Peter Whitmer Sr. (April 14, 1773 – August 12, 1854) was an early member of the Latter Day Saint movement , and father of the movement's second founding family.
108-764: In the Book of Mormon , the Lamanites ( / ˈ l eɪ m ə n aɪ t / ) are one of the four peoples (along with the Jaredites , the Mulekites , and the Nephites ) described as having settled in the ancient Americas in the Book of Mormon . The Lamanites also play a role in the prophecies and revelations of the Doctrine and Covenants , another sacred text in the Latter Day Saint movement . In
216-567: A "nonmainstream literary aesthetic". Narratively and structurally, the book is complex, with multiple arcs that diverge and converge in the story while contributing to the book's overarching plot and themes. Historian Daniel Walker Howe concluded in his own appraisal that the Book of Mormon "is a powerful epic written on a grand scale" and "should rank among the great achievements of American literature". The Book of Mormon presents its text through multiple narrators explicitly identified as figures within
324-509: A 1960 LDS Church General Conference , apostle Spencer W. Kimball suggested that the skin of Latter-day Saint Native American was gradually turning lighter: I saw a striking contrast in the progress of the Indian people today. ... The day of the Lamanites is nigh. For years they have been growing delightsome, and they are now becoming white and delightsome, as they were promised. In this picture of
432-593: A central message. Barnes argues that the Book of Mormon depicts Jesus as a "revolutionary new character" different from that of the New Testament in a portrayal that is "constantly, subtly revising the Christian tradition". According to historian John Turner, the Book of Mormon's depiction provides "a twist" on Christian trinitarianism, as Jesus in the Book of Mormon is distinct from God the Father—as he prays to God during
540-474: A collection of ancient writings was buried in a nearby hill in present-day Wayne County, New York , engraved on golden plates by ancient prophets. The writings were said to describe a people whom God had led from Jerusalem to the Western hemisphere 600 years before Jesus 's birth. Smith said this vision occurred on the evening of September 21, 1823, and that on the following day, via divine guidance, he located
648-557: A dialogue in which petitioners and deity engage one another in a mutual exchange in which God's contributions originate from outside the mortal recipient. The Book of Mormon also emphasizes regular prayer as a significant component of devotional life, depicting it as a central means through which such dialogic revelation can take place. While the Old Testament of the Christian Bible links revelation specifically to prophetic authority,
756-547: A flint; wherefore, as they were white, and exceedingly fair and delightsome, that they might not be enticing unto my people the Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them. On the other hand, the Book of Mormon teaches that skin color is not a bar to salvation and that God: denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile. The non-canonical 1981 footnote text of
864-455: A guided process of miraculous assistance. The Book of Mormon's "eschatological content" lends to a "theology of Native and/or nonwhite liberation", in the words of American studies scholar Jared Hickman. The Book of Mormon's narrative content includes prophecies describing how although Gentiles (generally interpreted as being whites of European descent) would conquer the Indigenous residents of
972-407: A messianic appearance at the book's climax. Furthermore, the Book of Mormon's "formal logic" criticizes the theological supports for racism and white supremacy prevalent in the antebellum United States by enacting a textual apocalypse. The book's apparently white Nephite narrators fail to recognize and repent of their own sinful, hubristic prejudices against the seemingly darker-skinned Lamanites in
1080-602: A metal rim and attached to a breastplate. Beginning around 1832, both the interpreters and Smith's own seer stone were at times referred to as the "Urim and Thummim", and Smith sometimes used the term interchangeably with "spectacles". Emma Smith 's and David Whitmer 's accounts describe Smith using the interpreters while dictating for Martin Harris 's scribing and switching to only using his seer stone(s) in subsequent translation. Religious studies scholar Grant Hardy summarizes Smith's known dictation process as follows: "Smith looked at
1188-595: A nineteenth-century origin of the Book of Mormon . Various academics and apologetic organizations connected to the Latter Day Saint movement nevertheless argue that the book is an authentic account of the pre- Columbian exchange world. The Book of Mormon has a number of doctrinal discussions on subjects such as the fall of Adam and Eve , the nature of the Christian atonement , eschatology , agency , priesthood authority , redemption from physical and spiritual death,
SECTION 10
#17328519829551296-650: A post-resurrection visit with the Nephites—while also emphasizing that Jesus and God have "divine unity," with other parts of the book calling Jesus "the Father and the Son". Beliefs among the churches of the Latter Day Saint movement range between social trinitarianism (such as among Latter-day Saints) and traditional trinitarianism (such as in Community of Christ ). The Christian concept of God's plan of salvation for humanity
1404-465: A record from a much earlier people. There is a subsequent subplot describing a group of families who God leads away from the Tower of Babel after it falls. Led by a man named Jared and his brother , described as a prophet of God, these Jaredites travel to the "promised land" and establish a society there. After successive violent reversals between rival monarchs and faction, their society collapses around
