DOCSLIB.ORG

An Overview of the Against View of the Hebrews

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
An Overview of the Against View of the Hebrews AN OVERVIEW OF THE ARGUMENTS FOR AND AGAINST VIEW OF THE HEBREWS AS A POSSIBLE SOURCE FOR THE BOOK OF MORMON. THE COMPARATIVE METHOD REEXAMINED MADISON U. SOWELL N NOVEMBER 28, that a most effective way to attack Mormonism always advocated a 1841, Joseph Smith Mormonism was to attack the Book of human, rather than a divine or super- recorded in his jour- Mormon’s validity as an ancient re- natural, origin of the book. In 1834, for nal that the Book of cord. By chipping away at Mor- instance, E. D. Howe published Mor- Mormon is "the key- monism’s central stone, to continue monism Unvailed [sic] in which it was stone of our reli- the analogy, various factions and hos- proposed that the original authors of gion.’’1 Joseph’s analogy, thoughtile groups hoped to affect the the Book of Mormon were Solomon brief, aptly illustrates an important Prophet’s downfall and to encompass Spaulding, author of Manuscript. point to keep in mind as we discuss a the destruction of his religion. Story, and Sidney Rigdon, one of Wide-ranging theories surfaced, Joseph’s earliest and most notable reputed Book of Mormon source. We 3 may infer from the analogy that just as therefore, in attempts to uncover the converts. The Spaulding-Rigdon a keystone locks together the other "true" origin of the Book of Mormon. theory, while popular for several de- stones of an arch, so the Book of Needless to report, those opposed to cades, has long since been discre- Mormon supports and gives validity dited. As Thomas O’Dea concludes, to the doctrines of Mormonism. "Few, if any, scholars take it seriously Without a keystone no arch could today.’’4 Other theories ascribed the stand; without the Book of Mormon BOOK OF MORMON: Book of Mormon’s authorship either the religion Joseph Smith founded to Oliver Cowdery or to an epileptic would lose its chief reason for being. ACCOUNT WRITTEN B’f TIlE HAND OF MOR- and, consequently, visionary Joseph MON, UPON PLATES TAKEN FROM Smith. s It is not our intent, however, Everying in Mormonism ultimatey Till:; PLATES OP NEPIH. : hinges on the authenticity of our un- to delve into these particular conjec- iquely Mormon scripture.2 Today, tures, which are largely out of vogue after one hundred and fifty years, the in today’s scholarly world. Our atten- Book of Mormon still remains the acid tion will focus instead on another test of Joseph Smith’s claims to theory, one which widely circulates in prophetic election. Mormon apostates current anti-Mormon literature but is and other anti-Mormons had already hardly known to the Mormon mem- understood this simple fact years be- bership at large. Like the topic of fore the Prophet made the keystone Mormonism and Masonry, the sub- comparison, and they had concluded ject of Joseph’s possible reliance on Ethan Smith’s View of the Hebrews for This paper was first presented at SUNSTONE’$ 1980 PALM\R.\ : parts of the Book of Mormon has sel- Mormon Theological Symposium 1<30. dom been discussed publicly in Mor- MADISON SOWELL teaches Italian at BYU. _ (Con tinued on page 50) 44 Sunstone TEXTUAL PROBLEMS WHICH MAY CHALLENGE THE BOOK’S ORIGIN AND AUTHORSHIP WERE EXAMINED BY B. H. ROBERTS. BOOK OF MORMON DIFFICULTIES GEORGE D. SMITH, JR. N AUGUST 1921 a Mr. Couch to us from the outside World." 1 the integrity of the whole Mormon of Washington, D.C., wrote to Believing that "our faith is not only movement," wrote Roberts in another his friend in Logan, Utah, unshaken but unshakable,’’2 Roberts letter to President Grant about the asking several pointed ques- therefore felt it was possible to face same matter, "for it is inconceivable tions about certain details of these challenges directly. Joseph that the Book of Mormon should be the Book of Mormon. These Smith himself had declared the book untrue in its origin and character and questions were forwarded to Apostle "the keystone" of the restored gospel. the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- James B. Talmage, who in turn gave "Maintenance of the truth of the Book day Saints to be a true church."3 This them to B.H. Roberts of the First of Mormon is absolutely essential to proposition is no less true today and Quorum of the Seventy. In response, the continuing need to examine the Roberts wrote two manuscripts, book no less critical. Two arguments "Book of Mormon Difficulties" and often used against the Book of Mor- "A Book of Mormon Study," detailing mon, both addressed by Roberts potential problems which might be during his lifetime, are therefore wor- used to discredit the Book of Mormon. thy of careful