View source for Book of Mormon

{{short description|Sacred text of the <!-- Do not change to a specific denomination. The term "Latter Day Saint movement" encompasses all the different denominations. -->Latter Day Saint movement}}
{{About|the religious text}}
{{CS1 config|mode=cs1}}
{{Infobox religious text
| religion = [[Latter Day Saint movement]]
| image    = Mormon-book.jpg
| alt      = Book of Mormon
| language = English
| books = *[[First Nephi]]
* [[Second Nephi]]
* [[Book of Jacob]]
* [[Book of Enos]]
* [[Book of Jarom]]
* [[Book of Omni]]
* [[Words of Mormon]]
* [[Book of Mosiah]]
* [[Book of Alma]]
* [[Book of Helaman]]
* [[Third Nephi]]
* [[Fourth Nephi]]
* [[Book of Mormon (Mormon's record)|Book of Mormon]]
* [[Book of Ether]]
* [[Book of Moroni]]
| caption  =
| period   = 19th century
| verses   =
| wikisource = Book of Mormon
}}

The '''Book of Mormon''' is a [[religious text]] of the <!-- Do not change to Latter-day Saint or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "Latter Day Saint movement" refers to all the religious denominations and practices that descend in some way from Joseph Smith Jr.'s 1830 publication of the Book of Mormon and founding of the Church of Christ. The Book of Mormon is a sacred text to several churches, including The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Community of Christ, the Church of Jesus Christ (Bickertonite), and more. -->[[Latter Day Saint movement]], first published in 1830 by [[Joseph Smith]] as '''''The Book of Mormon: An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi'''''.<ref name="Grandin-1830">{{Cite book|url=https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/book-of-mormon-1830/7|title=The Book of Mormon: An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon, Upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi ''(1830 edition)''|publisher=[[E. B. Grandin]]|year=1830}}</ref>{{sfn|Hardy|2010|p=3}}

The book is one of the earliest and most well-known unique writings of the Latter Day Saint movement. The [[List of denominations in the Latter Day Saint movement|denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement]] typically regard the text primarily as scripture (sometimes as one of [[standard works|four standard works]]) and secondarily as a record of God's dealings with ancient inhabitants of the [[Americas]].{{sfn|Hardy|2010|pp=xi–xiii, 6}} Most Latter Day Saints view the book as a record of actual history, though perspectives vary by denomination: some emphasize its spiritual inspiration rather than literal history, while others—particularly the LDS Church—regard it as both literal history and the central "[[Keystone (architecture)#Metaphor|keystone]]" of their faith.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Archives |first1=Church News |title='Keystone of our religion' |url=https://www.thechurchnews.com/2013/8/17/23224107/keystone-of-our-religion |access-date=14 August 2022 |work=Church News |date=17 August 2013}}</ref><ref>{{citation |title=The Book of Mormon is the Keystone of Our Religion |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/preach-my-gospel-a-guide-to-missionary-service/what-is-the-role-of-the-book-of-mormon?lang=eng#title2 |access-date=31 March 2024 |work=Preach My Gospel}}</ref> Independent archaeological, historical, and scientific communities have discovered little evidence to support the existence of the civilizations described therein.{{sfn|Southerton|2004|p=xv|ps=. "Anthropologists and archaeologists, including some Mormons and former Mormons, have discovered little to support the existence of [Book of Mormon] civilizations. Over a period of 150 years, as scholars have seriously studied Native American cultures and prehistory, evidence of a Christian civilization in the Americas has eluded the specialists... These [Mesoamerican] cultures lack any trace of Hebrew or Egyptian writing, metallurgy, or the Old World domesticated animals and plants described in the Book of Mormon."}} Characteristics of the language and content point toward a nineteenth-century [[origin of the Book of Mormon]]. Various academics and apologetic organizations connected to the Latter Day Saint movement nevertheless argue that the book is an authentic account of the pre-[[Columbian exchange]] world.

The Book of Mormon has a number of doctrinal discussions on subjects such as the [[fall of man|fall]] of [[Adam and Eve (LDS Church)|Adam and Eve]],<ref>E.g. {{Mormonverse|2 Nephi|2}}</ref> the nature of the [[Salvation in Christianity|Christian atonement]],<ref>E.g. {{Mormonverse|2 Nephi|9}}</ref> [[eschatology]], [[Agency (sociology)|agency]], [[Priesthood (Latter Day Saints)|priesthood authority]], redemption from physical and spiritual death,<ref>E.g. {{Mormonverse|Alma|12}}</ref> the nature and conduct of [[Baptism in Mormonism|baptism]], the [[age of accountability]], the purpose and practice of [[Eucharist|communion]], personalized revelation, economic justice, the [[Anthropomorphism|anthropomorphic]] and personal nature of God, the [[Spirit body|nature of spirits]] and angels, and the organization of the [[Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints)|latter day church]]. The pivotal event of the book is an [[Book of Mormon chronology#The coming of Christ|appearance of Jesus Christ]] in the Americas shortly after his resurrection.<ref name="Hardy-2016" /> Common teachings of the Latter Day Saint movement hold that the Book of Mormon fulfills numerous biblical prophecies by ending a [[Great Apostasy|global apostasy]] and signaling a [[Restoration (Mormonism)|restoration]] of Christian gospel.

The Book of Mormon is divided into smaller books — which are usually titled after individuals named as primary authors — and in most versions, is divided into chapters and verses.{{sfn|Hardy|2010|pp=5–6}} Its English text imitates the style of the [[King James Version]] of the Bible.{{sfn|Hardy|2010|pp=5–6}} The Book of Mormon has been fully or partially [[List of Book of Mormon translations|translated into at least 112 languages]].<ref>[https://lds365.com/translations-of-the-book-of-mormon Translations of the Book of Mormon] at LDS365.com</ref>

==Origin==
{{Book of Mormon}}
{{Main|Origin of the Book of Mormon}}
{{See also|Golden plates|Criticism of the Book of Mormon}}

According to Smith's account and the book's narrative, the Book was originally engraved in otherwise unknown characters on [[golden plates]] by ancient [[Prophet|prophets]]; the last prophet to contribute to the book, [[Moroni (Book of Mormon prophet)|Moroni]], had buried it in what is present-day [[Manchester, New York]], and then appeared in a vision to Smith in 1827, revealing the location of the plates and instructing him to translate the plates into English.{{sfn|Givens|2009|pp=6–11}}{{sfn|Hardy|2010|p=6}} A different view is that Smith authored the Book, drawing on material and ideas from his contemporary 19th-century environment, rather than translating an ancient record.<ref name="Hales-2019">{{Cite journal |last=Hales |first=Brian C. |date=2019 |title=Naturalistic Explanations of the Origin of the Book of Mormon: A Longitudinal Study |url=https://byustudies.byu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/58-3halessecured.pdf |url-status=live |journal=[[BYU Studies Quarterly]] |volume=58 |issue=3 |pages=105–148 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://byustudies.byu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/58-3halessecured.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09}}</ref>{{sfn|Givens|2002|pp=162–168}}

=== Conceptual emergence ===
According to Joseph Smith, in 1823, when he was seventeen <!-- do not edit age, JS was 17 at time of Moroni visit, see refs for clarification -->years old, an [[angel]] of [[God]] named [[Angel Moroni|Moroni]] appeared to him and said that a collection of ancient writings was buried in a [[Cumorah|nearby hill]] in present-day [[Wayne County, New York]], engraved on [[golden plates]] by ancient prophets.{{sfn|Taves|2014|p=4}}{{sfn|Remini|2002|pp=43–45}} The writings were said to describe a people whom God had led from [[Jerusalem]] to the [[Western Hemisphere]] 600 years before the birth of [[Jesus]].{{sfn|Hardy|2010|p=6}} Smith said this vision occurred on the evening of September 21, 1823, and that on the following day, via divine guidance, he located the burial location of the plates on this hill and was also instructed by Moroni to meet him at the same hill on September 22 of the following year to receive further instructions, which repeated annually until 1827.{{sfn|Bushman|2005|pp=43–46}}{{sfn|Remini|2002|p=47}} By the following night, Smith had told his entire immediate family about this angelic encounter and his brother [[William Smith (Latter Day Saints)|William]] reported that the family "believed all he [Joseph Smith] said" about the angel and plates.{{sfn|Bushman|2005|pp=45–46}}[[File:The Hill Cumorah by C.C.A. Christensen.jpeg|left|thumb|A depiction of [[Joseph Smith]]'s description of receiving the golden plates from the [[angel Moroni]].|225x225px]]

Smith and his family reminisced that as part of what Smith believed was angelic instruction, Moroni provided Smith with a "brief sketch" of the "origin, progress, [[civilization]], [[Law|laws]], [[Government|governments]]{{nbsp}}... [[righteousness]] and iniquity" of the "aboriginal inhabitants of the country" (referring to the [[Nephites]] and [[Lamanites]] who figure in the Book of Mormon's primary narrative). Smith sometimes shared what he said he had learned through such angelic encounters with his family as well.{{sfn|Davis|2020|pp=165–168}}

In Smith's account, Moroni allowed him, accompanied by his wife [[Emma Smith|Emma Hale Smith]], to take the plates on September 22, 1827, four years after his initial visit to the hill, and directed him to translate them into [[English language|English]].{{sfn|Bushman|2005|pp=59, 62–63}}<ref>The materiality of the plates Smith said he translated from has long been a matter of controversy in historical studies of Smith and the Book of Mormon. Those who for religious reasons accept Smith's account of the book as having miraculous and ancient origins by corollary also have tended to believe there were authentic, ancient plates. Meanwhile, in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, naturalistic interpretations of Smith's history and the Book of Mormon generally took for granted the plates had no material existence and were fictitious due to either delusion or deception, or otherwise existed only in the religious imaginary. However, "believing historians" have argued that the documentary evidence points to Smith and eyewitnesses to him consistently behaving as though he did possess material plates. Religious studies scholar Ann Taves summarizes, "that there were no actual golden plates... is so obvious to some historians that they are taken aback when they discover that many Mormon intellectuals believe there were", while "Many believing historians... in turn wonder how well-trained, non-believing historians can dismiss so much evidence" (2). In the twenty-first century, naturalistic interpretations have posited that the plates ''were'' materially real, but that Smith crafted them himself (possibly out of tin or copper), either to match his vision of the plates or after being inspired by seeing copper stereotyped printing plates (perhaps at a printing shop or, by happenstance, literally buried in the ground). Taves argues Smith nevertheless believed the plates constituted an authentic, ancient record and that crafting plates himself "can be understood as representing or even co-creating the reality of the plates... the way Eucharistic wafers are thought to be transformed into the literal body of Christ" (9). For this historiography and an argument that Smith crafted the plates in a process of materialization, see {{Harvtxt|Taves|2014|pp=1–11}}. For another view on this historiography and an argument that an encounter with printing plates inspired or shaped Smith's concept of the Book of Mormon plates, see {{Cite journal |last=Hazard |first=Sonia |date=Summer 2021 |title=How Joseph Smith Encountered Printing Plates and Founded Mormonism |journal=Religion & American Culture |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=137–192|doi=10.1017/rac.2021.11 |s2cid=237394042 }}</ref> Smith said the angel Moroni strictly instructed him to not let anyone else see the plates without divine permission.{{sfn|Bushman|2005|p=44}} Neighbors, some of whom had collaborated with Smith in earlier [[Treasure hunting|treasure-hunting]] enterprises, tried several times to steal the plates from Smith while he and his family guarded them.{{Sfn|Howe|2007|p=316|ps=. "Many people shared [a supernatural] culture, among them some jealous neighbors who tried to steal Smith's golden plates."}}{{Sfn|Bushman|2005|pp=60–61}}

=== Dictation ===
{{Further information|Mosiah priority}}
As Smith and contemporaries reported, the English manuscript of the Book of Mormon was produced by [[Scribe|scribes]]<ref>Emma Smith, Reuben Hale, Martin Harris, Oliver Cowdery, and John and Christian Whitmer all scribed for Joseph Smith to varying extents. Emma Smith likely scribed the majority of the early manuscript pages that were lost and never reproduced; Harris scribed about a third. Cowdery scribed the majority of the manuscript for the Book of Mormon as it was published and exists today. See {{Harvtxt|Easton-Flake|Cope|2020|p=129}}; {{Harvtxt|Welch|2018|pp=17–19}}; {{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|pp=66, 71–74}}.</ref> recording Smith's [[Dictation (exercise)|dictation]] throughout multiple sessions between 1828 and 1829.{{sfn|Remini|2002|pp=59–65}}{{sfn|Bushman|2005|pp=63–80}} The dictation of the extant Book of Mormon was completed in 1829 in between 53 and 74 working days.<ref name="Welch-2018">{{Cite journal|last=Welch|first=John W.|date=2018|title=Timing the Translation of the Book of Mormon: 'Days [and Hours] Never to Be Forgotten'|url=https://byustudies.byu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/57.4WelchBoMTranslate.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://byustudies.byu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/57.4WelchBoMTranslate.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|journal=[[BYU Studies Quarterly]]|volume=57|issue=4|pages=10–50}}</ref>{{sfn|Remini|2002|pp=64–65}}

Descriptions of the way in which Smith dictated the Book of Mormon vary. Smith himself called the Book of Mormon a translated work, but in public he generally described the process itself only in vague terms, saying he translated by a miraculous gift from God.{{Sfn|Bushman|2005|p=72}} According to some accounts from his family and friends at the time, early on, Smith copied [[Glyph|characters]] off the plates as part of a process of learning to translate an initial corpus.{{sfn|Bushman|2005|pp=63–64}} For the majority of the process, Smith dictated the text by voicing strings of words which a scribe would write down; after the scribe confirmed they had finished writing, Smith would continue.<ref>Joseph Smith may have developed this dictation process with Emma Smith, who was his first long-term scribe. See {{Harvnb|Easton-Flake|Cope|2020|pp=129–132}}.</ref>

Smith, {{failed verification span|text=his first scribe [[Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)|Martin Harris]] and his wife [[Emma Smith |Emma]]|date=August 2025}} all claimed that Joseph dictated by translating the ancient text through the use of the [[Urim and Thummim (Latter Day Saints)|Urim and Thummim]] that accompanied the plates, prepared by the Lord for the purpose of translation.<ref>{{cite book |author=<!-- not stated --> |date=1 March 1842 |title=Church History |url=https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/church-history-1-march-1842/2?highlight=urim |location= |publisher=[[LDS Church]] |page=707|access-date=Feb 1, 2025}}</ref> This "[[Urim and Thummim (Latter Day Saints)|Urim and Thummim]]," named after the biblical divination stones, also called "Nephite interpreters" were described as two clear [[Seer stone (Latter Day Saints)|seer stones]] which Smith said he could look through in order to translate, bound together by a metal rim and attached to a [[breastplate]].{{Sfn|Bushman|2005|pp=66, 71–72}}

Other accounts say that Smith used a [[Seer stone (Latter Day Saints)|seer stone]] he already possessed placed inside of a hat to darken the area around the stone.{{Sfn|Howe|2007|p=313}} 

Beginning around 1832, both the interpreters and Smith's own seer stone were at times referred to as the "Urim and Thummim", and Smith sometimes used the term interchangeably with "[[spectacles]]".<ref name="Dirkmaat-2015">{{Cite book |last1=Dirkmaat |first1=Gerrit J. |url=https://rsc.byu.edu/book/coming-forth-book-mormon |title=The Coming Forth of the Book of Mormon: A Marvelous Work and a Wonder |last2=MacKay |first2=Michael Hubbard |publisher=[[Religious Studies Center]] |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-62972-114-9 |editor-last=Largey |editor-first=Dennis L. |pages=61–79 |chapter=Firsthand Witness Accounts of the Translation Process |editor-last2=Hedges |editor-first2=Andrew H. |editor-last3=Hilton |editor-first3=John III |editor-last4=Hull |editor-first4=Kerry |chapter-url=https://rsc.byu.edu/coming-forth-book-mormon/firsthand-witness-accounts-translation-process}}</ref> [[Emma Smith]]'s and [[David Whitmer]]'s accounts describe Smith using the interpreters while dictating to [[Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)|Martin Harris]], and switching to only using his seer stone(s) in subsequent translation.{{sfn|Givens|2002|p=34}} Religious studies scholar [[Grant Hardy]] summarizes Smith's known dictation process as follows: "Smith looked at a seer stone placed in his hat and then dictated the text of the Book of Mormon to scribes".{{sfn|Hardy|2020|p=209}}<ref>Interpretations of accounts purporting to describe what Smith saw in his seer stone (or in the Urim and Thummim) vary. Many share some basic characteristics centering around reading words which miraculously appear, such as Jesee Knight's account: "Now the way he translated was he put the urim and thummim into his hat and Darkned his Eyes then he would take a sentance and it would appear in Brite Roman Letters. Then he would tell the writer and he would write it. Then that would go away the next sentance would Come and so on." See {{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=72}} for Knight's account and {{Harvtxt|Hardy|2020|pp=209–210}} for an interpretation arguing for this understanding of Smith's experience. Hardy contends understanding Smith reading a text best accounts for the documentary evidence of how he dictated and how his scribes wrote. Nevertheless, scholar Ann Taves points out that although such accounts share major characteristics, they are not fully consistent with each other. She hypothesizes "observers made ''inferences'' about what Smith was experiencing based on what they saw, what they learned from discussion with Smith, what they believed, or some combination thereof" and that accounts of what Smith did or did not see as he dictated do not necessarily describe Smith's experience (emphasis added). See {{Harvtxt|Taves|2020|p=177}} In light of this, other scholars have hypothesized Smith's ecstatic experience as a translator was more like "panoramic visions" than reading, which he then orally described to his scribes. See {{Harvtxt|Brown|2020|p=146}}.</ref> Early on, Smith sometimes separated himself from his scribe with a blanket between them, as he did while Martin Harris, a neighbor, scribed his dictation in 1828.{{sfn|Remini|2002|p=62}}{{sfn|Bushman|2005|pp=66, 71|ps=. "When Martin Harris had taken dictation from Joseph, they at first hung a blanket between them to prevent Harris from inadvertently catching a glimpse of the plates, which were open on a table in the room."}} At other points in the process, such as when [[Oliver Cowdery]] or Emma Smith scribed, the plates were left covered up but in the open.{{sfn|Bushman|2005|p=71|ps=. "When Cowdrey took up the job of scribe, he and Joseph translated in the same room where Emma was working. Joseph looked in the seerstone, and the plates lay covered on the table."}} During some dictation sessions, the plates were entirely absent.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Sweat|first=Anthony|date=2015|title=The Role of Art in Teaching Latter-day Saint History and Doctrine|url=https://rsc.byu.edu/vol-16-no-3-2015/role-art-teaching-latter-day-saint-history-doctrine|journal=[[Religious Educator]]|volume=16|pages=40–57}}</ref>{{sfn|Taves|2014|p=5}}[[File:JosephSmithTranslating.jpg|thumb|left|upright|alt=Smith sitting on a wooden chair with his face in a hat|A depiction of Joseph Smith dictating the Book of Mormon through the use of a seer stone placed in a hat to block out light]]In 1828, while scribing for Smith, Martin Harris, at the prompting of his wife [[Lucy Harris]], repeatedly asked Smith to loan him the [[manuscript]] pages of the dictation thus far. Smith reluctantly acceded to Harris's requests. Within weeks, Harris [[Lost 116 pages|lost the manuscript]], which was most likely stolen by a member of his extended family.<ref name="Lucy Harris">Harris's wife Lucy Harris was long popularly thought to have stolen the pages. See {{Harvtxt|Givens|2002|p=33}}. Historian Don Bradley contests that this was a rumor that circulated only in retrospect. See {{Harvtxt|Bradley|2019|pp=58–80}}.</ref> After the loss, Smith recorded that he lost the ability to translate and that Moroni had taken back the plates to be returned only after Smith [[Repentance|repented]].{{sfn|Remini|2002|pp=60–61}}{{sfn|Bushman|2005|p=68}}{{sfn|Givens|2002|p=34}} Smith later stated that God allowed him to resume translation, but directed that he begin precisely where he had left off (in what is now called the Book of Mosiah), without retranslating what had been in the lost manuscript.{{sfn|Remini|2002|pp=61–62}}

Between September 18128 and April 1829, Smith would resumee dictating the Book of Mormon with his wife, Emma Smith, scribing in addition to occasional help from his brother Samuel Smith, though transcription accomplished was limited. In April 1829, Oliver Cowdery met Smith and, believing Smith's account of the plates, began scribing for Smith in what became a "burst of rapid-fire translation".{{sfn|Bushman|2005|pp=70–71}} In May, Joseph and Emma Smith along with Cowdery moved in with the Whitmer family, sympathetic neighbors, in an effort to avoid interruptions as they proceeded with producing the manuscript.{{sfn|Bushman|2005|p=76|ps=. During this time, John Whitmer did some transcription, though Cowdery still performed the majority.}}