1512-549: A revelation given to Joseph Smith in May 1829. In the Book of Mormon, Jesus told people in the New World that conversion would precede the millennium, and members interpreted this promise as one referring to Lamanites, and by extension, Native Americans. These Native American converts would work alongside other members as partners in building Zion . After the failure of early missions to Indigenous peoples, Smith focused on building Zion without
1620-425: A seer stone placed in his hat and then dictated the text of the Book of Mormon to scribes". Early on, Smith sometimes separated himself from his scribe with a blanket between them, as he did while Martin Harris, a neighbor, scribed his dictation in 1828. At other points in the process, such as when Oliver Cowdery or Emma Smith scribed, the plates were left covered up but in the open. During some dictation sessions
1728-509: A series of large battles over two centuries, ending with the extermination of the Nephites by the Lamanites. The Doctrine and Covenants is composed of writings that adherents in the Latter Day Saint movement believe to be revelations from God. It is considered scripture in the sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement and says that God called Oliver Cowdery (D&C 28:8) and later Peter Whitmer and Parley P. Pratt (D&C 32:1–2) to teach
1836-489: A skin of blackness, and become a scourge unto the Nephites." The phrase "skin of blackness" and the passage was changed to "Because of their unbelief, the Lamanites are cut off from the presence of the Lord, are cursed, and become a scourge unto the Nephites." The second change appears in the summary of Mormon 5. Formerly, it included the phrase that "the Lamanites shall be a dark, filthy, and loathsome people." The new version deleted
1944-442: A vision to Smith in 1827, revealing the location of the plates and instructing him to translate the plates into English. The more widely accepted view is that Smith authored the Book, drawing on material and ideas from his contemporary 19th-century environment, rather than translating an ancient record. According to Joseph Smith, in 1823, when he was seventeen years old, an angel of God named Moroni appeared to him and said that
2052-492: A wall" a prophecy of Lehi's posterity—described as descendants of Joseph—overflowing into the New World. Latter-day Saints also believe the Bible prophesies of the Book of Mormon as an additional testament to God's dealings with humanity. In the 1980s, the church placed greater emphasis on the Book of Mormon as a central text of the faith. In 1982, it added the subtitle "Another Testament of Jesus Christ" to its official editions of
2160-458: Is a frequently recurring theme of the Book of Mormon. While the Bible does not directly outline a plan of salvation, the Book of Mormon explicitly refers to the concept thirty times, using a variety of terms such as plan of salvation , plan of happiness , and plan of redemption . The Book of Mormon's plan of salvation doctrine describes life as a probationary time for people to learn the gospel of Christ through revelation given to prophets and have
2268-401: Is illustrated most thoroughly through intertextuality—the pervasive echoes, allusions, and expansions on the Book of Mormon text that appear in the early converts' own writings." Early Latter Day Saints alluded to Book of Mormon narratives, incorporated Book of Mormon turns of phrase into their writing styles, and even gave their children Book of Mormon names. Like many other early adherents of
SECTION 20
#17328519829552376-458: Is included in the Nephites, his sons-in-law are presumably included together in the Ishmaelites , and Zoram was not Lehi's son, but his family travelled with Lehi's family. In 2 Nephi 5, the narrative divides the people into Nephites and Lamanites; in his book The Testimony of Two Nations , Michael Austin interprets these as categories of convenience for the sake of the narrative, similar to how
2484-491: Is manifest through right intentions and actions, not physical appearance." Michael Austin argues that Jacob's warning to the Nephite people concerning their prejudice against the Lamanites is one of the book's attempts to combat the "anti-Lamanite" biases presented by the individual narrators. Austin further supports Max Perry Mueller's assertion that the narrative of the Book of Mormon does not support anti-Lamanite prejudices, using
2592-504: Is plausible for Smith to have produced the Book of Mormon himself, based on his knowledge of the Bible and enabled by a democratizing religious culture. The style of the Book of Mormon's English text resembles that of the King James Version of the Bible. Novelist Jane Barnes considered the book "difficult to read", and according to religious studies scholar Grant Hardy, the language is an "awkward, repetitious form of English" with
2700-417: Is the Book of Third Nephi , which describes a visit by Jesus to the people of the Book of Mormon sometime after his resurrection and ascension; historian John Turner calls this episode "the climax of the entire scripture". After this visit, the Nephites and Lamanites unite in a harmonious, peaceful society which endures for several generations before breaking into warring factions again, and in this conflict
2808-659: Is the traditional site of the church's organization (some place the organization at Manchester, New York ). Oliver Cowdery , who had assisted Smith in the translation of the Book of Mormon from the golden plates, married Elizabeth Ann Whitmer in December 1832. All surviving members of the Whitmer family broke with Smith in 1838 in Far West, Missouri , and were excommunicated from the church. Whitmer moved to Richmond, Missouri , where he lived until his death. This article related to
2916-614: The Book of Moroni . The book's sequence is primarily chronological based on the narrative content of the book. Exceptions include the Words of Mormon and the Book of Ether . The Words of Mormon contains editorial commentary by Mormon . The Book of Ether is presented as the narrative of an earlier group of people who had come to the American continent before the immigration described in 1 Nephi. First Nephi through Omni are written in first-person narrative, as are Mormon and Moroni. The remainder of
