an actual tangible text from which his involve the body accessing a field of information dictation was derived. The gold plates revealed by that is not limited by the constraints of space and Moroni and placed into Joseph’s hands constitute time. More specifically, they provide a compelling the source of the record he claims to have trans- basis for the proposition that the body accesses a lated. At least 11 other witnesses attested to the field of potential energy—that exists as a domain existence of the plates.32 apart from space-time —into which informa- tion about ‘future’ events is spectrally enfolded.”31 The Book of Mormon: Uniquely on Target Whatever scientific evidence or lack thereof for Joseph Smith, as far as I can tell, is unique in communication beyond the veil, one has to consider including in his text information that was not avail- the possibility that at least some of the cases of auto- able anywhere in his or anyone else’s information matic writing might indeed be authentic communi- environment during the time he produced his text. cation across the liminal threshold that divides the While Patience Worth spoke highly specialized mortal and immortal worlds. In view of this decid- English dialects and used archaic vocabulary that edly speculative conclusion, Joseph Smith’s claims seem impossible for her medium, Pearl Curran, to as to the source of the Book of Mormon and the have known, the fact remains that such dialects and process by which he translated it must be accorded vocabulary were available in the English-speaking at least some validity given the elaborate explana- environment of certain districts of England con- tions that must be marshaled as evidence that, alter- temporaneous with Curran. The same could be natively, the book came out of his mind, experience, said of Patience Worth’s use of topical information and imagination. In other words, if communication about the Holy Land in A Sorry Tale, her fictional from the spirit world can produce even fragments narrative about Jesus. As one critic noted, “While of information, and if texts can be written that can- the scenes are mainly in Palestine, it touches Rome not be explained as the result of naturalistic causes, occasionally, and it deals not only with but then it surely may be possible for someone to be the with Romans, Greeks, and Arabians, revealing conduit of a book as complex and original as the an intimate and accurate knowledge of the politi- Book of Mormon. cal, social and religious conditions of , the relations of each of these peoples to Rome, and Countering the Connection their essential differences of character, custom and tradition.”33 Nevertheless, this information could Having said that, I would like to illustrate ways have been found in sources extant at the time of the in which I think the Book of Mormon does not fit dictation. the usual model of automatic writing. Ancient travel. In contrast, the Book of Mormon contains information that, as far as can be deter- Different Sources mined, was not known to anyone in the world at the To begin with, other writers of automatic texts time it was published. For example, Eugene England (such as those discussed earlier in this paper) aver pointed out that the route that Lehi and his people that their information comes from specific person- took across the Arabian Desert was counter to what ages who often have names, come from specific all the travel guides of the 19th century described epochs, and have definite personalities. Unlike these or advised. England summarizes, “For Joseph Smith mediums of extra-mortal communication, Joseph to have so well succeeded in producing over twenty Smith never claimed that anyone was dictating to unique details in the description of an ancient travel or communicating through him. While he saw spe- route through one of the least-known areas of the cific words and phrases, he did not identify them as world, all of which have been subsequently veri- fied, requires extraordinary, unreasonable in

12 Volume 15, number 1, 2006 his natural genius or his ability to guess right in was “totally unknown in 1830,” for “not even the direct opposition to the prevailing knowledge of his best-informed scholars in the world at that time, time.”34 S. Kent Brown adds a number of items to let alone Joseph Smith, had any notion of a pat- England’s list of details about Lehi’s route that were tern behind ancient American history that would not known anywhere in the 19th century.35 come to light over a century later”), language (“How Mesoamerica. Another example of material remarkable that the record keepers of the Book of in the Book of Mormon that was unknown and Mormon allude again and again to their writing sys- unknowable in 1830 is the vast amount of detail tems and, even more remarkable, that the Book of about Mesoamerica. As John L. Sorenson, one Mormon statements fit so well with what we know of the leading authorities in this field, states, “At about the primary type of script in use in early point after point the scripture accurately reflects Mesoamerica”), Nephite political economy (“Noth- the culture and history of ancient Mesoamerica. ing Joseph Smith could have known in his day about . . . Where did such information come from if not ‘the Indians’ or the biblical Israelites would have through Joseph in the manner he claimed? Literally prepared him to dictate such a consistent picture of no person in Joseph Smith’s day knew or could have Nephite and Lamanite government and society as he known enough facts about exotic Central America actually did. Only in recent decades have scholars to depict the subtle and accurate picture of ancient learned enough to describe these ancient Meso- life that we find as background for the Book of Mor- american power mechanisms that prove to have mon.”36 Sorenson cites such things as geographical been so much like what the Book of Mormon por- consistency, the pattern of cultural history (which trays”), elements of material culture (“No one in the

This ruined city at Dainzu, Oaxaca, dates to between 200 bc and ad 200. The ruins of the temple in the foreground show extensive use of cement construction. Photo courtesy of David A. Palmer.

