Will the real Joseph Smith please stand up?

Did Joseph Smith write the Book of Mormon? That’s what critics thought when the book first came out. It was considered literary trash, and trash was all people believed Joseph had the ability to produce. But then people started to notice that the Book of Mormon was deeply intricate and complex. Because Joseph clearly didn’t have the skills to write it, for many decades critics claimed that it was ripped off from an unpublished manuscript by Solomon Spaulding. Then that manuscript was found — it didn’t have anything to do with the Book of Mormon, and that theory collapsed. Ironically, today, most critics once again believe that the Book of Mormon was the product of Joseph’s own intellect. Except this time, since the Book is actually quite complex, critics claim that Joseph was actually much smarter than his contemporaries claimed. In this episode, David explores how theories about the origin of the Book of Mormon have changed over time.

— “Naturalistic Explanations of the Origin of the Book of Mormon: A Longitudinal Study,” by Brian Hales (BYU Studies): https://bit.ly/3cxusP0 / https://bit.ly/3u2FJwa
— “Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon?: The Critics and Their Theories,” by Louis C. Midgley: https://bit.ly/3rBAEJw
— “A New Witness For Christ,” by Francis Kirkham (both Vol. 1 & 2). Great sources in these books.
— “Curiously Unique: Joseph Smith as Author of the Book of Mormon,” by Brian Hales (Interpreter Journal): https://bit.ly/3fsP10m
— “‘Proving to the World’: The Unique Declaration in Doctrine and Covenants Section 20,” by Brian Hales: https://bit.ly/3lZg8l2
— “Theories and Assumptions: A Review of William L. Davis’s ‘Visions in a Seer Stone,’” by Brian Hales (Interpreter Journal): https://bit.ly/2PzxkkV
— “Book of Mormon Authorship Revisited: The Evidence for Ancient Origins,” Noel B. Reynolds (editor).

Notes:

— Joseph was fully aware of how wild his story sounded. He even said, “I don’t blame any one for not believing my history. If I had not experienced what I have, I would not have believed it myself.” Source: “History of the Church,” vol. 6, pg. 317.

— In “The Prophetic Book of Mormon,” Hugh Nibley noted the irony in the evolution of these theories about the authorship of the Book of Mormon. He wrote,

“...the critics have no choice today but to go back to the old original theory of Campbell. But if that theory was so readily discredited (please note: it was not supplanted by the Spaulding theory but broke down on its own accord, and the Spaulding substitute was only found after a desperate interval of frantic searching), if it could not stand up for a year on its own merits, why should it work now?” (pg. 148).


A few pages later, Nibley continued,

“...lots of things are forgotten in 125 years! The theory that Joseph Smith composed the Book of Mormon raises questions and involves corollaries which a hundred years ago were readily seen to present an insuperable obstacle to its acceptance. But the modern world can very easily overlook those questions and corollaries, and present-day critics are trying hard to do so” (pg 151).

— When it comes to topics like those treated in this episode, some people like to bring up the “God of the gaps” argument. It goes sort of like this: “Gaps in science and history do not prove that God is real, or that the supernatural exists.” Or, in the case of our subject-matter: “It’s true that history at this time cannot adequately explain how Joseph created the Book of Mormon, but that doesn’t prove that God is responsible.” This is true. The points raised in this video do not prove that God was responsible. The problem I have with the “God of the gaps” argument is that you could apply it as a way to justify a non-supernatural basis of anything and everything.

You could apply it to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the transformation of water into wine, the healing of the blind. In all of these scenarios, one could claim, “Just because we don’t have a scientific or historical explanation for it doesn’t mean that it was the result of something supernatural.” The way I see it, when there are gaps in the historic or scientific record, you’ve got to do the best you can to fill it with whatever makes the most sense to you, even if whatever you fill the gap with is ultimately (and necessarily) founded in faith.

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