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Just a thought. I think that at the time of its publication, the Book of Mormon may have played something of second fiddle because the idea of the restoration of the primitive church was so striking, particularly to the massive number of converts in England. Many were waiting for such a restoration. Thus, the Bible, known to almost everyone, provided information that would reaffirm the message of the restoration. Today, sadly, almost no one knows about or cares about the Bible. These days the Book of Mormon in its own right provides wonderful grounds for belief, given it marvelous content, and its remarkable appearance. It’s almost the case that the Book of Mormon brings people back to the Bible.
I am currently reading Producing Ancient Scripture, and in an essay by Ann Taves, who I don’t think is a member, she notes that during the translation process, the eyewitness accounts indicate that “there were parts of the text {Joseph} did not understand and words he could not pronounce.”
To couple that quote with this article, it just seems to me that had Joseph written the Book of Mormon, he would have drawn attention to it as much as possible, and make mention of how ingenious this or that is, as an indirect way of congratulating himself on his work and to make sure it was constantly appreciated.
Authors love boasting about how great their book is. Anyone ever been to a book reading?
Thanks, Daniel. You’re the best.
Interesting. We are continuously finding out new things about the Book of Mormon.
I believe Isaiah was referring to the Book of Mormon when he wrote:
“Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff.” (Isaiah 41:15)
It is a very sharp threshing instrument. Almost no one joins the Church today without have a testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.
Are you aware of the work Janiece Johnson has been doing on early use of the Book of Mormon? She has found many examples of BOM intertextuality throughout the Joseph Smith Papers and elsewhere that show extensive knowledge of its content by Joseph Smith and others.
Trevor, do you mean “extensive knowledge” of its content or “extensive talking” of its content. Just the other day I read into, again, the account of Lorenzo Snow, as a young man (early 1830s), listening to Joseph preach and bear his testimony of the FV and coming forth of the BofM, which could well have included touching on the contents of the BofM. I personally think Joseph talked about it more than some might think.
There is an example of what I mean here, from last year’s Joseph Smith Papers Conference:
https://twitter.com/FairMormon/status/1182749445651218432