journal of Book of Mormon Studies 13 Recently discovered burial mound at Nehhm, an ancient site in Yemen evidencing the authenticity of the Book of Mormon since the name and the Nihm tribe associated with it—both unknown in America in Joseph Smith’s day—correspond so closely to Nephi’s mention of a “place which was called Nahom.” Photo courtesy of Justin Andrews. nineteenth century could have known that cement, Hermounts.39 Other Egyptian elements appear in in fact, was extensively used in Mesoamerica begin- the names Korihor, Pahoran, and Paanchi, the last ning at about . . . the middle of the first century of which is a 7th-century-bc name (i.e., contem- b.c.”), and warfare (only during the “the last quarter porary with Lehi) not known in the West until the century [has] a tide of new studies” validated the end of the 19th century.40 Nibley also suggested that Book of Mormon’s portrayal of war).37 the Book of Mormon’s use of Hebrew names, many Ancient languages. Similarly significant is the of which are nonbiblical, “preserve[s] the authentic Book of Mormon’s inclusion of words and rhetorical forms of the Hebrew names of the period as attested practices whose meanings and very existence have in newly discovered documents.”41 been discovered since 1830. A striking example is the A further example of Book of Mormon lan- word Hermounts (identified in Alma 2:37 as “that guage unknowable to Joseph Smith is the place- part of the wilderness which was infested by wild and name Nahom (1 Nephi 16:34), where Nephi’s people ravenous beasts”). As Hugh Nibley pointed out, this buried Ishmael and mourned his passing. As vari- word is almost identical with “Hermonthis,” a land ous scholars have pointed out, this word seems named after the Egyptian of wild things and related not only to the root NHM, which wild places.38 And Gordon Thomasson argues per- means “to sigh or moan” (suggesting grief) but also suasively that the word Mormon itself, which is first to a recently discovered ancient burial site, Nehhm, presented in the Book of Mormon as a place infested which lies very close to the area where Ishmael was by wild beasts, has the same Arabic root, RMN, as buried. As Givens argues, “Found in the very area

14 Volume 15, number 1, 2006 where Nephi’s record locates Nahom, these altars more significant, I believe, is the substantive rich- [votive altars from the Barʾan temple site in Yemen ness of the Book of Mormon’s message. While many dating to the sixth and seventh centuries bc and automatic texts contain inspirational literature and inscribed with the tribal name NHM] may thus be some contain specific doctrine (Christian and oth- said to constitute the first actual archaeological evi- erwise), none in my estimation the Book dence for the historicity of the Book of Mormon.”42 of Mormon’s doctrinal density, nor its theological While some automatic texts claim to have been consistency with the . dictated by biblical figures, and therefore have in common with the Book of Mormon the literary, Concluding Thoughts religious, and cultural background of the Hebrew scriptures, none has come close to matching the One might cite many more examples of things Book of Mormon’s reflection of the complex rhetori- in the Book of Mormon that were unavailable in cal style and stylistic patterns of Hebrew literature Joseph Smith’s information environment or com-

If, as some critics contend, Joseph Smith somehow absorbed all of this or intuited it from his familiarity with the Hebrew scriptures, he accomplished something that no other author in the history of the world has. The sheer complexity of the Book of Mormon narrative is far beyond that of any automatic text of which I am aware.

or its ritual patterns. The Book of Mormon is replete pletely foreign to his experience. The chances that with stylistic elements characteristic of Hebrew Joseph Smith could have guessed at even one of speech and thought patterns, including adverbi- these, let alone hundreds, are astronomical. No - als, cognate accusatives, compound prepositions, uralist critic of whom I am aware has come close to pronoun repetition, simile , climactic forms, explaining their presence in the Book of Mormon. and various kinds of biblical parallelisms, among I believe this constitutes a significant refutation of them complex and intricate examples of chiasmus.43 Dunn’s statement “There does not appear to be any- If, as some critics contend, Joseph Smith somehow thing of a historical, theological, philosophical, or absorbed all of this or intuited it from his familiar- literary quality in the scriptural writings of Joseph ity with the Hebrew scriptures, he accomplished Smith that has not been matched by those well out- something that no other author in the history of the side the Mormon tradition.”45 world has. As someone who trusts both spiritual and Literary complexity, doctrinal richness. The empirical processes in the search for truth, I have sheer complexity of the Book of Mormon narrative tried honestly and fairly to evaluate the data and is far beyond that of any automatic text of which I arguments presented by both apologist and natural- am aware. As Givens notes, there are some 2,000 ist critics of the Book of Mormon. Naturalist critics, authorial shifts in the narrative.44 And while it is to my mind, raise important issues about the origin true that some automatic texts contain more than and nature of the text. I honor their efforts when one authorial style and some spirit communicants they derive from a sincere attempt to come to terms speak in more than one voice (one thinks particu- with the book using the best tools for intellectual larly of Patience Worth), none that I know of con- inquiry and rational exploration. Some of the chal- tains the number (two dozen or so) of distinctive lenges they present are legitimate and deserve seri- authorial styles found in the Book of Mormon. Even ous consideration.