attention. The first paper was presented to the The first "difficulty" was detailed Council of the Twelve. In a cover letter at length in Roberts’ second manus- to President Heber J. Grant which ac- cript, "A Book of Mormon Study." In companied the manuscript, Roberts 1823, seven years before the Book of explained his motives for cataloguing Mormon was published, Ethan Smith what some might feel best forgotten. had written View of the Hebrews,4 a "I am thoroughly convinced," he compilation of popular opinions wrote, "of the necessity of all the about the origins of the American In- brethren herein addressed becoming dians, who supposedly descended familiar with these Book of Mormon from the Hebrew tribes. Some have problems, and finding the answer for claimed that this book was a source for them, as it is a matter that will concern the Book of Mormon. The book was the faith of the Youth of the Church circulated in the area where Joseph now as also in the future, as well as lived. Ethan Smith was a Congrega- such casual inquirers that may come tional minister living in Poultney, This paper was first presented at SUNSTONE’S 1979 Vermont, Oliver Cowdery’s home Mormon Theological Symposium until 1825 when he moved west and GEORGE SMITH is a freelance historian living met Joseph Smith. Joseph Smith’s in San Francisco. own birthplace, Sharon, Vermont, Mayqune 45 was only 40 miles from Poultney. But Ethan Smiith, like Joseph Smith, ment .... Something like this may View of the Hebrews, which was ex- believed that the American In- possibly have occurred to favour of panded in the 1825 edition, was also dians descended frorn the an- our Indians being of Israel" (pp. 217- read widely in New York, where the cient Hebrews. But Ethan Smith con- 218).~2 Similar ideas are found in Joseph Smith family moved. Several cluded "from various authors and Mormon’s description of bu~ying sac- endorsements of the book from travelers among the Indians., the fact red "records which had been handed people living in New York were in- that the American Indians are the ten clown by our father," buryiing them cluded in the second edition of the tribes of Israel" (p. 85). The Book of up "in the Hill Cumorah" (Mormon book, one from Eden, New York, a Mormon describes a people de- 6:6). town as far west as Buffalo. s scended from only three tribes-- Ethan Smith had collected reports Lehi’s descendants from the. tribes of about the Hebrew origin of the In- Ephraim and Manasseh, two of the dians from missionaries and traders lost tribes, and Mulek’s descendants who had lived among them. This idea from the tribe of Judah. ~o The opening ACRED RECORDS, was also held by such well-known chapters of both books deal with the American religious leaders as Roger destruction of Jerusalem and the scat- HAND ED D 0 WN Williams, William Penn, Cotton tering of Israel. Both books then de- FROM G ENERA TION Mather, and Jonathan Edwards, as scribe the gathering and restoration of well as authors James Adair, Charles Israel to its own land. Ethan Smith TO GENERATION, Crawford, Elias Boudinot, and Josiah quotes the eleventh chapter of Isaiah, WERE BURIED IN A Priest. Priest had published two which the Angel Moroni also recited HILL IN BOTH books supporting the thesis.6 In The to Joseph Smith on September 12, Wonders of Nature and Providence Dis- 1828 (History of the Church, Vol. I, p. ,4 C C O UNTS . played (editions printed in 1825 and 12). The migrations of Ethan Smith’s Both the View of the Hebrews and 1826) he concluded, after quoting "lost tribes" are not unlike those of the Book of Mormon identify the some forty writers, that most minis- the Book of Mormon Jaredites. Both American Indians as the "stick ters of New England and the Middle groups journeyed north into a of Joseph or Ephraim," the tribe of States believed the Indians were de- valley~the valley of the Euphrates for 7 Joseph, which will be reunited with scendants of the Hebrews. Between the "lost tribes" and the valley of the stick of Judah, the Jews, as 1833 and 1838 he published eight edi- Nimrod for the Jaredites. Both finally prophesied by Ezekiel (chapter 37). tions of the second book, American crossed the sea--the lost tribes in a Ten tribes of Israel (the stick of Joseph) Antiquities. year and a half, the Jaredites in 344 were carried into captivity by the As- Although there is no direct evi- days~to an uninhabited land "where syrians in 722 B.C.; the Jews in the dence that Joseph Smith ever read man never dwelt" (tribes) or "into Southern Kingdom (the stick of View of the Hebrews before the Book of that quarter where there never had Judah) were exiled by the Babylonians Mormon was translated, in an 1842 ar- man been (Jaredites, Ether 2:!5).
