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Difference between revisions of "Sidney Rigdon theory of Book of Mormon authorship"
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{{Epigraph|My father, after I had finished saying what I have repeated above, looked at me a moment, raised his hand above his head and slowly said, with tears glistening in his eyes: "My son, I can swear before high heaven that what I have told you about the origin of [the Book of Mormon] is true. Your mother and sister, Mrs. Athalia Robinson, were present when that book was handed to me in Mentor, Ohio, and all I ever knew about the origin of [the Book of Mormon] was what Parley P. Pratt, Oliver Cowdery, Joseph Smith and the witnesses who claimed they saw the plates have told me, and in all of my intimacy with Joseph Smith he never told me but one story.<br> | {{Epigraph|My father, after I had finished saying what I have repeated above, looked at me a moment, raised his hand above his head and slowly said, with tears glistening in his eyes: "My son, I can swear before high heaven that what I have told you about the origin of [the Book of Mormon] is true. Your mother and sister, Mrs. Athalia Robinson, were present when that book was handed to me in Mentor, Ohio, and all I ever knew about the origin of [the Book of Mormon] was what Parley P. Pratt, Oliver Cowdery, Joseph Smith and the witnesses who claimed they saw the plates have told me, and in all of my intimacy with Joseph Smith he never told me but one story.<br> | ||
Revision as of 20:54, 19 April 2010
This article is a draft. FairMormon editors are currently editing it. We welcome your suggestions on improving the content.
Contents
Criticism
Critics claim that Sidney Rigdon authored the Book of Mormon, and conspired with Joseph Smith well ahead of time to compose it and start a religion.
To see citations to the critical sources for these claims, [[../CriticalSources|click here]]
Response
My father, after I had finished saying what I have repeated above, looked at me a moment, raised his hand above his head and slowly said, with tears glistening in his eyes: "My son, I can swear before high heaven that what I have told you about the origin of [the Book of Mormon] is true. Your mother and sister, Mrs. Athalia Robinson, were present when that book was handed to me in Mentor, Ohio, and all I ever knew about the origin of [the Book of Mormon] was what Parley P. Pratt, Oliver Cowdery, Joseph Smith and the witnesses who claimed they saw the plates have told me, and in all of my intimacy with Joseph Smith he never told me but one story.
—Sidney Rigdon to his son John, just prior to Sidney's death
Initial reaction to the Book of Mormon attributed the authorship to Joseph Smith himself, and reviewers were quit to criticize the book's problems of style, and simply declared it an obvious, amateurish forgery.
It seems to have soon become clear, however, that Joseph truly was incapable of writing such a book. As a result, Sidney Rigdon, an experienced minister, was soon blamed for the book, with Joseph as a willing fellow-con:
- [1 September 1831] ...the money diggers of Ontario county, by the suggestions of the Ex-Preacher from Ohio [i.e., Rigdon], thought of turning their digging concern into a religious plot, and thereby have a better chance of working upon the credulity and ignorance of their associates and the neighborhood. Money and a good living might be got in this way....
- There is no doubt but the ex-parson from Ohio is the author of the book which was recently printed and published in Palmyra, and passes for the new Bible. It is full of strange narratives—in the style of the scriptures, and bearing on its face the marks of some ingenuity, and familiar acquaintance with the Bible. It is probable that Joe Smith is well acquainted with the trick, but Harris the farmer and the recent coverts, are true believers....
- They were called translations, but in fact and in truth they are believed to be the work of the Ex-Preacher from Ohio, who stood in the back ground and put forward Joe to father the new bible and the new faith.[1]
Sidney's involvement would later be added to the Spalding theory, though this theory poses major historical problems which have led even most present-day critics to likewise abandon it.