journal of Book of Mormon Studies 15 On the other hand, apologist critics also make about Pearl Curran, “The subconscious has a larger invaluable contributions to the dialogue, and their store of information than the conscious part of work, when it is based on rigorous scholarship the mind, but it has no objective knowledge not and on responsible spiritual witness, should also acquired by individual experience, it has no objec- be taken seriously. For the most part, I have found tive impressions that are not made through the such scholars to be people of integrity who are . It knows nothing externally, that is to say, using their best intellectual and spiritual abilities that it has not learned by seeing, hearing, touch, to understand and explain the Book of Mormon. tasting or smelling. . . . No objective knowledge When they defend the book on a purely spiritual is in any part of Mrs. Curran’s mind that has not basis, they must understand that they enter a realm been acquired through her own sensory experi-

The point is that if one contends, as do some naturalist critics, that the rich tapestry of narrative we know as the Book of Mormon came from the mind and imagination of Joseph Smith, one has to account for the process by which it did so. No one in my opinion has offered a more satisfactory or more convincing explanation than the one Joseph Smith himself gave.

where few naturalist critics are willing to fol- ence.”47 Perhaps Yost’s observation should be low. However, when they combine their empirical revised to read that the mind contains no objective inquiry with rigorous spiritual standards (including terrestrial knowledge that has not been received the integrity to honestly test their spiritual convic- through the senses. This leaves open the possibility tions against the best considered knowledge), they that memory and knowledge may have some other should be given respect for their conclusions. locus of origin, such as premortal experiences or I believe that the evidence suggested by some revealed dreams and visions. The point is that if automatic writing, as well as the intuition stud- one contends, as do some naturalist critics, that the ies of the Institute of HeartMath and the afterlife rich tapestry of narrative we know as the Book of experiments of and Linda Russek, Mormon came from the mind and imagination of presents a compelling argument for the possibility Joseph Smith, one has to account for the process by of communication from the immortal to the mortal which it did so. No one in my opinion has offered a world. As Schwartz says of his findings in testing more satisfactory or more convincing explanation “the living hypothesis”: “Scientists and nonsci- than the one Joseph Smith himself gave. entists alike are experiencing a test of faith—in this Some naturalist critics speculate that all of the case, whether we can put our in the scientific information contained in the Book of Mormon method itself. Because if we are to put our faith in came from Joseph Smith’s 19th-century environs. the , and trust what the data [we In citing the example of an automatic writer who have produced] reveal, we are led to the hypothesis apparently “picked up and stored material that was that the is more wondrous than imagined in her field of as she worked [a] crossword in our wildest flights of fancy.”46 puzzle,” Scott Dunn says, “It should not be surpris- It is important to remember that the material in ing, therefore, to find Smith’s scriptural productions the Book of Mormon had its origin in some locus. repeating things he may have heard or overheard In order for it to have come from Joseph Smith’s in conversation, camp meetings, or other settings conscious or subconscious mind, it had to have without any concerted study of the issues.”48 Dunn gotten there somehow. As Casper S. Yost observed would be hard-pressed to show that anyone could

16 Volume 15, number 1, 2006 have overheard the material presented earlier in tory of the period in which the Book of Mormon this paper at camp meetings or anywhere else in emerged, I can state categorically that it is unlike the Palmyra area during the time the Book of Mor- any book written in the entire scope of American mon was translated. The remarkable thing about literature. the Book of Mormon is that there is not a single In conclusion, while I do not find the Book of fact, character, or allusion that can be tied exclu- Mormon a credible candidate as an automatic text, I sively to 19th-century America. Most parallels that believe it is more closely related to automatic writing environmentalist critics find between the book and than, say, normative narrative fiction, the former (in Joseph Smith’s cultural environment are of such a some instances) coming from someplace outside the general and superficial nature that they could be author’s mind and imagination and the latter com- found at many times and in many cultures.49 As ing entirely from within him. That is, on the basis of Richard L. Bushman contends, the milieu of the what I rationally accept as evidence, there seem to Book of Mormon has much more in common with be forces at work in some written com- ancient Hebrew culture than 19th-century America. munications, automatic or otherwise. Just as I accept He summarizes his analysis by saying that the Book the fact that Pearl Curran could not be the author of Mormon is “strangely distant from the time and of the Patience Worth manuscripts and that some of place of its publication.”50 Along the same line, the communications recorded by Drs. Schwartz and Givens concludes, “In sum, there is simply little Russek could not be the products of the mediums basis for arguing that the of Joseph’s era they engaged in their experiments, so I don’t believe had any influence on the make-up of the Book of that Joseph Smith was or could have been the author Mormon itself.”51 As a specialist in the literary his- of the Book of Mormon. !