While living with the Whitmers, Smith said he received permission to allow eleven specific others to see the uncovered golden plates and, in some cases, handle them.{{Sfn|Bushman|2007|pp=77–79}} Their written testimonies are known as the Testimony of [[Three Witnesses]], who described seeing the plates in a visionary encounter with an angel, and the Testimony of [[Eight Witnesses]], who described handling the plates as displayed by Smith. Statements signed by them have been published in most editions of the Book of Mormon.{{sfn|Hardy|2003|p=631}} In addition to both these eleven witnesses and Smith himself, several others described encountering the plates by holding or moving them wrapped in cloth, albeit without seeing the plates themselves.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sweat |first=Anthony |url=https://rsc.byu.edu/book/coming-forth-book-mormon |title=The Coming Forth of the Book of Mormon: A Marvelous Work and a Wonder |publisher=[[Religious Studies Center]], [[Deseret Book]] |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-62972-114-9 |editor-last=Largey |editor-first=Dennis L. |pages=43–59 |language=English |chapter=Hefted and Handled: Tangible Interactions with Book of Mormon Objects |editor-last2=Hedges |editor-first2=Andrew H. |editor-last3=Hilton |editor-first3=John III |editor-last4=Hull |editor-first4=Kerry |chapter-url=https://rsc.byu.edu/coming-forth-book-mormon/hefted-handled-tangible-interactions-book-mormon-objects |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211205034935/https://rsc.byu.edu/coming-forth-book-mormon/hefted-handled-tangible-interactions-book-mormon-objects |archive-date=December 5, 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hazard |first=Sonia |date=Summer 2021 |title=How Joseph Smith Encountered Printing Plates and Founded Mormonism |journal=Religion & American Culture |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=137–192|doi=10.1017/rac.2021.11 |s2cid=237394042 }}</ref> Their accounts of the plates tend to describe a series of thin, metallic, gold-colored sheets (the "plates") [[Bookbinding|bound]] together by wires in the shape of a [[book]].<ref>{{cite interview |last=Bushman |first=Richard |subject-link=Richard Bushman |interviewer=Kurt Manwaring |title=Richard Bushman on the Gold Plates |url=https://www.fromthedesk.org/richard-bushman-gold-plates/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211102121352/https://www.fromthedesk.org/richard-bushman-gold-plates/ |archive-date=November 2, 2021 |url-status=live |work=From the Desk |date=August 22, 2020}}</ref>

The manuscript was completed in June 1829.<ref name="Welch-2018" /> [[E. B. Grandin]] published the Book of Mormon in [[Palmyra, New York]]. It would go on sale in his bookstore on March 26, 1830.<ref>{{cite journal |last= Kunz |first= Ryan |date= March 2010 |title= 180 Years Later, Book of Mormon Nears 150 Million Copies |journal= [[Ensign (LDS magazine)|Ensign]] |pages= 74–76 |url= https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2010/03/180-years-later-book-of-mormon-nears-150-million-copies |access-date= 2011-03-24 }}</ref> Smith said he returned the plates to Moroni upon the publication of the book.{{sfn|Remini|2002|p=68}}

=== Views on composition ===
[[File:EBGrandinPrintingPress.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Smith Patented Improved Press (no relation to Joseph Smith family) used by [[E. B. Grandin]] to print the first 5,000 copies of the Book of Mormon]]Multiple theories of [[naturalistic]] composition have been proposed.<ref name="Hales-2019" /> In the twenty-first century, the leading naturalist [[Hermeneutics|interpretations]] of the text and its origins hold that Smith authored it himself, whether consciously or subconsciously. Smith appears to have sincerely believed in the Book of Mormon's validity as an authentic, sacred history.<ref>See {{Harvnb|Davis|2020|p=160}}: "Whatever position the reader might take on the origins of the Book of Mormon, a careful review of historical claims favors the idea that Joseph Smith himself sincerely believed, to one degree or another, that his epic work contained an authentic historical account of ancient American civilizations"; and {{Harvnb|Taves|2014|p=13}}: "If we consider Joseph's directive, the obedient response of insiders, and their willingness to protect the plates from skeptical outsiders, we can envision an alternative way to view the materialization of the plates that involved neither recovery and translation in any usual sense nor necessarily deception or fraud, but rather a process through which a small group—who believed in the power of&nbsp;revelatory dream-visions, in ancient inhabitants&nbsp;of&nbsp;the&nbsp;Americas, and&nbsp;in&nbsp;golden records&nbsp;buried&nbsp;in&nbsp;a&nbsp;hillside—came to believe that a material object covered by a cloth or hidden in a box were the ancient plates revealed to Smith by the ancient Nephite Moroni. Either/or views of the plates rest on a narrow conception of the materialization process, such that he either dug them up or he did not. Highlighting the crucial role played by those who believed in the reality of the ancient plates suggests a broader view that embeds the recovery of the plates in a process of materialization". For the significance of these interpretations in scholarship on Book of Mormon provenance, see {{cite journal |last1=Mason |first1=Patrick Q. |date=2022 |title=History, Religious Studies, and Book of Mormon Studes |url=https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jbms/article-abstract/doi/10.14321/23744774.37.03/317120/History-Religious-Studies-and-Book-of-Mormon?redirectedFrom=fulltext |department=Roundtable Discussion: The Present of Book of Mormon Studies |journal=Journal of Book of Mormon Studies |volume=31 |pages=35–55|doi=10.14321/23744774.37.03 |doi-broken-date=11 July 2025 }}</ref>

According to a recent survey, the majority (50%-62%) of members of [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] (LDS Church) were confident that the Book of Mormon is a literal, historic record translated by Smith from actual ancient plates through divine [[revelation]].<ref name=Next>{{Cite book |last=Riess |first=Jana |author-link=Jana Riess|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BPiFDwAAQBAJ |title=The Next Mormons: How Millennials Are Changing the LDS Church |date=2019-05-30 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=9780190885229 |doi=10.1093/oso/9780190885205.001.0001 |via=[[Google Books]]|url-access=limited}}</ref>{{rp|19}} The LDS Church, the largest Latter Day Saint denomination, maintains this as its official position.<ref>{{Harvnb|Southerton|2004|pp=164–165, 201}}; {{Harvnb|Bushman|2005|pp=92–94}}; {{Harvnb|Vogel|1986|pp=|p=3}}; and {{Cite Q|Q124395703|last=Hardy|first=Grant|pages=vii–xxviii|chapter=Introduction|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/bookofmormonearl0000unse/page/n11/mode/2up?view=theater}} "Latter-day Saints believe their scripture to be history, written by ancient prophets."</ref>

==== Methods ====
The Book of Mormon as a written text is the transcription of what scholars Grant Hardy and William L. Davis calls an "[[Recitation|extended oral performance]]", considered by Davis to be "comparable in length and magnitude to [[Classical antiquity|classic]] [[Epic poetry|oral epics]], such as [[Homer|Homer's]] ''[[Iliad]]'' and ''[[Odyssey]]''".<ref>{{Cite Q|Q124395703|last=Hardy|first=Grant|pages=vii–xxviii|chapter=Introduction|ol=23212827M|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/bookofmormonearl0000unse/page/n25}}</ref><ref name="Davis-2012" /> Eyewitnesses said Smith never referred to notes or other documents while dictating,<ref>There is some disagreement over this point and whether eyewitnesses may have exaggerated. William L. Davis notes some authors on the subject, [[Hugh Nibley]] and [[B. H. Roberts]] among others, believe Smith might have consulted a King James Bible while dictating. {{Harvnb|Davis|2020|p=199n4}}</ref> while Smith's followers and those close to him insisted that he lacked the [[Literature|literary]] and narrative skills necessary to consciously and single-handedly produce a text like the Book of Mormon.{{sfn|Taves|2020|p=180}} Some naturalistic interpretations have therefore compared Smith's dictation to [[automatic writing]] arising from the [[subconscious]].<ref name="Hales-2019" /> However, Ann Taves considers this description problematic for overemphasizing "lack of [[Agency (philosophy)|control]]" when historical and comparative study instead suggests Smith "had a highly focused awareness" and "a considerable degree of control over the [[experience]]" of dictation.{{sfn|Taves|2020|pp=170–171, 185–186}}

Independent scholar William L. Davis posits that Smith, upon his supposed encounter with an angel in 1823, "carefully developed his ideas about the narratives" of the Book of Mormon for several years by making outlines, whether mental or based on private notes, until he began the process of dictation in 1828.{{sfn|Davis|2020|p=190}} Smith's oral recitations about Nephites to his family could have been an opportunity to work out ideas and practice [[Public speaking|oratory]]. Smith had indeed received some formal education as a [[Laity|lay]] [[Methodism|Methodist]] exhorter.{{Sfn|Davis|2020|p=35–37, 165–168|ps=. Though Smith never became an ordained exhorter, perhaps because he was not a Methodist member in full standing (36).}} In this interpretation, Smith believed the dictation he produced reflected an [[ancient history]], but assembled the narrative in his own words.<ref>Davis describes a "ubiquitous presence of nineteenth-century compositional techniques", and "sermonizing strategies" in the Book of Mormon's text (such as figures describing their preaching in terms of "heads" as an outline to "touch upon" in further detail as the text progresses) which "point directly and specifically to Joseph Smith as the source and assembler of these narrative components" (see {{Harvnb|Davis|2020|pp=63, 91}}). A review published in ''Choice'' disagrees as to whether there is sufficient evidence of these oratorical techniques in the Book of Mormon; see {{Cite magazine |last=Alexander |first=Thomas G. |author-link=Thomas G. Alexander |date=September 2021 |title=''Visions in a Seer Stone: Joseph Smith and the Making of the Book of Mormon'' |magazine=[[Choice Reviews|Choice]] |type=review |volume=59 |issue=1}}</ref>

==== Inspirations ====
Early observers, presuming Smith incapable of writing something as long or as complex as the Book of Mormon, often searched for a possible source from which he might have [[Plagiarism|plagiarized]].{{Sfn|Maffly-Kipp|2008|p=xxvi}} In the [[19th century|nineteenth century]], one popular hypothesis was that Smith collaborated with [[Sidney Rigdon]] to plagiarize [[Spalding–Rigdon theory of Book of Mormon authorship|an unpublished manuscript]] written by [[Solomon Spalding]], which he then turned into the Book of Mormon.{{Sfn|Gutjahr|2012|pp=47–51}} Since 1945, historians have considered the Spalding manuscript source hypothesis debunked, when [[Fawn M. Brodie]] thoroughly disproved the theory in her critical biography of Smith.<ref>"Thus in 1945 the Spaulding theory of the origin of the Book of Mormon was still strongly in vogue, most scholarly works accepting it as the explanation of the origin of the Book of Mormon. Following [Fawn Brodie's] trenchant attack on the theory its popularity quickly declined. Today nobody gives it credence" ({{Harvnb|Hill|1972|p=73}}); and "Brodie demolished the theory" ({{Harvnb|Albanese|2008|p=148}}).</ref>

Since the early [[20th century|twentieth century]], [[Historian|historians]] have suggested Smith was inspired by ''[[View of the Hebrews]]'', an 1823 book which propounded the [[Jewish Indian theory|Hebraic Indian theory]], similar in their association of [[Native Americans in the United States|American Indians]] with ancient [[Israelites]] and description of clashes between two dualistically opposed civilizations (''View'' as speculation about American Indian history and the Book of Mormon as its narrative).{{sfn|Gutjahr|2012|p=51}}{{sfn|Bushman|2005|p=24}} Whether or not ''View'' influenced the Book of Mormon is the subject of debate.<ref>Elizabeth Fenton summarizes, "Some argue that [Oliver] Cowdery must have read ''View of the Hebrews'' and shared its contents with Joseph Smith, laying the groundwork for the latter's development of ''The Book of Mormon''<nowiki/>'s Hebraic Indian plotlines. Others contend that it is unlikely Cowdery ever interacted with Ethan Smith—indeed, to date no archival evidence has surfaced to link them directly—and highlight the numerous differences in style and content between ''View of the Hebrews'' and ''The Book of Mormon''." See {{Harvnb|Fenton|2020||pp=71, 224n16, 224n17}}</ref> A pseudo-anthropological [[treatise]], ''View'' presented allegedly [[empirical evidence]] in support of its hypothesis, that American Indians are dependents of one or several of the [[Ten Lost Tribes|lost tribes of Israel]]. By contrast, the Book of Mormon is written as a narrative, and [[Typology (theology)|Christian themes]] predominate rather than supposedly [[Native American religions|Indigenous parallels]].{{Sfn|Bushman|2005|pp=96–97}} Additionally, while ''View'' supposes that Indigenous American peoples descended from the [[Ten Lost Tribes]], a hypothesis which the Book of Mormon actively rejects; the peoples in the later narrative have an "ancient Hebrew" origin but do not descend from the lost tribes. Therefore, the Book of Mormon would, if anything, function as a response in direct opposition to the Hebraic Indian theory as presented in ''View'', rather than an uncritical repetition of its contents.<ref name="Fenton-2019">{{Cite Q|Q123497267|pages=277–297|chapter=Nephites and Israelites: The Book of Mormon and the Hebraic Indian Theory}}</ref>

The Book of Mormon may creatively reconfigure, without plagiarizing, parts of the popular 1678 Christian allegory ''[[The Pilgrim's Progress]]'' written by [[John Bunyan]]''.'' For example, the Book of Mormon's [[martyr]] narrative of [[Abinadi]] shares a complex matrix of descriptive language with Faithful's martyr narrative in ''Progress''. Some other Book of Mormon narratives, such as the [[dream]] of Lehi in the book's opening, also resemble story arcs from ''Progress'' in addition to elements of other works by Bunyan, such as ''[[The Holy War]]'' and ''[[Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners|Grace Abounding]]''.<ref name="Davis-2012">{{Cite journal |last=Davis |first=William L. |date=October 30, 2012 |title=Hiding in Plain Sight: The Origins of the Book of Mormon |url=https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/hiding-in-plain-sight-the-origins-of-the-book-of-mormon/ |url-status=live |journal=[[Los Angeles Review of Books]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160606184014/https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/hiding-in-plain-sight-the-origins-of-the-book-of-mormon/ |archive-date=June 6, 2016}}</ref>

Historical scholarship also suggests it is plausible for Smith to have produced the Book of Mormon himself, based on his knowledge of the [[Bible]] and enabled by a democratizing religious culture interspersed by intense periods of popular Christian [[Religious revivalism|revivalism]], namely the [[Second Great Awakening]].{{Sfn|Maffly-Kipp|2008|p=xxvi}}

==Content==
[[Image:The Book of Mormon- An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Cover page of The Book of Mormon from an original 1830 edition, by [[Joseph Smith]]<br />(Image from the U.S. Library of Congress ''Rare Book and Special Collections Division'')]]

===Presentation===
The presentation and content of the Book of Mormon is divisive. It was written in a [[Jacobean era|Jacobean]] style of English similar to that seen in the [[King James Version|King James Bible]],{{Sfn|Shalev|2014|p=104}} despite being penned 2 centuries later. The novelist [[James Barnes (author)|Jane Barnes]] considered the book "difficult to read",{{Sfn|Barnes|2012|p=500}} and according to religious studies scholar [[Grant Hardy]], the text is characterized by an "awkward, repetitious form of English" with a "nonmainstream literary aesthetic".{{Sfn|Hardy|2010|p=5}} [[Terryl Givens]] describes the book as narratively and structurally complex, {{Sfn|Givens|2009|p=61}} and historian [[Daniel Walker Howe]] called it "a powerful epic written on a grand scale" that "should rank among the great achievements of American literature".{{Sfn|Howe|2007|p=314}} However, [[Mark Twain]] was far less favorable, describing it as "[[chloroform]] in print" and "merely a prosy detail of imaginary history... followed by a tedious plagiarism of the [[New Testament]]."{{sfn |Twain |1872 |loc=[https://www.gutenberg.org/files/3177/3177-h/3177-h.htm#linkch16 Chapter XVI]}}

The Book of Mormon presents its text through multiple [[Narration|narrators]] who are explicitly identified as figures within the book's own narrative. Many details included in the text reveal a strong and emphatic interest in a self-contained form of [[historiography]]: the various narrators describe the process of [[reading]], [[Redaction|redacting]], [[writing]], and exchanging records.{{Sfn|Maffly-Kipp|2008|pp=ix–x}} The prose is accompanied relevant [[Sermon|sermons]] delivered by figures from the narrative, which are presented as verbatim. Interspersed throughout the text, these internal orations make up just over 40 percent of the Book of Mormon.{{sfn|Davis|2020|p=89}} Periodically, the book's primary narrators will reflexively describe themselves as creating the book, references that have been described "almost [[Postmodern literature|postmodern]]" in their [[self-consciousness]].{{Sfn|Bushman|2005|p=87|ps=: "the book seems almost postmodern in its self-conscious attention to the production of the text."}} Historian Laurie Maffly-Kipp explains that "the mechanics of editing and transmitting thereby become an important feature of the text".{{Sfn|Maffly-Kipp|2008|p=x}} Barnes calls the Book of Mormon a "scripture about writing and its influence in a post-modern world of texts" as well as "a statement about different voices, and possibly the problem of voice, in sacred literature".{{Sfn|Barnes|2012|p=501}}

===Organization===
The Book of Mormon is organized as a compilation of smaller books, named either after its primary named narrator, or a prominent character featured therein. The narrative begins with the [[First Book of Nephi]] (1 Nephi) and ends with the [[Book of Moroni]].{{sfn|Hardy|2010|pp=6–7}}

The book's sequence is primarily chronological, arranged according to the sequential order of the events depicted. However, there are some exceptions to this, including the [[Words of Mormon]] and the [[Book of Ether]].{{sfn|Hardy|2010|pp=8, 10, 90}} The Words of Mormon contains editorial commentary by [[Mormon (Book of Mormon prophet)|Mormon]], while The Book of Ether is presented as the narrative of an earlier group of people who had come to the [[Americas|American continent]] before the migration described in 1 Nephi. First Nephi through [[Book of Omni|Omni]] are written in a [[first-person narrative]], as are Mormon and Moroni. The remainder of the Book of Mormon is written in a [[Third-person limited|third-person]] historical tone, said to be compiled and abridged by Mormon (with Moroni abridging the Book of Ether and writing the latter part of Mormon and the Book of Moroni).

