Book of mormon literary styles

Awesome anti mormons speak on book of mormon fictional origin. What could the phrase learning of the jews better refer to, in this context, than to some particular hebraic style of writing. If joseph smith wrote the book of mormon, we should be able to see his literary style across the entire book. Even though mormon is a narrator, the actual books are written in 1st person. The book of mormon is where the literary and spiritual ambitions of the antebellum age most tenaciously converged. It is the sacred text for the 15 millionstrong church of jesus christ of latterday saints. If he copied from someone, we should see that authors writing style likewise. Does the book of mormon contain jewish literary techniques. Smith and the genesis of the book of mormon, has become. The book of mormon gets the literary treatment religion. Unique literary styles in the book of mormon, further. The literary power of the book of mormon religious studies center. They like to talk about hebraic literary styles like chiasma for instance which can also be found in dr.

Stylometrists analyze literature using statistics, math formulas and artificial intelligence to determine the style of an authors writing. This influenced mark twain to describe the book of mormon as slow, sleepy, and insipid. Since the book of mormons publication in 1830, a number of. If the book of mormon was written by ancient authors, we should be able to see distinct writing styles among each different author. Wordprint studies of the book of mormon fairmormon. These writers include sidney rigdon, solomon spalding, w. What it can reliably demonstrate, and what valid data from the above studies collectively argue, is that 1 the book of mormon was written in multiple, distinct authorship styles. A stylometric analysis of mormon scripture and related texts d. The book of mormon has been described as the bible of north america i. It should be understood that stylometry cannot prove that the book of mormon was written by multiple ancient american prophets. And yet the book of mormon has excited very little enthusiasm outside of mormonism. They like to talk about hebraic literary styles like.

Critics believe this supports their claim that smith knew about chiasmus, and that it may have been a characteristic of his personal writing style. Awesome antimormons share conclusive facts of book of mormon 19th century fictional origin. What can stylometry tell us about book of mormon authorship. It contains poetrysongs, chiastic structure, acrostics, etc. Welch discovered a variety of instances of chiasmus in the book of mormon and along with his discovery came attention to the phenomenon. The style of the book of mormon has been criticized by some as being verbose and redundant, but in most cases these repetitions are orderly and.

Its the calling card for thousands of missionaries, and part of the inspiration for a tony awardwinning broadway musical. Further, writing style is not singularly specific to a person. For the first time, studies of the book of mormons literary qualities were. Stylometry can assess the similarity of writing styles among authors, but it cannot prove personal. Book of mormon literature the encyclopedia of mormonism. Literary and historical studies of the book of mormon, 7598.

The most commonly cited example of chiasmus in the book of mormon is the prophet almas religious experience, as recorded in alma 36. My intended readers are those who may have little appetite for endless footnotes from obscure sources, and are not bedazzled by credentials behind a name. Moreover, previous stylometric studies have demonstrated that none of the 19th century writers usually suspected of authoring the book of mormon have writing samples that match any of its distinct styles. Awesome antimormons share conclusive facts of book of. Does the book of mormon similarly contain literary styles and techniques common among jews. Although understated as literature in its clear and plain language, the book of mormon exhibits a wide variety of literary forms, including intricate hebraic poetry, memorable narratives, rhetorically effective sermons, diverse letters, allegory, figurative language, imagery, symbolic types, and wisdom literature. The writing style of the book of mormon is different than the bible. Is it possible that a single author wrote the book of mormon. Religious studies center, brigham young university, 1998. The most commonly recognized poetic style is parallelism.