Various authors in the book of mormon have distinctive styles of wordprints. The book of mormon shall stand as a testimony against the world, ether 5. Im not an ex mormon or a mormon, but heres my take. Does chiasmus appear in the book of mormon by chance. The internets been abuzz with hype this week about a new computer study by duane and chris johnson which purports to identify four literary influences on the book of mormon besides the king james bible. The book of mormon is a sacred text of the latter day saint movement, which, according to adherents, contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the american continent from approximately 2200 bc to ad 421. Since the book of mormons publication in 1830, a number of different. Literary style in hebrew is much more accessible to computer analysis than is english. Book of mormon wordprint analysis lds church is true blog. According to most adherents of the latter day saint movement, the book of mormon is a 19thcentury translation of a record of ancient inhabitants of the american continent, which was written in a script which the book refers to as reformed egyptian. To put this into perspective, they found that the late war contained more 4gram connections to the book of mormon than 99. At least three computer analyses have been completed to date in an effort to determine who wrote the book of mormon, and whether it was a single individual or a group.
I believe that a spiritual confirmation from the holy ghost is telling me that the book is true. If the book of mormon is true, then joseph smith was a prophet. Book of mormon computer studies are fascinating to me, and i believe in the future they will be key to understanding book of mormon origins. Where do exmomons believe the book of mormon came from. Original broadway cast of the book of mormon hello. Matt roper and paul fields did a study on book of mormon wordprint patterns, ie computer statistical analysis of word pattern to determine authorship and other attributes of the book. Im not a statistician or an expert in word print studies, so my studies will need to be validated by an expert. With logos, you can easily and quickly search for a specific reference in the book of mormon, speeding up your study and allowing you more time for research. The book of mormon contains the fulness of the gospel of jesus christ. Specifically this theory claims that there were three individual authors, whose works were later compiled together under the name of the first author, the real isaiah known as protoisaiah by adherents. In 2014, a computer analysis compared the book of mormon to over 100,000 books from the pre1830s era.
Analysis of textual variants of the book of mormon. Computer analyses of authorship of the book of mormon have resulted in conflicting results and dueling assertions about which methodologies yield the most reliable analyses. A scientific analysis of isaiah authorship religious. This claim, as well as all claims to historical authenticity of the book of mormon, are rejected by nonlatter day saint historians and scientists. This analysis discovered a book named the late war between the united states and britain contains many phrases and ideas that are also found in the book of mormon. Analysis of joseph smiths accounts of his first vision allen. This is partly because the hebrew characteristic known as the function prefix can help identify speech patterns of a given author. A number of scientific tests have been devised to examine the authenticity of the book of mormon. What do wordprint studies say about the book of mormon. Book of mormon text analysis computer study idea sign in to follow this. A computer analysis of the isaiah authorship problem.
Walters, 1990, page 30 our own computer study of the book of mormon has certainly not been as sophisticated as that of david i. New computer study purports to detect literary influences. The 19th century writers included sidney rigdon, solomon spaulding, joseph smith, w. Through computer based statistical analysis a unique wordprint can be developed for each author.
Read more about a computer analysis of the isaiah authorship problem. Book of mormon text analysis computer study idea page. There are a few technical issues with the video that need to be fixed we hope to have an updated version soon chris johnsons website and research. Here is what will probably be the first of several book of mormon wordprint analysis posts, based on a database i put together and curiosity ive had for many years about voices in the book of mormon. At least three computer analyses have been completed to date in an effort to determine who wrote the. About a year ago, i put together a database, splitting up the book of mormon electronic text, and spent some time doing computer wordprint analysis. Study flashcards on book of mormon chapter summaries at. The deuteroisaiah theory is the claim that parts of isaiah were written later than others. Farrell edwards chiasmus is an invertedparallel literary form that was employed by ancient hebrew biblical writers, among others. Book of mormon charts charting the book of mormon is a collection of more than 175 visual aids that promote deeper understanding and appreciation of the book of mormon. Book of mormon wordprints reexamined a look at the byu. The initial book of mormon wordprint studies were carried out by larsen, rencher, and layton. If joseph smith was a prophet, then the church of jesus christ of latter day saints is the same church that christ established while he was on the earth.