3024-491: The King James Version of the Bible. The Book of Mormon has been fully or partially translated into at least 112 languages . According to Smith's account and the book's narrative, the Book was originally engraved in otherwise unknown characters on golden plates by ancient prophets; the last prophet to contribute to the book, Moroni , had buried it in what is present-day Manchester, New York and then appeared in
3132-549: The New Testament , re-emphasizes salvific baptism, and introduces the ritual consumption of bread and wine "in remembrance of [his] body", a teaching that became the basis for modern Latter-day Saints' "memorialist" view of their sacrament ordinance (analogous to communion). Jesus's ministry in the Book of Mormon resembles his portrayal in the Gospel of John , as Jesus similarly teaches without parables and preaches faith and obedience as
3240-556: The Ten Lost Tribes , the Book of Mormon actively rejects the hypothesis; the peoples in its narrative have an "ancient Hebrew" origin but do not descend from the lost tribes. The book ultimately heavily revises, rather than borrows, the Hebraic Indian theory. The Book of Mormon may creatively reconfigure, without plagiarizing, parts of the popular 1678 Christian allegory Pilgrim's Progress written by John Bunyan . For example,
3348-419: The "Testimony of Eight Witnesses " which appeared in the original 1830 edition and every official Latter-day Saint edition thereafter. The books from First Nephi to Omni are described as being from "the small plates of Nephi". This account begins in ancient Jerusalem around 600 BC, telling the story of a man named Lehi , his family, and several others as they are led by God from Jerusalem shortly before
Lamanites - Misplaced Pages Continue
3456-421: The "utter inadequacy of his or her rac(ial)ist common sense". Adherents of the early Latter Day Saint movement frequently read the Book of Mormon as a corroboration of and supplement to the Bible, persuaded by its resemblance to the King James Version 's form and language. For these early readers, the Book of Mormon confirmed the Bible's scriptural veracity and resolved then-contemporary theological controversies
3564-462: The Adam and Eve story contributes to the Book of Mormon's emphasis "on the importance of human freedom and responsibility" to choose salvation. In the Book of Mormon, revelation from God typically manifests as a dialogue between God and persons, characterizing deity as an anthropomorphic being who hears prayers and provides direct answers to questions. Multiple narratives in the book portray revelation as
3672-663: The Americas (imagined in the Book of Mormon as being a remnant of descendants of the Lamanites), this conquest would only precede the Native Americans' revival and resurgence as a God-empowered people. The Book of Mormon narrative's prophecies envision a Christian eschaton in which Indigenous people are destined to rise up as the true leaders of the continent, manifesting in a new utopia to be called "Zion". White Gentiles would have an opportunity to repent of their sins and join themselves to
3780-473: The Bible did not seem to adequately address, such as the appropriate mode of baptism, the role of prayer, and the nature of the Christian atonement. Early church administrative design also drew inspiration from the Book of Mormon. Oliver Cowdery and Joseph Smith, respectively, used the depiction of the Christian church in the Book of Mormon as a template for their Articles of the Church and Articles and Covenants of
3888-461: The Book of Mormon as "the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of [the] religion". Although Smith quoted the book infrequently, he accepted the Book of Mormon narrative world as his own. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) accepts the Book of Mormon as one of the four sacred texts in its scriptural canon called the standard works . Church leaders and publications have "strongly affirm[ed]" Smith's claims of
3996-438: The Book of Mormon as its narrative). Whether or not View influenced the Book of Mormon is the subject of debate. A pseudo-anthropological treatise, View presented allegedly empirical evidence in support of its hypothesis. The Book of Mormon is written as a narrative, and Christian themes predominate rather than supposedly Indigenous parallels. Additionally, while View supposes that Indigenous American peoples descended from
4104-478: The Book of Mormon closely linked the concept of "skin of blackness" with that of "scales of darkness falling from their eyes," which suggests that the LDS Church has now interpreted both cases as being examples of figurative language. Several Book of Mormon passages have been interpreted by some Latter Day Saints as indicating that Lamanites would revert to a lighter skin tone upon accepting the gospel. For example, at
4212-408: The Book of Mormon is written in third-person historical narrative, said to be compiled and abridged by Mormon (with Moroni abridging the Book of Ether and writing the latter part of Mormon and the Book of Moroni). Most modern editions of the book have been divided into chapters and verses. Most editions of the book also contain supplementary material, including the "Testimony of Three Witnesses " and
4320-504: The Book of Mormon narrative, the labels "Nephite" and "Lamanite" became terms of political convenience, and membership was both varied and fluid and not based on skin color. Within the first 200 years of the Nephites' 1,000 year chronology, the prophet Jacob stated that any who were enemies of his people were called Lamanites and that any who were friends were called Nephites: But I, Jacob, shall not hereafter distinguish them by these names, but I shall call them Lamanites that seek to destroy
4428-462: The Book of Mormon precludes migration into the Americas by peoples of Asiatic origin". The 1981 edition introduction to the Book of Mormon was changed in 2006 from stating Lamanites "are the principal ancestors of" to "are among the ancestors of the American Indians." Apologetics seeking to maintain relatively orthodox understandings of the Book of Mormon's depiction of Lamanites while recognizing