Load more

Recommended publications
  • View of the Hebrews; Or the Tribes of Israel in America
    View of the Hebrews; or the Tribes of Israel in America EXH IBITING CHAP. I. THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. CHAP. II. THE CERTAIN RESTORATION OF JUDAH AND ISRAEL. CHAP. III. THE PRESENT STATE OF JUDAH AND ISRAEL. CHAP. IV. AN ADDRESS O F T HE PR OPH ET ISA IAH TO THE UNITED STATES RELATIVE TO THEIR RESTORATION. SECOND EDITION, IMPROVED AND ENLARGED. By Ethan Smith, PASTOR OF A CHURCH IN POULTNEY (VT.) “These be the days of vengeance.” “Yet a remnant shall return.” “He shall assemble the outcasts of Israel; and gather together the dispersed of Judah.” PU BLISHED A ND PRINTED BY SMITH & SH UTE, POULTNEY, (VT.) 1825. p.ii District of Vermont, To wit: BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the sixteenth day of April, in the forty-ninth year of the Independence of the United States of America, SMITH & SHUTE, of the said District, have deposited in thin office the title of a book, the right thereof they claim as proprietors, in the w ords fol lowing, t o w hi t: “View of the Hebrews: or the Tribes of Israel in America. Exhibiting Chap. I. The Destruction of Jerusalem. Chap. II. The certain Restoration of Judah and Israel. Chap. III. The Present State of Judah and Israel. Chap. IV. An A ddress of the Prophet Isaiah to the United States relative to their restoration. Second edition, improved and enlarged. By ETHAN SMITH , pastor of a church in Poultney , (Vt.) These be the days of vengeance.’ Yet a remnant shall return.’ He shall assemble the outcasts of Israel; and gather t ogether the di spersed of Ju dah.
    [Show full text]
  • The Secret Mormon Meetings of 1922
    University of Nevada, Reno THE SECRET MORMON MEETINGS OF 1922 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History By Shannon Caldwell Montez C. Elizabeth Raymond, Ph.D. / Thesis Advisor December 2019 Copyright by Shannon Caldwell Montez 2019 All Rights Reserved UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA RENO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL We recommend that the thesis prepared under our supervision by SHANNON CALDWELL MONTEZ entitled The Secret Mormon Meetings of 1922 be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS C. Elizabeth Raymond, Ph.D., Advisor Cameron B. Strang, Ph.D., Committee Member Greta E. de Jong, Ph.D., Committee Member Erin E. Stiles, Ph.D., Graduate School Representative David W. Zeh, Ph.D., Dean, Graduate School December 2019 i Abstract B. H. Roberts presented information to the leadership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in January of 1922 that fundamentally challenged the entire premise of their religious beliefs. New research shows that in addition to church leadership, this information was also presented during the neXt few months to a select group of highly educated Mormon men and women outside of church hierarchy. This group represented many aspects of Mormon belief, different areas of eXpertise, and varying approaches to dealing with challenging information. Their stories create a beautiful tapestry of Mormon life in the transition years from polygamy, frontier life, and resistance to statehood, assimilation, and respectability. A study of the people involved illuminates an important, overlooked, underappreciated, and eXciting period of Mormon history.
