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Criticism of Mormonism/Books/An Insider's View of Mormon Origins/Use of sources/To copy or not to copy
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Use of sources: To copy or not to copy?
A FAIR Analysis of: An Insider's View of Mormon Origins, a work by author: Grant Palmer
|
"Copying" becomes "translation" |
The Quotes
An Insider's View of Mormon Origins, page 48
The author claims that Joseph copied the story of Lamoni from the story of Lazarus in the Bible.
The References
- No citations are provided.
The Problems
The author asks us to
"[n]ote the common phrases, which I have placed in italics, and the seven common motifs in both stories." (emphasis added)
It sounds as if the author has done some serious research here, and no source is cited for this data. It seems evident, however, that the author's research involved simply reading the Tanner's analysis (and corresponding use of italicization and ellipses) of these verses. Here is a comparison of the author's work with the Tanner's analysis:
Reference | Author's claim... | Tanner's claim... | Tanner reference |
---|---|---|---|
Grant H. Palmer, An Insider's View of Mormon Origins (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2002) 48. ( Index of claims ) | Alma, about 90 B.C., Lamoni is dying and his wife
sent and desired that he [Ammon] should come ... and some say ... he stinketh ... He is not dead, [Ammon said,] but sleepeth ... [and] he shall rise again Ammon said unto her: Believest thou this? And she said unto him ... I believe ... [And] he arose ... (Alma 19: 2,5, 8-9, 12). |
"... others say that he is dead and that he stinketh ..." (Alma 19:5)
"... he sleepeth ..." (Alma 19:8) "... he shall rise again ..." (Alma 19:8) "And Ammon said unto her: Believest thou this? And she said unto him: ...I believe ..." (Alma 19:9) "... he arose ..." (Alma 19:12) |
Jerald and Sandra Tanner, The Changing World of Mormonism (Moody Press, 1979), 117.( Index of claims ). |
Grant H. Palmer, An Insider's View of Mormon Origins (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2002) 48. ( Index of claims ) | Lazarus, in about A.D. 33, is dying and his sisters
sent unto him ... [Jesus saith,] This sickness is not unto death, ... [for] Lazarus sleepeth ... [Then] Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again ... Jesus said unto her ... Believest thou this? She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe ... [but] by this time he stinketh ... [Jesus spoke a]nd he that was dead came forth ... (John 11: 3-4, 11,23,26-27,39, 44). |
"... Lazarus sleepeth ..." (John 11:11)
"... Thy brother shall rise again" (John 11:23) "Jesus said unto her ... Believest thou this? She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe ..." (John 11:25-27) "... by this time he stinketh..." (John 11:39) "... he that was dead came forth ..." (John 11:44) |
Jerald and Sandra Tanner, The Changing World of Mormonism (Moody Press, 1979), 117.( Index of claims ). |
The Tanner's work is not cited by the author—somewhat ironic for a chapter that accuses Joseph of plagiarism.
Further reading
A FAIR Analysis of Critical Works |
- American Massacre: The Tragedy at Mountain Meadows— (Index of claims)
- An Insider's View of Mormon Origins — (Index of claims—Use of sources)
- Archaeology and the Book of Mormon
- Ashamed of Joseph: Mormon Foundations Crumble
- Becoming Gods: A Closer Look at 21st-Century Mormonism/Inside Today's Mormonism — (Index of claims—Use of sources)
- Behind the Mask of Mormonism
- Specific works/Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows
- Specific works/By His Own Hand Upon Papyrus
- Counterfeit Gospel of Mormonism
- Covering Up the Black Hole in the Book of Mormon
- Decker's Complete Handbook on Mormonism
- Early Mormonism and the Magic World View — (Index of claims—Use of sources)
- Specific works/Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Mormonism
- Faithful History: Essays on Writing Mormon History
- From Captain Kidd's Treasure Ghost to the Angel Moroni: Changing Dramatis Personae in Early Mormonism
- In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith — (Index of Claims)
- Indian Origins and the Book of Mormon
- Inventing Mormonism: Tradition and the Historical Record
- Is the Mormon My Brother?
- Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet
- Joseph Smith and the Origins of The Book of Mormon (2nd edition)—(Index of claims)
- Joseph Smith's New York Reputation Reexamined
- The Kingdom of the Cults (Revised) — (Index of claims)
- Leaving the Saints
- Letters to a Mormon Elder
- Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA, and the Mormon Church — (Index of claims)
- Mormon America: The Power and the Promise — (Index of claims)
- The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power — (Index of claims)
- The Mormon Mirage: Seeing Through the Illusion of Mainstream Mormonism
- Mormonism 101—Index of claims
- Mormonism (Kurt Van Gorden)
- Mormonism: Shadow or Reality? — (Index of claims)
- The Mysteries of Godliness—A History of Mormon Temple Worship
- Nauvoo Polygamy — (Index of claims—Use of sources—Prejudicial language—Presentism—Mind reading—Censorship—Romance—Assumptions—Magick)
- New Approaches to the Book of Mormon
- New Mormon Challenge
- No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith — (Index of claims)
- One Nation Under Gods — (Index of claims—Use of Sources—Prejudicial language—Absurd claims—Presentism—Mind reading—Rewording—Omissions—Sarcasm)
- The Refiner's Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology, 1644–1844
- Same-Sex Dynamics Among Nineteenth-Century Americans: A Mormon Example — (Index of claims)
- Sidney Rigdon: A Portrait of Religious Excess
- The Changing World of Mormonism — (Index of claims)
- Trouble Enough: Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon
- Under the Banner of Heaven — (Index of claims)
- Word of God: Essays on Mormon Scripture