FAIR is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of the doctrine, practice, and history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The Spalding Theory of Book of Mormon authorship
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Criticism
Critics have claimed that Joseph Smith either plaigerized or relied upon a manuscript by Solomon Spaulding to write the Book of Mormon.
Source(s) of the Criticism
- Eber D. Howe, Mormonism Unvailed (New York : AMS Press, 1834 [1977]).
- William Alexander Linn, The Story of the Mormons (New York: Macmillan, 1902).
Claimed the existence of a second Spaulding manuscript when the first theory failed:
- George B. Arbaugh, Revelation in Mormonism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1932).
- Wayne L. Cowdery, et.al., Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon (Santa Ana, Ca.: Vision House Publishers, 1977.)
Response
Many critics have rejected the Spaulding theory as unworkable:
- Davis H. Bays, The Doctrines and Dogmas of Mormonism Examined and Refuted, (St. Louis: Christian Publishing, 1897), 22, 25
- [This theory is] "erroneous, and it will lead to almost certain defeat. . . . The facts are all opposed to this view, and the defenders of the Mormon dogma have the facts well in hand. . . . The Spaulding story is a failure. Do not attempt to rely upon it--it will let you down."
- Fawn Brodie, No Man Knows My History (New York, A. A. Knopf, 1945).
- Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Did Spaulding Write the Book of Mormon? (Salt Lake City: Utah Lighthouse Ministry, 1977).
Conclusion
Supporters of the Spaulding authorship theory simply ignore the inconvenient fact that the manuscript recovered in the late 19th century bears no resemblance to the Book of Mormon, and that no second manuscript has been discovered.
Until such time as the purported second manuscript appears, all these critics have is a nonexistant document that can be made to say anything they want it to.
Further reading
FAIR wiki articles
Template:BofM authorship theories
FAIR web site
- FAIR Topical Guide:Spaulding Theory
- Matthew B. Brown, "Solomon Spaulding and the Book of Mormon" *
- Daniel C. Peterson, "The Divine Source of the Book of Mormon in the Face of Alternative Theories Advocated by LDS Critics" *
- John K. Wise, "Clouds Without Water, Zeal Without Knowledge" *
External links
- Lester Bush, "The Spalding [sic] Theory Then and Now," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 10 no. 4 (Autumn 1977), 40–69.*
- Jeff Lindsay, "Plagiarism in the Book of Mormon: Is It Derived from Modern Writings?, jefflindsay.com (accessed 5 October 2005).
- L. Ara Norwood, "Book of Mormon Authorship: A Closer Look," FARMS Review of Books 1/1 (1989): 80–88. *
- Gary F. Novak, "Naturalistic Assumptions and the Book of Mormon," Brigham Young University Studies 30 no. 3 (1990), 23–40.*GospeLink
Printed material
Over the years many Latter-day Saints have responded to the "Spaulding Theory" as well.
- B.H. Roberts, "Counter Theories of Origin," New Witnesses for God, Vol. 3, Chapter XLIV, (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1909), 347–406.GospeLink
- B.H. Roberts, "A Brief Debate on the Book of Mormon," Defence of the Faith and the Saints, Vol. 1, (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1907), 365.GospeLink
- B.H. Roberts, "The Origin of the Book of Mormon," Defence of the Faith and the Saints, Vol. 2, (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1907), 95–229 GospeLink
- Benjamin Winchester, The Origin of the Spaulding Story, Concerning the Manuscript Found, (Philadelphia: Brown, Bicking & Guilfert, 1840).
- Dean C. Jessee, 'Spalding theory' re-examined,' Church News, 20 August 1977, pp. 3-5.
- Orson Scott Card, 'Spaulding Again?' Ensign, 7 (September 1977), pp. 94-95.