    [Show full text]
  • Solomon Spalding
    MormonLeaks.com –Episode 2 –Has “Old Come to Pass”come to life again? Episode 2 Has “Old Come to Pass” come to life again? ! Slide 1 MormonLeaks.com 1 MormonLeaks.com –Episode 2 –Has “Old Come to Pass”come to life again? Alternative accounts! Has “Old Come to Pass” come to life again?! The Gold Bible He called himsef “A Company Dangerous Man”! revelation! “Necessity is the mother of invention”! Advent of The Last Smith and Rigdon Dispensation! Institutional Response Slide 2 MormonLeaks.com 2 MormonLeaks.com –Episode 2 –Has “Old Come to Pass”come to life again? So far, we have two Vermont likely candidate authors, both in Lake Ontario upstate New York. NEW YORK Cowdery Smith Lake Erie Named as candidate authors in November, 1830 PENNSYLVANIA OHIO Slide 3 Expected interactions based on geography: (1) Rigdon, Spalding, Pratt and (2) Cowdery and Smith. Authorship allegations: 1. Joseph Smith –– Joseph Smith, Jr. was published as the "author" of the 1830 Book of Mormon. 2. Joseph Smith, Jr. and Oliver Cowdery The Cleveland Herald (Nov. 25, 1830) stated: “Mr. Cowdry and Mr. Smith the reputed author, have taken the old Bible to keep up a train of circumstances, and by altering names and language have produced the string of Jargon called the "Book of Mormon"... http://www.sidneyrigdon.com/dbroadhu/OH/miscohio.htm#112530 .Painesville Telegraph Nov. 16, 1830: “About two weeks since some persons came along here with the book, one of whom pretends to have seen Angels, and assisted in translating the plates... The name of the person here, who pretends to have a divine mission, and to have seen and conversed with Angels, is Cowdray...” “ Mr.
    [Show full text]
  • Joseph Smith's Interpretation of Isaiah in the Book of Mormon
    SCRIPTURAL STUDIES Joseph Smith's Interpretation of Isaiah in the Book of Mormon David P. Wright THE BOOK OF MORMON (hereafter BM), which Joseph Smith published in 1830, is mainly an account of the descendants of an Israelite family who left Jerusalem around 600 B.C.E. to come to the New World. According to the book's story, this family not only kept a record of their history, which, added upon by their descendants, was to become the BM, but also brought with them to the Americas a copy of Isaiah's prophecies, from which the BM prophets cite Isaiah (1 Ne. 5:13; 19:22-23). Several chapters or sections of Isaiah are quoted in the BM: Isaiah 2-14 are cited in 2 Nephi 12-24; Isaiah 48-49 in 1 Nephi 20-21; Isaiah 49:22-52:2 in 2 Nephi 6:6-7,16- 8:25; Isaiah 52:7-10 in Mosiah 12:21-24; Isaiah 53 in Mosiah 14; and Isaiah 54 in 3 Nephi 22. Other shorter citations, paraphrases, and allusions are also found.1 The text of Isaiah in the BM for the most part follows the King James Version (hereafter KJV). There are some variants, but these are often in- significant or of minor note and therefore do not contribute greatly to clarifying the meaning of the text. The BM, however, does provide inter- pretation of or reflections on the meaning of Isaiah. This exegesis is usu- ally placed in chapters following citation of the text (compare 1 Ne. 22; 2 Ne.
