{"id":44619,"date":"2017-10-18T10:12:55","date_gmt":"2017-10-18T16:12:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=44619"},"modified":"2017-10-18T10:13:26","modified_gmt":"2017-10-18T16:13:26","slug":"complexity-book-mormon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/complexity-book-mormon.html","title":{"rendered":"Once again, on the complexity of the Book of Mormon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Indianapolis<\/a>
Just a reminder of this coming Sunday\u2019s fireside, to be held in the chapel adjacent to the temple in Carmel, Indiana.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

From some notes toward a future book:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

As Melvin J. Thorne has observed, \u201cthere are features of the Book of Mormon that make it so complex that it is simply not credible that Joseph Smith could be the author of the book in any normal sense. It is too complex to have been written by Joseph in the manner and in the amount of time described by witnesses.\u201d[1]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The Book of Mormon discusses scores if not hundreds of individual characters, at least three distinct systems of dating, three migrations from Eurasia to the Americas, and a number of splinter groups and subgroups. Yet it does so without internal contradictions. It offers complex yet coherent and consistent geographical data, so that, however rarely they may be mentioned, the places that are named are always in the same spatial relationship with each other.[2]<\/a> It is structurally complex. For instance, complicated prefaces and summaries occur, respectively, before and after several significant sections in the Book of Mormon, in which the book\u2019s editor gives his readers a foretaste of what is yet to come and then, when the section closes, offers a pr\u00e9cis of what has just been read.[3]<\/a> How likely is it that the uneducated and unsophisticated Joseph Smith\u2014whom we have already seen to have evidently been surprised by the chapter and book breaks in the Book of Mormon\u2014could have remembered the promises he had made in those prefaces while dictating at white hot speed and then have remembered what he had just dictated well enough to summarize it at the end?<\/span><\/p>\n

Hugh Nibley speaks of<\/span><\/p>\n

The immense skill with which the editors of [the Book of Mormon] put the thing together. The long Book of Alma, for example, is followed through with a smooth and logical sequence in which an incredible amount of detailed and widely varying material is handled in the most lucid and apparently effortless manner. Whether Alma is addressing a king and his court, a throng of ragged paupers sitting on the ground, or his own three sons, each a distinctly different character, his eloquence is always suited to his audience, and he goes unfailingly to the peculiar problems of each hearer.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Throughout this book and complex volume, we are aware of much shuffling and winnowing of documents, and informed from time to time of the method used by an editor distilling the contents of a large library into edifying lessons for the dedicated and pious minority among the people.<\/strong>[4]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Melvin J. Thorne, \u201cComplexity, Consistency, Ignorance, and Probabilities,\u201d in Noel B. Reynolds, ed., Book of Mormon Authorship Revisited: The Evidence for Ancient Origins<\/em> (Provo: FARMS, 1997), 179. For general treatments of the issue of complexity, see Thorne\u2019s entire article, pages 179-193; also Nibley, The Prophetic Book of Mormon<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> See John L. Sorenson, An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon<\/em>; John Clark, \u201cA Key for Evaluating Nephite Geographies,\u201d Review of Books on the Book of Mormon<\/em> 1 (1989): 20-70; John L. Sorenson, The Geography of Book of Mormon Events: A Source Book<\/em> (Provo: FARMS, 1990); John L. Sorenson, Mormon\u2019s Map<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> See John A. Tvedtnes, \u201cColophons in the Book of Mormon,\u201d in John L. Sorenson and Melvin J. Thorne, eds., Rediscovering the Book of Mormon<\/em> (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1991), 32-37; Thomas W. Mackay, \u201cMormon as Editor: A Study in Colophons, Headers, and Source Indicators,\u201d Journal of Book of Mormon Studies<\/em> 2\/2 (1993): 90-109.<\/span><\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Nibley, \u201cThe Mormon View of the Book of Mormon,\u201d 263.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