Most modern editions of the book have been divided into chapters and verses.{{sfn|Hardy|2010|pp=5–6}} Most editions of the book also contain supplementary material, including the "Testimony of [[Three Witnesses]]" and the "Testimony of [[Eight Witnesses]]" which appeared in the original 1830 edition and has been included in every official Latter-day Saint edition thereafter.{{sfn|Hardy|2003|p=631}}

===Narrative===
{{Main|Book of Mormon chronology}}

The books from [[Book of First Nephi|First Nephi]] to [[Book of Omni|Omni]] are described as originating from "the small plates of Nephi".{{sfn|Hardy|2010|p=10}} This account begins in ancient [[Jerusalem]] around 600 BC, telling the story of a man named [[Lehi (Book of Mormon prophet)|Lehi]], his family, and several others as they are led by God from Jerusalem shortly before the fall of that city to the [[Babylonians]]. The book describes their journey across the [[Arabian peninsula]] by land, and then to a "[[Promised Land|promised land]]" by ship, presumably an unspecified location in the Americas.{{sfn|Givens|2009|pp=24, 33}} These books recount the group's dealings from approximately 600 BC to about 130 BC, during which time the community grows and splits into two waring groups: the  [[Nephite]]s and the [[Lamanites]]. This internecine conflict features heavily throughout the rest of the narrative.{{sfn|Givens|2009|p=11}}

Following this section is the [[Words of Mormon]], a small book that introduces [[Mormon (Book of Mormon prophet)|Mormon]], the principal narrator for the remainder of the text.{{sfn|Hardy|2010|p=10}} The narration describes the proceeding content ([[Book of Mosiah]] through to chapter 7 of the internal [[Book of Mormon (Mormon's record)|Book of Mormon]]) as being Mormon's [[Abridgement|abridgment]] of "the large plates of Nephi", existing records that detailed the people's history up to Mormon's own time in the [[4th century]] [[Anno Domini|AD]].{{sfn|Givens|2009|p=12}} One section of Mormon's narrative is the [[Book of Third Nephi]], which describes a visit by Jesus to the people of [[Pre-Columbian era|ancient America]] sometime after [[Resurrection of Jesus|his resurrection]] and [[Ascension of Jesus|ascension]] in the [[New Testament]]. Historian John Turner calls this episode "the climax of the entire scripture".{{sfn|Turner|2016|p=29}} After this visit, the Nephites and Lamanites unite to form a harmonious, peaceful society which endures for several generations before once again breaking into warring factions again,{{Sfn|Maffly-Kipp|2008|p=ix}} ending in the victory of the Lamanites and the destruction of the Nephites.{{Sfn|Coviello|2019|pp=141–146}} In the narrative, Mormon himself is a Nephite living during this period of this war, and is killed before finishing the book.{{Sfn|Hardy|2010|p=217}} From that point, his son Moroni takes over as narrator, describing himself taking his father's record into his charge and finishing its writing.{{Sfn|Hardy|2010|pp=217–219, 262–265}}

Before the very end of the book, Moroni describes an abridgment (called the [[Book of Ether]]) of a record from a much earlier people from a distant and long forgotten past.{{sfn|Givens|2009|pp=11, 43}} This includes a subplot describing a group of families who God leads away from the [[Tower of Babel]] after it falls.{{Sfn|Maffly-Kipp|2008|p=ix}} Led by a man named [[Jared (Book of Mormon)|Jared]] and [[The Brother of Jared|his brother]], described as a prophet of God, these [[Jaredites]] travel to the "promised land" and establish a [[society]] there. After successive violent reversals between rival monarchs and factions, their society collapses around the time that Lehi's family arrive in the promised land further south.{{sfn|Givens|2009|pp=71–72}}

The narrative returns to Moroni's present ([[Book of Moroni]]), in which he transcribes a few short documents, meditates on and addresses the book's audience, finishes the record, and buries the plates upon which they are narrated to be inscribed upon, before implicitly dying as his father did, in what allegedly would have been the early [[5th century]] AD.{{Sfn|Hardy|2010|pp=264–267}}{{Sfn|Maffly-Kipp|2008|pp=ix–xi}}

=== Teachings ===

====Jesus====
{{see also|Godhead (Latter Day Saints)}}
On its title page, the Book of Mormon describes its central purpose as being the "convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations."{{sfn|Turner|2016|p=36}} Although much of the Book of Mormon's internal chronology takes place prior to the [[Nativity of Jesus|birth of Jesus]], prophets in the book frequently see him in vision and preach about him, and the people in the narrative worship Jesus as "pre-Christian Christians."{{sfn|Givens|2002|pp=46–47, 199}}{{sfn|Turner|2016|p=29}} For example, the book's first narrator, [[Nephi, son of Lehi|Nephi]], describes having a vision of the birth, [[Ministry of Jesus|ministry]], and [[Crucifixion of Jesus|death of Jesus]] nearly 600 years prior to the nativity.{{sfn|Hardy|2010|p=53}} Late in the book, a narrator refers to converted peoples as "children of Christ".{{sfn|Turner|2016|p=32}} By depicting ancient prophets and peoples as familiar with Jesus as a Savior, the Book of Mormon [[Universalism|universalizes]] Christian salvation as being accessible across all time and places regardless of their spatial and/or temporal proximity to Christ himself.{{sfn|Turner|2016|p=33}}{{sfn|Hardy|2010|p=7}} By implying that even more ancient peoples were familiar with Jesus Christ, the book presents a "polygenist Christian history" in which Christianity has multiple [[History of Christianity|origins]].<ref name="Fenton-2019" />

[[File:The Glorious Appearing of Jesus to the Nephites by William Armitage.PNG|thumb|right|An artistic depiction of the climactic moment in the Book of Mormon, the visitation of Jesus to the Nephites|246x246px]]In the climax of the book, Jesus visits some early inhabitants of the Americas after his resurrection in an extended bodily [[theophany]].<ref name="Hardy-2016">{{cite interview|last=Hardy|first=Grant|subject-link=Grant Hardy|interviewer=Blair Hodges|title=Understanding ''Understanding the Book of Mormon'' with Grant Hardy|url=https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1588&context=jbms|work=[[Journal of Book of Mormon Studies|Journal of the Book of Mormon and Other Restoration Scripture]]|volume=25|date=2016}}</ref>{{sfn|Turner|2016|p=29}} During this ministry, he reiterates many teachings from the [[New Testament]], re-emphasizes salvific [[baptism]], and introduces the [[Eucharist|ritual consumption of bread and wine]] "in remembrance of [his] body", a teaching that became the basis for modern Latter-day Saints' "memorialist" view of their sacrament ordinance (analogous to communion).{{sfn|Turner|2016|pp=30–32}} Jesus's ministry in the Book of Mormon resembles his portrayal in the [[Gospel of John]], as Jesus similarly teaches without [[Parable|parables]] and preaches [[faith]] and [[obedience]] as a central message.{{sfn|Hardy|2010|p=196}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stendahl |first=Krister |url=https://rsc.byu.edu/book/reflections-mormonism |title=Reflections on Mormonism: Judaeo-Christian Parallels |publisher=[[Religious Studies Center]] |year=1978 |isbn=0-88494-358-5 |editor-last=Madsen |editor-first=Truman G. |pages=139–154 |chapter=The Sermon on the Mount and Third Nephi |author-link=Krister Stendahl |chapter-url=https://rsc.byu.edu/reflections-mormonism/sermon-mount-third-nephi}}</ref>

Barnes argues that the Book of Mormon depicts Jesus as a "revolutionary new character", different from that of the New Testament in a portrayal that is "constantly, subtly revising the Christian tradition".{{Sfn|Barnes|2012|p=501}} According to historian John Turner, the Book of Mormon's depiction provides "a twist" on Christian [[Trinity|trinitarianism]], as Jesus in the Book of Mormon is distinct from [[God the Father]]—as he prays to God during a post-resurrection visit with the Nephites—while also emphasizing that Jesus and God have "divine unity," with other parts of the book referring to Jesus as "the Father and the Son".{{sfn|Turner|2016|p=35}} Beliefs among the churches of the [[Latter Day Saint movement]] range between [[social trinitarianism]] (such as among Latter-day Saints)<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Paulsen|first1=David L.|url=https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199778362.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199778362|title=The Oxford Handbook of Mormonism|last2=Boyd|first2=Hal R.|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|year=2015|isbn=978-0-19-977836-2|editor-last=Givens|editor-first=Terryl L.|editor-link=Terryl Givens|pages=246–259|language=English|chapter=The Nature of God in Mormon Thought|doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199778362.001.0001|editor-last2=Barlow|editor-first2=Philip L.|editor-link2=Philip Barlow|chapter-url=https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199778362.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199778362-e-18|url-access=subscription}} "Therefore, the Mormon conception of the Godhead is more akin to what contemporary Christian theologians call Social Trinitarianism" (253).</ref> and traditional [[Trinity|trinitarianism]] (such as in [[Community of Christ]]).<ref>{{Cite web|title=Community of Christ|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Community-of-Christ|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211112034607/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Community-of-Christ|archive-date=November 12, 2021|access-date=November 24, 2021|website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]}} "The Community of Christ believes in the Trinity". Last revised April 15, 2004.</ref>

==== Plan of salvation ====
{{See also|Plan of salvation in Mormonism|Universalism and the Latter Day Saint movement#Universalism and the Book of Mormon}}
The Christian concept of God's [[plan of salvation]] for humanity is a frequently recurring theme of the Book of Mormon.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Ridenhour|first=Lynn|url=http://www.centerplace.org/library/bofm/baptistversionofbofm.htm|title=The Baptist Version of the Book of Mormon|publisher=WinePress Publishing|via=CenterPlace}}</ref> While the Bible does not directly outline a plan of [[Salvation in Christianity|salvation]], the Book of Mormon explicitly refers to the concept thirty times using a variety of terms such as ''plan of salvation'', ''plan of happiness'', and ''plan of redemption''. The Book of Mormon's plan of salvation doctrine describes life as a probationary time for people to learn the [[gospel]] of Christ through [[revelation]] given to prophets and have the opportunity to choose whether or not to obey God. Jesus' atonement then makes [[repentance]] possible, enabling the righteous to enter a [[heaven]]ly state after a [[Last Judgment|final judgment]].<ref name="Reynolds-2020">{{Cite journal |last=Reynolds |first=Noel B. |date=2020 |title=The Plan of Salvation and the Book of Mormon |url=https://rsc.byu.edu/vol-21-no-1-2020/plan-salvation-book-mormon#_edn4 |url-status=live |journal=[[Religious Educator]] |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=30–53 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210601072717/https://rsc.byu.edu/vol-21-no-1-2020/plan-salvation-book-mormon |archive-date=June 1, 2021}}</ref>

Although most of Christianity traditionally considers the [[fall of man]] to be a negative development for humanity,{{sfn|Cross|Livingstone|1997|p=597|ps=. "[A]ll human life has been radically altered for the worse, so that its actual state is very different from that purposed for it by the Creator."}} the Book of Mormon instead portrays the fall as a foreordained step in God's plan of salvation, necessary to securing human agency, eventual righteousness,<ref name="Reynolds-2020" /> and bodily [[joy]] through physical experience.<ref>{{Harvtxt|Coviello|2019|p=8}} summarizes, "bodies are not the seats of wickedness or Pauline corruption but something else entirely: the vehicles for exaltation... As the Book of Mormon observed, 'men are, that they might have joy.'"

The Book of Mormon reference is to {{Mormonverse|2 Nephi|2:22–25}}: "And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the garden of Eden... And they would have had no children; wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin... all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things. Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy."</ref> This positive interpretation of the [[Adam and Eve]] story contributes to the Book of Mormon's emphasis "on the importance of human [[freedom]] and responsibility" to choose salvation.<ref name="Reynolds-2020" />

==== Dialogic revelation ====
{{See also|Revelation in Mormonism}}
In the Book of Mormon, revelation from God typically manifests as a [[dialogue]] between God and one or more persons, characterizing the deity as an anthropomorphic being who hears [[prayer]]s and provides direct answers to questions.{{sfn|Givens|2002|pp=217–219}} Multiple narratives in the book portray revelation as a dialogue in which petitioners and deity engage one another in a mutual exchange whereby God's contribution originates from outside the mortal recipient.{{sfn|Givens|2002|pp=219–220|ps=. Givens refers to Nephi's encounter with Laban in which he is "constrained by the spirit" and to Enos's back-and-forth with the Lord as two examples of "conversational revelation" (1 Nephi 4:10–13; Enos 1:3–17).}} The Book of Mormon also emphasizes regular [[prayer]] as a significant component of devotional life, depicting it as a central means through which such dialogic revelation can take place.{{sfn|Givens|2002|pp=218–221}} While the [[Old Testament]] of the Christian Bible links revelation specifically to prophetic authority, the Book of Mormon's portrayal democratizes the idea of revelation, depicting it as the right of every person. Figures such as Nephi and [[Ammon (Book of Mormon missionary)|Ammon]] receive visions and revelatory direction prior to or without ever becoming prophets, while [[Laman and Lemuel]] are rebuked for hesitating to pray for revelation.{{sfn|Givens|2002|pp=221–224}} Also in contrast with traditional Christian concept of revelation is the Book of Mormon's broader range of revelatory content.<ref>"Christianity is centered on revelation, which contains within it a message ("good news") meant for the believer. Given this message, what is important is the ''content'' of revelation, while scripture is usually regarded as a mere means of transmission" in {{Cite book |last=Biderman |first=Shlomo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sb4nAAAAYAAJ |title=Scripture and Knowledge: An Essay on Religious Epistemology |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |year=1995 |isbn=978-90-04-37891-9 |page=11|postscript=;}} {{Harvnb|Cross|Livingstone|1997|p=1392}}: "[T]he ''corpus'' of truth about Himself which God discloses to us"; {{Harvnb|Givens|2002|p=226}}: "We may contrast these examples with Shlomo Biderman's assertion .... In the Book of Mormon, what is important is not one ultimate Truth it embodies, but rather the ever-present reality of revelation it depicts".</ref> In the Book of Mormon, figures petition God for revelatory answers to doctrinal questions and ecclesiastical crises as well as for inspiration to guide [[Hunting|hunts]], military campaigns, and matters of state.{{sfn|Givens|2002|pp=225–226}} The Book of Mormon depicts revelation as an active and sometimes laborious experience. For example, the Book of Mormon's [[Brother of Jared]] learns to act not merely as a petitioner with questions for God but also as an interlocutor with "a specific proposal" for God to consider as part of a guided process of miraculous assistance.{{sfn|Givens|2002|p=220}}

==== Apocalyptic reversal and Indigenous or nonwhite liberation ====
The Book of Mormon's "eschatological content" lends to a "theology of Native and/or nonwhite liberation", in the words of American studies scholar Jared Hickman.<ref name="Hickman-2014">{{Cite journal |last=Hickman |first=Jared |date=September 2014 |title=The Book of Mormon as Amerindian Apocalypse |journal=[[American Literature (journal)|American Literature]] |volume=86 |issue=3 |pages=429–461 |doi=10.1215/00029831-2717371}}</ref> The Book of Mormon's narrative content includes prophecies describing how although Gentiles (generally interpreted as being whites of European descent) would conquer the Indigenous residents of the Americas (imagined in the Book of Mormon as being a remnant of descendants of the Lamanites), this conquest would only precede the Native Americans' revival and resurgence as a God-empowered people. The Book of Mormon narrative's prophecies envision a Christian [[Eschatology|eschaton]] in which Indigenous people are destined to rise up as the true leaders of the continent, manifesting in a new [[utopia]] to be called "Zion".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ashurst-McGee |first=Mark |date=Summer 2012 |title=Zion ''in'' America: The Origins of Mormon Constitutionalism |journal=[[Journal of Mormon History]] |volume=38 |issue=3 |pages=90–101 |doi=10.2307/23291618 |jstor=23291618 |s2cid=254490392 }}</ref> White Gentiles would have an opportunity to repent of their sins and join themselves to the Indigenous remnant,{{Sfn|Underwood|1993|p=79}} but if white Gentile society fails to do so, the Book of Mormon's content foretells a future "[[Apocalypticism|apocalyptic]] reversal" in which Native Americans will destroy white American society and replace it with a godly, Zionic society.{{Sfn|Underwood|1993|p=80}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=G |first=David |date=October 11, 2010 |title=Columbus, the European Conquest, and the Radical Message of the Book of Mormon |url=https://juvenileinstructor.org/columbus-the-european-conquest-and-the-radical-message-of-the-book-of-mormon/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101013110313/https://juvenileinstructor.org/columbus-the-european-conquest-and-the-radical-message-of-the-book-of-mormon/ |archive-date=October 13, 2010 |access-date=October 5, 2022 |website=Juvenile Instructor}}</ref> This prophecy commanding whites to repent and become supporters of American Indians even bears "special authority as an utterance of Jesus" Christ himself during a messianic appearance at the book's climax.<ref name="Hickman-2014" />

Furthermore, the Book of Mormon's "formal logic" criticizes the theological supports for [[racism]] and [[white supremacy]] prevalent in the antebellum United States by enacting a textual apocalypse.<ref name="Hickman-2014" /> The book's apparently white Nephite narrators fail to recognize and repent of their own sinful, hubristic prejudices against the seemingly darker-skinned Lamanites in the narrative. In their [[pride]], the Nephites repeatedly backslide into producing [[Oppression|oppressive]] social orders, such that the book's narrative performs a sustained critique of colonialist racism.{{Sfn|Coviello|2019|pp=140–146}} The book concludes with its own narrative implosion in which Lamanites suddenly succeed over and destroy Nephites in a literary turn seemingly designed to jar the average antebellum white American reader into recognizing the "utter inadequacy of his or her rac(ial)ist common sense".<ref name="Hickman-2014" />

==Religious significance==

=== Early Mormonism ===
[[File:1841 Book of Mormon open to title page.jpg|alt=A photograph of the 1841 First European (London) edition of the Book of Mormon. It is open to its title page. The edges of the page are colored red.|thumb|233x233px|An 1841 copy of the Book of Mormon]]
Adherents of the early Latter Day Saint movement frequently read the Book of Mormon as a corroboration of and supplement to the Bible, persuaded by its resemblance to the [[King James Version]]'s form and language. For these early readers, the Book of Mormon confirmed the Bible's scriptural veracity and resolved then-contemporary theological controversies the Bible did not seem to adequately address, such as the appropriate mode of baptism, the role of prayer, and the nature of the Christian atonement.{{Sfn|Maffly-Kipp|2008|pp=xx–xxi}} Early church administrative design also drew inspiration from the Book of Mormon. Oliver Cowdery and Joseph Smith, respectively, used the depiction of the Christian church in the Book of Mormon as a template for their ''Articles of the Church'' and ''Articles and Covenants of the Church''.<ref name="Johnson-2018">{{Cite journal |last=Johnson |first=Janiece |date=2018 |title=Becoming a People of the Books: Toward an Understanding of Early Mormon Converts and the New Word of the Lord |url=https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1614&context=jbms |url-status=live |journal=[[Journal of Book of Mormon Studies]] |volume=27 |pages=1–43 |jstor=10.5406/jbookmormstud2.27.2018.0001 |s2cid=254309156 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707035255/https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1614&context=jbms |archive-date=July 7, 2022 |via=BYU ScholarsArchive}}</ref>

The Book of Mormon was also significant in the early movement as a sign, proving Joseph Smith's claimed prophetic calling, signalling the "restoration of all things", and ending what was believed to have been an apostasy from true Christianity.{{Sfn|Givens|2002|p=64}}<ref name="Maxwell-1992">{{Cite book |last=Maxwell |first=Cory H. |title=[[Encyclopedia of Mormonism]] |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan Publishing]] |year=1992 |isbn=0-02-879605-5 |editor-last=Ludlow |editor-first=Daniel H. |pages=1218–1219 |chapter=Restoration of All Things |chapter-url=https://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Restoration_of_All_Things}}</ref> Early Latter Day Saints tended to interpret the Book of Mormon through a [[Millenarianism|millenarian]] lens and consequently believed the book portended Christ's imminent [[Second Coming]].{{sfn|Givens|2002|pp=69–71}}  And during the movement's first years, observers identified converts with the new scripture they propounded, nicknaming them "Mormons".{{Sfn|Howe|2007|p=315}}

Early Mormons also cultivated their own individual relationships with the Book of Mormon. Reading the book became an ordinary habit for some, and some would reference passages by page number in correspondence with friends and family. Historian Janiece Johnson explains that early converts' "depth of Book of Mormon usage is illustrated most thoroughly through intertextuality—the pervasive echoes, allusions, and expansions on the Book of Mormon text that appear in the early converts' own writings." Early Latter Day Saints alluded to Book of Mormon narratives, incorporated Book of Mormon turns of phrase into their writing styles, and even gave their children Book of Mormon names.<ref name="Johnson-2018" />

==== Joseph Smith ====
Like many other early adherents of the Latter Day Saint movement, Smith referenced Book of Mormon scriptures in his preaching relatively infrequently and cited the Bible more often.<ref name="Underwood-1984" /> In 1832, Smith dictated a [[Revelation in Mormonism|revelation]] that condemned the "whole church" for treating the Book of Mormon lightly, although even after doing so Smith still referenced the Book of Mormon less often than the Bible.<ref name="Underwood-1984">{{Cite journal |last=Underwood |first=Grant |date=Fall 1984 |title=Book of Mormon Usage in Early LDS Theology |url=https://www.dialoguejournal.com/articles/book-of-mormon-usage-in-early-lds-theology/ |url-status=live |journal=[[Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought]] |volume=17 |issue=3 |pages=36–74 |doi=10.2307/45227937 |jstor=45227937 |s2cid=254397416 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005144623/https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V17N03_37.pdf |archive-date=October 5, 2021|doi-access=free }}</ref> Nevertheless, in 1841 Joseph Smith characterized the Book of Mormon as "the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of [the] religion".<ref>{{cite book|last=Millet|first=Robert L.|url=https://rsc.byu.edu/book/living-book-mormon-abiding-its-precepts|title=Living the Book of Mormon: Abiding by Its Precepts|publisher=[[Religious Studies Center]], [[Brigham Young University]]|year=2007|isbn=978-1-59038-799-3|editor1-last=Strathearn|editor1-first=Gaye|place=Provo, UT|pages=55–71|chapter=The Most Correct Book: Joseph Smith's Appraisal|author-link=Robert L. Millet|editor2-last=Swift|editor2-first=Charles|chapter-url=https://rsc.byu.edu/archived/living-book-mormon/most-correct-book-joseph-smiths-appraisal|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210427200002/https://rsc.byu.edu/living-book-mormon-abiding-its-precepts/most-correct-book-joseph-smiths-appraisal|archive-date=April 27, 2021|url-status=live}}</ref> Although Smith quoted the book infrequently, he accepted the Book of Mormon narrative world as his own.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bushman|first=Richard|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=laAdRnr759gC|title=Believing History: Latter-day Saint Essays|publisher=[[Columbia University Press]]|year=2004|editor-last=Neilson|editor-first=Reid L. |pages=65–78|language=English|chapter=The Book of Mormon in Early Mormon History|isbn=978-0-231-13007-3|author-link=Richard Bushman|editor-last2=Woodworth|editor-first2=Jed}}</ref>

