Posted in Book of Mormon Egyptian Evidence Hebrew language Scholarship

Robert F. Smith and the Preposterous Book of Mormon

Having raised the issue of linguistics and Book of Mormon evidence in my last post, let me point to an intriguing recent presentation with some weighty discoveries relevant to the…

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Posted in Bible Book of Mormon Hebrew language Problems Translation

Weeping, Wailing, and Gnashing of Teeth? No Need to Grieve Over Another Case of Alleged Plagiarism in the Book of Mormon

“Weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth” in the Book of Mormon has been criticized as an obvious mistake based on plagiarizing the New Testament. But there’s no need to grieve…

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Posted in Book of Mormon Evidence language Scholarship Translation

The FAIRMormon Conference: Dealing with Data on the Language of the Book of Mormon

FAIRMormon had its annual conference recently. Transcripts of some of the talks will be available soon, but I recommend watching the presentations by paying for video access. I got up…

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Posted in Ancient Near East Arabia Arabian Peninsula Book of Mormon Evidence Hebrew Translation

The Straight and Narrow Path, the Rod, the Spacious Field, and the White Fruit: Further Thoughts on Lehi’s Dream

Not to beat a dead Nephite horse, but I’d like to say a few more things about Lehi’s dream and the lessons learned through exploring hypermodern theories of modern fabrication…

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Posted in Ancient Near East Book of Moses Hebrew literature Scripture

The Chain that Veils: A Word Play in Moses 7:26?

As I’ll explain in more detail in the near future, an important verse in considering possible connections between the ancient brass plates and the Book of Moses is found in…

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Book of Mormon cover
Posted in Book of Mormon chiasmus dust Evidence language poetry

Dusting Off a Famous Chiasmus in the Book of Mormon, Alma 36

Executive Summary In exploring Noel Reynolds’ hypothesis that some material in the Book of Moses may have been present on the brass plates that Nephi used, I wondered if Nephi…

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Posted in Ancient Near East Book of Mormon Hebrew language wordplays

Possible Hebrew Wordplay in 2 Nephi 1:23?

(Taken from a post recently published at The Nauvoo Times.) Recently in “The Strength of Moses,” I explored an interesting theory from Noel Reynolds about the relationship between the Book…

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Posted in Book of Mormon language Problems Translation

An Embarrassment . . . of Riches in the Book of Mormon Text–And a Surprise from “Them Days”

When I first opened up my newly purchased blue-bound volume from Royal Skousen containing the details of the surviving original text of the Book of Mormon, I was immediately disappointed….

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Posted in Apologetics Book of Mormon Early Modern English Evidence language Scholarship Translation

Update on Early Modern English in the Book of Mormon: One Potential Test to Identify the Possible Influence of New England Dialect on the Dictated Text

Executive Summary: I remain impressed with the detailed, data-rich work of Carmack and Skousen regarding Early Modern English (EModE) influence in the original text of the Book of Mormon. However,…

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Posted in Apologetics Book of Mormon Evidence language Origins Scholarship Translation

The Increasingly Strange Text of the Book of Mormon

Stanford Carmack’s series of four articles at the Mormon Interpreter provide a large body of detailed data pointing to something strange, increasingly strange, in the Book of Mormon: the grammatical…

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