journal of Book of Mormon Studies 17 e n d n o t e s

The Book of Mormon and simply in this way: ‘Nothing able to someone living in east- review of Givens’s book (www. Automatic Writing real can be threatened. Noth- ern in the late 1820s. solomonspalding.com/Lib/ Robert A. Rees ing unreal exists. Herein lies According to Thomasson, givn2002.htm), Dale R. Broad- 1. Times and Seasons, 15 Septem- the peace of God.’” A Course “There are two types of criti- hurst identifies automatic ber 1842, as cited in Terryl L. in Miracles has been translated cal tests which can be made writing as one of the possible Givens, By the Hand of Mor- into many languages and is on Book of Mormon data: [1] explanations of the Book of mon: The American Scripture used as a course of spiritual The first type involves subjects Mormon. “For those decid- That Launched a New World study throughout the world. about which an information ing not to join the Mormons, (Oxford: Oxford Uni- 5. “The Urantia Book, first pub- vacuum can be shown to have and thereby eliminating the versity Press, 2002), 118. lished by the Urantia Founda- existed in 1830—and about explanation that the book 2. By “more rational” I mean that tion in 1955, was authored by which the Book of Mormon is what it says it is, there are to the extent one can make a celestial beings as a special takes a position which can be three remaining options for case for the existence of auto- revelation to our planet, Uran- compared to new data revealed further investigation. These matic writing (a reasonable tia. The book’s message is that by contemporary scholar- possibilities are: (A) Smith possibility to entertain since all human beings are one fam- ship (textual comparison of wrote the text almost entirely there are so many examples ily, the sons and daughters of the Book of Mormon with upon his own, whether by of the phenomenon and such one God, the Universal Father. otherwise unparalleled Qum- design or through a process a wide variety of styles), then It instructs on the genesis, his- ran and/or Nag Hammadi something like automatic writ- this theory becomes a more tory, and destiny of mankind documents might fall in this ing; (B) the text was produced plausible explanation for how and on our relationship with category). [2] The second class by some person(s) other than the Book of Mormon was pro- God. It also presents a unique of tests includes those cases in Smith, and Smith only joined duced than many other expla- and compelling portrayal which the information envi- the process shortly before its nations that, when seriously of the life and teachings of ronment of 1830 can be shown publication; or, (C) the book considered, prove to be either Jesus, opening new vistas of to have documented a particu- was produced by Smith and ridiculous or without credible time and , and reveal- lar position which the Book one or more other contributors evidence. ing new concepts of Man’s of Mormon took exception working together.” 3. W. Stainton Moses, Direct ever-ascending adventure of to—and these two conflicting 19. Although at times Joseph used Spirit Writing (Psychogra- finding the Universal Father ideas can be compared to cur- the term Urim and Thummim phy): A Treatise on One of the in our friendly and carefully rent scholarly opinion. These to refer to this ancient device Objective Forms of Psychic or administered universe” (Uran- are tests which the Book of included with the gold plates Spiritual Phenomena (: tia Foundation, www.urantia. Mormon can pass or fail—tak- as well as to the seer stone, Psychic Book Club, n.d.), 19. org). The Urantia text was a ing into consideration the he used both instruments to Stainton Moses was himself a “revelation” dictated to and open‑ended dialogue which translate the Book of Mormon. famous medium and recorder “transcribed” by an anony- is true scholarship. These are See Richard Van Wagoner and of automatic writing during mous group living in Chicago. tests to which it generally has Steven Walker, “Joseph Smith: the height of the Spiritualist Like , The not been subjected.” ‘The Gift of Seeing,’” Dialogue movement in England and the Urantia Book has been trans- 10. Scott C. Dunn, “Automaticity (15/2, Summer 1982); updated United States. See “The Medi- lated into many languages and and the Dictation of the Book and reprinted in Bryan Water- umship of Stainton Moses,” is studied in many countries. of Mormon,” in American man, ed., The Prophet Puzzle: members.tripod.com/crysker- 6. The Urantia Book (Chicago: Apocrypha: Essays on the Book Interpretive Essays on Joseph nan/mediumship_of_stain- The Urantia Foundation, of Mormon, ed. Dan Vogel and Smith (Salt Lake City: Signa- ton_moses.htm. 1955), 2021–22. Brent Lee Metcalfe (Salt Lake ture Books, 1999), 87–112. 4. According to the official 7. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate City: Signature Books, 2002), 20. See Dunn, “Automaticity,” Course in Miracles Web site Dictionary, 11th ed., s.v. “dis- 26. 38n11. (www.acim.org), through a sociation.” 11. See Stephen E. Braude, “Dis- 21. “Working with his research process called “inner dicta- 8. Robert Almeder, Beyond sociation and Latent Abilities: partner, Dr. Linda G. Russek, tion,” A Course in Miracles : Evidence for Life After The Strange Case of Patience Dr. Schwartz devised experi- was “dictated” by Jesus to Death (Springfield, IL: Charles Worth,” The Journal of Trauma ments that, as best they could, Dr. , a clinical C Thomas, 1987), 60–62. and Dissociation 1/2 (2000): would eliminate the possibil- and research psychologist and Obviously, such anecdotal 13–48. See commentaries on ity of cheating or fraud of tenured associate professor of reports are not the same as Braude by Jean Goodwin and any kind. They were able to medical psychology at Colum- controlled scientific studies, Jennifer Radden in the same enlist the cooperation of such bia University’s College of Phy- and yet the number of such issue. well-known mediums as John sicians and Surgeons, in New reported incidences offers at 12. Dunn, “Automaticity,” 27. Edward, Suzanne Northrup York City. The course of study least the possibility that some 13. Dunn, “Automaticity,” 29. and George Anderson, who to is defined as follows: “This is a may be reliable. 14. Dunn, “Automaticity,” 30. their credit placed no condi- course in miracles. It . . . does 9. A term coined by Gordon 15. Dunn, “Automaticity,” 30. tions on the experiments; they not aim at teaching the mean- Thomasson in “‘Daddy, What’s 16. Dunn, “Automaticity,” 33. would participate exactly as ing of love, for that is beyond a “Frontier?” ’: Thoughts on 17. I believe Dunn may be disin- directed by the scientists. . . . what can be taught. It does the ‘Information Environ- genuous when he states, “It In this situation, the medium aim, however, at removing ment’ That Supposedly Pro- may be argued that automatic sits facing a ‘sitter,’ whom the blocks to the awareness of duced the Book of Mormon,” writing is God’s true means of he or she has never met, and love’s presence, which is your unpublished manuscript in my giving revelations and transla- proceeds to apparently receive natural inheritance. The oppo- possession, p. 18. Thomasson tions (in the case of Joseph information from a deceased site of love is fear, but what provides the most detailed Smith)” (“Automaticity,” 36). friend or relative of the sitter. is all-encompassing can have account yet as to what infor- 18. Givens, By the Hand of Mor- The medium is often able to no opposite. This course can mation might have been avail- mon, 177–78. In an online relay initials, names, dates and therefore be summed up very