Rencher, a computer analysis of the isaiah authorship problem, byu studies 15 autumn 1974. A thesis byu 1977 l lamar adams and alvin c rencher a computer analysis of the. Brother harrison said that ensures children can get phonetic reading practice with nearly half the words not repeated often enough to be memorized. It can be responsibly concluded that the book of mormon s internal claims about its authorship are consistent with. A stylometric analysis of mormon scripture and related texts d. Nineteen classic temple characteristics of the book of mormon, 7881. The first book of napoleon is another book discovered by computer analysis to have strikingly similar words to the book of mormon. Classification published in literary and linguistic computing. They compared twentyfour book of mormon authors each having at least 1,000 words to each other, and concluded on the basis of three separate statistical tests that these authors were distinct from each other and oliver cowdery, joseph smith, jr. For authorship attribution analysis, however, we are less. Linguistically based assertions are frequently cited and discussed in the context of the subject of. Sentiment analysis of the book of mormon here is a visual summary of the entire book of mormon generated by applying computational sentiment analysis to every verse and then graphing a moving average of the results. Book of mormon central archive a computer analysis of the isaiah authorship problem. An account written by the hand of mormon upon plates taken from the plates of nephi.
Items do not represent the official views of the church of jesus christ of latterday saints or of book of mormon central. Analysis of textual variants of the book of mormon, the fourth volume in professor royal skousen s ongoing book of mormon critical text project, represents the central task of the project. An analysis of the limited geography theory since the advent of the book of mormon in 1830, interested observers and believers have proposed various theories regarding its development, origin, and possible historical significance and setting. An analysis of wordprints, book of mormon authorship, 181. Thus moroni will speak with a different wordprint to alma and nephi will be different to mormon. The lectures on faith and two sections from the doctrine and covenants were also included p. Notibly the first part of the book of mormon, the koran 1822 edition, and the life of muhammad the 1822. Pocketsize book of mormon the book of mormon is a volume of holy scripture that is a companion to the bible as a testament of the lord jesus christ. Spaldingrigdon theory of book of mormon authorship. One thing the computer analysis re vealed was that of the approximately 5,600 words in the book of mormon, 1,786 are encountered only once and another 800 words are encountered only twice. In the book of mormon as an ancient israelite temple.
I think this kind of study would be a pretty decent shot at determining when the book of mormon was translatedwritten. The use of the old testament in the book of mormon, by wesley p. The book of mormon, the first broadway musical by matt stone and trey parker the creators of south park. Im a databaseanalytics guy by trade, and i have been wanting to see a study like this.
The book of mormon reports that nephi and his followers built a temple after the manner of the temple of solomon save it were not built of so many precious things upon their arrival in the land of promise 2 nephi 5. For example, how an author uses hebrew function prefixes, such. Notibly the first part of the book of mormon, the koran 1822 edition, and the life of muhammad. The book of mormon is not the voice of a 22 year old young man i dont know what it is about the book of mormon, but when i open that book it just feels right. This means that nsc analysis will always deliver positive results for one of the. Hunt, the late war, between the united states and great britain, from june 1812, to february 1815 1816. Bad book of mormon apologetics lds church is true blog. Joseph smith got his inspiration for the book of mormon from view of the hebrews, or the tribes of israel in america, a specious work published in 1825 by ethan smith. It was first published in march 1830 by joseph smith as the book of mormon. New archaeological discovery sheds light on nephis temple. New computer study purports to detect literary influences on the. The book as a whole received its name from its primary editor, identified as mormon, who is said to have delivered the record to the concluding author, his son moroni, around 400 c. Statisticians at brigham young university completed a computer analysis of the book of mormon.
We believe that god has revealed his word to all people in all generations and the book of mormon is simply a record of his dealings with a different nation than that of the bible. Royal skousen has the idea that the bom translation was done in the 16th century. Designed for multiple use as study guides, handouts, and masters for creating projectable images, the charts convey a wealth of information that will enrich personal study and. Contributors to the book address a variety of methodological, historical, and theological concerns in the belief that readers will come away better for having approached the book of mormon from these new perspectives. For nearly two centuries, faithful members of the church of jesus christ of latterday saints lds. The problem of book of mormon authorship has challenged.
Similarly this book attempts to expand appreciation of mormon scripture through critical analysis. The book of mormon is an entirely different book of scripture. What can stylometry tell us about book of mormon authorship. The book of mormon is not the voice of a 22 year old young man. The purpose of this article is not to propose a theory regarding these issues, but rather to analyze. In fact, the computer algorithm found over 100 rare 4grams shared by both the book of mormon and the late war. If the iss analysis works as advertised, then it appears that late war and napoleon each share distinctive content with the book of mormon that. Written by ancient prophets, it is a record of gods dealings with ancient inhabitants of the americas. Two tests which deal with writing styles have produced some largely ignored results which our critics cannot explain. Pdf reassessing authorship of the book of mormon using delta. Close scrutiny of the methodology of the byu authorship study reveals several areas which seem vulnerable to criticism. Book of mormon central have done various blog posts and videos that promoted what they saw as very impressive results of this study.
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