Lamanites - Misplaced Pages Continue
4536-625: The Book of Mormon said Lamanites "are the principal ancestors of the American Indians". The existence of a Lamanite population has received no support in mainstream science or archaeology. Genetic studies indicate that the Indigenous Americans are related to the present populations in Mongolia , Siberia , and the vicinity, and Polynesians to those in Southeast Asia . In the twenty-first century, LDS Church outlets have stated that "[n]othing in
4644-471: The Book of Mormon universalizes Christian salvation as being accessible across all time and places. By implying that even more ancient peoples were familiar with Jesus Christ, the book presents a "polygenist Christian history" in which Christianity has multiple origins. In the climax of the book, Jesus visits some early inhabitants of the Americas after his resurrection in an extended bodily theophany . During this ministry, he reiterates many teachings from
4752-547: The Book of Mormon's first-person narration means its content is couched in "limited, human perspectives". The Nephite narrators of the Book of Mormon had the power to "characterize their antagonists [the Lamanites] as they wished", Armand Mauss writes. Deidre Green, a professor of Mormon studies, suggests that the prophet Jacob condemns the Nephites' racist attitudes towards the Lamanite people and "clarifies that righteousness
4860-410: The Book of Mormon's narrative, the Lamanites begin as wicked rivals to the more righteous Nephites, but when the Nephite civilization became decadent, it lost divine favor and was destroyed by the Lamanites. Latter Day Saints have historically associated Lamanites with present-day Native American cultures. According to the Book of Mormon, the family of Lehi , described as a wealthy Hebrew prophet ,
4968-440: The Book of Mormon's portrayal democratizes the idea of revelation, depicting it as the right of every person. Figures such as Nephi and Ammon receive visions and revelatory direction prior to or without ever becoming prophets, and Laman and Lemuel are rebuked for hesitating to pray for revelation. Also in contrast with traditional Christian conceptions of revelations is the Book of Mormon's broader range of revelatory content. In
5076-492: The Book of Mormon, figures petition God for revelatory answers to doctrinal questions and ecclesiastical crises as well as for inspiration to guide hunts, military campaigns, and sociopolitical decisions. The Book of Mormon depicts revelation as an active and sometimes laborious experience. For example, the Book of Mormon's Brother of Jared learns to act not merely as a petitioner with questions but moreover as an interlocutor with "a specific proposal" for God to consider as part of
5184-443: The Book of Mormon. Ezra Taft Benson , the church's thirteenth president (1985–1994), especially emphasized the Book of Mormon. Referencing Smith's 1832 revelation, Benson said the church remained under condemnation for treating the Book of Mormon lightly. Since the late 1980s, Latter-day Saint leaders have encouraged church members to read from the Book of Mormon daily, and in the twenty-first century, many Latter-day Saints use
5292-447: The Church . The Book of Mormon was also significant in the early movement as a sign, proving Joseph Smith's claimed prophetic calling, signalling the "restoration of all things", and ending what was believed to have been an apostasy from true Christianity. Early Latter Day Saints tended to interpret the Book of Mormon through a millenarian lens and consequently believed the book portended Christ's imminent Second Coming . And during
5400-467: The English manuscript of the Book of Mormon was produced as scribes wrote down Smith's dictation in multiple sessions between 1828 and 1829. The dictation of the extant Book of Mormon was completed in 1829 in between 53 and 74 working days. Descriptions of the way in which Smith dictated the Book of Mormon vary. Smith himself called the Book of Mormon a translated work, but in public he generally described
5508-595: The Hand of Mormon upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi . The book is one of the earliest and most well-known unique writings of the Latter Day Saint movement. The denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement typically regard the text primarily as scripture (sometimes as one of four standard works ) and secondarily as a record of God's dealings with ancient inhabitants of the Americas . The majority of Latter Day Saints believe
SECTION 50
#17328519829555616-411: The Indigenous remnant, but if white Gentile society fails to do so, the Book of Mormon's content foretells a future "apocalyptic reversal" in which Native Americans will destroy white American society and replace it with a godly, Zionic society. This prophecy commanding whites to repent and become supporters of American Indians even bears "special authority as an utterance of Jesus" Christ himself during
5724-526: The Latter Day Saint movement consider the Book of Mormon an authentic historical record, translated by Smith from actual ancient plates through divine revelation . The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), the largest Latter Day Saint denomination, maintains this as its official position. The Book of Mormon as a written text is the transcription of what scholars Grant Hardy and William L. Davis call an "extended oral performance", one which Davis considers "comparable in length and magnitude to
5832-399: The Latter Day Saint movement hold that the Book of Mormon fulfills numerous biblical prophecies by ending a global apostasy and signaling a restoration of Christian gospel. The Book of Mormon is divided into smaller books — which are usually titled after individuals named as primary authors — and in most versions, is divided into chapters and verses. Its English text imitates the style of