68 volume 15, number 1, 2006 specific incidents relevant to Is Back,” in the 13 February energy that enfolds space and the Modern World (Salt Lake the sitter and the deceased. In 2004 edition of Swift (the time, and is thought to be the City: Deseret Book, 1970), 192. Schwartz’s tests, each medium online journal of the James basis for our consciousness of 39. See Gordon Thomasson, “Book had a session with the same Randi Educational Founda- ‘the whole’” (Rollin McCraty, of Mormon Language, Names, sitter, and the experiment was tion). Schwartz’s responses Raymond Trevor Bradley, and and [Metonymic] Naming,” repeated with several sitters. to Randi can be seen at Dana Tomasino, “The Reso- Journal of Book of Mormon The sitters were instructed to http://survivalscience.50megs. nant Heart,” Shift: At the Fron- Studies 3/1 (1994): 1–27. reply to any questions from com/torandi.htm, and a tiers of Consciousness 5 [Dec. 40. Nibley, Since Cumorah, 192– the mediums with either a yes review of the exchange, “The 2004–Feb. 2005], 15–19). 93. or no, with no elaboration. All Randi /Schwartz episode,” is 29. See Dean I. Radin, “Uncon- 41. Nibley, Since Cumorah, 194. ‘messages’ from the deceased reviewed by Montague Keen at scious Perception of Future 42. Givens, By the Hand of Mor- were carefully recorded— http://www.survivalafterdeath. Emotions: An Experiment in mon, 120. videotaped . . . —and then org/articles/keen/randi.htm. Presentiment,” Journal of Sci- 43. See Dennis Largey, ed., Book of later analyzed, point by point, Another skeptic of Schwartz’s entific Exploration 11/2 (1997): Mormon Reference Companion for accuracy. Accuracy was work is . See his 163–80; and his The Conscious (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, scored on a hit-or-miss scale “How Not to Test Mediums: Universe: The Scientific Truth 2003), 182–86, 321–26. in the range of -3 to +3 [-3 = a Critiquing the Afterlife Exper- of Psychic Phenomena (San 44. See Givens, By the Hand of complete miss, -2 = a probable iments,” in Francisco: HarperEdge, 1997). Mormon, 156. miss, -1 = a possible miss, +1 (January–February 2003), 30. www.heartmath.org. 45. Dunn, “Automaticity,” 36. = a possible hit, +3 = a definite which can be accessed at www. 31. McCraty, Atkinson, and 46. Schwartz, Afterlife, xxiii. hit]. csicop.org. Schwartz’s response Bradley, “Electrophysiological 47. Yost, “The Problem of Knowl- “How well did the medi- to Hyman can be seen at www. Evidence,” 334. edge,” in Prince, Patience ums do? The results showed enformy.com/Gary-reHyman- 32. Dan Vogel attempts to dis- Worth, 369. that the mediums ranged from Review.htm. See also www. credit these witnesses and to 48. Dunn, “Automaticity,” 35. 77 to 95 percent accuracy! dailygrail.com/node/1311, undermine their testimonies 49. As Gordon Thomasson states, Their average for +3 hits was www.randi.org/jr/03-23-2001. of the existence of the plates “Upon finding a possible 83 percent! . . . Similar experi- html, and www.psicounsel. by seeing their experiences parallel between the Book of ments were conducted with com/marius/dearjames2.htm. as hallucination, hypnotism, Mormon and some bit of early students, who have no claim 26. “Emotional Energetics, or “induced visionary experi- American history, it is all too to psychic abilities, in the Intuition, and Epigenetics ences” (“The Validity of the often assumed that the source medium position, and they Research,” The Institute of Witnesses,” in American Apoc- for the idea has been found were able to achieve only 36 HeartMath. See “Research rypha, 79–121). Vogel’s piece is and further study is neglected percent accuracy. So are the overview” at http://www. so shot through with subjunc- or even ridiculed. Such an mediums just better at it, or heartmath.org/research/ tive qualifiers (if, probably, per- at best naïve, reductionist are they experts at doing ‘cold research-intuition/overview. haps, seems, might, assuming