Conclusion
There is no persuasive evidence for contact between Sidney Rigdon and Joseph Smith prior to the Book of Mormon's publication. Most critics have abandoned the Spaulding theory and any connection to Sidney Rigdon. Ironically, most have returned to the option which struck Joseph's contemporaries as implausible—attributing authorship to Joseph himself. Yet, had this been a viable option, Joseph's contemporaries would not have sought to credit Rigdon, Spaulding, or others with authorship
Endnotes
- [note] “Mormon Religion—Clerical Ambition—Western New York—The Mormonites Gone to Ohio,” Morning Courier and New-York Enquirer (New York City, New York) 7, no. 1331 (1 September 1831). off-site
Further reading
FAIR wiki articles
Template:BofM authorship theories
FAIR web site
- FairMormon Topical Guide: Spaulding Theory FairMormon link
- Matthew B. Brown, "Solomon Spaulding and the Book of Mormon" FAIR link
- John K. Wise, "Clouds Without Water, Zeal Without Knowledge" FAIR link
External links
- Online text of "Manuscript Found", the Spaulding document discovered in 1884 and published by the RLDS Church.off-site
- “Considerable Excitement,” The Evening and the Morning Star (Kirtland, Ohio) 2, no. 19 (April 1834): 150. off-site
- Anonymous, "A Summary," Latter Day Saints' Messenger and Advocate 1 no. 5 (February 1835), 76–77. off-site
- Bruce D. Blumell, "Would you respond to the theories that the Book of Mormon is based on the Spaulding manuscript or on Ethan Smith's View of the Hebrews?," Ensign (September 1976): 83.off-site
- Lester Bush, "The Spalding [sic] Theory Then and Now," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 10 no. 4 (Autumn 1977), 40–69.off-site
- Orson Scott Card, "News of the Church: Spaulding Again?," Ensign 7 (September 1977): 94.off-site
- Jeff Lindsay, "Plagiarism in the Book of Mormon: Is It Derived from Modern Writings?, jefflindsay.com (accessed 5 October 2005).off-site
- L. Ara Norwood, "Book of Mormon Authorship: A Closer Look (Review of Book of Mormon Authorship: A Closer Look by Vernal Holley)," FARMS Review of Books 1/1 (1989): 80–88. off-site
- Gary F. Novak, "Naturalistic Assumptions and the Book of Mormon," Brigham Young University Studies 30 no. 3 (1990), 23–40.off-site
- "Origins of the Spaulding Manuscript", by Professor A. S. Root, Oberlin College, 12 May 1927.off-site
- Matthew Roper, "The Mythical "Manuscript Found" (Review of: Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon? The Spalding Enigma)," FARMS Review 17/2 (2005): 7–140. off-siteGL direct link (Key source)
- President Joseph F. Smith, "The Manuscript Found," Improvement Era 33 no. 4 (February 1900), ? page.off-site
- Philip A. Allred, "Alma's Use of State in the Book of Mormon: Evidence of Multiple Authorship," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 5/1 (1996). [140–146] link
- Richard Lloyd Anderson, "The Modern-Text Theory (Review of "A Rhetorical Approach to the Book of Mormon: Rediscovering Nephite Sacramental Language" by Mark D. Thomas," FARMS Review of Books 6/1 (1994): 379–419. off-site
- Kevin L. Barney, "A More Responsible Critique (Review of: Does the Book of Mormon Reflect an Ancient Near Eastern Background?)," FARMS Review 15/1 (2003): 97–146. off-site
- Kevin Christensen, "Truth and Method: Reflections on Dan Vogel’s Approach to the Book of Mormon (Review of: Indian Origins and the Book of Mormon)," FARMS Review 16/1 (2004): 287–354. off-site
- James E. Faulconer, "Takayama: Restoration Revelation as Poetry rather than Fraud," FARMS Review of Books 13/1 (2001): 127–132. off-site