    [Show full text]
  • The Mormon Challenge
    1 The Mormon Challenge A presentation of the other side of Mormonism using LDS-approved sources 2 Table of Contents Introduction ........................................................................................................................4 Sources ................................................................................................................................4 PART ONE: THE SCRIPTURES ....................................................................................5 The Book of Mormon.........................................................................................................5 Joseph Smith Sr. and the Tree of Life ............................................................................................................. 5 Ancient Evangelists ......................................................................................................................................... 7 Joseph’s Ability ............................................................................................................................................. 10 Possible Flaws Ch. 1 – Conviction and Moroni’s Promise ........................................................................... 11 Ch. 2 – A Precise Text .................................................................................................................................. 19 Ch. 3 – Testing the Book of Mormon with the Bible .................................................................................... 22 Ch. 4 – The Reality of the Law of
    [Show full text]
  • 2007 DONE Larry Morris 2007 Pt 1, the Cowdery Controversies
    The Cowdery Controversies By Larry Morris 2007 FAIR Conference It's really an honor to speak at the FAIR conference and I'd like to talk a little bit about a person that I have a great deal of affection for and that's Oliver Cowdery. I would like to discuss some of the controversies surrounding Oliver Cowdery. The first one that comes up is something that happened before Oliver was even born. It is known as the "Wood Scrape" and this happened in Middletown, Vermont in 1802. It was a group of people who broke away from the Congregational Church, started their own group, started using divining rods to prophesize to search for treasure, to search for lost articles. And the main participants were the Wood family of Middleton, Vermont and a man by the name of Justus Winchell. They predicted that there would be an earthquake in January of 1802 and there was quite a bit of hubbub about this in the community, quite a bit of alarm. The local militia was called out, and when the earthquake did not take place the group was disgraced and Winchell was warned out of the community and the Wood family who had been prominent prior to that, left and went to New York. A 19th century historian by the name of Barnes Frisbie wrote about this Wood Scrape and he believed it was the origin of Mormonism. Now the Cowdery family lived at that time in Wells, Vermont, which is the neighboring township next to Middleton. Frisbie got a report that this Winchell had stayed at a Cowdery home before the Wood Scrape.
    [Show full text]
  • The Seminary in the Wilderness: a Representative Episode in the Cultural History of Northern New England
    The seminary in the wilderness: A representative episode in the cultural history of northern New England The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Williams, George H. 1959. The seminary in the wilderness: A representative episode in the cultural history of northern New England. Harvard Library Bulletin XIII (3), Autumn 1959: 369-400. Citable link https://nrs.harvard.edu/URN-3:HUL.INSTREPOS:37363785 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA The Seminary in the Wilderness A Representative Episode in tl1e Cultural History of Nor ther11 New E11gland. ucAL his~oriography, even ,vithout a single episode belonging to general history, often has much more than antiqu~rian and regional interest ,vhci1 seen as a representative action in 2. ............h1rger epic. The f ollo,ving narrative is at once the. chronicle of a short-] ived and· forgotten theological sc1ninary and a sketch of the biblical rnotives and aspirations ~fa gcner2tion of Christians ,vho ,verc trying to gc·t their cultural bearings and establish a ne,v pattern of ministerial e<lucatioi:iat that n101ncnt in the history of the young llc- public ,v hen ne\v and p otcntial ly continentRl assign men ts ,vc~e bci ng laid upo11the churches of the Nc\v England "\1/ay.1 · T11e brief career of Gilmanton Semjn ary in Nc,v Han1pshire ( 1 8 3 5- 1 846) must be seen against the background of the Congregational Convention of \¥indso r in 1 8 1 2 1 seven n1onths after the outbreak of ,var , vi th Great Britain.
