The Spalding Theory of Book of Mormon authorship

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Criticism

Critics have claimed that Joseph Smith either plaigerized or relied upon a manuscript by Solomon Spaulding to write the Book of Mormon.

Source(s) of the Criticism

• Eber D. Howe, Mormonism Unvailed (New York : AMS Press, 1834 [1977]).
• William Alexander Linn, The Story of the Mormons (New York: Macmillan, 1902).

Claimed the existence of a second Spaulding manuscript when the first theory failed:

• George B. Arbaugh, Revelation in Mormonism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1932).

Response

Many critics have rejected the Spaulding theory as unworkable:

• Davis H. Bays, The Doctrines and Dogmas of Mormonism Examined and Refuted (St. Louis: Christian Publishing, 1897), 22, 25

[This theory is] "erroneous, and it will lead to almost certain defeat. . . . The facts are all opposed to this view, and the defenders of the Mormon dogma have the facts well in hand. . . . The Spaulding story is a failure. Do not attempt to rely upon it--it will let you down."

• Fawn Brodie, No Man Knows My History (New York, A. A. Knopf, 1945).
• Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Did Spaulding Write the Book of Mormon? (Salt Lake City: Utah Lighthouse Ministry, 1977).

Conclusion

A summary of the argument against the criticism.

Further reading

FAIR web site

• FAIR Topical Guide:
• John K. Wise, "Clouds Without Water, Zeal Without Knowledge" [1]

External links

• Lester Bush, "The Spalding [sic] Theory Then and Now," Dialogue 10:4 (Autumn 1977): 40-69.
• L. Ara Norwood, "Book of Mormon Authorship: A Closer Look," FARMS Review of Books 1:1 (1989): 80–88. [2]
• Gary F. Novak, "Naturalistic Assumptions and the Book of Mormon," BYU Studies 30 no. 3 (1990), 23–40.*GospeLink

Printed material

B.H. Roberts, "Counter Theories of Origin," New Witnesses for God, Vol. 3, Chapter XLIV, 347–406.GospeLink