- Alan Goff, "Dan Vogel's Family Romance and the Book of Mormon as Smith Family Allegory (Review of: Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet)," FARMS Review 17/2 (2005): 321–400. [{{{url}}} off-site]
- Garth L. Mangum, "The Economics of the Book of Mormon: Joseph Smith as Translator or Commentator," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 2/2 (1993). [78–89] link
- Larry E. Morris, "'I Should Have an Eye Single to the Glory of God’: Joseph Smith’s Account of the Angel and the Plates (Review of: "From Captain Kidd’s Treasure Ghost to the Angel Moroni: Changing Dramatis Personae in Early Mormonism")," FARMS Review 17/1 (2005): 11–82. off-site
- L. Ara Norwood, "Review of Joseph Smith and the Origins of the Book of Mormon by David Persuitte," FARMS Review of Books 2/1 (1990): 187–204. off-site
- Gary F. Novak, "Examining the Environmental Explanation of the Book of Mormon (Review of Joseph Smith's Response to Skepticism by Robert N. Hullinger)," FARMS Review of Books 7/1 (1995): 139–154. off-site
- Daniel C. Peterson, "Editor's Introduction—Not So Easily Dismissed: Some Facts for Which Counterexplanations of the Book of Mormon Will Need to Account," FARMS Review 17/2 (2005): xi–lxix. off-site
- Noel B. Reynolds, "The Book of Mormon Today (Review of By the Hand of Mormon)," FARMS Review 15/1 (2003): 5–17. off-site
- Stephen D. Ricks, "Testaments: The Literary Riches of the Book of Mormon (Review of: Testaments: Links Between the Book of Mormon and the Hebrew Bible)," FARMS Review 16/2 (2004): 55–58. off-site
- Matthew Roper, "The Mythical "Manuscript Found" (Review of: Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon? The Spalding Enigma)," FARMS Review 17/2 (2005): 7–140. off-site
- Matthew Roper, "Myth, Memory, and "Manuscript Found"," FARMS Review 21/2 (2009): 179–223. off-site wiki
- Sidney B. Sperry, "Literary Problems in the Book of Mormon involving 1 Corinthians 12, 13, and Other New Testament Books," farms.byu.eduoff-site
- John L. Sorenson, "A Rare Gem (Review of By the Hand of Mormon)," FARMS Review 15/1 (2003): 15–17. off-site
- John A. Tvedtnes and Matthew Roper, "Joseph Smith's Use of the Apocrypha: Shadow or Reality? (Review of Joseph Smith's Use of the Apocrypha by Jerald and Sandra Tanner)," FARMS Review of Books 8/2 (1996): 326–372. off-site
- Richard N. Williams, "The Spirit of Prophecy and the Spirit of Psychiatry: Restoration or Dissociation? (Review of The Sword of Laban: Joseph Smith Jr. and the Dissociated Mind)," FARMS Review of Books 12/1 (2000): 435–444. off-site
Printed material
- Responses to the Spalding theory:
- Matthew B. Brown, "The Spalding-Rigdon Theory," in Plates of Gold: The Book of Mormon Comes Forth (American Fork, UT: Covenant, 2003), 185–201. ISBN 1591563704.
- Brigham H. Roberts, "Counter Theories of Origin," in New Witnesses for God, 3 Vols., (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1909[1895, 1903]), 3, Chapter XLIV:347–406. ISBN 0962254541.GL direct link
- Brigham H. Roberts, "A Brief Debate on the Book of Mormon," in Defense of the Faith and the Saints, 2 vols. (1907), 1:365. Vol 1 GL direct link Vol 2 GL direct linkGL direct link
- Brigham H. Roberts, "The Origin of the Book of Mormon," in Defense of the Faith and the Saints, 2 vols. (1907), 2:95–229. Vol 1 GL direct link Vol 2 GL direct linkGL direct link
- Benjamin Winchester, The Origin of the Spaulding Story, Concerning the Manuscript Found, (Philadelphia: Brown, Bicking & Guilfert, 1840).
- Dean C. Jessee, 'Spalding theory' re-examined,' Church News (20 August 1977): 3–5.
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