You might find this 31-minute podcast of interest:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWilford Woodruff\u2019s Witness of the Unfolding of Temple Doctrine with Jennifer Ann Mackey\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a forthright piece from Ireland\u2019s Robert Boylan:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cRefuting the Claim that singing the hymn \u201cPraise to the Man\u201d is an act of Idolatry\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

By sheer coincidence, I\u2019ve just come across this amusing blog post from Ken Jennings \u2014 remember him? the longtime Jeopardy!<\/em> winner? \u2014 that was written more than a decade ago:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to know when to fold \u2019em\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Secularists and atheists aren\u2019t universally<\/em> arrogant and smug,*<\/strong> but I\u2019ve run into enough of them who are<\/em> that I really enjoyed what Ken Jennings had to say.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

*<\/strong> Consider, for example, Jesse Ventura, the former professional wrestler who, rather incredibly, served from 1999-2003 as the governor of Minnesota. \u00a0\u201cOrganized religion,\u201d he informed the highbrow\u00a0academic journal Playboy<\/em> in 1999, \u201cis a\u00a0sham\u00a0and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers.\u201d \u00a0It\u2019s fairly common, too, for certain critics of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a> to refer to it as \u201cthe Crutch\u201d rather than as \u201cthe Church,\u201d and to call its adherents \u201cMorgbots\u201d and \u201cMor(m)ons.\u201d \u00a0Similar examples could be multiplied ad infinitum<\/em> and ad nauseam<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 From some notes toward a future book: \u00a0 As Melvin J. Thorne has observed, \u201cthere are features of the Book of Mormon that make it so complex that it is simply not credible that Joseph Smith could be the author of the book in any normal sense. It is too complex to have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nOnce again, on the complexity of the Book of Mormon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    From some notes toward a future book:   As Melvin J. Thorne has observed, \u201cthere are features of the Book of Mormon that make it so\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/complexity-book-mormon.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Once again, on the complexity of the Book of Mormon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"    From some notes toward a future book:   As Melvin J. Thorne has observed, \u201cthere are features of the Book of Mormon that make it so\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/complexity-book-mormon.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-10-18T16:12:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-10-18T16:13:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/files\/2017\/10\/Screen-Shot-2017-10-14-at-10.09.15-AM-878x1024.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/complexity-book-mormon.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/complexity-book-mormon.html\",\"name\":\"Once again, on the complexity of the Book of Mormon\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-10-18T16:12:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-10-18T16:13:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\"},\"description\":\"    From some notes toward a future book:   As Melvin J. Thorne has observed, \u201cthere are features of the Book of Mormon that make it so\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/complexity-book-mormon.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/complexity-book-mormon.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/complexity-book-mormon.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Once again, on the complexity of the Book of Mormon\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/\",\"name\":\"Sic et Non\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\",\"name\":\"Dan Peterson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Peterson\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\\\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Once again, on the complexity of the Book of Mormon","description":"    From some notes toward a future book:   As Melvin J. Thorne has observed, \u201cthere are features of the Book of Mormon that make it so","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/complexity-book-mormon.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Once again, on the complexity of the Book of Mormon","og_description":"    From some notes toward a future book:   As Melvin J. Thorne has observed, \u201cthere are features of the Book of Mormon that make it so","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/complexity-book-mormon.html","og_site_name":"Sic et Non","article_published_time":"2017-10-18T16:12:55+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-10-18T16:13:26+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/files\/2017\/10\/Screen-Shot-2017-10-14-at-10.09.15-AM-878x1024.png"}],"author":"Dan Peterson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Peterson","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/complexity-book-mormon.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/complexity-book-mormon.html","name":"Once again, on the complexity of the Book of Mormon","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-10-18T16:12:55+00:00","dateModified":"2017-10-18T16:13:26+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045"},"description":"    From some notes toward a future book:   As Melvin J. Thorne has observed, \u201cthere are features of the Book of Mormon that make it so","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/complexity-book-mormon.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/complexity-book-mormon.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/complexity-book-mormon.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Once again, on the complexity of the Book of Mormon"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/","name":"Sic et Non","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045","name":"Dan Peterson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Peterson"},"description":"\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44619\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}