5940-409: The Latter Day Saint movement, Smith referenced Book of Mormon scriptures in his preaching relatively infrequently and cited the Bible more often. In 1832, Smith dictated a revelation that condemned the "whole church" for treating the Book of Mormon lightly, although even after doing so Smith still referenced the Book of Mormon less often than the Bible. Nevertheless, in 1841 Joseph Smith characterized
6048-410: The Nephites are destroyed while the Lamanites emerge victorious. In the narrative, Mormon, a Nephite, lives during this period of war, and he dies before finishing his book. His son Moroni takes over as narrator, describing himself taking his father's record into his charge and finishing its writing. Before the very end of the book, Moroni describes making an abridgment (called the Book of Ether ) of
6156-654: The Spalding manuscript source hypothesis debunked since 1945, when Fawn M. Brodie thoroughly disproved it in her critical biography of Smith. Historians since the early twentieth century have suggested Smith was inspired by View of the Hebrews , an 1823 book which propounded the Hebraic Indian theory , since both associate American Indians with ancient Israel and describe clashes between two dualistically opposed civilizations ( View as speculation about American Indian history and
6264-532: The ability to translate and that Moroni had taken back the plates to be returned only after Smith repented. Smith later stated that God allowed him to resume translation, but directed that he begin where he left off (in what is now called the Book of Mosiah), without retranslating what had been in the lost manuscript. Smith recommenced some Book of Mormon dictation between September 1828 and April 1829 with his wife Emma Smith scribing with occasional help from his brother Samuel Smith, though transcription accomplished
6372-602: The angel and plates. Smith and his family reminisced that as part of what Smith believed was angelic instruction, Moroni provided Smith with a "brief sketch" of the "origin, progress, civilization, laws, governments ... righteousness and iniquity" of the "aboriginal inhabitants of the country" (referring to the Nephites and Lamanites who figure in the Book of Mormon's primary narrative). Smith sometimes shared what he said he had learned through such angelic encounters with his family as well. In Smith's account, Moroni allowed him, accompanied by his wife Emma Hale Smith , to take
6480-598: The book in private devotions and family worship. Literary scholar Terryl Givens observes that for Latter-day Saints, the Book of Mormon is "the principal scriptural focus", a "cultural touchstone, and "absolutely central" to worship, including in weekly services, Sunday School, youth seminaries, and more. Peter Whitmer Whitmer was born in Pennsylvania and married Mary Elsa Musselman . The Whitmers had eight children together: Christian , Jacob , John , David , Catherine, Peter Jr. , Nancy, and Elizabeth Ann. In 1809,
6588-411: The book to be a record of real-world history, with Latter Day Saint denominations viewing it variously as an inspired record of scripture to the linchpin or " keystone " of their religion. Independent archaeological, historical, and scientific communities have discovered no evidence to support the existence of the civilizations described therein. Characteristics of the language and content point toward
SECTION 60
#17328519829556696-551: The book's own narrative. Narrators describe reading, redacting, writing, and exchanging records. The book also embeds sermons, given by figures from the narrative, throughout the text, and these internal orations make up just over 40 percent of the Book of Mormon. Periodically, the book's primary narrators reflexively describe themselves creating the book in a move that is "almost postmodern" in its self-consciousness. Historian Laurie Maffly-Kipp explains that "the mechanics of editing and transmitting thereby become an important feature of
6804-491: The book's place in a causal chain which held that if the Book of Mormon was "verifiably true revelation of God," then it justified Smith's claims to prophetic authority to restore the New Testament church. Latter-day Saints have also long believed the Book of Mormon's contents confirm and fulfill biblical prophecies. For example, "many Latter-day Saints" consider the biblical patriarch Jacob 's description of his son Joseph as "a fruitful bough ... whose branches run over
6912-436: The book's significance to the faith. According to the church's "Articles of Faith" —a document written by Joseph Smith in 1842 and canonized by the church as scripture in 1880—members "believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly," and they "believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God," without qualification. In their evangelism, Latter-day Saint leaders and missionaries have long emphasized
7020-407: The burial location of the plates on this hill and was instructed by Moroni to meet him at the same hill on September 22 of the following year to receive further instructions, which repeated annually for the next three years. Smith told his entire immediate family about this angelic encounter by the next night, and his brother William reported that the family "believed all he [Joseph Smith] said" about
7128-489: The children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God." However, 84 years after the coming of Christ, "a small part of the people who had revolted from the church" started calling themselves Lamanites again. Those who remained were again identified as Nephites, but both groups were reported to have fallen into apostasy. The reestablished Lamanites and Nephites were largely distinguished by ideological choices rather than by previous ethnic distinctions. The Book of Mormon recounts
7236-423: The classic oral epics, such as Homer's Iliad and Odyssey ". Eyewitnesses said Smith never referred to notes or other documents while dictating, and Smith's followers and those close to him insisted he lacked the writing and narrative skills necessary to consciously produce a text like the Book of Mormon. Some naturalistic interpretations have therefore compared Smith's dictation to automatic writing arising from