approach ignores the fact that readings,’ as the skeptics sug- html. At the same Web stite, that, likely, probable, possibil- where parallels occur they gest, taking cues from the sit- see also Rollin McCraty, “The ity, etc.) that it is difficult to almost invariably relate to ters’ voice inflections and body Energetic Heart; Bioelectro- take his argument seriously. what are perennial questions— language? magnetic Interactions Within 33. Casper S. Yost, “The Problem themes which recur in count- “To eliminate this pos- and Between People.” of Knowledge,” in Walter less religious histories—and sibility, Schwartz and Russek’s 27. Rollin McCraty, Mike Atkin- Franklin Prince, The Case of which are by no means unique experiments became more and son, and Raymond Trevor Patience Worth (Hyde Park, to the Burned-over District in more stringent, to the point Bradley, “Electrophysiological NY: University Books, 1964), space or time, and/or may cor- where the mediums were not Evidence of Intuition: Part 380. relate even more significantly allowed to see or even directly 1. The Surprising Role of the 34. Eugene England, “Through the with ancient evidence than hear the sitters. All answers Heart,” The Journal of Alterna- Arabian Desert to a Bounti- it does with the more recent” were relayed to the medium tive and Complementary Medi- ful Land: Could Joseph Smith (“Frontier,” 9). through Schwartz. Even with cine 10/1 (2004): 141. Have Known the Way?” Book 50. Richard L. Bushman, “The the tightest controls, the medi- 28. Rollin McCraty, Mike Atkin- of Mormon Authorship: New Book of Mormon and the ums’ accuracy was above 90 son, and Raymond Trevor Light on Ancient Origins, ed. American Revolution,” in percent” (http://paranormal. Bradley, “Electrophysiological Noel B. Reynolds (Provo, Believing History: Latter-day about.com/library/weekly/ Evidence of Intuition: Part UT: Religious Studies Center, Saint Essays, ed. Reid L. Neil- aa093002b.htm). 2. A System-Wide Process?” 1982), 153. son and Jed Woodworth (New 22. Gary E. Schwartz, The Afterlife The Journal of Alternative 35. S. Kent Brown, “New Light York: Columbia University Experiments: Breakthrough and Complementary Medicine from Arabia on Lehi’s Trail,” Press, 2004), 47–64, esp. 57. Scientific Evidence of Life After 10/2 (2004): 334. In another in Echoes and Evidences of the Bushman states: “The Book Death (New York: Pocket study, HeartMath researchers Book of Mormon, ed. Donald of Mormon was an anomaly Books, 2002), 121. See also conclude, “Even more surpris- W. Parry, Daniel C. Peterson, on the political scene of 1830. Gary E. R. Schwartz and ing was our finding that the and John W. Welch (Provo, Instead of heroically resisting Linda G. S. Russek, The Living heart appears to receive this UT: FARMS, 2002), 55–125. despots, the people of God fled Energy Universe (Charlot- ‘intuitive’ information before 36. John L. Sorenson, “How Could their oppressors and credited tesville, VA: Hampton Roads, the brain. This suggests that Joseph Write So Accurately God alone with deliverance. 1999); and related information the heart’s field may be linked about Ancient American Instead of enlightened people available on the Web site veri- to a more subtle energetic field Civilization?” in Echoes and overthrowing their kings in tas.arizona.edu. that contains information on Evidences, 261–62. defense of their natural rights, 23. Schwartz, Afterlife Experi- objects and events remote in 37. Sorenson, “Ancient American the common people repeat- ments, 222. space or ahead in time. Called Civilization,” 269, 281, 286, edly raised up kings, and 24. Schwartz, Afterlife Experi- by Karl Pribram and others 287, 292. the prophets and the kings ments, 257, 266. the ‘spectral domain,’ this is a 38. See Hugh Nibley, Since Cumo- themselves had to persuade the 25. See Randi’s “Gary Schwartz fundamental order of potential rah: The Book of Mormon in people of the inexpediency of