=== The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ===
[[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] (LDS Church) accepts the Book of Mormon as one of the four sacred texts in its scriptural canon called the ''[[standard works]]''.{{sfn|Turner|2016|p=44|ps=. The other three of the four standard works are the Bible, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price.}} Church leaders and publications have "strongly affirm[ed]" Smith's claims of the book's significance to the faith.{{sfn|Turner|2016|p=|pp=45–47}} According to the church's [[Articles of Faith (Latter Day Saints)|"Articles of Faith"]]—a document written by Joseph Smith in 1842 and canonized by the church as scripture in 1880—members "believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly," and they "believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God," without qualification.<!-- The specific difference between the statements on the Bible and the Book of Mormon is noted by John G. Turner in The Mormon Jesus, page 46. -->{{sfn|Turner|2016|p=46}}<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/articles/histories-volume-1-joseph-smith-histories-1832-1844|title=Joseph Smith Histories, 1832–1844|publisher=Church Historian's Press|year=2012|isbn=978-1-60641-196-4|editor-last=Davidson|editor-first=Karen Lynn|series=The Joseph Smith Papers: Histories|volume=1|pages=489–501|chapter=Historical Introduction to 'Church History,' 1 March 1842|editor-last2=Whittaker|editor-first2=David J.|editor-last3=Ashurst-McGee|editor-first3=Mark|editor-last4=Jensen|editor-first4=Richard L.|chapter-url=https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/church-history-1-march-1842/1#historical-intro}}</ref> In their evangelism, Latter-day Saint leaders and missionaries have long emphasized the book's place in a causal chain which held that if the Book of Mormon was "verifiably true revelation of God," then it justified Smith's claims to prophetic authority to restore the New Testament church.{{sfn|Givens|2009|pp=79–84}}

Latter-day Saints have also long believed the Book of Mormon's contents confirm and fulfill biblical prophecies.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Matthews|first=Robert J.|url=https://rsc.byu.edu/book/book-mormon-first-nephi-doctrinal-foundation|title=The Book of Mormon: First Nephi, the Doctrinal Foundation|publisher=[[Religious Studies Center]]|year=1989|isbn=0-8849-4647-9|editor-last=Nyman|editor-first=Monte S.|pages=193–215|chapter=Establishing the Truth of the Bible|editor-last2=Tate|editor-first2=Charles D. Jr.|chapter-url=https://rsc.byu.edu/book-mormon-first-nephi-doctrinal-foundation/establishing-truth-bible}}</ref> For example, "many Latter-day Saints" consider the biblical patriarch [[Jacob]]'s description of his son [[Joseph (Genesis)|Joseph]] as "a fruitful bough{{nbsp}}... whose branches run over a wall" a prophecy of Lehi's posterity—described as descendants of Joseph—overflowing into the New World.{{sfn|Givens|2002|pp=43–44}} Latter-day Saints also believe the Bible prophesies of the Book of Mormon as an additional testament to God's dealings with humanity.<ref name="Meservy-1992">{{Cite book|last=Meservy|first=Keith H.|title=[[Encyclopedia of Mormonism]]|publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan Publishing]]|year=1992|isbn=0-02-879605-5|editor-last=Ludlow|editor-first=Daniel H.|pages=158–160|chapter=Book of Mormon, Biblical Prophecies About|chapter-url=https://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Book_of_Mormon,_Biblical_Prophecies_About}}</ref>{{sfn|Givens|2002|p=95}}

In the 1980s, the church placed greater emphasis on the Book of Mormon as a central text of the faith.{{sfn|Turner|2016|p=45}}{{sfn|Givens|2009|pp=109–111}} In 1982, it added the subtitle "Another Testament of Jesus Christ" to its official editions of the Book of Mormon.<ref>{{Cite news|date=January 2, 1988|title=Since 1982, Subtitle has Defined Book as 'Another Testament of Jesus Christ'|work=[[Church News]]|url=https://www.thechurchnews.com/archives/1988-01-02/since-1982-subtitle-has-defined-book-as-another-testament-of-jesus-christ-154250|access-date=April 21, 2021}}</ref>{{sfn|Turner|2016|pp=44–45}} [[Ezra Taft Benson]], the church's thirteenth [[President of the Church (LDS Church)|president]] (1985–1994), especially emphasized the Book of Mormon.{{sfn|Turner|2016|pp=45–47}}{{sfn|Givens|2009|pp=81–82}} Referencing Smith's 1832 revelation, Benson said the church remained under condemnation for treating the Book of Mormon lightly.{{sfn|Givens|2009|pp=81–82}}

Since the late 1980s, Latter-day Saint leaders have encouraged church members to read from the Book of Mormon daily, and in the twenty-first century, many Latter-day Saints use the book in private devotions and family worship.{{sfn|Turner|2016|p=46}}{{sfn|Givens|2002|p=242}} Literary scholar Terryl Givens observes that for Latter-day Saints, the Book of Mormon is "the principal scriptural focus", a "cultural touchstone, and "absolutely central" to worship, including in weekly services, Sunday School, youth seminaries, and more.{{sfn|Givens|2009|pp=111, 240–246}}

Approximately 90 to 95% of all Book of Mormon printings have been affiliated with the church.<ref>{{cite interview |last=Messick |first=Robert |subject-link= |interviewer=Steven Pynakker |title=Interview of Robert of ''Book of Mormon Editions'' YouTube Channel |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EtJrNbo-zQ |work=Mormon Book Reviews |publisher=YouTube |date=July 8, 2021}} (12:38).</ref> As of October 2020, it has published more than 192 million copies of the Book of Mormon.<ref name="Walch-2020">{{Cite news|last=Walch|first=Tad|date=October 4, 2020|title=12 Things I Learned About the Church That I Didn't Know Before General Conference|work=[[Deseret News]]|url=https://www.deseret.com/faith/2020/10/4/21500695/october-general-conference-mormon-lds-elder-matthew-holland-elder-jeffrey-holland-elder-gong-covid|access-date=April 21, 2021}}</ref>
[[File:Book of Mormon Talks.png|alt=Transcription follows: Book of Mormon Talks (line break) By Orion (line break) Birth Offering Series.—No. 4 (line break) Third Edition (line break) Lamoni, Iowa  Published by the Board of Publication of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (line break) 1912|left|thumb|289x289px|RLDS devotional literature about the Book of Mormon, published in 1912]]

===Community of Christ===
The [[Community of Christ]] (formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints or RLDS Church) views the Book of Mormon as scripture which provides an additional witness of Jesus Christ in support of the Bible.<ref name="Moore-2014">{{Cite journal|last=Moore|first=Richard G.|date=Spring 2014|title=LDS Misconceptions About the Community of Christ|url=https://ensignpeakfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/LDS-Misconceptions.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://ensignpeakfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/LDS-Misconceptions.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|journal=[[Mormon Historical Studies]]|volume=15|issue=1|pages=1–23}}</ref> The Community of Christ publishes two versions of the book. The first is the Authorized Edition, first published by the then-RLDS Church in 1908, whose text is based on comparing the original printer's manuscript and the 1837 Second Edition (or "Kirtland Edition") of the Book of Mormon.{{sfn|Gutjahr|2012|p=82}} Its content is similar to the Latter-day Saint edition of the Book of Mormon, but the versification is different.{{Sfn|Maffly-Kipp|2008|p=xxiv}} The Community of Christ also publishes a "New Authorized Version" (also called a "reader's edition"), first released in 1966, which attempts to modernize the language of the text by removing archaisms and standardizing punctuation.{{sfn|Gutjahr|2012|p=83}}

Use of the Book of Mormon varies among Community of Christ membership. The church describes it as scripture and includes references to the Book of Mormon in its official lectionary.<ref name="Howlett-2007">{{cite interview|last=Howlett|first=David|interviewer=|title=Q & A – The Community of Christ and Latter-day Saints|url=https://bycommonconsent.com/2007/08/13/q-a-the-community-of-christ-and-latter-day-saints/|work=[[By Common Consent]]|date=August 13, 2007}}</ref> In 2010, representatives told the [[National Council of Churches]] that "the Book of Mormon is in our DNA".<ref name="Moore-2014" /><ref>{{Cite web|last=Welsh|first=Robert|date=November 3, 2010|title=Memorandum to the 2010 General Assembly of the NCC|url=http://www.ncccusa.org/witnesses2010/ga-merc-report-community-of-christ.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819200311/http://www.ncccusa.org/witnesses2010/ga-merc-report-community-of-christ.pdf|archive-date=August 19, 2014|access-date=June 2, 2021|website='Witnesses of These Things: Ecumenical Engagement in a New Era,' 2010 Centennial Ecumenical Gathering and General Assembly of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA and Church World Service|publisher=[[National Council of Churches]]}}</ref> The book remains a symbol of the denomination's belief in continuing revelation from God.<ref name="Peter-2022">{{cite podcast |title=Theo-History {{!}} Early Church |website=Project Zion |publisher=Publisher |date=August 16, 2022 |url=https://www.projectzionpodcast.org/podcast/503-cuppa-joe-theo-history-early-church/ |access-date=22 October 2022 |last=Peter |first=Karin |time=1:33:33 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221022204831/http://www.projectzionpodcast.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/503-Cuppa-Joe-Theo-History-Early-Church.pdf |archive-date=October 22, 2022 |last2=Mackay |first2=Lachlan |last3=Chvala-Smith |first3=Tony |url-status=live}}</ref> Nevertheless, its usage in [[North America]]n congregations declined between the mid-twentieth and twenty-first centuries.<ref name="Howlett-2007" /> Community of Christ theologian Anthony Chvala-Smith describes the Book of Mormon as being akin to a "subordinate standard" relative to the Bible, giving the Bible priority over the Book of Mormon,<ref name="Peter-2022" /> and the denomination does not emphasize the book as part of its self-conceived identity.{{Sfn|Maffly-Kipp|2008|p=xxiv}} Book of Mormon use varies in what David Howlett calls "Mormon heritage regions": North America, Western Europe, and French Polynesia.<ref name="Howlett-2022">{{Cite web |last=Howlett |first=David J. |date=December 11, 2022 |title=Community of Christ |url=https://wrldrels.org/2022/12/11/21325/ |website=World Religions and Spirituality Project |language=en}}</ref> Outside these regions, where there are tens of thousands of members,<ref name="Howlett-2007" /> congregations almost never use the Book of Mormon in their worship,<ref name="Howlett-2022" /> and they may be entirely unfamiliar with it.<ref name="Howlett-2007" /> Some in Community of Christ remain interested in prioritizing the Book of Mormon in religious practice and have variously responded to these developments by leaving the denomination or by striving to re-emphasize the book.<ref name="Stokes-2016">{{Cite journal |last=Stokes |first=Adam Oliver |date=2016 |title=Mixing the Old with the New: The Implications of Reading the Book of Mormon from a Literary Perspective |url=https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1592&context=jbms |department=Reviews |journal=[[Journal of Book of Mormon Studies]] |volume=25 |pages=85–92 |via=BYU ScholarsArchive|jstor=10.18809/jbms.2016.0108 }}</ref>

During this time, the Community of Christ moved away from emphasizing the Book of Mormon as an authentic record of a historical past. By the late-twentieth century, church president [[W. Grant McMurray]] made open the possibility the book was nonhistorical.{{sfn|Gutjahr|2012|p=83}} McMurray reiterated this ambivalence in 2001, reflecting, "The proper use of the Book of Mormon as sacred scripture has been under wide discussion in the 1970s and beyond, in part because of long-standing questions about its historical authenticity and in part because of perceived theological inadequacies, including matters of race and ethnicity."<ref name="McMurray-2001">McMurray, W. Grant, [https://archive.today/20050218115333/http://www.cofchrist.org/docs/NativeAmericanConference/keynote.asp "They 'Shall Blossom as the Rose': Native Americans and the Dream of Zion,"] an address delivered February 17, 2001, cofchrist.org.</ref> When a resolution was submitted at the 2007 Community of Christ World Conference to "reaffirm the Book of Mormon as a divinely inspired record", church president [[Stephen M. Veazey]] ruled it out-of-order. He stated, "while the Church affirms the Book of Mormon as scripture, and makes it available for study and use in various languages, we do not attempt to mandate the degree of belief or use. This position is in keeping with our longstanding tradition that belief in the Book of Mormon is not to be used as a test of fellowship or membership in the church."<ref name="Stokes-2016" />

=== Greater Latter Day Saint movement ===
Since the death of Joseph Smith in 1844, there have been approximately seventy different [[List of denominations in the Latter Day Saint movement|churches]] that have been part of the Latter Day Saint movement, fifty of which were extant as of 2012. Religious studies scholar Paul Gutjahr explains that "each of these sects developed its own special relationship with the Book of Mormon".{{sfn|Gutjahr|2012|p=69}} For example [[James Strang]], who led a denomination in the nineteenth century, reenacted Smith's production of the Book of Mormon by claiming in the 1840s and 1850s to receive and translate new scriptures engraved on metal plates, which became the [[Voree plates|Voree Plates]] and the [[Book of the Law of the Lord]].{{sfn|Gutjahr|2012|pp=72–75}}

[[William Bickerton]] led another denomination, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (today called [[the Church of Jesus Christ (Bickertonite)|The Church of Jesus Christ]]), which accepted the Book of Mormon as scripture alongside the Bible although it did not canonize other Latter Day Saint religious texts like the [[Doctrine and Covenants]] and [[Pearl of Great Price (Mormonism)|Pearl of Great Price]].{{sfn|Gutjahr|2012|p=72}} The contemporary Church of Jesus Christ continues to consider the "Bible and Book of Mormon together" to be "the foundation of [their] faith and the building blocks of" their church.<ref>{{cite interview|last=Gehly|first=Josh|interviewer=Steven Pynakker|title=A Christian Apologist Defense of the Book of Mormon: Conversation with Evangelist Josh Gehly|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcjS63mN_UM|work=Mormon Book Reviews|publisher=YouTube|date=October 21, 2021}}</ref>

[[Nahuas|Nahua]]-[[Mexicans|Mexican]] Latter-day Saint [[Margarito Bautista]] believed the Book of Mormon told an Indigenous history of Mexico before European contact, and he identified himself as a "descendant of Father Lehi", a prophet in the Book of Mormon.<ref name="Murphy-2000">{{Cite journal |last=Murphy |first=Thomas W. |author-link=Thomas W. Murphy (anthropologist) |date=Fall 2000 |title=Other Mormon Histories: Lamanite Subjectivity in Mexico |journal=[[Journal of Mormon History]] |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=179–214 |issn=0094-7342 |jstor=23288220 }}</ref> Bautista believed the Book of Mormon revealed that Indigenous Mexicans were a chosen remnant of biblical Israel and therefore had a sacred destiny to someday lead the church spiritually and the world politically.<ref name="Murphy-1999">{{Cite journal |last=Murphy |first=Thomas W. |author-link=Thomas W. Murphy (anthropologist) |date=Summer 1999 |title=From Racist Stereotype to Ethnic Identity: Instrumental Uses of Mormon Racial Doctrine |journal=Ethnohistory |volume=46 |issue=3 |pages=451–480 |issn=0014-1801 |jstor=483199 |pmid=20499476 }}</ref> To promote this belief, he wrote a theological treatise synthesizing Mexican nationalism and Book of Mormon content, published in 1935. Anglo-American LDS Church leadership suppressed the book and eventually excommunicated Bautista, and he went on to found a new Mormon denomination. Officially named ''El Reino de Dios en su Plenitud'', the denomination continues to exist in Colonial Industrial, Ozumba, [[Mexico]] as a church with several hundred members who call themselves ''Mormons''.<ref name="Murphy-2000" />

Separate editions of the Book of Mormon have been published by a number of churches in the Latter Day Saint movement,{{Sfn|Vogel|1986|p=1}} along with private individuals and organizations not endorsed by any specific denomination.{{cn|date=November 2025}}

==Historicity==
{{Main|Historicity of the Book of Mormon}}
{{See also|Criticism of the Book of Mormon|Peopling of the Americas}}

===Mainstream views===
Mainstream archaeological, historical, and scientific communities do not consider the Book of Mormon an ancient record of actual historical events.<ref>{{Harvnb|Coe|1973|pp=41–42}}: "Let me now state uncategorically that as far as I know there is not one professionally trained archaeologist, who is ''not'' a Mormon, who sees any scientific justification for believing [the historicity of The Book of Mormon], and I would like to state that there are quite a few Mormon archaeologists who join this group"; {{Harvnb|Southerton|2004|p=xv}}: "Anthropologists and archaeologists, including some Mormons and former Mormons, have discovered little to support the existence of [Book of Mormon] civilizations. Over a period of 150 years, as scholars have seriously studied Native American cultures and prehistory, evidence of a Christian civilization in the Americas has eluded the specialists... These [Mesoamerican] cultures lack any trace of Hebrew or Egyptian writing, metallurgy, or the Old World domesticated animals and plants described in the Book of Mormon"; {{Harvnb|Williams|1991|pp=162–166}}: "I will admit that I am skeptical of the original discovery [of the Book of Mormon]; the absence of the actual ancient documents makes detailed analysis impossible today." The exceptions are a handful of predominantly Latter-day Saint organizations that attempt historical and archeological research on the premise of ancient Book of Mormon historicity, such as [[FairMormon|FAIR (Faithful Answers, Informed Response)]], the [[Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies]] (now defunct), and the [[Interpreter (journal)|Interpreter Foundation]].</ref> Principally, the content of the Book of Mormon does not correlate with archaeological, genetic, or linguistic evidence about the past of the Americas or [[ancient Near East]].

====Archaeology====
{{see also|Book of Mormon anachronisms}}
There is no accepted correlation between locations described in the Book of Mormon and known American archaeological sites.{{Sfn|Coe|1973|p=46|ps=. "[A]bsolutely nothing, has ever shown up in any New World excavation which would suggest to a dispassionate observer that the Book of Mormon... is a historical document relating to the history of early migrants to our hemisphere."}} Additionally, the Book of Mormon's narrative refers to the presence of animals, plants, metals, and technologies of which archaeological and scientific studies have found little or no evidence in post-[[Pleistocene]], [[Pre-Columbian era|pre-Columbian]] America.{{sfn|Duffy|2008|pp=45–46}} Such anachronistic references include crops such as barley, wheat, and silk; livestock like cattle, donkeys, horses, oxen, and sheep; and metals and technology such as brass, steel, the wheel, and chariots.<ref>For oxen and donkeys, see {{Harvnb|Davies|1973|p=55}}. For the rest, see {{Harvnb|Coe|1973|p=42}}.</ref>

[[Mesoamerica]] is the preferred setting for the Book of Mormon among many apologists who advocate a [[limited geography model]] of Book of Mormon events.{{Sfn|Duffy|2008|p=48}} However, there is no evidence accepted by non-Mormons in Mesoamerican societies of cultural influence from anything described in the Book of Mormon.<ref name = "Gardner">{{Cite journal |last=Gardner |first=Brant A. |date=2021 |title=A Personal Perspective on Book of Mormon Historicity and Apologetics |journal=[[Journal of Book of Mormon Studies]] |volume=30 |pages=142–164 |jstor=10.5406/jbookmormstud2.30.2021.0142 |s2cid=254309955}}</ref>

====Genetics====
{{see also|Genetic history of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas}}