7344-455: The connection. Kimball definitively stated in 1971, "The term Lamanite includes all Indians and Indian mixtures, such as the Polynesians ...." and, "the Lamanites number about sixty million; they are in all of the states of America from Tierra del Fuego all the way up to Point Barrows, and they are in nearly all the islands of the sea from Hawaii south to southern New Zealand." The 1981 edition of
7452-474: The cooperation of "Lamanite" people. The concept began to expand to include all Indigenous peoples of the Americas . Twentieth century teachings connecting modern Native Americans and Lamanites reached their height under the presidency of Spencer W. Kimball (1973 –1985), then declined, but did not disappear. For example, in 1967, then apostle (later church president) Kimball stated that Native Americans were descendants of Middle Eastern settlers who traveled over
7560-559: The early 400s CE. On its title page, the Book of Mormon describes its central purpose as being the "convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations." Although much of the Book of Mormon's internal chronology takes place prior to the birth of Jesus, prophets in the book frequently see him in vision and preach about him, and the people in
7668-540: The fall of that city to the Babylonians . The book describes their journey across the Arabian peninsula , and then to a "promised land", presumably an unspecified location in the Americas, by ship. These books recount the group's dealings from approximately 600 BC to about 130 BC, during which time the community grows and splits into two main groups, called Nephites and Lamanites , that frequently war with each other throughout
7776-504: The family moved to Waterloo, New York , where they joined a German Reformed church and where Peter became a road overseer and school trustee. After 1827, they moved to Fayette . In June 1829, Peter's sons and his son-in-law Hiram Page became witnesses to the golden plates . When the Church of Christ was organized on April 6, 1830, the Whitmers were among its first members. Their Fayette home
7884-455: The family of Ishmael , and Zoram traveled from the Middle East to the Americas by boat in around 600 BC. In his dying blessings to his children, Lehi assigns tribes to his descendants, usually named after the son whose family made up the tribe: Nephites, Jacobites, Josephites, Zoramites, Lamanites, Lemuelites, and Ishmaelites after Nephi , Joseph , Zoram, Laman, and Lemuel . Lehi's son Sam
7992-435: The findings of modern genetic studies—some of which were publicized by the LDS Church at the turn of the twenty-first century—argued that DNA findings invalidated not the existence of Book of Mormon peoples per se but the presumption that they were a hemispheric society. This has involved supposing that Nephites and Lamanites dwelled in only part of the Americas while genetically identified ancestors of Indigenous peoples occupied
8100-649: The gospel to the Lamanites. Cowdery is given the power to build up God's church among them (D&C 30:6). The men believed that God was referring to the Native Americans and began teaching among the Lenape . Historically, Mormons have identified the Lamanites as the primary ancestors of the North American Native Americans . Early Mormons expected large numbers of Native American converts, who would teach gentiles how to interpret scripture, according to
8208-485: The martyr narrative of Abinadi in the Book of Mormon shares a complex matrix of descriptive language with Faithful's martyr narrative in Progress . Some other Book of Mormon narratives, such as the dream Lehi has in the book's opening, also resemble creative reworkings of Progress story arcs as well as elements of other works by Bunyan, such as The Holy War and Grace Abounding . Historical scholarship also suggests it
8316-448: The movement's first years, observers identified converts with the new scripture they propounded, nicknaming them "Mormons". Early Mormons also cultivated their own individual relationships with the Book of Mormon. Reading the book became an ordinary habit for some, and some would reference passages by page number in correspondence with friends and family. Historian Janiece Johnson explains that early converts' "depth of Book of Mormon usage
8424-439: The narrative in his own words. Early observers, presuming Smith incapable of writing something as long or as complex as the Book of Mormon, often searched for a possible source he might have plagiarized. In the nineteenth century, a popular hypothesis was that Smith collaborated with Sidney Rigdon to plagiarize an unpublished manuscript written by Solomon Spalding and turn into the Book of Mormon. Historians have considered
8532-404: The narrative worship Jesus as "pre-Christian Christians." For example, the book's first narrator Nephi describes having a vision of the birth, ministry, and death of Jesus, said to have taken place nearly 600 years prior to Jesus' birth. Late in the book, a narrator refers to converted peoples as "children of Christ". By depicting ancient prophets and peoples as familiar with Jesus as a Savior,
8640-411: The narrative. In their pride, the Nephites repeatedly backslide into producing oppressive social orders, such that the book's narrative performs a sustained critique of colonialist racism. The book concludes with its own narrative implosion in which Lamanites suddenly succeed over and destroy Nephites in a literary turn seemingly designed to jar the average antebellum white American reader into recognizing
8748-451: The narratives" of the Book of Mormon for several years by making outlines, whether mental or on private notes, until he began dictating in 1828. Smith's oral recitations about Nephites to his family could have been an opportunity to work out ideas and practice oratory, and he received some formal education as a lay Methodist exhorter. In this interpretation, Smith believed the dictation he produced reflected an ancient history, but he assembled