journal of Book of Mormon Studies 69 monarchy. Despite Mosiah’s Grant R. Hardy, “Mormon as don: Jonathan Cape, 1969); 34; Helaman 14); the resurrec- reforms, Nephite government Editor,” in Rediscovering the Michael Lane, ed., Introduction tion of all mankind (2 Nephi persisted in monarchical prac- Book of Mormon, 15–28; and to Structuralism (New York: 9–10; Alma 11; 40–41; Hela- tices, with life tenure for the John S. Tanner, “Jacob and Basic Books, 1970), 11–39. For man 14); the “wars and conten- chief judges, hereditary suc- His Descendants as Authors,” a detailed structural study tions” of the Nephites (1 Nephi cession, and the combination in Rediscovering the Book of of a sacred Mormon text, see 12:1–5; 2 Nephi 26:2; Enos of all functions in one official” Mormon, 52–66. Grant R. Steven L. Olsen, “Joseph Smith 1:24; Omni 1:3; Alma 50:1); (57). Hardy’s The Book of Mormon: and the Structure of Mormon the ministry of the resurrected 51. Givens, By the Hand of Mor- A Reader’s Edition (Urbana: Identity,” Dialogue: A Journal Christ among the Nephites mon, 169. University of Illinois Press, of Mormon Thought 14/3 (Fall (1 Nephi 12:5–10; 2 Nephi 26:1; 2003) is a fuller treatment of 1981): 89–99. Enos 1:8; 3 Nephi 11); the four and History: this theme. 10. See the similar direction of the generations of righteousness Structuring the Abridgment of 6. The identity of biblical narra- Lord to Nephi in 1 Nephi 14:28 (1 Nephi 12:11–12; 2 Nephi the Nephite Records tors has captured the attention and to Moroni in Ether 13:13. 26:9; 3 Nephi 27:31–32); the Steven L. Olsen of several biblical scholars, 11. As a matter of convenience, I annihilation of the Nephites 1. In this paper the terms small whose conclusions are based refer to Lehi’s dream-vision as (1 Nephi 12:13–17; Alma 1:12; plates and large plates initially on inferences from the narra- a dream and to Nephi’s vision Alma 45:1–14; Helaman 15:17); appear in quotation marks to tive itself more than on explicit as a vision. In so doing, I do the abject baseness of the identify usage among Latter- breaks in the narrative’s third- not mean to diminish the sig- surviving Lamanites (1 Nephi day Saints today. This short- person omniscient point of nificance of Lehi’s experience, 12:20–23; 15:13; 2 Nephi 26:15; hand distinction between the view. See Meir Sternberg, The since dreams in ancient times Helaman 15:11–12; Mormon verbatim account of the proph- Poetics of Biblical Narrative: were considered viable means 5:15); the conditions of apos- ets, beginning with Nephi, and Ideological Literature and the of divine communication. tasy among the Gentiles in the bulk of Mormon’s abridg- Drama of Reading (Bloom- 12. Earlier examinations of the the latter days (1 Nephi 13; ment does not exist in the ington: University of complementary nature of 2 Nephi 26; 3 Nephi 16:9–11; Book of Mormon, which refers Press, 1985), 58–83, for a cri- Lehi’s dream and Nephi’s 21:10–21; 30:1–2; Ether 12); to both accounts as the “plates tique of the efforts to ascribe vision are Courtney J. Lasset- the migration of the Gentiles of Nephi.” authorship to narrative books ter, “Lehi’s Dream and Nephi’s to the promised land (1 Nephi 2. See, for example, Ezra 7:28– of the Old Testament. Vision: A Look at Structure 13:12–20; 21:5–7; Mormon 5); 9:15; Nehemiah 1–13; Isaiah 6; 7. Leading studies of this and Theme in the Book of the conversion of the house of Jeremiah 1; Ezekiel 1–2. approach to the Bible include Mormon,” Perspectives: A Jour- Israel and the Gentiles in the 3. Most frequently, direct edito- Robert Alter’s The Art of nal of Critical Inquiry (Winter last days (1 Nephi 14; 2 Nephi rial comment in the Hebrew Biblical Narrative (New York: 1976): 50–54; and Robert L. 25:17–18; 3 Nephi 15:22; Bible orients readers con- Basic Books, 1981), The Art Millet, “Another Testament of 20–21); the gathering of Israel temporary with the narrator of Biblical Poetry (New York: Jesus Christ,” in The Book of and establishment of Zion in to cultural or