Until the late-twentieth century, most adherents of the Latter Day Saint movement who affirmed Book of Mormon historicity believed the people described in the Book of Mormon text were the exclusive ancestors of all Indigenous peoples in the Americas.{{sfn|Gardner|2021|p=152}} DNA evidence proved that to be impossible, as no DNA evidence links any [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native American group]] to ancestry from the ancient [[Ethnic groups in the Middle East|Near East]] as a belief in Book of Mormon peoples as the exclusive ancestors of Indigenous Americans would require. Instead, detailed genetic research indicates that Indigenous Americans' ancestry traces back to Asia,<ref>One popular traditional view of the Book of Mormon suggested that Native Americans were principally the descendants of an Israelite migration around 600 BC. However, DNA evidence shows no Near Eastern component in the Native American genetic make-up. " ...[T]he DNA lineages of Central America resemble those of other Native American tribes throughout the two continents. Over 99 percent of the lineages found among native groups from this region are clearly of Asian descent. Modern and ancient DNA samples tested from among the Maya generally fall into the major founding lineage classes... The Mayan Empire has been regarded by Mormons to be the closest to the people of the Book of Mormon because its people were literate and culturally sophisticated. However, leading New World anthropologists, including those specializing in the region, have found the Maya to be similarly related to Asians"; see {{Harvtxt|Southerton|2004|p=191}}. Defenders of the book's historical authenticity suggest that the Book of Mormon does not disallow for other groups of people to have contributed to the genetic make-up of Native Americans—see {{Harvtxt|Duffy|2008|pp=41, 48}}—and in 2006, the church changed its introduction to the official LDS edition of the Book of Mormon to allow for a greater diversity of ancestry of Native Americans; see {{harvp|Moore|2007}}.</ref> and reveals numerous details about the movements and settlements of ancient Americans which are either lacking in, or contradicted by, the Book of Mormon narrative.<ref>{{Harvtxt|Southerton|2004|pp=49}}. A "large volume of research... has revealed continuous, widespread human occupation of the Americas for the last 14,000 years. Such research conflicts with popular LDS views patterned on the Book of Mormon." See also pg. 125: after a survey of relevant genetic research, Southerton concludes that "the peoples of the Pacific Rim who met Columbus and Cook were not Israelites. They were descendants of a far more ancient branch of the human family tree."</ref>{{efn|The first settlers in the Americas were [[Upper Paleolithic|Paleolithic]] [[hunter-gatherer]]s ([[Paleo-Indians]]) who entered [[North America]] from the [[North Asia]]n [[Mammoth steppe]] via the [[Beringia land bridge]], which had formed between northeastern [[Siberia]] and western [[Alaska]] due to the lowering of [[sea level]] during the [[Last Glacial Maximum]].<ref name="Smithsoniana">{{cite news |last=Pringle |first=Heather |author-link=Heather Pringle (writer) |title=What Happens When an Archaeologist Challenges Mainstream Scientific Thinking? |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/jacques-cinq-mars-bluefish-caves-scientific-progress-180962410 |date=March 8, 2017 |work=[[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian]] }}</ref> These populations expanded south of the [[Laurentide Ice Sheet]] and spread rapidly southward, occupying both [[Americas|North and South America]], by 12,000 to 14,000 years ago.<ref name="FaganDurrani2016">{{cite book |first1=Brian M. |last1=Fagan |first2=Nadia |last2=Durrani |name-list-style=amp |title=World Prehistory: A Brief Introduction |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fMneCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA124 |year=2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-34244-1 |page=124}}</ref><ref name=Goebel>{{cite journal |title=The Late Pleistocene dispersal of modern humans in the Americas |last1=Goebel |first1=Ted |last2=Waters |first2=Michael R. |last3=O'Rourke |first3=Dennis H. |url=http://www.centerfirstamericans.com/cfsa-publications/Science2008.pdf |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |volume=319 |issue=5869 |pages=1497–1502 |year=2008 |pmid=18339930 |doi=10.1126/science.1153569 |bibcode=2008Sci...319.1497G |access-date=2010-02-05  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140102191740/http://www.centerfirstamericans.com/cfsa-publications/Science2008.pdf |archive-date=2014-01-02 |citeseerx=10.1.1.398.9315 |s2cid=36149744 }}</ref><ref name="NYT-20180103">{{cite news |last=Zimmer |first=Carl |author-link=Carl Zimmer |title=In the Bones of a Buried Child, Signs of a Massive Human Migration to the Americas |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/03/science/native-americans-beringia-siberia.html |date=January 3, 2018 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=January 3, 2018 }}</ref><ref name="NAT-20180103">{{cite journal |last1=Moreno-Mayar |first1=JV |last2=Potter |first2=BA |last3=Vinner |first3=L |last4=Steinrücken |first4=M |last5=Rasmussen |first5=S |last6=Terhorst |first6=J |last7=Kamm |first7=JA |last8=Albrechtsen |first8=A |last9=Malaspinas |first9=A-S |last10=Sikora |first10=M |last11=Reuther |first11=JD |last12=Irish |first12=JD |last13=Malhi |first13=RS |last14=Orlando |first14=L |last15=Song |first15=YA |last16=Nielsen |first16=R |last17=Meltzer |first17=DJ |last18=Willerslev |first18=E  |display-authors=3 |title=Terminal Pleistocene Alaskan genome reveals first founding population of Native Americans |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |doi=10.1038/nature25173 |pmid=29323294 |bibcode=2018Natur.553..203M |volume=553 |issue=7687 |year=2018 |pages=203–207 |s2cid=4454580 |url=http://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/7887/1/UpwardSun_Nature%20paper%20MS%20DEC17.pdf}}</ref><ref name="thesis2021">{{Cite thesis |last=Núñez Castillo |first=Mélida Inés |date=2021-12-20 |title=Ancient genetic landscape of archaeological human remains from Panama, South America and Oceania described through STR genotype frequencies and mitochondrial DNA sequences |url=https://ediss.uni-goettingen.de/handle/21.11130/00-1735-0000-0008-59CC-F |journal=Dissertation |doi=10.53846/goediss-9012|s2cid=247052631 |type=doctoralThesis |doi-access=free }}</ref> Indigenous peoples of the Americas have been linked to Siberian populations by [[genetic history of indigenous peoples of the Americas|genetic composition]] as reflected by [[Molecule|molecular]] data, such as [[DNA]].<ref name="AshRobinson2011">{{cite book |first1=Patricia J. |last1=Ash |first2=David J. |last2=Robinson |name-list-style=amp |title=The Emergence of Humans: An Exploration of the Evolutionary Timeline |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JUlSYsyC-NQC&pg=PT289 |year=2011 |publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]] |isbn=978-1-119-96424-7 |page=289}}</ref><ref name="Roberts2010">{{Cite book|author=Alice Roberts|title=The Incredible Human Journey|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ng8ai3xkZRUC&pg=PT101|year=2010|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-1-4088-1091-0|pages=101–103|access-date=2019-08-05|archive-date=2021-01-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125180803/https://books.google.com/books?id=ng8ai3xkZRUC&pg=PT101|url-status=live}}</ref> Analyses of genetics among Indigenous American and Siberian populations have been used to argue for early isolation of [[Founder effect|founding populations]] on [[Beringia]]<ref name="Tammetal">{{Cite journal |display-authors=3 |last1=Tamm |first1=Erika |last2=Kivisild |first2=Toomas |last3=Reidla |first3=Maere |last4=Metspalu |first4=Mait |last5=Smith |first5=David Glenn |last6=Mulligan |first6=Connie J. |last7=Bravi |first7=Claudio M. |last8=Rickards |first8=Olga |last9=Martinez-Labarga |first9=Cristina |last10=Khusnutdinova |first10=Elsa K. |last11=Fedorova |first11=Sardana A. |last12=Golubenko |first12=Maria V. |last13=Stepanov |first13=Vadim A. |last14=Gubina |first14=Marina A. |last15=Zhadanov |first15=Sergey I. |last16=Ossipova |first16=Ludmila P. |last17=Damba |first17=Larisa |last18=Voevoda |first18=Mikhail I. |last19=Dipierri |first19=Jose E. |last20=Villems |first20=Richard |last21=Malhi |first21=Ripan S. |title=Beringian Standstill and Spread of Native American Founders |journal=PLOS ONE |date=5 September 2007 |volume=2 |issue=9 |article-number=e829 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0000829 |pmid=17786201 |pmc=1952074 |bibcode=2007PLoSO...2..829T |doi-access=free }}</ref> and for later, more rapid migration from Siberia through Beringia into the [[New World]].<ref name="Derenkoetal">{{Cite journal |first1=Miroslava |last1=Derenko |first2=Boris |last2=Malyarchuk |first3=Tomasz |last3=Grzybowski |first4=Galina |last4=Denisova |first5=Urszula |last5=Rogalla |first6=Maria |last6=Perkova |first7=Irina |last7=Dambueva |first8=Ilia |last8=Zakharov |display-authors=3 |title=Origin and Post-Glacial Dispersal of Mitochondrial DNA Haplogroups C and D in Northern Asia |journal=PLOS ONE |volume= 5 |issue=12 |article-number=e15214 |date=21 December 2010 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0015214 |pmid=21203537 |pmc=3006427 |bibcode=2010PLoSO...515214D|doi-access=free }}</ref> The [[microsatellite]] diversity and distributions of the Y lineage specific to [[South America]] indicates that certain Indigenous American populations have been isolated since the initial peopling of the region.<ref name="Bortolini">{{Cite journal |first1=Maria-Catira |last1=Bortolini |first2=Francisco M. |last2=Salzano |first3=Mark G. |last3=Thomas |first4=Steven |last4=Stuart |first5=Selja P.K. |last5=Nasanen |first6=Claiton H.D. |last6=Bau |first7=Mara H. |last7=Hutz |first8=Zulay |last8=Layrisse |first9=Maria L. |last9=Petzl-Erler |first10=Luiza T. |last10=Tsuneto |first11=Kim |last11=Hill |first12=Ana M. |last12=Hurtado |first13=Dinorah |last13=Castro-de-Guerra |first14=Maria M. |last14=Torres |first15=Helena |last15=Groot |first16=Roman |last16=Michalski |first17=Pagbajabyn |last17=Nymadawa |first18=Gabriel |last18=Bedoya |first19=Neil |last19=Bradman |first20=Damian |last20=Labuda |first21=Andres |last21=Ruiz-Linares |display-authors=3 |title=Y-chromosome evidence for differing ancient demographic histories in the Americas |journal=[[American Journal of Human Genetics]] |volume=73 |issue=3 |date=September 2003 | pages=524–539 |pmc=1180678 |pmid=12900798 |doi=10.1086/377588 }}</ref> The [[Na-Dene]], [[Inuit]] and [[Alaska Natives|Native Alaskan]] populations exhibit [[Haplogroup Q-M242]]; however, they are distinct from other Indigenous Americans with various mtDNA and atDNA mutations.<!--ref name="NaDene" /><ref name="Zegura" /--><ref name="inuit">{{Cite journal |display-authors=3 |title=mtDNA Variation among Greenland Eskimos. The Edge of the Beringian Expansion |url= |journal=American Journal of Human Genetics |first1=Juliette |last1=Saillard |first2=Peter |last2=Forster |first3=Niels |last3=Lynnerup |first4=Hans-Jürgen |last4=Bandelt |first5=Søren |last5=Nørby |volume=67 |pages=718–726 |year=2000 |doi=10.1086/303038 |issue=3 |pmid=10924403 |pmc=1287530}}</ref> This suggests that the peoples who first settled in the northern extremes of [[North America]] and [[Greenland]] derived from later migrant populations than those who penetrated farther south in the Americas.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Schurr |first1=Theodore G. |title=The Peopling of the New World: Perspectives from Molecular Anthropology |journal=[[Annual Review of Anthropology]] |date=21 October 2004 |volume=33 |pages=551–583 |doi=10.1146/annurev.anthro.33.070203.143932}}</ref><ref name="Nadene1">{{Cite journal |first1=Antonio |last1=Torroni |first2=Theodore G. |last2=Schurr |first3=Chi-Chuan |last3=Yang |first4=Emoke J. E. |last4=Szathmary |first5=Robert C. |last5=Williams |first6=Moses S. |last6=Schanfield |first7=Gary A. |last7=Troup |first8=William C. |last8=Knowler |first9=Dale N. |last9=Lawrence |first10=Kenneth M. |last10=Weiss |first11=Douglas C. |last11=Wallace |display-authors=3 |title=Native American Mitochondrial DNA Analysis Indicates That the Amerind and the Nadene Populations Were Founded by Two Independent Migrations |journal=[[Genetics (journal)|Genetics]] |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=153–162 |pmid=1346260 |pmc=1204788 |date=January 1992 |doi=10.1093/genetics/130.1.153 }}</ref>}}

====Linguistics and intertextuality====
{{main|Linguistics and the Book of Mormon}}

There are no widely accepted linguistic connections between any [[Indigenous languages of the Americas|Native American languages]] and [[Languages of the Middle East|Near Eastern languages]], and "the diversity of Native American languages could not have developed from a single origin in the time frame" that would be necessary to validate a hemispheric view of Book of Mormon historicity.{{sfn|Duffy|2008|p=46}} The Book of Mormon states it was written in a language called "[[Reformed Egyptian]]", clashing with Book of Mormon peoples' purported origin as the descendants of a family from the Kingdom of Judah, where inhabitants would have communicated in [[Aramaic]], not Egyptian.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Shields |first=Steven L. |date=2021 |title=The Quest for 'Reformed Egyptian' |journal=The John Whitmer Historical Association Journal |publisher=[[John Whitmer Historical Association]] |volume=41 |issue=2 |page=101 |jstor=27112676 |issn=0739-7852}}</ref> There are no known examples of "Reformed Egyptian".{{sfn|Davies|1973|p=56}}

The Book of Mormon also includes excerpts from and demonstrates [[intertextuality]] with portions of the biblical [[Book of Isaiah]] whose widely accepted periods of creation postdate the alleged departure of Lehi's family from Jerusalem circa 600 BCE.<ref>"[A]ll major scholars on Isaiah view chapters 40–66 as written well after 600 BCE" (79n13) and "Many scholars have noted that other parts of Isaiah 2–14 were not written by Isaiah of Jerusalem but rather in the exilic or post-exilic periods" (87). See {{Cite journal |last=Townsend |first=Colby |date=Fall 2022 |title='The Robe of Righteousness': Exilic and Post-Exilic Isaiah in The Book of Mormon |url=https://www.dialoguejournal.com/articles/the-robe-of-righteousness-exilic-and-post-exilic-isaiah-in-the-book-of-mormon |journal=[[Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought]] |volume=55 |issue=3 |pages=75–106 |doi=10.5406/15549399.55.3.03 |s2cid=253368342 |doi-access=free}}</ref> No Latter-day Saint arguments for a unified Isaiah or criticisms of the Deutero-Isaiah and Trito-Isaiah understandings have matched the extent of scholarship supporting later datings for authorship.<ref>{{Harvtxt|Hardy|2010|p=291n28}}, summarizes, "The level of consensus on this issue, especially in a field as contentious as biblical studies, is remarkable (and certainly includes scholars who believe in inspiration and prophecy)."</ref>

===Latter Day Saint views===
Most adherents of the Latter Day Saint movement consider the Book of Mormon to be historically authentic and to describe events that genuinely took place in the ancient Americas.<ref>"Most members of... groups tracing their origins to Joseph Smith, believe that the Book of Mormon is a literal history of the inhabitants of the ancient Americas" ({{Harvnb|Vogel|1986|p=3}}). See also {{Harvnb|Southerton|2004|p=201}}</ref> Within the Latter Day Saint movement there are several individuals and apologetic organizations, most of whom are or which are composed of lay Latter-day Saints, that seek to answer challenges to or advocate for Book of Mormon historicity.<ref>{{Harvnb|Duffy|2008|pp=41–42, 48}}; {{Harvnb|Bushman|2005|p=93}}. {{Harvtxt|Coe|1973|pp=42–45}} identifies several twentieth-century Latter-day Saint advocates of Book of Mormon historicity. In an exception to the general trend, he also states that the most careful scholar in "the early-twentieth-century intellectual movement of 'Book of Mormon geography' was Louis E. Hills, a member of what was then the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, today known as Community of Christ.</ref> For example, in response to linguistics and genetics rendering long-popular hemispheric models of Book of Mormon geography impossible,{{efn|The "hemispheric model" refers to a belief that the Book of Mormon's setting spanned North and South America and that Indigenous peoples of the Americas principally descended from Book of Mormon peoples.{{sfn|Gardner|2021|p=152}} Linguistically, the diversity of Native American languages that exists could not have developed in the time frame required by Lehi's arrivants being the sole ancestors of Indigenous peoples in the Americas.{{sfn|Duffy|2008|p=46}} Genetically, DNA evidence links the Indigenous peoples of the Americas to Asia.{{sfn|Southerton|2004|p=191}}}} many apologists posit Book of Mormon peoples could have dwelled in a [[Limited geography model|limited geographical region]] while Indigenous peoples of other descents occupied the rest of the Americas.{{sfn|Duffy|2008|pp=41, 46|ps=. "Apologists reply that these arguments do not invalidate Book of Mormon historicity, only a hemispheric scenario for Book of Mormon history."}} To account for anachronisms, apologists often suggest Smith's translation assigned familiar terms to unfamiliar ideas.{{sfn|Duffy|2008|p=45|ps=. "Apologists' ... response to anachronisms is to argue that Smith's translation of the Book of Mormon may apply familiar words to unfamiliar but comparable items. 'Cimeter' may refer to some other, loosely similar weapon; 'flocks' may refer to turkeys or dogs; 'horses' may refer to deer. Apologists note that reapplying familiar names has historical precedent: it was done by the Spanish conquistadors as well as by the King James translators, who anachronistically used the word 'steel' to refer to other kinds of metal."}} In the context of a miraculously translated Book of Mormon, supporters affirm that anachronistic intertextuality may also have miraculous explanations.<ref>See {{Harvtxt|Hardy|2010|pp=291n31–292n31}}, who also suggests how a reader who considers the Book of Mormon authentically ancient might account for the presence of post-exilic Isaiah in the text. He adds, "I don't expect that non-Mormons will find any of [these explanations] remotely plausible."</ref>

Some apologists strive to identify parallels between the Book of Mormon and biblical antiquity, such as the presence of several [[Chiastic structure|complex chiasmi]] resembling a literary form used in ancient Hebrew poetry and in the Old Testament.<ref>"One of the most popular has been chiasmus, a stylistic feature of the Hebrew Bible which John Welch first identified in the Book of Mormon while a missionary in the 1960s. Welch was particularly impressed to find that the entire chapter of Alma 36 is a complex, extended chiasm" ({{Harvnb|Duffy|2008|p=51}}). For more on chiasmus in the Bible, see {{Cite book |last=Breck |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SKjYAAAAMAAJ |title=The Shape of Biblical Language: Chiasmus in the Scriptures and Beyond |publisher=St. Vladimir's Seminary Press |year=1994 |isbn=0-88141-139-6 |pages=33–37, 39}}</ref> Others attempt to identify parallels between Mesoamerican archaeological sites and locations described in the Book of Mormon, such as [[John L. Sorenson]], according to whom the [[Santa Rosa (Mesoamerican Site)|Santa Rosa]] archaeological site resembles the [[Zarahemla|city of Zarahemla]] in the Book of Mormon.<ref>For a description and critical assessment of Sorenson's view, see p. 128 of {{Cite journal |last=Murphy |first=Thomas |date=Winter 2003 |title=Simply Implausible: DNA and a Mesoamerican Setting for the Book of Mormon |url=https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/dial/article/36/4/109/236590/Simply-Implausible-DNA-and-a-Mesoamerican-Setting |journal=Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought |language=en |volume=36 |issue=4 |pages=109–131 |doi=10.2307/45227190 |jstor=45227190 |s2cid=128696235 |issn=0012-2157|doi-access=free }} Sorenson's own articulation can be found in {{Cite book |last=Sorenson |first=John L. |title=An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon |publisher=Deseret Book Company |year=1996 |isbn=978-1-57345-157-4 |page=355 |language=en}}</ref> When mainstream, non-Mormon scholars examine alleged parallels between the Book of Mormon and the ancient world, however, scholars typically deem them "chance based upon only superficial similarities" or "[[parallelomania]]", the result of having predetermined ideas about the subject.<ref>"Non-Mormon archaeologists are more likely to view Jakeman's twenty so-called 'correspondences in main features' and eighty-two 'detailed agreements or similarities' as a matter of mere chance based upon only superficial similarities" ({{Harvnb|Coe|1973|p=44}}). For parallelomania, see {{Harvnb|Duffy|2008|p=52}}. For an example of identifying parallelomania in apologetics for Latter Day Saint scriptural historicity, see {{Cite journal |last=Salmon |first=Douglas F. |date=Summer 2000 |title=Parallelomania and the Study of Latter-day Scripture: Confirmation, Coincidence, or the Collective Unconscious? |url=https://www.dialoguejournal.com/articles/parallelomania-and-the-study-of-latter-day-scripture-confirmation-coincidence-or-the-collective-unconscious/ |journal=[[Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought]] |volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=129–155|doi=10.2307/45226691 |jstor=45226691 |s2cid=197468102 |doi-access=free |url-access=subscription }}.</ref>

Despite the popularity and influence among Latter-day Saints of literature propounding Book of Mormon historicity,{{sfn|Duffy|2008|p=42|ps=. "Thanks to the Internet, the number of Saints engaged in written apologetics, and the size of their audience, has grown. Thus the DNA controversy has done much to privilege a limited Book of Mormon geography within the Church, over the more fundamentalistic understandings of earlier authorities such as Joseph Fielding Smith and Bruce R. McConkie."}} not all Mormons who affirm Book of Mormon historicity are universally persuaded by apologetic work.{{sfn|Duffy|2008|p=57|ps=. "However, this historical development should not entirely eclipse the fact that LDS thinking about Book of Mormon historicity has been, and continues to be, diverse. Granted that revisionists constitute a stigmatized and evidently very small minority, who differ among themselves in their understanding of the book's status as scripture. But even Latter-day Saints who accept historicity hold differing views regarding how accurately or transparently the Book of Mormon reports the ancient past or to what extent the translation process may have allowed Joseph Smith's nineteenth-century ideas to be incorporated into the text."}} Some claim historicity more modestly, such as [[Richard Bushman]]'s statement that "I read the Book of Mormon as informed Christians read the Bible. As I read, I know the arguments against the book's historicity, but I can't help feeling that the words are true and the events happened. I believe it in the face of many questions."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bushman|first=Richard Lyman|url=https://byumiuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2019/12/MI-2016-2017-annual-report.pdf|title=Annual Report 2016–2017|publisher=[[Maxwell Institute|Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship]]|year=2018|pages=10–14|language=English|chapter=Finding the Right Words: Speaking Faith in Secular Times|author-link=Richard Bushman|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210523231411/https://byumiuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2019/12/MI-2016-2017-annual-report.pdf|archive-date=May 23, 2021|url-status=live}}</ref>

