Understanding the Book of Mormon: A Reader's Guide by Grant Hardy

By Grant Hardy

Mark Twain as soon as derided the publication of Mormon as "chloroform in print." lengthy and complex, written within the language of the King James model of the Bible, it boggles the minds of many. but it's undoubtedly the most influential books ever written. With over a hundred and forty million copies in print, it's a crucial textual content of 1 of the most important and fastest-growing faiths on the earth. And, provide Hardy indicates, it is from the coma-inducing doorstop caricatured via Twain.

In Understanding the booklet of Mormon, Hardy deals the 1st accomplished research of the work's narrative constitution in its one hundred eighty yr historical past. in contrast to nearly all different fresh international scriptures, the e-book of Mormon offers itself as an built-in narrative instead of a sequence of doctrinal expositions, ethical injunctions, or devotional hymns. Hardy takes readers via its characters, occasions, and ideas, as he explores the tale and its messages. He identifies the book's literary innovations, comparable to characterization, embedded files, allusions, and parallel narratives. even if Joseph Smith is thought of as writer or translator, it really is noteworthy that he by no means speaks in his personal voice; relatively, he mediates approximately every little thing during the narrators Nephi, Mormon, and Moroni. Hardy indicates how each one has a particular voice, and all are woven into an critical whole.

As with any scripture, the contending perspectives of the publication of Mormon can appear irreconcilable. For believers, it truly is an exact ancient rfile, transmitted from historical the US. For nonbelievers, it's the paintings of a nineteenth-century farmer from upstate big apple. Hardy transcends this intractable clash by way of supplying a literary procedure, one applicable to either historical past and fiction. whether readers have an interest in American historical past, literature, comparative faith, or maybe salvation, he writes, the booklet can most sensible be learn if we research the textual content by itself terms.

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16 The tragedy, of course, is that so few people take advantage of God’s compassionate offer. 8. It is very didactic. Although it takes time and patience to work out the details of various prophets, narrators, events, and records, the general message of the Book of Mormon is obvious on nearly every page. Narrators do not let readers puzzle over how to interpret various incidents, nor do they encourage speculation on who was right or wrong in a given situation. Their message is clear—repent and turn to God or suffer the consequences—and the stories they tell, the sermons they reproduce, and the comments they offer in passing are all directed toward “the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations” (Book of Mormon title page).

9:31). It is somewhat surprising that Mormonism—generally regarded as an optimistic, forward-looking faith—has as its foundational scripture such an unrelenting record of human folly and ruin. In even more general terms, the unifying theme of the book, from the first chapter to the last, is that God’s mercies are ever extended to those who exercise faith. Nephi introduces his account with the words “Behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance” (1 Ne.

Her sons return safely), she is inclined to trust Lehi on the rest (“Now I know of a surety,” she 22 understanding the book of mormon begins, though she continues by expressing faith in more than just God’s deliverance of her children). The problem of false prophets was a critical concern in late pre-exilic Judah (as it was in Joseph Smith’s day, but we will continue to view Nephi as a character rooted in a particular time and place). The issue figured prominently in both Deuteronomy and Jeremiah—two of the writings Nephi specified were included in the Brass Plates (1 Ne.

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