    [Show full text]
  • Full Journal
    Editor in Chief Steven C. Harper Associate Editor Susan Elizabeth Howe Involving Readers Editorial Board in the Latter-day Saint Trevor Alvord media Academic Experience Richard E. Bennett Church history Carter Charles history W. Justin Dyer social science Dirk A. Elzinga linguistics Sherilyn Farnes history James E. Faulconer philosophy/theology Kathleen Flake religious studies Ignacio M. Garcia history Daryl R. Hague translation Taylor Halvorson, scripture and innovation David F. Holland religious history Kent P. Jackson scripture Megan Sanborn Jones theater and media arts Ann Laemmlen Lewis independent scholar Kerry Muhlestein Egyptology Armand L. Mauss sociology Marjorie Newton history Josh E. Probert material culture Susan Sessions Rugh history Herman du Toit visual arts Lisa Olsen Tait history Greg Trimble, entrepreneurship, internet engineering John G. Turner history Gerrit van Dyk Church history John W. Welch law and scripture Frederick G. Williams cultural history Jed L. Woodworth history STUDIES QUARTERLY BYU Vol. 58 • No. 3 • 2019 ARTICLES 4 The History of the Name of the Savior’s Church: A Collaborative and Revelatory Process K. Shane Goodwin 42 Voice from the Dust A Shoshone Perspective on the Bear River Massacre Darren Parry 58 The Nauvoo Music and Concert Hall: A Prelude to the Exodus Darrell Babidge 105 Naturalistic Explanations of the Origin of the Book of Mormon: A Longitudinal Study Brian C. Hales 149 The Office of Church Recorder: A Conversation with Elder Steven E. Snow Keith A. Erekson COVER ART 78 She Will Find What Is Lost: Brian Kershisnik’s Artistic Response to the Problem of Human Suffering Cris Baird ESSAY 99 Burning the Couch: Some Stories of Grace Robbie Taggart POETRY 98 First Argument Darlene Young BOOK REVIEW 186 Sex and Death on the Western Emigrant Trail: The Biology of Three American Tragedies by Donald K.
    [Show full text]
  • Response to NOVAK's Review
    “You Don’t See What I See” Response to “Examining the Environmental Explanation of the Book of Mormon,” Gary F. Novak’s review of Joseph Smith’s Response to Skepticism.1 By Robert N. Hullinger _______________________________ “As far as Mormon scholarship is con- I. Environmental Explanations Alive and cerned,” wrote William Mulder in 1976, “I Well am, as they would say in church, ‘inactive.’” This explained why he had produced little A. His initial assessment in publishing on Mormon history since 1958. “I am a Rip Van Winkel lost in slum- Mr. Novak did not like what he read. The ber for twenty years (dreaming much of that book is: “less than consuming reading”; “sim- time in far-off India), but awakening now to plistic”; “limitations in Hullinger’s research a changed scene at home.”2 base are not uncommon”; “represents only a fraction of the bad reasoning and sloppy I borrow Mulder’s words to introduce my reading”; “if we cannot expect accuracy, we belated response to Gary F. Novak’s 1995 re- can at least expect charity”; “poisoning the view of my book(s)3: I’ve been “inactive” in well against any possible refutation of the Mormon studies since the publication of the Ethan Smith theory”; “revealing.” The fact 1980 edition, with a brief startup to help with is, he did discover a couple mistakes. the 1992 edition. Now, like Mulder, I have awakened to a “changed scene” in Mormon CONCESSION #1 Inaccuracy studies, and I encounter some of that change I confused the picture of the ten lost tribes in Novak’s review.
