“Resources On The Spalding Theory Of Book Of Mormon Origins”

In downtown Palmyra — (Wikimedia Commons) Although they postdate Joseph Smith, these four churches — at the intersection of Church Street, Canandaigua Street (State Route 21), East Main Street (State Routes 21 and 31), and West Main Street (State Route 31) in Palmyra, New York — have come to symbolize, for many Latter-day Saint visitors to the area, the religious confusion that perplexed Joseph and, accordingly, led to the restoration of the Gospel and the recovery of the Book of Mormon.

For roughly a century, it was the preferred counter-explanation proposed by critics for the origin of the Book of Mormon. And, although it’s fallen sharply out of favor in recent decades and is accepted by no mainstream scholar (whether Mormon or not), it still has its passionate devotees. And, once in a while, it makes a noisy reappearance. So here’s a list of useful resources:

http://scripturalmormonism.blogspot.com/2016/04/resources-on-spaulding-theory-of-book.html

Back in 2004, when I was still associated with FARMS and the Maxwell Institute, I published an article in the FARMS Review entitled “‘In the Hope that Something Will Stick’: Changing Explanations for the Book of Mormon.” It’s a survey of the various and often fundamentally contradictory theories of the coming-forth of the Book of Mormon that have been advanced by opponents of Mormonism.

Although all physical copies of the Review were shredded in the immediate wake of my expulsion from the organization, it can still be viewed online. This particular article can be read here:

https://ojs.lib.byu.edu/spc/index.php/MSR/article/view/34877/32706

“Resources on the Spalding Theory of Book of Mormon Origins”