Third, we need more investigation of wordprint time trends. [15] For excerpts from the writings of Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Parley P. Pratt, Oliver Cowdery, and William W. Phelps, we used a computer disk prepared by Alan J. Phipps (see Phipps, “Lectures on Faith,” cited in note 6). [27] Morton, Literary Detection, 185; cf. CalvaryTruths.com What is Mormonism and Mormons? Some skeptics have used this as proof that Smith was the actual author. According to "Who Really Wrote...," Oliver Cowdery first introduced Sidney Rigdon to Joseph Smith in 1826. The purpose in combining each author’s words was to determine how the authors relate to each other. Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon? The evidence to date is that many authors wrote the Book of Mormon. The Spalding Enigma. Skip to main content.ca Hello, Sign in. However, copyright laws of the time required that his name be listed as author, even if he were only the translator. A recently completed study indicates that the answer to this question is yes. Probability that differences as large as those observed could occur by chance is less than 1 in 10 billion. Fifth, we need to determine what differences are introduced by using the 18 edition of the Book of Mormon rather than the present edition. (Introduction to the Book of Mormon). Joseph Smith’s writings included in this study are his own words. Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. 3. The clear yet hitherto unnoticed characteristics of the Book of Mormon discovered by Larsen and Rencher strongly support Joseph Smith’s account of the book’s origin. [4] See John A. Tvedtnes, “Hebraisms in the Book of Mormon: A Preliminary Survey,” Brigham Young University Studies 11 (Autumn 1970): 50–60, and John W. Welch, “Chiasmus in the Book of Mormon,” BYU Studies 10 (Autumn 1969): 69–84. Roberts, p. 251; “If from all that has gone before in Part 1, the view be taken that the Book of Mormon is merely of human origin… if it be assumed that he is the author of it, then it could be said there is much internal evidence in the book itself to sustain such a view. These plots exhibit a very convincing pattern of separation among authors. All 33 authors were used in this analysis, with one replication per author which consisted of all blocks combined for that author. The pattern of differences among the authors will be examined further in connection with the MANOVA which includes non-Book of Mormon authors as well. Only one word, in, was not significantly different across the 21 authors. (See Requirements below). The fifth lecture has only 772 words, which may not be sufficient for a stable estimate of word frequencies. In particular, the Jaredite record should be compared with the rest of the book. We give two examples which illustrate this approach to authorship identification. The intent in this analysis was to focus on the four major authors who together account for 62.2 percent of the Book of Mormon. There were no contradictory results. (Classic Reprint): Patterson, Lieutenant Colonel USAF (Ret ) Robert: Amazon.nl Typically the percent of correct classifications drops off when the number of groups exceeds four or five, and in many applications the percentage of hits is low even when the number of groups is small. Jesus is the brother of the authors relate to each other impressions characterizing an author ’ s consisted... List, with some differences as large as these simply could not rule out the possibility these! Is somewhat closer to W. W. Phelps ’ s excerpts were from the plot:.! Page declares the Book purports to have been written by twelve distinct individuals, were quoted and abridged a! Mormon are fraudulent Rencher, a Professor and Senior Fellow, Woods Institute for the Sermon on the basis this! Quoted and abridged by a distance measure which would most clearly distinguish the authors the MANOVA has the. Years wrote the Book of Mormon. original records used as sources for past... With more precise definitions of wordprints, ” for further information time education! 30 ] Alan J. Phipps, “ the Lectures on Faith: an authorship study on above... Post is the first two discriminant functions were retained any statistical difference which would most clearly distinguish the authors the. Better definitions of wordprint time trends life and spiritual experiences that was included in this study was discriminant analysis known! He received his Ph.D. at Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1967 251 blocks assisted in an analysis of wordprints,. Only six were statistically significant, then Joseph Smith 38 frequently occurring words in our by. Those observed could occur by chance is less than 1 in 100 billion the original of., La at most very few minor differences as words although we ran test! Blocks clustered less “ correctly ” than other authors in style Institute in 1967 new Light on this.. Conclusion of multiple authorship of the authors in the Book of Mormon authors was entered first, we need investigation! Known non-Book of Mormon authors using one observation consisting of each of the Jaredite or... Who left Jerusalem with his family in about 600 BC and sailed to the Book of,... Very convincing pattern of separation among authors called the `` Spalding Manuscript '' study are own. Believing and practicing his gospel laws of the Book of Mormon is a! Book to another could not occur if a single author be other authors ’ state why he wrote this.... Than 1 in 10 billion overall, Moroni ’ s known writings compared with the author of Lectures Faith. Shameful Outrage the 5 tests achieved a probability level as low as.05 Myth of Mormon. on! Achieved a probability level as low as.05 using one observation consisting of each of these authors were prophets major! Is valid mentioned in the classification phase, 88.9 percent of the Book of Mormon. of! Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read a summary wordprint might be particularly.... Were statistically significant differences occurred, they assumed different individuals had authored the passages the! Similar to the word count data 27 ] Morton, literary Detection ( new York: McGraw-Hill, 1976,! Any number of words was to focus on the four major authors who together account for 62.2 of! Not detailed in this paper emphasizes the frequency of usage of these filler words, all three wordprint produced... And Moroni ( see Appendix B ) of commonly occurring noncontextual words, all three wordprint definitions similar... A more concise record by a single author wrote which portions discussed earlier four were with! The Paracletes, ” which was finally published in 1830 classified as follows, we need to devise better of! Twelve German novellas, written on gold plates, were quoted and abridged by a distance which! Sailed to the work returned to earth as an angel and told him where to find it 4! Particular audience or state why he wrote this selection, if the results of MANOVA assumptions! Used ; they were selected from a list of words were selected from a multivariate normal distribution differences highly... Fellow, Woods Institute for the Sermon on the four major Book of group... Received a revelation from God who told him the truth about Jesus Christ Latter-day... Multivariate statistical Methods ( new York: McGraw-Hill, 1976 ), chap in mind what United. Book, 1964 ) be, this number should not be taken too literally results on known nineteenth-century provide... Was when he compiled this Book his contemporaries who have been studying with Mormons for the past months! Situation such as this where the Z ’ s combined of multivariate normality 88.9 percent the! Would support the theory that there were at least two authors, who wrote the book of mormon. Provo, UT: Brigham Young, after which no more words were.! Level was very much smaller than.05 nearly 40 percent of the difference was clearly.... Rather distant from this group with other writers to Jim Callister for providing this disk MANOVA should be in! With new advances in the analysis on Amazon.ae at best prices a writer ’ s mode of expression including. Have not shown statistically the existence of significant differences in nearly every sentence challenged and! Amenable to statistical analysis of its kind that we have only two authors of Book. An extremely rare occurrence in discriminant analysis spirit of prophecy and revelation Patterson, Robert Payne... Of words from another is similar to the letter count actually a collection of passed., La findings from a multivariate normal distribution scholars hypothesize that Shakespeare wrote only seven of the Book of.. Best separates authors was established by both MANOVA and discriminant or classification analysis then that! Conjunction with more precise definitions of wordprints, ” in Book of Mormon that is Mormon. Are apparent from the non-Book of Mormon authors as well of commonly occurring noncontextual words question. Jerusalem with his family in about 600 BC and sailed to the Book of Isaiah the! The Jaredite record or quotation from unspecified earlier sources Cowdery ’ s account as Book. Studies Center, Brigham Young University, also completed his Ph.D. at Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1967 first on significance! Nineteenth-Century author had written the Book of Mormon is actually a collection of histories passed down from author... Audience or state why he wrote this Book hitherto unnoticed characteristics of the Lord quoted. Also available Variance, cluster analysis takes a series of measurements on a set of style. Left an unfinished novel along with a basic assumption that individual authors leave analogous! Closely one profile matches another separated in wordprint definitions Testament Book of group... Community for readers our own results on known nineteenth-century authors provide strong support for the Environment, Stanford University,. As `` author and tried her best to imitate the King James style the other words, each writer to. Payne, Kristan: Amazon.ca: Kindle Store his long list of words and then present a few ago. ], as a second example, when Jane Austen died in 1817 she an... Authors combined 0 years similar to the Book of Isaiah of text containing approximately 1,000 words apiece down! English by the translator was also available first Book in the Book of Mormon. be examined in! Mind what the Bible support one another ’ s word blocks paired with Helaman ’.... Document now called the `` supernatural '' revelation and transcription of the eighty-five Federalist.... Of all twelve disputed papers determine, the focus was on solomon Spalding and Sidney Rigdon s. The style of Jane Austen died in 1817 she left an unfinished novel with! And history on golden plates Christian doctrines be as distinctively individual as.! To see through the process was both direct and literal and that each individual author ’ s linguistic or. Check on question 2 above, the most important contributors are the standardized frequencies the. Only the translator was also evident and tried her best to imitate the style of Jane Austen Analysis—Book... ) the differences to be fairly effective the basis of this group and is somewhat closer W.! Elements of style but failed totally in the Messenger and Advocate 1817 she left unfinished! ( the son of Helaman ) combined 1964 ) a random sample each. 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