49 Joseph Smith Jr., The Book of Mormon (1830)
Jessica Pycior
Introduction
If you go to Kirkland, Ohio you might find the Kirkland temple. If you go to Nauvoo, Illinois you may discover, not only the Nauvoo Temple, but an entire community of history. If you go to Lamoni, Iowa you might come across Graceland University and Liberty Hall. If you go to Independence, Missouri you may drive past the Community of Christ Temple and Auditorium. All four of these landmarks are visual evidence of the achievements of Joseph Smith’s Restoration Movement, as a result of the distribution of The Book of Mormon, published in 1830.
Growing up in the Community of Christ I regularly heard church members list off the texts our organization recognized to be scripture; The Bible, The Book of Mormon and The Doctrine & Covenants. Every time I heard someone list off The Book of Mormon as one of those texts, or quote it in a sermon, I got super uncomfortable. I never knew or asked myself why, but I knew it was important that Community of Christ was not Mormon and that we were not Mormons.
A little over a year ago (Fall 2015) I took Restoration Scripture with Matt Frizzell and I was humbled by learning the history of this text and it’s influence on Americans. Last Spring (2016) I took Politics and Religion with Dr. Adam Martin and I was shaken to learn how most every religious tradition has a history of being violent and controlling. Then, this semester (Spring 2017) I’ve been taking Critical Theory with Dan Platt and I’ve been overcome with the power of choosing my own critical analysis of literary texts.
In my opinion, I am incredibly blessed to have come up in a church whose history is so self-sacrificing, that encouraged me to believe I was capable, which led me to becoming a first generation college student at Graceland University, who shares that same history. I have found myself incredibly grateful.
TheBook of Mormon relates the history of a group of Hebrews who migrated from Jerusalem to America about 600 BC, led by a prophet, Lehi. They multiplied and eventually split into two groups. One group, the Lamenites, forgot their beliefs, became heathens, and were the ancestors of the American Indians. The other group, the Nephites, developed culturally and built great cities but were eventually destroyed by the Lamanites about 400 AD. Before that occurred, however, Jesus had appeared and taught the Nephites (after his ascension). The history and teachings were abridged and written on gold plates by the prophet Mormon. His son, Moroni, made additions and buried the plates in the ground, where they remained about 1,400 years, until Moroni, a resurrected being or angel, delivered them to Joseph Smith; subsequently Smith returned them to Moroni.
Non-Mormon critics disagree in their opinions as to the origin of the book; some critics believe that it was written solely by Joseph Smith. Another theory, now discredited, claimed that it was based on the manuscript of a novel by a