Some denominations and adherents of the Latter Day Saint movement consider the Book of Mormon a work of inspired fiction{{sfn|Gutjahr|2012|p=83}} akin to [[pseudepigrapha]] or biblical [[midrash]] that constitutes scripture by revealing true doctrine about God, similar to a common interpretation of the biblical [[Book of Job]].<ref>"Some of [Community of Christ]'s senior leadership consider the Book of Mormon to be inspired historical fiction" ({{Harvnb|Southerton|2004|p=201}}). For a comparison to the Book of Job, see {{Harvnb|Duffy|2008|pp=54–55}}. "Denise Hopkins, a professor of Hebrew Bible at Wesley Theological Seminary", Gregory Prince reports, described the Book of Mormon as "a book-length midrash on the King James Bible." See {{Cite magazine|last=Prince|first=Gregory|date=Fall 2018|title=Own Your Religion|url=https://sunstonemagazine.com/own-your-religion/|magazine=[[Sunstone (magazine)|Sunstone]]|issue=187}}</ref> Many in Community of Christ hold this view, and the leadership takes no official position on Book of Mormon historicity; among lay members, views vary.<ref>{{Harvnb|Duffy|2008|p=41}}. {{Cite journal|last=Moore|first=Richard G.|date=Spring 2014|title=LDS Misconceptions About the Community of Christ|url=https://ensignpeakfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/LDS-Misconceptions.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://ensignpeakfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/LDS-Misconceptions.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|journal=[[Mormon Historical Studies]]|volume=15|issue=1|pages=1–23}} {{Cite journal|last=Launius|first=Roger D.|author-link=Roger D. Launius|date=Winter 2006|title=Is Joseph Smith Relevant to the Community of Christ?|url=https://www.dialoguejournal.com/articles/is-joseph-smith-relevant-to-the-community-of-christ/|journal=[[Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought]]|volume=39|issue=4|pages=58–67|doi=10.2307/45227214 |jstor=45227214 |s2cid=254402921 |doi-access=free|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Some Latter-day Saints consider the Book of Mormon fictional, although this view is marginal in the denomination at large.{{sfn|Duffy|2008|pp=54–57}}

==== Beliefs about geographical setting ====
{{main|Proposed Book of Mormon geographical setting}}
Related to the work's historicity is consideration of where its events are claimed to have occurred if historical. The LDS Church—the largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement<ref>For "largest denomination", see {{cite web |date=2020 |title=Latter Day Saints movement |url=https://hwpi.harvard.edu/files/pluralism/files/latter_day_saints_movement.pdf |access-date=March 11, 2024 |website=The Pluralism Project |publisher=Harvard University}}</ref>—affirms the book as literally historical but does not make a formal claim of where precisely its events took place.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wade |first=Lizzie |date=January 18, 2018 |title=How a Mormon Lawyer Transformed Archaeology in Mexico—and Ended Up Losing His Faith |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/how-mormon-lawyer-transformed-archaeology-mexico-and-ended-losing-his-faith |website=Science |publisher=[[American Association for the Advancement of Science]]}}</ref> Throughout much of the 19th and 20th centuries, Joseph Smith and others in the Latter Day Saint movement claimed that the book's events occurred broadly throughout North and South America.<ref name = "Gardner" /> During the twentieth century, Latter-day Saint apologists backed away from this hemispheric belief in favor of believing the book's events took place in a more limited geographic setting within the Americas.{{Sfn|Duffy|2008|p=46}} This [[limited geography model]] gained broader currency in the LDS Church in the 1990s,<ref>{{Harvnb|Duffy|2008|p=42}}.</ref> and in the twenty-first century it is the most popular belief about Book of Mormon geography among those who believe it is historical.<ref>{{Harvnb|Jones|2016|p=199}}.</ref> In 2006, the LDS Church revised its introduction to LDS editions of the Book of Mormon, which previously read that Lamanites were "the principal ancestors of the American Indians", to read that they are "among the ancestors of the American Indians".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Fletcher Stack |first1=Peggy |author-link=Peggy Fletcher Stack |title= Single word change in Book of Mormon speaks volumes |url= https://archive.sltrib.com/story.php?ref=/lds/ci_7403990 |newspaper=[[The Salt Lake Tribune]] |access-date=April 27, 2022 |date=November 8, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Why Native Americans struggle to make their stories and traditions fit with the Book of Mormon|url=https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2021/07/02/why-native-americans/|newspaper=[[The Salt Lake Tribune]]|date=July 2, 2021|access-date=October 13, 2021|archive-date=September 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210927135734/https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2021/07/02/why-native-americans/|url-status=live}}</ref> A movement among Latter-day Saints called Heartlanders believes that the Book of Mormon took place specifically within what is presently the United States.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Seriac |first=Hannah |date=December 15, 2021 |title=Mormon Group Digging for Scriptural City of Zarahemla in Iowa Is a Portrait of Religious Nationalism |url=https://religiondispatches.org/mormon-group-digging-for-scriptural-city-of-zarahemla-in-iowa-is-a-portrait-of-religious-nationalism/ |magazine=Religion Dispatches}}</ref>

==Historical context==

=== American Indian origins ===
{{see also | Mound Builders#Alternative explanations|View of the Hebrews}}
Contact with the Indigenous peoples of the Americas prompted intellectual and theological controversy among many Europeans and European Americans who wondered how biblical narratives of world history could account for hitherto unrecognized Indigenous societies.{{Sfn|Vogel|1986|pp=7, 37–38}} From the seventeenth century through the early nineteenth, numerous European and American writers proposed that ancient [[Jews]], perhaps through the Lost Ten Tribes, were the ancestors of Native Americans.{{Sfn|Vogel|1986|pp=39–43}} One of the first books to suggest that Native Americans descended from Jews was written by Jewish-Dutch rabbi and scholar [[Menasseh Ben Israel|Manasseh ben Israel]] in 1650.{{Sfn|Vogel|1986|pp=40–41}} Such curiosity and speculation about Indigenous origins persisted in the United States into the antebellum period when the Book of Mormon was published,{{Sfn|Vogel|1986|pp=48–49}} as archaeologist Stephen Williams explains that "relating the American Indians to the Lost Tribes of Israel was supported by many" at the time of the book's production and publication.{{sfn|Williams|1991|p=164}} Although the Book of Mormon did not explicitly identify Native Americans as descendants of the diasporic Israelites in its narrative, nineteenth-century readers consistently drew that conclusion and considered the book theological support for believing American Indians were of Israelite descent.{{Sfn|Howe|2007|p=317}}

European descended settlers took note of earthworks left behind by the [[Mound Builder]] cultures and had some difficulty believing that Native Americans, denigrated in racist colonial worldviews and whose numbers had been greatly reduced over the previous centuries, could have produced them. A common theory was that a more "civilized" and "advanced" people had built them, but were overrun and destroyed by a more savage, numerous group.{{Sfn|Vogel|1986|pp=61–65}} Some Book of Mormon content resembles this "mound-builder" genre pervasive in the nineteenth century.{{sfn|Kennedy|1994|pp=228–231}}<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://media.web.britannica.com/ebsco/pdf/770/5135770.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://media.web.britannica.com/ebsco/pdf/770/5135770.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |last=Garlinghouse |first=Thomas |title=Revisiting the Mound Builder Controversy |work=History Today |date=September 2001 |volume=51 |number=9 |page=38 }}</ref>{{Sfn|Vogel|1986|p=65}} Historian Curtis Dahl wrote, "Undoubtedly the most famous and certainly the most influential of all Mound-Builder literature is the ''Book of Mormon'' (1830). Whether one wishes to accept it as divinely inspired or the work of Joseph Smith, it fits exactly into the tradition."<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.2307/362525 |journal=[[The New England Quarterly]] |jstor=362525 |title=Mound-Builders, Mormons, and William Cullen Bryant |last1=Dahl |first1=Curtis |year=1961 |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=178–190 |quote-page=187}}</ref> Historian Richard Bushman argues the Book of Mormon does not comfortably fit the Mound Builder genre because contemporaneous writings that speculated about Native origins "were explicit about recognizable Indian practices"{{Efn|For example, Abner Cole's parody of the Book of Mormon, ''The Book of Pukei'', described characters wearing moccasins.{{sfn|Bushman|2005|p=97}}}} whereas the "Book of Mormon deposited its people on some unknown shore—not even definitely identified as America—and had them live out their history" without including tropes that Euro-Americans stereotyped as Indigenous.{{sfn|Bushman|2005|p=97}}

=== Critique of the United States ===
{{Undue weight|date=June 2024}}
The Book of Mormon can be read as a critique of the [[United States]] during Smith's lifetime. [[History of religion|Historian of religion]] [[Nathan O. Hatch]] called the Book of Mormon "a document of profound social protest",{{sfn|Hatch|1989|p=116}} and historian Bushman "found the book thundering no to the state of the world in Joseph Smith's time."<ref name="Bushman-2007">{{Cite journal|last=Bushman|first=Richard Lyman|author-link=Richard Bushman|date=September 2007|title=What's New in Mormon History: A Response to Jan Shipps|url=https://academic.oup.com/jah/article-abstract/94/2/517/729680?redirectedFrom=fulltext|journal=[[Journal of American History]]|volume=94|issue=2|pages=517–521|doi=10.2307/25094963|jstor=25094963|url-access=subscription}}</ref> In the [[Jacksonian democracy|Jacksonian era]] of [[History of the United States (1849–1865)|antebellum America]], class inequality was a major concern as fiscal downturns and the economy's transition from guild-based artisanship to private business sharpened [[economic inequality]], and [[Poll taxes in the United States|poll taxes]] in New York limited access to the vote, and the culture of civil discourse and mores surrounding liberty allowed social elites to ignore and delegitimize populist participation in public discourse.{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}} Against the backdrop of these trends, the Book of Mormon condemned upper class wealth as elitist,{{sfn|Hatch|1989|p=116}} and it criticized social norms around public discourse that silenced critique of the country.{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}}

==Manuscripts==
[[File:Book of Mormon printer's manuscript, 1870s.jpg|thumb|upright|Book of Mormon printer's manuscript, shown with a 19th-century owner, George Schweich (grandson of early [[Latter Day Saint movement]] figure [[David Whitmer]])]]
[[File:Peter whitmer log home.JPG|thumb|Replica of the cabin in Fayette (Waterloo), New York (owned by [[Peter Whitmer]]) where much of the manuscript of the Book of Mormon was written]]
Joseph Smith dictated the Book of Mormon to several [[scribe]]s over a period of 13 months,<ref>{{Cite Q|Q123364479}}</ref> resulting in three [[manuscript]]s. Upon examination of pertinent historical records, the book appears to have been dictated over the course of 57 to 63 days within the 13-month period.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/timing-the-translation-of-the-book-of-mormon-days-and-hours-never-to-be-forgotten/ | title = Timing the Translation of the Book of Mormon | access-date = 2022-07-19 | archive-date = 2022-07-19 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220719231558/https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/timing-the-translation-of-the-book-of-mormon-days-and-hours-never-to-be-forgotten/ }}</ref>

The 116 lost pages contained the first portion of the [[Book of Lehi]]; it was lost after Smith loaned the original, uncopied manuscript to [[Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)|Martin Harris]].<ref name="Lucy Harris"/>

The first completed manuscript, called the original manuscript, was completed using a variety of scribes. Portions of the original manuscript were also used for typesetting.{{cn|date=August 2025}} In October 1841, the entire original manuscript was placed into the [[cornerstone]] of the [[Nauvoo House]], and sealed up until nearly forty years later when the cornerstone was reopened. It was then discovered that much of the original manuscript had been destroyed by water seepage and mold. Surviving manuscript pages were handed out to various families and individuals in the 1880s.<ref name="EoM-BoM-Manuscripts">{{citation|last=Skousen|first=Royal|title=[[Encyclopedia of Mormonism]] |url=|pages=185–186|year=1992|editor-last=Ludlow|editor-first=Daniel H.|chapter=Book of Mormon Manuscripts|chapter-url=http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/EoM/id/5544|publisher=[[Macmillan Publishing]] |isbn=978-0-02-879602-4|oclc=24502140|author-link=Royal Skousen|editor-link=Daniel H. Ludlow}}</ref>

Only 28 percent of the original manuscript now survives, including a remarkable find of fragments from 58 pages in 1991. The majority of what remains of the original manuscript is now kept in the LDS Church's archives.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Katz |first=Brigit |title=Printer’s Manuscript of the Book of Mormon Sells for $35 Million |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/book-mormon-manuscript-purchased-record-35-million-180965075/ |access-date=2025-10-26 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en}}</ref>

The second completed manuscript, called the printer's manuscript, was a copy of the original manuscript produced by Oliver Cowdery and two other scribes.{{citation needed|reason=Previous citation was to FAIR. Skousen's editorial introduction to the Yale University Press-published "The Book of Mormon: The Earliest Text" may be a more appropriate source for reporting about textual criticism of Book of Mormon manuscripts.|date=May 2024}} It is at this point that initial [[copyediting]] of the Book of Mormon was completed. Observations of the original manuscript show little evidence of corrections to the text.<ref name=EoM-BoM-Manuscripts/> Shortly before his death in 1850, Cowdery gave the printer's manuscript to [[David Whitmer]], another of the [[Three Witnesses]]. In 1903, the manuscript was bought from Whitmer's grandson by the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, now known as the Community of Christ.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.deseretnews.com/article/865633926/Recounting-the-preservation-of-the-printers-manuscript-of-the-Book-of-Mormon.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150806172334/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865633926/Recounting-the-preservation-of-the-printers-manuscript-of-the-Book-of-Mormon.html|archive-date=August 6, 2015|title=Recounting the preservation of the printer's manuscript of the Book of Mormon|last=Toone|first=Trent|date=2015-08-06|work=DeseretNews.com|access-date=2017-09-23|language=en}}</ref> On September 20, 2017, the LDS Church purchased the manuscript from the Community of Christ at a reported price of $35{{nbsp}}million.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Walch|first1=Tad|title=LDS Church buys printer's manuscript of Book of Mormon for record $35 million|url=https://www.deseretnews.com/article/865689273/LDS-Church-buys-printers-manuscript-of-Book-of-Mormon-for-record-35-million-from-Community-of.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170921071032/https://www.deseretnews.com/article/865689273/LDS-Church-buys-printers-manuscript-of-Book-of-Mormon-for-record-35-million-from-Community-of.html|archive-date=September 21, 2017|access-date=22 September 2017|work=Deseret (Salt Lake City) News|date=20 September 2017}}</ref> The printer's manuscript is now the earliest surviving complete copy of the Book of Mormon.<ref>There are three lines missing from the printer's manuscript in its current condition, covering 1 Nephi 1:7–8, 20. http://mi.byu.edu/publications/jbms/?vol=15&num=1&id=401 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091106185831/http://mi.byu.edu/publications/jbms/?vol=15&num=1&id=401 |date=November 6, 2009 }}</ref> The manuscript was imaged in 1923 and has been made available for viewing online.<ref>{{cite web|title = Printer's Manuscript of the Book of Mormon, 1923 Photostatic Copies|url = http://josephsmithpapers.org/paperSummary/printers-manuscript-of-the-book-of-mormon-1923-photostatic-copies#!/paperSummary/printers-manuscript-of-the-book-of-mormon-1923-photostatic-copies&p=6|website = josephsmithpapers.org|access-date = 2016-01-13|pages = 0–464}}</ref>

Critical comparisons between surviving portions of the manuscripts show an average of two to three changes per page from the original manuscript to the printer's manuscript.{{cn|date=August 2025}} The printer's manuscript was further edited, adding paragraphing and punctuation to the first third of the text.{{cn|date=August 2025}}

The printer's manuscript was not used fully in the [[typesetting]] of the 1830 version of Book of Mormon; portions of the original manuscript were also used for typesetting. The original manuscript was used by Smith to further correct errors printed in the 1830 and 1837 versions of the Book of Mormon for the 1840 printing of the book.{{cn|date=August 2025}}

===Printer's manuscript ownership history===
In the late-19th century the extant portion of the printer's manuscript remained with the family of [[David Whitmer]], who had been a principal founder of the [[Latter Day Saints]] and who, by the 1870s, led the [[Church of Christ (Whitmerite)]]. During the 1870s, according to the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'', the LDS Church unsuccessfully attempted to buy it from Whitmer for a record price. Church president [[Joseph F. Smith]] refuted this assertion in a 1901 letter, believing such a manuscript "possesses no value whatever."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://rsc.byu.edu/archived/preserving-history-latter-day-saints/3-history-all-important-things-dc-693-john-whitmers |title=3. "A History of All the Important Things" (D&C 69:3): John Whitmer's Record of Church History &#124; Religious Studies Center |publisher=Rsc.byu.edu |access-date=2017-09-25 |archive-date=September 26, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170926042424/https://rsc.byu.edu/archived/preserving-history-latter-day-saints/3-history-all-important-things-dc-693-john-whitmers }}</ref> In 1895, Whitmer's grandson George Schweich inherited the manuscript. By 1903, Schweich had mortgaged the manuscript for $1,800 and, needing to raise at least that sum, sold a collection including 72 percent of the book of the original printer's manuscript ([[John Whitmer]]'s manuscript history, parts of Joseph Smith's translation of the [[Bible]], manuscript copies of several revelations, and [[Anthon transcript|a piece of paper]] containing copied Book of Mormon characters) to the RLDS Church (now the Community of Christ) for $2,450, with $2,300 of this amount for the printer's manuscript.

In 2015, this remaining portion was published by the [[Church Historian's Press]] in its ''[[Joseph Smith Papers]]'' series, in Volume Three of "Revelations and Translations"; and, in 2017, the church bought the printer's manuscript for {{currency|35000000|USD}}.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Mims |first=Bob |date=September 21, 2017 |title=Historian: At $35M, Original Printer's Manuscript of Book of Mormon a Bargain |work=[[Salt Lake Tribune]] |url=http://www.sltrib.com/news/2017/09/22/historian-at-35m-original-printers-manuscript-of-book-of-mormon-a-bargain/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220709221911/http://www.sltrib.com/news/2017/09/22/historian-at-35m-original-printers-manuscript-of-book-of-mormon-a-bargain/ |archive-date=July 9, 2022}}</ref>

==Editions==

=== Chapter and verse notation systems ===
The original 1830 publication had no verses (breaking the text into [[paragraph]]s instead). [[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]]' (LDS Church) 1852 [[Edition (book)|edition]] numbered the paragraphs.<ref name="EoM-BoM-Editions" /> [[Orson Pratt]], an [[Apostle (Latter Day Saints)|apostle]] of the denomination, divided the text into shorter chapters, organized it into verses, and added [[paratext]]ual footnotes.{{Sfn|Gutjahr|2019|p=94}}  In 1920, the LDS Church published a new edition edited by apostle [[James E. Talmage]], who reformatted the text into double columns, imitating the prevailing format of Bibles in the United States.{{Sfn|Gutjahr|2019|p=96}} The next new Latter-day saint edition of the book was published in 1981; this edition added new chapter summaries and [[cross reference]]s.{{Sfn|Gutjahr|2019|p=101}}

The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS Church; later renamed to [[Community of Christ]]) also published editions of the Book of Mormon.{{Sfn|Stocks|1989|p=59}} It printed editions at [[Plano, Illinois]] and [[Lamoni, Iowa]] in 1874.{{Sfn|Scherer|2001|p=47n16}} In 1892, the church published a [[large-print]] edition that split the original edition's paragraphs into shorter ones.{{Sfn|Stocks|1989|p=66}} From 1906 to 1908, Reversification Committee appointed by the RLDS Church revised its Book of Mormon text based on manuscript comparison and also reformatted it into shorter verses (though it retained the original chapter lengths); the RLDS Church published this version as the Revised Authorized edition, printing it beginning in April 1909.{{Sfn|Stocks|1989|pp=67–71}}

