Book of Mormon

The Book of Mormon appears across Kyle’s reading as a contested object of both faith and historical scrutiny. The skeptical pole is An Insider’s View of Mormon Origins (Grant Palmer), which argues the book is “an amalgamation of Joseph’s environment and biblical themes rather than an ancient record” — noting Joseph “was also a participant in the book’s creation,” making 1837 textual alterations, and reading the text as “a nineteenth-century encounter with God rather than an ancient epic.” Faith is Not Blind (the Hafens) stages the believing response through Richard Bushman: “I know the arguments against the [Book of Mormon’s] historicity, but I can’t help feeling that the words are true and the events happened … the strain of believing in unbelieving times is not a handicap.”

Restoration — God’s Call To The 21st Century (Patrick Mason) reads the book theologically and ethically, lamenting that “despite our feasting on the Book of Mormon,” its mandates on the poor and “no rich and poor” community “got bottled up in a dusty jar.” Mason lists Restoration scripture (Book of Mormon, D&C, Pearl of Great Price) as the first of five “crops” Latter-day Saints are uniquely assigned to cultivate, and cites the book alongside the Bible as attesting that those who experienced the resurrected Lord “had all things common among them.” Chad’s Big Quote Book also gathers Ezra Taft Benson’s recurring framing of the book as “the great converting tool.”

Context: The Book of Mormon is a foundational scripture of the Latter-day Saint movement, published by Joseph Smith in 1830 and presented as a translation of an ancient record of peoples in the Americas.

Where this appears

• An Insider’s View of Mormon Origins — Palmer’s argument that the book is a 19th-century composition, not an ancient record
• Faith is Not Blind — Bushman’s believing-amid-doubt stance (“the words are true and the events happened”)
• Restoration — God’s Call To The 21st Century — Mason on the book’s neglected social mandates and its place among the “crops” of the Restoration