geographical Basic Books, 1985), and The Mormon: First Nephi, The Doc- the last days (1 Nephi 13:37; references in the text. See, Five Books of Moses; David trinal Foundation, ed. Monte S. 15; 19:16; Mosiah 12:21–22; for example, Robert Alter, Noel Freedman’s The Unity Nyman and Charles D. Tate Jr. 3 Nephi 16; 20–21; 29); the The Five Books of Moses: A of the Hebrew Bible (Ann (Provo, Utah: BYU Religious judgment of all mankind Translation with Commentary Arbor: University of Michigan Studies Center, 1988), 161–76. (1 Nephi 22:21; Mosiah 27:31; (New York: W. W. Norton, Press, 1991); and particularly 13. On the interpretive value Alma 12:27); and the second 2004), 113n2, 123n50, 182n33, Sternberg’s Poetics of Biblical of repetition in the Hebrew coming of Christ and founding 270n34, 273n11. Narrative. Bible, see Alter’s Five Books of the millennial kingdom of 4. Two studies that inventory 8. Among the earliest and best- of Moses, 349n21, and Art of God (1 Nephi 22:26; 2 Nephi several explicit editorial state- known studies of the explicit Biblical Narrative, 88–113; and 12:12–13; 30:18; 3 Nephi 24–25; ments in the Book of Mor- crafting of the Book of Mor- Sternberg’s Poetics of Biblical Ether 13). mon as evidence of the text’s mon narrative are Bruce W. Narrative, 365–440. 15. The following are complexity and the manner Jorgensen, “The Dark Way to 14. Among the prophecies initially uttered and fulfilled of its compilation are John A. the Tree: Typological Unity in included in both the small within Mormon’s historical Tvedtnes, “Mormon’s Editorial the Book of Mormon,” in Liter- plates and Mormon’s abridg- narrative (the first citation is Promises,” in Rediscovering the ature of Belief: Sacred Scripture ment are the following (this the prophecy and the second Book of Mormon, ed. John L. and Religious Experience, ed. list includes selected citations is its fulfillment): Abinadi Sorenson and Melvin J. Thorne Neal E. Lambert (Provo, Utah: of prophecies, the first of foretells the tragedy to befall (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, BYU Religious Studies Cen- which come from the small the people of Limhi (Mosiah 1981), 29–31; and Cheryl ter, 1981), 217–31; George S. plates, followed by those, as 12:1–2; 21:1–4), the fiery death Brown, “I Speak Somewhat Tate, “The Typology of the appropriate, from Mormon’s of King Noah (Mosiah 12:3; Concerning That Which I Exodus Pattern in the Book abridgment): the destruction 19:20), and the cruelty of Have Written,” in The Book of Mormon,” in Literature of of Jerusalem (1 Nephi 1:4, Limhi’s rebellious descendants of Mormon: Jacob Through Belief, 245–62; and John W. 13, 18; 2 Nephi 1:4; Alma 9:9; (Mosiah 17:1; Alma 25:5); Words of Mormon, To Learn Welch, “Chiasmus in the Book Helaman 8:20–21); finding Alma predicts the destruction with Joy, ed. Monte S. Nyman of Mormon,” BYU Studies 10 and settling the promised land of the city of Ammonihah and Charles D. Tate Jr. (Provo, (Autumn 1969): 69–84. (1 Nephi 2:20; 18:23); the (Alma 10:23; 16:2–3) and Utah: BYU Religious Studies 9. Relevant structural studies of upon the Lamanites (1 Nephi the movement of Lamanite Center, 1990), 55–72. sacred texts include Claude 2:23; 2 Nephi 5:21; Alma armies (Alma 43:24; 43:49–54); 5. Prior studies of the edito- Levi-Strauss, “The Structural 17:15); the Nephites as rulers and Nephi reveals the secret rial role of Book of Mormon Study of Myth,” in his Struc- in the promised land (1 Nephi murder of the chief judge and authors include S. Kent tural Anthropology (New York: 2:22; 2 Nephi 5:19); the mortal the identity of its perpetrator Brown, “Nephi’s Use of Lehi’s Basic Books, 1963), 206–31; ministry, atonement, and res- (Helaman 8:27; 9:3–38). Record,” in Rediscovering Edmund Leach, Genesis as urrection of Christ (1 Nephi 16. Whether Mormon included a the Book of Mormon, 3–14; Myth and Other Essays (Lon- 11; Mosiah 3–4; 14–15; Alma 7; comparable editorial aside at

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