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Guide Home > Scripture and Influential Writings > Book of Mormon > Environmental Influences
Additional TopicsThe following are additional topic areas related to Environmental Influences. If there is a bracket number after the topic, that number indicates how many actual articles there are related to that subject. If the link for the topic is not live, it simply means the topic is a 'planned area' for future growth.
FAIR ResourcesThese links are either to Web pages hosted on the FAIR Website, or to FAIR Papers. FAIR Papers are short articles about specific topics or questions, written by members of FAIR. These articles can be downloaded and read in PDF format and are intended to be distributed by e-mail or print for the general use of our patrons. (To read FAIR Papers you will need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader. It can be downloaded free from the Adobe Web site.) Click on a title below to visit a FAIR Web page or to read the latest version of a FAIR Paper. "Book of Mormon plagiarized from the Bible," FAIR Wiki (City Unknown: FAIR) This FAIR Wiki article examines the claim that Joseph plagiarized the Bible when creating the Book of Mormon. "Comoros Islands and Moroni," FAIR Wiki (City Unknown: FAIR) This FAIR Wiki article engages the charge that Joseph plagiarized the names Cumorah and Moroni from an island and city in Madagascar with similar names. "Joseph Smith, Sr.'s dream and Lehi's vision," FAIR Wiki (City Unknown: FAIR) This FAIR Wiki article examines the claim that Lehi's vision was simply a reworking of a dream that Joseph Smith Sr. had many years earlier. Brant A. Gardner, "The Gadianton Robbers in Mormon's Theological History: Their Structural Role and Plausible Identification," (2002 FAIR Conference presentation.) Louis Midgley, "Naturalistic Terms: Some Reflections on a Motto and Type of Historical Explanation," (2001 FAIR Conference presentation.) A look at the "New Mormon History" and its naturalistic approach to the origin of the restored Church. Louis C. Midgley, "Naturalistic Terms: Some Reflections on a Motto and Type of Historical Explanation," (Mesa, Arizona: FAIR, April 2003) Originally presented at the 2001 FAIR Conference, this article by Louis Midgley examines the roots of the "New Mormon History" movement. Daniel C. Peterson, "The Divine Source of the Book of Mormon in the Face of Alternative Theories Advocated by LDS Critics," (2001 FAIR Conference presentation.) Which theory for the the creation of the Book of Mormon really matches all the known facts? Daniel C. Peterson, "The Protean Joseph Smith," (Mesa, Arizona: FAIR, August 2002) Dan Peterson looks at the history of the theories of how the Book of Mormon came to be. In this 2002 FAIR Conference presentation, Peterson concludes that nothing the critics have offered is as believable as Joseph Smith's own explanation. Ensign ArticlesThese articles cited below provide information on the topic of this page. The Ensign is one of the official publications of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When you click on one of the article links below, you are whisked to the article found in the archives of the Church's Web site. Larry C. Porter, "Some scholars have implied that the Book of Mormon and LDS theology are products of Joseph Smith's environment. To what extent did Joseph Smith's environment influence the theological developments of the Church?," Ensign, June 1992, 27. Other ResourcesThe resources listed below are related items available on the Web that should be of interest. These links are to information not located on the FAIR Web site. Matthew B. Brown, "Girded about with a Lambskin," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies (Provo: FARMS, 1997), 124-151 The publication of the Book of Mormon brought forward the first of many comparisons between the restorational work of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his surrounding environment, including Freemasonry. One point of comparison has been the lambskin apparel mentioned in 3 Nephi 4:7. I will suggest a possible connection between this item of apparel and ritual clothing that was worn in ancient Israel, Egypt, and Mesoamerica. I will also suggest a possible reason for the use of this item of clothing among the secret combinations in the Book of Mormon. Finally, I will discuss the lambskin apron used in Freemasonic ritual. Kevin Christensen, Book review of Dan