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Baptism in the Book of Mormon
Question:Is the concept of baptism in the Book of Mormon anachronistic?
Introduction to Criticism
It is claimed by critics of the Book of Mormon that it's mention of "baptism" early in the text is anachronistic.[1]
This article seeks to refute these claims.
Response to Criticism
Uses of "Rachats" and "Tabal"
The concept of immersion is part-and-parcel of the Hebrew Bible; for example, the Hebrew verb meaning “to wash” רחץ (rachats) appears 74 times in 73 verses in the Old Testament--often having the meaning of a full immersion of either a person or an object.[2]
Another Hebrew verb,טבל (tabal), appears 16 times in the Old Testament--having the meaning of "to dip" or "to immerse;" all part-and-parcel of "baptism."[3]
The Septuagint translates טבל using the Greek verb meaning “to baptize”-- βαπτιζω. This occurs in 2 Kings 5:14 and Isaiah 21:4, in the proto-canonical texts, and Judith 12:7 and Sirach 34:25 in the Apocrypha.[4]
Intellectual Context
Though this only gets us the word "baptism." It does not get us the proper intellectual context in which baptism might emerge. Latter-day Saint scholar Brant Gardner provided this context in his 6 olume commentary on the Book of Mormon, Second Witness.[5]
Conclusion
Critics have long sought to demonstrate that certain anachronisms are damning for the Book of Mormon’s historicity. In this case, persuasive evidence can be marshaled to suggest that the mention of “baptism” is simply not one of them.[6]
Notes
- ↑ For examples from the text of the Book of Mormon, see 2 Nephi 31: 13, 14, 17; Mosiah 18:21; Mosiah 21:35. For criticism, see William J. Whalen, The Latter-day Saints in the Modern World (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1967), 45: "Other words which the Nephites could hardly have known are baptize, church, gospel, barges, etc."
- ↑ Exodus 2:5; 1 Kings 22:38.
- ↑ Genesis 37:31; Numbers 19:18; 2 Kings 5:14; Job 9:31.
- ↑ For a book-length treatment, see Jonathan Lawrence, Washing in Water: Trajectories of Ritual Bathing in the Hebrew Bible and Second Temple Literature (Atlanta, GA: Society of Biblical Literature, 2006).
- ↑ Brant A. Garnder, Second Witness: Analytical and Contextual Commentary on the Book of Mormon, 6 vols. (Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2007), 2:433-36.
- ↑ This article follows the approach taken in Robert S. Boylan, "Responding to William Whalen on Alleged Anachronisms in the Book of Mormon," <https://scripturalmormonism.blogspot.com/2018/05/responding-to-william-whalen-on-alleged.html?fbclid=IwAR0X9WCXwkORzeRoRhzihqHCi4TlRSrVVJKDLXDQwSZ62VhKSarS8zs1ulM> (9 June 2020). FairMormon thanks Robert for his great research used in this article.