===Church editions===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! style="width:27%;"| Publisher
! style="width:1%;"| Year
! style="width:70%;"| Titles and notes
! style="width:1%;"| Link
|-
| [[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]]
| 1981
| ''The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ''.<ref>The revised text was first published in 1981 and the subtitle was added in October 1982: {{cite journal |last= Packer |first= Boyd K. |author-link= Boyd K. Packer |date=November 1982 |title= Scriptures |url= https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1982/11/scriptures | journal= [[Ensign (LDS magazine)|Ensign]] |quote= You should know also that by recent decision of the Brethren the Book of Mormon will henceforth bear the title 'The Book of Mormon,' with the subtitle 'Another Testament of Jesus Christ.' }}</ref> New introductions, chapter summaries, and footnotes. 1920 edition errors corrected based on original manuscript and 1840 edition.<ref name="EoM-BoM-Editions">{{cite encyclopedia|year=1992|title=Book of Mormon Editions (1830–1981)|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopedia of Mormonism]]|publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan Publishing]]|url=https://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Book_of_Mormon_Editions_(1830-1981)|last=Skousen|first=Royal|author-link=Royal Skousen|editor-last=Ludlow|editor-first=Daniel H|editor-link=Daniel H. Ludlow|pages=175–176|isbn=978-0-02-879602-4|oclc=24502140}}</ref> Updated in a revised edition in 2013.<ref>{{Cite web|date=November 29, 2021|title=2013 Updates to the Book of Mormon|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXfeAo_G3qg|url-status=live|access-date=January 2, 2022|website=Book of Mormon Editions|publisher=YouTube|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220103014939/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXfeAo_G3qg&gl=US&hl=en |archive-date=January 3, 2022 }}</ref><ref name="2013Edition">{{Cite journal|date=April 2013|title=Church Releases New Edition of English Scriptures in Digital Formats|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2013/04/news-of-the-church/church-releases-new-edition-of-english-scriptures-in-digital-formats?lang=eng|url-status=live|journal=[[Ensign (LDS magazine)|Ensign]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210120144412/https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2013/04/news-of-the-church/church-releases-new-edition-of-english-scriptures-in-digital-formats?lang=eng|archive-date=January 20, 2021}}</ref>
| [https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/title-page?lang=eng link]
|-
| [[Community of Christ]]
| 1966
| "Revised Authorized Version", based on 1908 Authorized Version, 1837 edition and original manuscript.<ref name="ReeveParshall2010">{{cite book|author2-link=Ardis E. Parshall|author1-link=W. Paul Reeve|last1=Reeve|first1=W. Paul|last2=Parshall|first2=Ardis E.|title=Mormonism: A Historical Encyclopedia: A Historical Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BI7dNT5NdmIC&pg=PA74|access-date=2018-03-24|date=2010|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-59884-108-4|page=74|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Omits numerous repetitive "it came to pass" phrases.
|
|-
| [[The Church of Jesus Christ (Bickertonite)]]
| 2001
| Compiled by a committee of [[Quorum of Twelve Apostles (Church of Jesus Christ (Bickertonite))|Apostles]]. It uses the chapter and verse designations from the 1879 LDS edition.{{citation needed|date=March 2018}}
|
|-
| [[Church of Christ with the Elijah Message]]
| 1957
| ''The Record of the Nephites'', "Restored Palmyra Edition". 1830 text with the 1879 LDS edition's chapters and verses.
| [http://www.elijahmessage.net/Nephite_Record.html link] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120304055510/http://www.elijahmessage.net/Nephite_Record.html |date=2012-03-04 }}
|-
| [[Church of Christ (Temple Lot)]]
| 1990
| Based on 1908 RLDS edition, 1830 edition, printer's manuscript, and corrections by church leaders.
| [https://web.archive.org/web/20131021174453/http://www.churchofchrist-tl.org/PDFs/Downloads/Web%201990%20BOOK%20OF%20MORMON.pdf link]
|-
|[[Fellowships of the remnants]]
|2019
|Based on Joseph Smith's last personally-updated 1840 version, with revisions per [[Denver Snuffer Jr.]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Preface to the Book of Mormon |url=http://scriptures.info/scriptures/bofm/bompreface |access-date=21 March 2020}}</ref> Distributed jointly with the [[New Testament]], in a volume called the "New Covenants".
|[http://scriptures.info/scriptures/nc link]
|}

=== Other editions ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Publisher
! Year
! Titles and notes
! Link
|-
| [[Herald Heritage]]
| 1970
| Facsimile of the 1830 edition.{{citation needed|date=March 2018}}
|
|-
|[[Macmillan Inc.|Macmillan]]
|1992
|''[[Encyclopedia of Mormonism]]''. The ''Encyclopedia''<nowiki/>'s fifth volume includes the full text of the Book of Mormon, as well as the Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fales |first=Susan L. |date=Fall 1992 |title=''Encyclopedia of Mormonism'' |journal=RQ |type=review |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=111–112 |jstor=25829209 |issn=0033-7072}}</ref> There are brief introductions but no footnotes or indices (an index to the ''Encyclopedia'' is found in its fourth volume).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Poll |first=Richard D. |date=Fall 1992 |title=''Encyclopedia of Mormonism: The History, Scripture, Doctrine, and Procedure of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints'' |journal=Journal of Mormon History |type=review |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=205–213 |jstor=23286410 |issn=0094-7342 }}</ref> The ''Encyclopedia'', including the volume containing the Book of Mormon, is no longer in print.<ref>{{Cite archival metadata|author=|title=Encyclopedia of Mormonism: About|url=https://lib.byu.edu/collections/encyclopedia-of-mormonism/about/|repository=BYU Library Digital Collections|date=|access-date=January 2, 2023}}</ref>
|
|-
| Zarahemla Research Foundation
| 1999
| ''The Book of Mormon: Restored Covenant Edition''. Text from Original and Printer's Manuscripts, in poetic layout.{{cn|date=August 2025}}
| [http://www.restoredcovenant.org/RCE.asp?CAT=RCE link] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090527221012/http://www.restoredcovenant.org/RCE.asp?CAT=RCE |date=May 27, 2009 }}
|-
| [[Bookcraft]]
| 1999
| ''The Book of Mormon for Latter-day Saint Families''. Large print with visuals and explanatory notes.{{cn|date=August 2025}}
|
|-
| [[University of Illinois Press]]
| 2003
| ''The Book of Mormon: A Reader's Edition''. The text of the 1920 LDS edition reformatted into paragraphs and poetic stanzas and accompanied by some footnotes.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ellwood |first=Robert |date=August 2008 |title=''The Book of Mormon: A Reader's Edition''. Edited by Grant Hardy |journal=Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=130–131 |doi=10.1525/nr.2008.12.1.130 |jstor=10.1525/nr.2008.12.1.130 |postscript=; }} {{Cite news |last=Brown |first=Samuel Morris |date=January 27, 2012 |title=Five Best: Samuel Morris Brown |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970203462304577136340783641140 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220815165151/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970203462304577136340783641140 |archive-date=August 15, 2022}} Ellwood gives the publication date of the edition as 2005; this refers to the paperback edition of the ''Reader's Edition''. The hardcover was published in 2003, as Brown writes.</ref>
| [https://books.google.com/books?id=wbSqttrggZIC&pg=PP1 link]
|-
| [[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]]
| 2004
| ''The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ''. Text from the LDS edition without footnotes.<ref>{{cite news |last=Moore |first=Carrie A. |date=November 11, 2004 |title=Doubleday Book of Mormon is on the way |work=[[Deseret News]] |url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,595104489,00.html |access-date=2009-08-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100513064112/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,595104489,00.html |archive-date=May 13, 2010}}</ref> A second edition was printed in 2006.<ref>{{cite news |last=Moore |first=Carrie A. |date=November 9, 2007 |title=Intro change in Book of Mormon spurs discussion |work=[[Deseret News]] |url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695226049,00.html |access-date=2009-08-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090108063458/http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695226049,00.html |archive-date=January 8, 2009}}</ref>
|[[iarchive:bookofmormon00jose 1|link]]
|-
|[[Signature Books]]
|2008
|''The Reader's Book of Mormon''. Text from the 1830 edition with its original paragraphing and without versification. Published in seven volumes, each introduced with a personal essay on the portion of the Book of Mormon contained.{{cn|date=August 2025}}
|
|-
| [[Penguin Books]]
| 2008
| ''The Book of Mormon''. [[Penguin Classics]] series. Paperback with 1840 text,{{cn|date=August 2025}} "the last edition that Smith himself edited."{{Sfn|Maffly-Kipp|2008|p=xxxi}}
|[[iarchive:bookofmormon0000unse a5g8|link]]
|-
| [[Yale University Press]]
| 2009
| ''The Book of Mormon: The Earliest Text''. Joseph Smith's dictated text with corrections from [[Royal Skousen]]'s study of more than five thousand textual variances across manuscripts and editions.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Frederick |first=Nicholas J. |date=2022 |title='It Is Not an Easy Task, but It Cannot Be Avoided': On the Contribution of Royal Skousen |url= |department=Roundtable Discussion: The Present of Book of Mormon Studies |journal=[[Journal of Book of Mormon Studies]] |volume=31 |pages=152–175 |doi=10.14321/23744774.37.08 |doi-broken-date=11 July 2025 |via=Scholarly Publishing Collective}}</ref>
| [https://books.google.com/books?id=680cn0KpjVMC&pg=PP1 link]
|-
|The Olive Leaf Foundation
|2017
|''A New Approach To Studying The Book Of Mormon''. The complete text of the 1981 edition organized in paragraphs and poetic stanzas, annotated with marginal notes, and divided into event-based chaptering.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Folkman |first=Kevin |title=Rosenvall and Rosenvall, 'A New Approach to Studying the Book of Mormon' |url=https://www.associationmormonletters.org/reviews/older-reviews/rosenvall-and-rosenvall-a-new-approach-to-studying-the-book-of-mormon-reviewed-by-kevin-folkman/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220721044208/https://www.associationmormonletters.org/reviews/older-reviews/rosenvall-and-rosenvall-a-new-approach-to-studying-the-book-of-mormon-reviewed-by-kevin-folkman/ |archive-date=July 21, 2022 |access-date=November 12, 2022 |website=Dawning of a Brighter Day |date=October 9, 2018 |publisher=[[Association for Mormon Letters]]}}</ref>
|[http://www.studythescriptures.com/bookofmormon.html link]
|-
| [[Maxwell Institute|Neal A. Maxwell Institute]]
| 2018
| ''The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ, Maxwell Institute Study Edition.'' Text from the church's 1981 and 2013 editions reformatted into paragraphs and poetic stanzas. Selected textual variants discovered in the Book of Mormon Critical Text Project appear in footnotes.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Austin |first=Michael |date=Summer 2019 |title=Reasonably Good Tidings of Greater-than-Average Joy: Grant Hardy, ed. ''The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ, Maxwell Institute Study Edition'' |url=https://www.dialoguejournal.com/articles/reasonably-good-tidings-of-greater-than-average-joy-grant-hardy-ed-the-book-of-mormon-another-testament-of-jesus-christ-maxwell-institute-study-edition/ |journal=[[Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought]] |type=review |volume=52 |issue=2 |pages=173–181 |doi=10.5406/dialjmormthou.52.2.0173 |s2cid=246628409|doi-access=free |url-access=subscription }}</ref>
|
|-
| Digital Legend Press
| 2018
| ''Annotated Edition of the Book of Mormon''. Text from the 1920 edition footnoted and organized in paragraphs.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Miller |first=Sherry Ann |title=Hocking, et al, 'Annotated Edition of the Book of Mormon' |url=https://www.associationmormonletters.org/reviews/older-reviews/hocking-et-al-annotated-edition-of-the-book-of-mormon-reviewed-by-sherry-ann-miller-2/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220606014050/https://www.associationmormonletters.org/reviews/older-reviews/hocking-et-al-annotated-edition-of-the-book-of-mormon-reviewed-by-sherry-ann-miller-2/ |archive-date=June 6, 2022 |access-date=November 12, 2022 |website=Dawning of a Brighter Day |publisher=[[Association for Mormon Letters]]}}</ref>
|
|}

===Historic editions===
The following editions no longer in publication marked major developments in the text or reader's helps printed in the Book of Mormon.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Publisher
!Year
!Titles and notes
!Link
|-
| [[E. B. Grandin]]
| 1830
| "First edition" in [[Palmyra (town), New York|Palmyra]]. Based on printer's manuscript copied from original manuscript.
| [https://archive.org/stream/bookofmormonacco1830smit#page/n3/mode/2up link]
|-
| [[Parley P. Pratt|Pratt]] and [[John Goodson|Goodson]]
| 1837
| "Second edition" in [[Kirtland, Ohio|Kirtland]]. Revision of first edition, using the printer's manuscript with emendations and grammatical corrections.<ref name="EoM-BoM-Editions"/>
|[https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/book-of-mormon-1837/7 link]
|-
| Ebenezer Robinson and [[Don Carlos Smith|Smith]]
| 1840
| "Third edition" in [[Nauvoo, Illinois|Nauvoo]]. Revised by Joseph Smith{{Sfn|Maffly-Kipp|2008|p=xxxi}} in comparison to the original manuscript.<ref name="EoM-BoM-Editions"/>
| [https://archive.org/stream/bookmormon01smitgoog#page/n4/mode/2up link]
|-
| [[Brigham Young|Young]], [[Heber C. Kimball|Kimball]] and [[Parley P. Pratt|Pratt]]
| 1841
| "First European edition". 1837 reprint with British spellings.<ref name="EoM-BoM-Editions"/> Future LDS editions descended from this, not the 1840 edition.<ref>{{cite book |author=Crawley, Peter |title=A Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church, Volume One 1830–1847 |page=151 |year=1997 |publisher=[[Religious Studies Center]], [[Brigham Young University]]  |isbn=978-1-57008-395-2 |url=http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/u?/rsc,3772 |access-date=2009-02-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611230856/http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/u?%2Frsc%2C3772 |archive-date=11 June 2011 }}</ref>
|[https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/book-of-mormon-1841/5 link]
|-
|[[Joseph Smith|Joseph Smith Jr.]]
|1842
|"Fourth American edition" in [[Nauvoo, Illinois|Nauvoo]]. A reprint of the 1840 edition. [https://www.wordsofeternal.life/1842-bofm-facsimiles.html Facsimiles of an original 1842 edition.]
|
|-
| [[Franklin D. Richards (Mormon apostle)|Franklin D. Richards]]
| 1852
| "Third European edition". Edited by Richards. Introduced primitive verses (numbered paragraphs).<ref name="EoM-BoM-Editions"/>
| [https://archive.org/stream/bookmormon00smitgoog#page/n10/mode/2up link]
|-
| James O. Wright
| 1858
| Unauthorized reprinting of 1840 edition. Used by the early [[RLDS Church]] in 1860s.<ref name="EoM-BoM-Editions"/>
| [https://archive.org/stream/bookofmormon00smit#page/n3/mode/2up link]
|-
| [[Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints]]
| 1874
| First RLDS edition. 1840 text with verses.<ref name="EoM-BoM-Editions"/>
| [https://books.google.com/books?id=gmcoAAAAYAAJ&pg=PR1 link]
|-
| [[Deseret News]]
| 1879
| Edited by [[Orson Pratt]]. Introduced footnotes, new verses, and shorter chapters.<ref name="EoM-BoM-Editions"/>
| [https://books.google.com/books?id=T1lNAAAAYAAJ&pg=PR3 link]
|-
| [[Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints]]
| 1908
| "Authorized Version". New verses and corrections based on printer's manuscript.<ref name="EoM-BoM-Editions"/>
| [http://www.centerplace.org/hs/bm/ link]
|-
| [[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]]
| 1920
| Edited by [[James E. Talmage]]. Added introductions, double columns, chapter summaries, new footnotes,<ref name="EoM-BoM-Editions"/> pronunciation guide.{{cn|date=August 2025}}
| [https://archive.org/stream/bookofmormonanac027933mbp#page/n3/mode/2up link]
|}

=== Non-English translations ===
[[File:Book of Mormon translations.jpg|upright|right|thumb|Translations of the Book of Mormon]]
{{See also|List of Book of Mormon translations}}
The Latter-day Saints version of the Book of Mormon has been translated into 83 languages and selections have been translated into an additional 25 languages. In 2001, the LDS Church reported that all or part of the Book of Mormon was available in the native language of 99 percent of [[Latter-day Saints]] and 87 percent of the world's total population.<ref>{{citation |url= https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2001/07/taking-the-scriptures-to-the-world |title= Taking the Scriptures to the World |journal= Ensign |date=July 2001 |page= 24}}</ref>

Translations into languages without a tradition of writing (e.g., [[Kaqchikel language|Kaqchikel]], [[Tzotzil language|Tzotzil]]) have been published as audio recordings and as transliterations with Latin characters.<ref>{{Cite web|date=January 22, 2016|title=Mayan Language Scriptures Online in Audio & Text|url=https://lds365.com/2016/01/22/mayan-language-scriptures-online-in-audio-text/|url-status=live|access-date=April 22, 2021|website=LDS365|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181014024009/https://lds365.com/2016/01/22/mayan-language-scriptures-online-in-audio-text/ |archive-date=October 14, 2018 }}</ref> Translations into [[American Sign Language]] are available as video recordings.<ref>{{Cite web|date=August 26, 2019|title=Church Resources in American Sign Language (ASL)|url=https://lds365.com/2019/08/26/church-resources-in-american-sign-language-asl-2/|url-status=live|access-date=April 22, 2021|website=LDS365|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191014113116/https://lds365.com/2019/08/26/church-resources-in-american-sign-language-asl-2/ |archive-date=October 14, 2019 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Wilding-Diaz|first=Minnie Mae|date=1991|title=The American Sign Language Translation of the Book of Mormon: Linguistic and Cultural Considerations|url=https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/dlls/vol17/iss1/6/|journal=Deseret Language and Linguistic Society Symposium|volume=17|pages=33–36|via=BYU ScholarsArchive}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Dockstader|first=Julie A.|date=June 10, 1995|title=Book of Mormon Available in Sign Language|work=[[Church News]]|url=https://www.thechurchnews.com/archives/1995-06-10/book-of-mormon-available-in-sign-language-136647|access-date=April 22, 2021}}</ref>

Typically, translators are Latter-day Saints who are employed by the church and translate the text from the original English. Each manuscript is reviewed several times before it is approved and published.<ref name="NewsOfTheChurch">{{Cite journal|date=February 2005|title=Translation Work Taking Book of Mormon to More People in More Tongues|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2005/02/news-of-the-church/translation-work-taking-book-of-mormon-to-more-people-in-more-tongues.html?lang=eng|department=News of the Church|journal=[[Ensign (LDS magazine)|Ensign]]}}</ref>

In 1998, the church stopped translating selections from the Book of Mormon and announced that instead each new translation it approves will be a full edition.<ref name=NewsOfTheChurch/>

==Representations in media==
[[File:TheLifeOfNephi.jpg|thumb|right|Still from ''The Life of Nephi'' (1915)]]
Artists have depicted Book of Mormon scenes and figures in visual art since the beginnings of the Latter Day Saint movement.<ref name="Fletcher-2022">{{Cite news |last=Fletcher Stack |first=Peggy |date=October 23, 2022 |title=What Did Nephi Look Like? New Catalog Reveals Visual Variety in Book of Mormon Art |work=Salt Lake Tribune |url=https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2022/10/23/what-did-nephi-look-like-new/ |url-status=live |access-date=August 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230511223024/https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2022/10/23/what-did-nephi-look-like-new/ |archive-date=May 11, 2023}}</ref> The nonprofit Book of Mormon Art Catalog documents the existence of at least 2,500 visual depictions of Book of Mormon content.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Champoux |first=Jenny |date=June 27, 2023 |title=That We May Have Light |url=https://www.wayfaremagazine.org/p/that-we-may-have-light |url-status=live |magazine=Wayfare |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230822181138/https://www.wayfaremagazine.org/p/that-we-may-have-light |archive-date=August 22, 2023}}</ref> According to art historian Jenny Champoux, early artwork of the Book of Mormon relied on European iconography; eventually, a distinctive "Latter-day Saint style" developed.<ref name="Fletcher-2022"/>

Events of the Book of Mormon are the focus of several [[List of films of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|films produced by the LDS Church]], including ''The Life of Nephi'' (1915),<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Astle |first1=Randy |last2=Burton |first2=Gideon O. |date=2007 |title=A History of Mormon Cinema: The First Wave: The Clawson Brothers and the New Frontier (1905–1929) |url=https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/a-history-of-mormon-cinema-first-wave/ |url-status=live |journal=[[BYU Studies]] |volume=46 |issue=2 |pages=22–43 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220905044004/https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/a-history-of-mormon-cinema-first-wave/ |archive-date=September 5, 2022}}</ref> ''[[How Rare a Possession]]'' (1987) and ''The Testaments of One Fold and One Shepherd'' (2000).<ref name="Astle-2007">{{Cite journal |last1=Astle |first1=Randy |last2=Burton |first2=Gideon O. |date=2007 |title=A History of Mormon Cinema: The Fourth Wave: The Mass Media Era (1974–2000) |url=https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/a-history-of-mormon-cinema-fourth-wave/ |url-status=live |journal=[[BYU Studies]] |volume=46 |issue=2 |pages=96–125 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220905052530/https://byustudies.byu.edu/web/20220905052530/https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/a-history-of-mormon-cinema-fourth-wave/ |archive-date=September 5, 2022}}</ref> Depictions of Book of Mormon narratives in films not officially commissioned by the church (sometimes colloquially known as [[Mormon cinema]]) include ''[[The Book of Mormon Movie|The Book of Mormon Movie, Vol. 1: The Journey]]'' (2003) and ''[[Passage to Zarahemla]]'' (2007).<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Astle |first1=Randy |last2=Burton |first2=Gideon O. |date=2007 |title=A History of Mormon Cinema: The Fifth Wave: Cultural and Commercial Viability (2000–Present) |url=https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/a-history-of-mormon-cinema-fifth-wave/ |url-status=live |journal=[[BYU Studies]] |volume=46 |issue=2 |pages=126–163 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220905054036/https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/a-history-of-mormon-cinema-fifth-wave/ |archive-date=September 5, 2022}}</ref>