Vogel, Indian Origins and the Book of Mormon, reviewed in "Indian Origins and the Book of Mormon," FARMS Review (Provo: FARMS, 1990), 214-57 Christensen reviews Dan Vogel's "Indian Origins and the Book of Mormon." Christensen, drawing on Kuhn's paradigm studies, shows that Vogel approaches his Book of Mormon model with preconceived ideas and rejects those things which favor an ancient Book of Mormon. Richard H. Cracroft, ""Had for Good and Evil": 19th-Century Literary Treatments of the Book of Mormon," JBMS (City Unknown: FARMS, 2003), 4-19 Not long after the Book of Mormon was published, negative reviews began appearing. According to 19th-century critics, the Book of Mormon was clumsy and unsophisticated. Cracroft examines the earliest reviews and some of the common complaints they had about the Book of Mormon. Jeff Lindsay, Does the Book of Mormon Plagiarize Shakespeare?. Jeff Lindsay, "Was the Book of Mormon Plagiarized from Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass"?," (June 2002) A satirical look at common anti-Mormons claim that Joseph Smith plagiarized the Book of Mormon from some source or another. Garth L. Mangum, "The Economics of the Book of Mormon: Joseph Smith as Translator or Commentator," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies (Provo: FARMS, 1993), 78-89 From 1830 to the present those who find it difficult to accept "angelic visitations in the age of railroads" have searched Joseph Smith's nineteenth-century environment for sources of the subject matter of the Book of Mormon. For example, in 1990 Susan Curtis explains the economic subthemes of the book as Joseph Smith's commentary on "market capitalism." But the economic conditions of Joseph Smith's time and place are not reflected in the Book of Mormon. Its economic descriptions are consistent with our vast knowledge of the economic conditions of the ancient Middle East and not inconsistent with the little known of the economics of Mesoamerica of the relevant time period. Those more comfortable with Joseph Smith as universal commentator on the issues of his day would be well advised to ignore economics or limit that topic to the Doctrine and Covenants. Those who accept him as translator of ancient scriptural documents can gain additional reassurance from the economics of the Book of Mormon. Louis C. Midgley, "The Brodie Connection: Thomas Jefferson and Joseph Smith," BYU Studies (1980) Those outside the Church often think they have the objective explanation for Joseph Smith in Fawn McKay Brodie’s No Man Knows My History. Mormons’ complaints about her treatment of the Joseph Smith story are either unknown or brushed aside as biased special pleading. But recently something has happened that has called into question Ms. Brodie’s previously towering reputation as a scholar: she has written another book which has turned into an academic scandal. Paul Mouritsen, "Secret Combinations and Flaxen Cords: Anti-Masonic Rhetoric and the Book of Mormon," Journal of Book of Mormons Studies (Provo: FARMS, 2003), 64-77 Some critics claim that the Book of Mormon reflects the anti-Masonic rhetoric of Joseph Smith's day. Gary Novak, "Naturalistic Assumptions and the Book of Mormon," BYU Studies, Vol. 20:3 (1990), 1-19 In 1966 Leonard J. Arrington claimed that “the details of Mormon history and culture can be studied in human or naturalistic terms—indeed, must be so studied—and without thus rejecting . . . the Church’s origin and work.” He explored neither the assumptions nor consequences of histories done in “naturalistic terms” though he noted that the topic “warrants a full essay.” The purpose of this essay is to subject some of the assumptions and consequences of histories produced in naturalistic terms to scrutiny. In keeping with the theme of this issue of BYU Studies, I shall limit my discussion to one aspect of Mormon history, the so-called environmental explanation of the Book of Mormon. George Reynolds, How Could Shiz Struggle After Being Decapitated?. In Ether 15:31 we read that Coriantumr cut off the head of Shiz. After the decaptitation Shiz continued to struggle. Doesn't this simply reflect Joseph's own experience with the cutting of heads off of chickens rather than a supposedly erroneous view of human decaptitation? Gerald Smith, Did Joseph Copy the Names Moroni and Cumorah?. Gerald A. Smith, Did Joseph Copy the Words "Moroni" and "Cumorah" From His Environment.
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