8856-418: The nature and conduct of baptism , the age of accountability , the purpose and practice of communion , personalized revelation, economic justice, the anthropomorphic and personal nature of God, the nature of spirits and angels, and the organization of the latter day church . The pivotal event of the book is an appearance of Jesus Christ in the Americas shortly after his resurrection. Common teachings of
8964-404: The ocean, and were "not Orientals" of East Asian origin, further quoting a previous First Presidency proclamation which said God, "has revealed the origin and the records of the aboriginal tribes of America, and their future destiny.-And we know it." During the time many Polynesian people converted, the concept expanded to include them as well. The scriptural account of Hagoth was used to justify
9072-570: The opportunity to choose whether or not to obey God. Jesus' atonement then makes repentance possible, enabling the righteous to enter a heavenly state after a final judgment . Although most of Christianity traditionally considers the fall of man a negative development for humanity, the Book of Mormon instead portrays the fall as a foreordained step in God's plan of salvation, necessary to securing human agency, eventual righteousness, and bodily joy through physical experience. This positive interpretation of
9180-506: The people of Nephi, and those who are friendly to Nephi I shall call Nephites, or the people of Nephi, according to the reigns of the kings. Book of Mormon scholars have used various lenses to interpret how race is portrayed in the Book of Mormon, particularly in relation to the Lamanites. Throughout the book, Nephite narrators describe the Lamanites as a "wild", "ferocious", and "bloodthirsty people" who "loved murder". As Grant Hardy , Jared Hickman, Elizabeth Fenton, and Terryl Givens explain,
9288-502: The phrase "dark, loathsome, and filthy" and now reads "the Lamanites will be scattered, and the Spirit will cease to strive with them." The changes are seen by some critics to be another step in the evolution of the text of the Book of Mormon to delete racist language from it. Others, such as Marvin Perkins , see the changes as better conforming the chapter headers and footnotes to the meaning of
9396-565: The plates by holding or moving them wrapped in cloth, although without seeing the plates themselves. Their accounts of the plates' appearance tend to describe a golden-colored compilation of thin metal sheets (the "plates") bound together by wires in the shape of a book. The manuscript was completed in June 1829. E. B. Grandin published the Book of Mormon in Palmyra, New York, and it went on sale in his bookstore on March 26, 1830. Smith said he returned
9504-474: The plates on September 22, 1827, four years after his initial visit to the hill, and directed him to translate them into English. Smith said the angel Moroni strictly instructed him to not let anyone else see the plates without divine permission. Neighbors, some of whom had collaborated with Smith in earlier treasure-hunting enterprises, tried several times to steal the plates from Smith while he and his family guarded them. As Smith and contemporaries reported,
9612-403: The plates to Moroni upon the publication of the book. Multiple theories of naturalistic composition have been proposed. In the twenty-first century, leading naturalistic interpretations of Book of Mormon origins hold that Smith authored it himself, whether consciously or subconsciously, and simultaneously sincerely believed the Book of Mormon was an authentic sacred history. Most adherents of
9720-407: The plates were entirely absent. In 1828, while scribing for Smith, Harris, at the prompting of his wife Lucy Harris , repeatedly asked Smith to loan him the manuscript pages of the dictation thus far. Smith reluctantly acceded to Harris's requests. Within weeks, Harris lost the manuscript , which was most likely stolen by a member of his extended family. After the loss, Smith recorded that he lost
9828-399: The process itself only in vague terms, saying he translated by a miraculous gift from God. According to some accounts from his family and friends at the time, early on, Smith copied characters off the plates as part of a process of learning to translate an initial corpus. For the majority of the process, Smith dictated the text by voicing strings of words which a scribe would write down; after
9936-452: The rest of the narrative. Following this section is the Words of Mormon , a small book that introduces Mormon , the principal narrator for the remainder of the text. The narration describes the proceeding content ( Book of Mosiah through to chapter 7 of the internal Book of Mormon ) as being Mormon's abridgment of "the large plates of Nephi", existing records that detailed the people's history up to Mormon's own life. Part of this portion
10044-485: The rest. In the Book of Mormon, Lamanites are described as having received a "skin of blackness" to distinguish them from the Nephites. The "change" in skin color is often mentioned in conjunction with God 's curse on the descendants of Laman for their wickedness and corruption: And he had caused the cursing to come upon [the Lamanites], yea, even a sore cursing, because of their iniquity. For behold, they had hardened their hearts against him, and they had become like unto
10152-545: The scribe confirmed they had finished writing, Smith would continue. Many accounts describe Smith dictating by reading a text as it appeared either on seer stones he already possessed or on a set of spectacles that accompanied the plates, prepared by the Lord for the purpose of translating. The spectacles, often called the "Nephite interpreters," or the " Urim and Thummim ," after the biblical divination stones, were described as two clear seer stones which Smith said he could look through in order to translate, bound together by
