It was on this day in 1830 that the Book of Mormon was published in Palmyra, New York.
It purports to be the record of the lost tribes of Israel and what happened when they came to the Americas.
The prophet Joseph Smith claimed he was presented with golden plates and special spectacles that allowed him to translate them from “reformed Egyptian.” And it has since become the primary theological source for the foundations of the Church of Later Day Saints.
Those who find the historicity of the book unlikely look to other sources for its origins. Most assume it was composed by Smith, some speculate a large part of it was derived from an unpublished romance by Solomon Spalding. Others suggest the importance of the Wonders of Nature by Josiah Priest, the View of the Hebrews by Ethan Smith, and of course, the King James version of the Bible, which certainly provides the cast of language for the Book.
Whatever, it has become the source text for a major American religion.
So, happy birthday to the Book!
(I then went looking for a gentle parody song of either the Book itself, ideally, or at least of the Mormon church. Turned out it is a minor industry. Who would have thought?)
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