In "one of the most complex uses of Mormonism in cinema," [[Alfred Hitchcock]]'s film ''[[Family Plot]]'' portrays a funeral service in which a priest (apparently non-Mormon, by his appearance) reads [[Second Book of Nephi|Second Nephi]] [https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/2-ne/9.20-27?#p19 9:20–27], a passage describing Jesus Christ having victory over death.<ref name="Astle-2007" />

In 2011, a long-running satirical [[musical theatre|musical]] titled ''[[The Book of Mormon (musical)|The Book of Mormon]]'', written by ''[[South Park]]'' creators [[Trey Parker]] and [[Matt Stone]] in collaboration with [[Robert Lopez]], premiered on [[Broadway (theatre)|Broadway]], winning nine [[Tony Awards]], including Best Musical.<ref>{{cite web|title=Who's Nominated? – All Categories|url=http://www.tonyawards.com/en_US/nominees/index.html|website=tonyawards.com|access-date=May 3, 2011|date=May 3, 2011|archive-date=May 11, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080511033910/http://www.tonyawards.com/en_US/nominees/index.html}}</ref> Its London production won the [[Olivier Award]] for best musical. The musical is not principally about Book of Mormon content and tells an original story about [[Mormon missionary|Latter-day Saint missionaries]] in the twenty-first century.<ref name="McNulty-2011">{{Cite news |last=McNulty |first=Charles |date=March 24, 2011 |title=Theater review: 'The Book of Mormon' at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre |work=Los Angeles Times |department=Culture Monster: All the Arts, All the Time |url=https://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2011/03/theater-review-the-book-of-mormon-at-the-eugene-oneill-theatre.html |access-date=April 10, 2021}}</ref>

In 2019, the church began producing a series of [[live-action]] [[Film adaptation|adaptations]] of various stories within the Book of Mormon, titled [[List of films of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints#Book of Mormon Videos|Book of Mormon Videos]], which it distributed on its website and [[YouTube]] channel.<ref>{{cite news|author=Harris, Elizabeth A.|date=October 13, 2019|title=Lights. Camera. Prayer. A Mini-Hollywood Grows in Utah.|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/13/movies/mormon-lds-films-tv.html|url-status=live|url-access=limited|access-date=July 31, 2020|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220101/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/13/movies/mormon-lds-films-tv.html|archive-date=January 1, 2022}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | author= Christensen, Danielle| title=Watch the first video in the Book of Mormon series | work=Church News | date=September 20, 2019 | url=https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2019-09-20/book-of-mormon-video-series-episode-one-161184 | access-date=2020-07-31 }}</ref>

==See also==
{{Main|Outline of the Book of Mormon}}
* ''[[Journal of Book of Mormon Studies]]''
* [[List of Gospels]]
* ''[[Studies of the Book of Mormon]]''
* [[List of Book of Mormon places]]
* [[Pre-Columbian transoceanic contact theories]]
* [[Book of Mormon Videos]]
{{clear}}
==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==

=== Citations ===
{{reflist}}

=== General and cited sources ===
{{Refbegin|2}}
* {{Cite book |last=Albanese |first=Catherine |title=A Republic of Mind and Spirit: A Cultural History of American Metaphysical Religion |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-300-11089-0 |language=English}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Barnes |first=Jane |date=2012 |title=Post-Modern Joseph Smith: Faith and Irony |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/487673 |journal=[[The Hopkins Review]] |volume=5 |issue=4 |pages=490–507 |doi=10.1353/thr.2012.0074 |issn=1939-9774|url-access=subscription }}
* {{Cite book |last=Bradley |first=Don |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=euM_zAEACAAJ |title=The Lost 116 Pages: Reconstructing the Book of Mormon's Missing Stories |publisher=Greg Kofford |year=2019 |isbn=978-1-58958-760-1 |language=English}}
* {{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Samuel Morris |title=Producing Ancient Scripture |year=2020 |chapter=Seeing the Voice of God: The Book of Mormon on Its Own Translation}} {{harvnb|MacKay|Ashurst-McGee|Hauglid|2020|p=|pp=137–167}}.
* {{Cite book |last=Bushman |first=Richard Lyman |author-link=Richard Bushman |title=Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling |year=2005 |publisher=[[Alfred A. Knopf]] |isbn=978-1-4000-4270-8 |title-link=Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Coe |first=Michael D. |date=Summer 1973 |title=Mormons and Archaeology: An Outside View |url=https://www.dialoguejournal.com/articles/mormons-and-archaeology-an-outside-view/ |journal=[[Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought]] |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=41–48 |doi=10.2307/45224400 |jstor=45224400 |s2cid=254386666 |doi-access=free}}
* {{Cite book |last=Coviello |first=Peter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9cu1DwAAQBAJ |title=Make Yourselves Gods: Mormons and the Unfinished Business of American Secularism |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |year=2019 |isbn=978-0-226-47416-8 |series=Class 200}}
* {{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/oxforddictionary00late |title=The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=1997 |isbn=0-19-211655-X |editor-last=Cross |editor-first=Frank Leslie |editor-link=F. L. Cross |edition=3rd |editor-last2=Livingstone |editor-first2=Elizabeth A. |editor-link2=Elizabeth Livingstone |url-access=registration |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}
* {{cite book |last=Davies |first=Horton |author-link=Horton Davies |title=Christian Deviations: The Challenge of the New Spiritual Movements |publisher=[[Westminster John Knox Press|Westminster Press]] |year=1973 |isbn=978-0-664-24966-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/christiandeviati0000davi |edition=3rd}}
* {{Cite book |last=Davis |first=William L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=avXGDwAAQBAJ |title=Visions in a Seer Stone: Joseph Smith and the Making of the Book of Mormon |publisher=[[University of North Carolina Press]] |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-4696-5567-3}}
* {{Cite magazine |last=Duffy |first=John-Charles |date=October 2008 |title=Mapping Book of Mormon Historicity Debates Part I: A Guide for the Overwhelmed |url=https://sunstonemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/151-36-62.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://sunstonemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/151-36-62.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |magazine=[[Sunstone (magazine)|Sunstone]] |pages=36–62}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Easton-Flake |first1=Amy |title=Producing Ancient Scripture |last2=Cope |first2=Rachel |year=2020 |chapter=Reconfiguring the Archive: Women and the Social Production of the Book of Mormon}} {{harvnb|MacKay|Ashurst-McGee|Hauglid|2020|p=|pp=105–134}}.
* {{Cite book |last=Fenton |first=Elizabeth |title=Old Canaan in a New World: Native Americans and the Lost Tribes of Israel |publisher=[[New York University Press]] |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-4798-6636-6}}
* {{Cite book |last=Givens |first=Terryl |author-link=Terryl Givens |year=2002 |title=By the Hand of Mormon: The American Scripture That Launched a New World Religion |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-516888-4}}
* {{Cite Q|Q114004901|ref={{sfnref|Givens|2009}}}}
* {{Cite book |last=Gutjahr |first=Paul C. |url=https://archive.org/details/bookofmormonbiog0000gutj |title=The Book of Mormon: A Biography |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-691-14480-1 |series=Lives of Great Religious Books |language=en |jstor=j.ctt7s5sf |url-access=registration |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}
* {{Cite book |last=Gutjahr |first=Paul C. |url=https://archive.org/details/bookofmormonbiog0000gutj |title=Americanist Approaches to ''The Book of Mormon'' |chapter=Orson Pratt's Enduring Influence on ''The Book of Mormon'' |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2019 |isbn=978-0-19-022192-8|language=en |pages=83–104 |doi=10.1093/oso/9780190221928.003.0004}}
* {{Cite book |title=The Book of Mormon: A Reader's Edition |publisher=[[University of Illinois Press]] |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-252-02797-0 |editor-last=Hardy |editor-first=Grant |editor-link=Grant Hardy}}
* {{Cite Q|Q123382112|ref={{sfnref|Hardy|2010}}}}
* {{Cite book |last=Hardy |first=Grant |title=Producing Ancient Scripture |year=2020 |chapter=Ancient History and Modern Commandments: The Book of Mormon in Comparison with Joseph Smith's Other Revelations}} {{harvnb|MacKay|Ashurst-McGee|Hauglid|2020|p=|pp=205–227}}.
* {{Cite book |last=Hatch |first=Nathan O. |url=https://archive.org/details/democratizationo0000hatc/ |title=The Democratization of American Christianity |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |year=1989 |isbn=978-0-300-15956-1 |author-link=Nathan O. Hatch |url-access=registration |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Hill |first=Marvin S. |date=Winter 1972 |title=Brodie Revisited: A Reappraisal |journal=[[Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought]] |volume=7 |issue=4 |pages=72–85 |doi=10.2307/45224368 |jstor=45224368 |s2cid=254311417 |doi-access=free}}
* {{Cite book |last=Howe |first=Daniel Walker |url= |title=What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848 |title-link=What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-19-507894-7 |series=[[Oxford History of the United States]] |author-link=Daniel Walker Howe}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Jones |first=Glen Nelson |date=January 2016 |title=Search for Zarahemla, 1900: Expeditioneer Parley Pratt Nelson |journal=Journal of Mormon History |volume=42 |issue=1 |pages=199–238 |doi=10.5406/jmormhist.42.1.0199 |jstor=10.5406/jmormhist.42.1.0199}}
* {{Cite book |last=Kennedy |first=Roger G. |url=https://archive.org/details/hiddencitiesdisc0000kenn/ |title=Hidden Cities: The Discovery and Loss of Ancient North American Civilization |publisher=[[Free Press (publisher)|Free Press]] |year=1994 |isbn=0-02-917307-8 |language=English |author-link=Roger G. Kennedy |url-access=registration |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}
* {{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b9M4yQEACAAJ |title=Producing Ancient Scripture: Joseph Smith's Translation Projects in the Development of Mormon Christianity |publisher=[[University of Utah Press]] |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-60781-739-0 |editor-last=MacKay |editor-first=Michael Hubbard |language=English |editor-last2=Ashurst-McGee |editor-first2=Mark |editor-link2=Mark Ashurst-McGee |editor-last3=Hauglid |editor-first3=Brian M. |editor-link3=Brian M. Hauglid}}
* {{Cite book |last=Maffly-Kipp |first=Laurie F. |url=https://archive.org/details/bookofmormon0000unse_a5g8 |title=The Book of Mormon |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-14-310553-4 |series=[[Penguin Classics]] |pages=vi–xxxii |chapter=Introduction |ol=16856782M |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/bookofmormon0000unse_a5g8/page/n7 |url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite book |last=Remini |first=Robert V. |url=https://archive.org/details/josephsmith00remi/ |title=Joseph Smith |publisher=[[Viking Press|Viking Penguin]] |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-7862-4375-4 |series=Penguin Lives |author-link=Robert V. Remini |url-access=registration |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Scherer |first=Mark A. |date=Fall 2001 |title='Called by a New Name': Mission, Identity, and the Reorganized Church |jstor=23288258 |journal=Journal of Mormon History |volume=27 |issue=2 |pages=40–63}}
* {{Cite book |last=Shalev |first=Eran |title=American Zion: The Old Testament as a Political Text from the Revolution to the Civil War |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-300-20590-9}}
* {{Cite book |last=Southerton |first=Simon G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B85xAAAACAAJ |title=Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA, and the Mormon Church |publisher=[[Signature Books]] |year=2004 |isbn=978-1-56085-181-3 |oclc=55534917 |author-link=Simon G. Southerton}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Stocks |first=Hugh G. |date=1989 |title=RLDS Publishing and the Book of Mormon, 1860–1910 |jstor=43200834 |journal=John Whitmer Historical Association Journal |volume=9 |pages=59–73}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Taves |first=Ann |author-link=Ann Taves |date=2014 |title=History and the Claims of Revelation: Joseph Smith and the Materialization of the Golden Plates |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5s4591r8 |journal=[[Numen (journal)|Numen: International Review for the History of Religions]] |volume=61 |issue=2–3 |pages=182–207 |doi=10.1163/15685276-12341315 |s2cid=170900524 |via=eScholarship}}
* {{Cite book |last=Taves |first=Ann |title=Producing Ancient Scripture |year=2020 |chapter=Joseph Smith, Helen Schucman, and the Experience of Producing a Spiritual Text: Comparing the Translating of the Book of Mormon and the Scribing of ''A Course in Miracles'' |author-link=Ann Taves}} {{harvnb|MacKay|Ashurst-McGee|Hauglid|2020|p=|pp=169–186}}.
* {{Cite book |last=Turner |first=John G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NzoADAAAQBAJ |title=The Mormon Jesus: A Biography |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |year=2016 |isbn=978-0-674-73743-3 |language=English}}
* {{cite book |last=Twain |first=Mark |author-link=Samuel Clemens |date=1872 |title=Roughing It |location=Hartford |publisher=American Publishing Co.}}
* {{Cite book |last=Underwood |first=Grant |url=https://archive.org/details/millenarianworld0000unde/mode |title=The Millenarian World of Early Mormonism |publisher=[[University of Illinois Press]] |year=1993 |isbn=0-252-02037-5 |url-access=registration |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}
* {{Cite book |last=Vogel |first=Dan |url=https://archive.org/details/IndianOrigins |title=Indian Origins and the Book of Mormon: Religious Solutions from Columbus to Joseph Smith |publisher=[[Signature Books]] |year=1986 |isbn=0-941214-42-7 |author-link=Dan Vogel |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}
* {{Cite book |last=Williams |first=Stephen |url=https://archive.org/details/fantasticarchaeo00will |title=Fantastic Archaeology: The Wild Side of North American Prehistory |publisher=[[University of Pennsylvania Press]] |year=1991 |isbn=0-8122-1312-2 |language=English |author-link=Stephen Williams (archaeologist) |url-access=registration |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}
{{Refend}}

== Further reading ==
{{refbegin|2}}
* {{Cite book |last=Beam |first=Alex |author-link=Alex Beam |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5c8iBQAAQBAJ |title=American Crucifixion: The Murder of Joseph Smith and the Fate of the Mormon Church |date=2014 |publisher=[[PublicAffairs]] |isbn=978-1-61039-313-3 |language=en}}
* {{Cite book |last=Brooke |first=John L. |url=https://archive.org/details/refinersfiremaki0000broo |title=The Refiner's Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology, 1644–1844 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-521-56564-6 |language=English |author-link=John L. Brooke |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}
* {{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Samuel Morris |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/8938 |title=In Heaven as It Is on Earth: Joseph Smith and the Early Mormon Conquest of Death |date=2012 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-993251-1 |language=en |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199793570.001.0001}}
* {{Cite book |last=Cheville |first=Roy A. |title=Scriptures from Ancient America: A Study of the Book of Mormon |publisher=[[Herald Publishing House]] |year=1964|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q6TtAAAAMAAJ}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Duffy |first=John-Charles |date=2006 |title=Just How 'Scandalous' is the Golden Plates Story? Academic Discourse on the Origin of the Book of Mormon |journal=[[The John Whitmer Historical Association Journal]] |volume=26 |pages=142–165 |jstor=43200239 |issn=0739-7852}}
* {{Cite Q|Q123497267}}
* {{Cite book |first=Clyde R. |last=Forsberg Jr. |date=2004 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GAHQxbjPsDgC |title=Equal Rites: The Book of Mormon, Masonry, Gender, and American Culture |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |isbn=978-0-231-50746-2 |language=en}}
* {{Cite book |editor=Metcalfe |editor-first=Brent Lee |year=1993 |url=https://archive.org/details/NewApproachesToTheBookOfMormon |title=New Approaches to the Book of Mormon: Explorations in Critical Methodology |publisher=[[Signature Books]] |isbn=978-1-56085-017-5 |oclc=25788077 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Nyman |first1=Monte S. |title=[[Encyclopedia of Mormonism]] |last2=Ricks |first2=Eldin |last3=Eames |first3=Rulon D. |last4=Ball |first4=Terry B. |last5=Williams |first5=Clyde J. |last6=Arnold |first6=Marilyn |last7=Goff |first7=Alan |last8=Brown |first8=Cheryl |last9=Cheesman |first9=Paul R. |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan Inc.]] |others=And Charles Randall Paul, Rex C. Reeve, Morgan W. Tanner, and Michael S. Wilcox |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-02-904040-9 |editor-last=Ludlow |editor-first=Daniel H. |editor-link=Daniel H. Ludlow |pages=139–158 |language=English |chapter=Book of Mormon |chapter-url=https://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Book_of_Mormon |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211210203807/https://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Book_of_Mormon |archive-date=December 10, 2021 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book |author=Palmer |first=Grant H. |year=2002 |title=An Insider's View of Mormon Origins |publisher=[[Signature Books]] |isbn=978-1-56085-157-8 |oclc=50285328 |title-link=An Insider's View of Mormon Origins |author-link=Grant H. Palmer}}
* {{Cite book |editor=Peterson |editor-first=Daniel C. |editor-link=Daniel C. Peterson |year=2008 |title=The Book of Mormon and DNA Research |url=http://publications.maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/book/the-book-of-mormon-and-dna-research/ |publisher=[[Maxwell Institute|Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship]] |isbn=978-0-8425-2706-4 |oclc=226304684 |access-date=December 18, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131219093247/http://publications.maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/book/the-book-of-mormon-and-dna-research/ |archive-date=December 19, 2013 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Roberts |first=B. H. |url=https://archive.org/details/studiesofbookofm00bhro |title=Studies of the Book of Mormon |publisher=[[University of Illinois Press]] |year=1985 |isbn=978-0-252-01043-9 |editor-last=Madsen |editor-first=Brigham D. |editor-link=Brigham D. Madsen |author-link=B. H. Roberts |url-access=registration |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}
* {{Cite Q|Q123272677}} One volume in six parts. Republished online by the Interpreter Foundation in 2014.
* {{cite book |last=Stark |first=Rodney |author-link=Rodney Stark |date=2005 |title=[[The Rise of Mormonism]] |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |isbn=0-231-13634-X}}
* {{Cite book |author=Sorenson |first=John L. |year=2013 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nMOzNAEACAAJ |title=Mormon's Codex: An Ancient American Book |publisher=[[Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship]] (BYU) and [[Deseret Book]] |isbn=978-1-60907-399-2 |oclc=828334040 |author-link=John L. Sorenson}}
* {{Cite book |last=Tobolowsky |first=Andrew |date=2022 |chapter=Becoming Israel in America: The Mormons and the New Jerusalem |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-K5hEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA148 |title=The Myth of the Twelve Tribes of Israel: New Identities Across Time and Space |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-1-009-08913-5 |language=en}}
* {{Cite book |last=Vogel |first=Dan |author-link=Dan Vogel |year=2004 |title=[[Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet]] |publisher=[[Signature Books]] |isbn=1-56085-179-1}}
* {{Cite book |editor=Vogel |editor-first=Dan |editor-link=Dan Vogel |year=2002 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DDomAQAAIAAJ |title=American Apocrypha: Essays on the Book of Mormon |publisher=[[Signature Books]] |isbn=978-1-56085-151-6 |oclc=47870060 |editor-last2=Metcalfe |editor-first2=Brent Lee}}
* {{Cite Q|Q123196681}}{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{Wikisource|Book of Mormon|Book of Mormon (1830 Edition)}}
{{Commons category|Book of Mormon}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* [https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/title-page?lang=eng Book of Mormon] (the current official edition of the LDS Church)
* [[gutenberg:17|Project Gutenberg has the full text]] of the Book of Mormon in various formats (LDS chapters and numbering)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/19991014042741/http://www.centerplace.org/hs/bofm/ RLDS 1908 Book of Mormon] (RLDS chapters and numbering)
* [https://www.loc.gov/item/49034953/ The Book of Mormon; An Account Written By the Hand of Mormon Upon Plates Taken From the Plates of Nephi.] From the Collections at the Library of Congress
* [https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/printers-manuscript-of-the-book-of-mormon-circa-august-1829-circa-january-1830/1 Photographs and transcription of the printer's manuscript of the Book of Mormon] by the [[The Joseph Smith Papers|Joseph Smith Papers]]
* [https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/book-of-mormon-1830/7 Photocopies and transcription of the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon] by the Joseph Smith Papers
* [https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/book-of-mormon-1840/7 Photographs and transcription of the 1840 of the Book of Mormon] by the Joseph Smith Papers
* {{librivox book | title=Book of Mormon}}
* [https://bookofmormonartcatalog.org/ Book of Mormon Art Catalog] database of known works of visual art depicting Book of Mormon content

{{Latter Day Saint movement}}
{{Latter-day Saints}}
{{Community of Christ}}{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Book of Mormon| ]]
[[Category:1830 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:1830 in Christianity]]
[[Category:19th-century Christian texts]]
[[Category:American non-fiction books]]
[[Category:Standard works]]
[[Category:Works by Joseph Smith]]
[[Category:Works in the style of the King James Version]]
[[Category:Channelled texts]]