10260-536: The skin of the Lamanites as "dark." The Book of Mormon describes the animosity that the Lamanite people held toward the Nephites. The Lamanites believed that they were "driven out of the land of Jerusalem because of the iniquities of their fathers" and were wronged by Nephi and so swore vengeance against his descendants. The Lamanites taught their children to have "eternal hatred" towards the Nephites, and "that they should murder them, and that they should rob and plunder them, and do all they could to destroy them." After
10368-430: The story of Samuel the Lamanite as an example of criticism in the book's narrative of Nephite tendencies to "link skin color to righteousness". In December 2010, the LDS Church made changes to the non-canonical chapter summaries and to some of the footnotes in its online version of the Book of Mormon. In Second Nephi 5, the original wording was the following: "Because of their unbelief, the Lamanites are cursed, receive
10476-429: The subconscious. However, Ann Taves considers this description problematic for overemphasizing "lack of control" when historical and comparative study instead suggests Smith "had a highly focused awareness" and "a considerable degree of control over the experience" of dictation. Independent scholar William L. Davis posits that after believing he had encountered an angel in 1823, Smith "carefully developed his ideas about
10584-456: The text in light of the LDS Church's 1978 Revelation on Priesthood . In an interview, a former Brigham Young University graduate student suggested that the changes were made for "clarity, a change in emphasis and to stick closer to the scriptural language". Book of Mormon The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement , first published in 1830 by Joseph Smith as The Book of Mormon: An Account Written by
10692-473: The text". Barnes calls the Book of Mormon a "scripture about writing and its influence in a post-modern world of texts" and "a statement about different voices, and possibly the problem of voice, in sacred literature". The Book of Mormon is organized as a compilation of smaller books, each named after its main named narrator or a prominent leader, beginning with the First Book of Nephi (1 Nephi) and ending with
10800-400: The time that Lehi's family arrive in the promised land further south. The narrative returns to Moroni's present ( Book of Moroni ) in which he transcribes a few short documents, meditates on and addresses the book's audience, finishes the record, and buries the plates upon which they are narrated to be inscribed upon, before implicitly dying as his father did, in what allegedly would have been
10908-505: The twelve tribes of Israel are divided into the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah in the Old Testament. After the two groups separated from each other, the rebellious Lamanites were cursed and "cut off from the presence of the Lord." They received a "skin of blackness" so they would "not be enticing" to the Nephites. Centuries later, the narrative in the Book of Alma still describes
11016-476: The twenty Lamanite missionaries, fifteen of the twenty were as light as Anglos, five were darker but equally delightsome. The children in the home placement program in Utah are often lighter than their brothers and sisters in the hogans on the reservation. At one meeting, a father and mother and their sixteen-year-old daughter we represent, the little member girl – sixteen – sitting between the dark father and mother, and it
11124-478: The two groups warred for centuries, the narrative states that Jesus Christ appeared to the more righteous Nephites and the Lamanites, who, by then, had converted in large numbers to righteousness before God. Soon after his visit, the Lamanites and Nephites merged into one nation and co-existed for two centuries in peace. The Book of Mormon further recounts, "There were no robbers, nor murderers, neither were there Lamanites, nor any manner of -ites; but they were in one,
11232-521: The uncovered golden plates and, in some cases, handle them. Their written testimonies are known as the Testimony of Three Witnesses , who described seeing the plates in a visionary encounter with an angel, and the Testimony of Eight Witnesses , who described handling the plates as displayed by Smith. Statements signed by them have been published in most editions of the Book of Mormon. In addition to Smith and these eleven, several others described encountering
11340-399: The writings of ancient prophets to become the Book of Mormon, changed the wording to "a pure and a delightsome people," consistent with contemporary interpretation of the term "white" as used in scripture. However, all future LDS Church printings of the Book of Mormon until 1981 continued from the second edition, saying the Lamanites would become "a white and delightsome people." Eventually in
11448-423: Was buoyed by passages such as 2 Nephi 30:6, which in early editions of the Book of Mormon, read: [T]heir scales of darkness shall begin to fall from their eyes; and many generations shall not pass away among them, save they shall be a white and a delightsome people. In 1840, with the third edition of the Book of Mormon, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, Joseph Smith , whose adherents believe translated
11556-404: Was evident she was several shades lighter than her parents – on the same reservation, in the same hogan, subject to the same sun and wind and weather. ... These young members of the Church are changing to whiteness and to delightsomeness. One white elder jokingly said that he and his companion were donating blood regularly to the hospital in the hope that the process might be accelerated. That view
11664-475: Was limited. In April 1829, Oliver Cowdery met Smith and, believing Smith's account of the plates, began scribing for Smith in what became a "burst of rapid-fire translation". In May, Joseph and Emma Smith along with Cowdery moved in with the Whitmer family, sympathetic neighbors, in an effort to avoid interruptions as they proceeded with producing the manuscript. While living with the Whitmers, Smith said he received permission to allow eleven specific others to see
#954045