    [Show full text]
  • The Life and Legacy of the Reverend Phinehas Bailey Jeffrey D
    University of Vermont ScholarWorks @ UVM Center for Research on Vermont Occasional Papers Research Centers and Institutes 1985 The life and legacy of the Reverend Phinehas Bailey Jeffrey D. Marshall Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/crvocc Recommended Citation Marshall, Jeffrey D., "The life and legacy of the Reverend Phinehas Bailey" (1985). Center for Research on Vermont Occasional Papers. 13. https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/crvocc/13 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Research Centers and Institutes at ScholarWorks @ UVM. It has been accepted for inclusion in Center for Research on Vermont Occasional Papers by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ UVM. For more information, please contact [email protected]. OCCASIONAL PAPER NU~lBER 9 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF THE REVEREND PHINEHAS BAILEY BY JEFFREY D. MARSHALL CENTER FOR RESEARCH UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT BURLINGTON, VERMONT 05405 NUMBER 9 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF THE REVEREND PHINEHAS BAILEY BY JEFFREY D. MARSHALL • ,/ ~ '-' :YERMO ~T 'LIB RA RY.' Copyright 1985 by The University of Vermont. All rights reserved The Center for Research on Vermont University of Vermont Burlington, VT 05405 802/656-4389 ---- -~ ~ . ~.;: ;:.-A.!.. .. ~ ~ - - •• ---- INEHAS BAILEY urtesy Benn ington Museum PREFACE The loose ends of research projects sometimes weave themselves into new fabrics rather than ending in convenient knots. A set of shorthand letters in a collection of papers ·;:~r- I had used extensively in my master's thesis research at the University of Vermont piqued my curiosity, and when I finished the thesis in the summer of 1982, there seemed nothing better to do than to unravel the mystery.
    [Show full text]
  • The Case of the Missing Phylactery
    The Case of the Missing Phylactery WILLIAM N. GOETZMANN XHEORIES ASCRIBING a Hebrew origin to the American Indians have emerged repeatedly throughout the course of our history, each time, it seems, accompanied by an interesting tale. One of the most unusual episodes in this centuries-old tradition is the famous case of the Jewish phylactery excavated in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in the summer of 1815. This phylactery, a leather strap containing verses from the Bible and made to be worn on the head or arm in observance of Jewish custom, became the object of intense excitement among a group of clerics, scholars, and antiquaries who believed that it had been brought from the deserts of Assyria across Asia and the Bering Straits by the ancestors of the New England In- dians. Cited as proof of the Indians' Hebraic ancestry by the Vermont minister and antiquary, the Reverend Mr. Ethan Smith, reported by the Mormon prophet Joseph Smith in his church newspaper Times and Seasons, popularized by Josiah Priest in Antiquities of America, and once owned by Elias Bou- dinot, author of A Star in the West, the Pittsfield phylactery caught the attention of nearly every major nineteenth-century proponent of the Lost Tribes theory before it mysteriously disappeared. The case of the phylactery's disappearance is inextricably bound to the early history of the American Antiquarian Soci- ety; the Society briefly held the famous document and regularly received inquiries regarding the whereabouts of the phylactery for more than 150 years. Thus, the American Antiquarian So- ciety was the logical place for a recent donation by the anti- quarian bookdealer William Reese of New Haven, Connecti- 69 70 American Antiquarian Society cut.
    [Show full text]
  • How Important Was Oliver Cowdery in Bringing Forth the Book of Mormon?
    KnoWhy # 270 February 3, 2017 Worth More Than Its Weight in Gold via lds.org How Important was Oliver Cowdery in Bringing Forth the Book of Mormon? “But the book shall be delivered unto a man, and he shall deliver the words of the book, which are the words of those who have slumbered in the dust, and he shall deliver these words unto another” 2 Nephi 27:9 end of June, 1829, Oliver served as the primary scribe The Know while Joseph translated at an astonishing pace.5 Avail- While most Latter-day Saints know certain things about able manuscript evidence confirms that Oliver served Oliver Cowdery, few may fully realize just how import- as scribe for most of the translation process.6 His hand- ant he was to the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. writing is clear, accurate, and professional, as one would In September 1828, Oliver Cowdery arrived in the Pal- expect from a school teacher. myra, New York area to teach school, where he stayed with the Joseph Smith Sr. family. While there, he heard When the translation was nearly complete, on “a clear, rumors about the “gold Bible” and Joseph Smith’s vi- open beautiful day” in late June, Oliver joined David sions. Before he ever met Joseph Smith, Oliver became Whitmer and Martin Harris as one of the Three Wit- convinced the story was true and received revelation nesses to the Book of Mormon.7 Only a few months lat- that he needed to assist Joseph (Doctrine and Cove- 1 er, in November 1829, Oliver described the vision to a nants 6:14–24).
    [Show full text]