Book of Mormon and epilepsy

From FAIRMormon

Contents 1 Criticism 1.1 Source(s) of the Criticism 2 Response 3 Conclusion 4 Further reading 4.1 FAIR wiki articles 4.2 FAIR web site 4.3 External links 4.4 Printed material

Criticism

Critics have claimed that Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Mormon while under the influence of an "epileptic fit," thus perpetuating a fraud without knowing it.

Source(s) of the Criticism

• I. Wiley Woodbridge, The Founder of Mormonism (New York, 1902).

Response

The Book of Mormon was not started and completed in a single sitting. Rather, the book was translated in many small segments over an extended period of time. These segments were started at will and with various people as the prophet's scribes. Not one of these scribes ever noted any seizure symptoms during any part of the translation process. There are no accounts by anybody concerning symptoms of epilepsy during the prophet's life.

To think that Joseph had multiple seizures, only when translating, at will for the various starting points of each new section, without any of the multiple scribes noticing or at any non-translating time in his life is preposterous. Even the author himself admits on page 437 of his own book that there is no direct evidence of epilepsy from the prophet's life.

Conclusion

The argument that Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Mormon during an epileptic fit and thus unknowingly propagated an untrue story is baseless and incongruent with any document of his life.

Further reading

FAIR wiki articles

Book of Mormon authorship theories

• Authorship theories (Summary page)
  • Automatic writing
  • Epilepsy
  • Joseph Smith as "author and proprietor"
  • Joseph Smith, Sr.'s dream and Lehi's vision
  • Seer stones, use of
  • Wordprint studies

Book of Mormon plagiarism accusations—wiki articles

• Plagiarism accusations (Summary page)
  • Apocrypha
  • The King James Bible
  • The Golden Pot
  • The Westminster Confession
  • The Wonders of Nature and Providence Displayed by Josiah Priest
  • The Spalding manuscript
  • View of the Hebrews
  • North American place names
  • The Comoros Islands and Moroni

FAIR web site

FAIR Authorship links

• FAIR Topical Guide: Authorship and Evidences FAIR link
  
• FAIR Topical Guide: Environmental Influences FAIR link
  
• FAIR Topical Guide: New World Context FAIR link
  
• FAIR Topical Guide: Old World Context FAIR link
  
• Daniel C. Peterson, "The Divine Source of the Book of Mormon in the Face of Alternative Theories Advocated by LDS Critics" FAIR link
• Daniel C. Peterson, "The Protean Joseph Smith" FAIR link

External links

• W. John Walsh and Monica Williams-Murphy, "Did Joseph Smith Suffer From Temporal Lobe Epilepsy?" lightplanet.com off-site

Book of Mormon authorship general links

• Philip A. Allred, "Alma's Use of State in the Book of Mormon: Evidence of Multiple Authorship," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 5/1 (1996): 140–146. off-site PDF link wiki
• Richard Lloyd Anderson, "The Modern-Text Theory (Review of "A Rhetorical Approach to the Book of Mormon: Rediscovering Nephite Sacramental Language" by Mark D. Thomas," FARMS Review of Books 6/1 (1994): 379–419. off-site PDF link
• Kevin L. Barney, "A More Responsible Critique (Review of: Does the Book of Mormon Reflect an Ancient Near Eastern Boackground?)," FARMS Review 15/1 (2003): 97–146. off-site PDF link
• Kevin Christensen, "Truth and Method: Reflections on Dan Vogel’s Approach to the Book of Mormon (Review of: Indian Origins and the Book of Mormon)," FARMS Review 16/1 (2004): 287–354. off-site PDF link
• James E. Faulconer, "Takayama: Restoration Revelation as Poetry rather than Fraud," FARMS Review of Books 13/1 (2001): 127–132. off-site PDF link
• Alan Goff, "Dan Vogel's Family Romance and the Book of Mormon as Smith Family Allegory (Review of: Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet)," FARMS Review 17/2 (2005): 321–400. off-site PDF link
• Garth L. Mangum, "The Economics of the Book of Mormon: Joseph Smith as Translator or Commentator," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 2/2 (1993): 78–89. off-site PDF link wiki
• Larry E. Morris, "'I Should Have an Eye Single to the Glory of God’: Joseph Smith’s Account of the Angel and the Plates (Review of: "From Captain Kidd’s Treasure Ghost to the Angel Moroni: Changing Dramatis Personae in Early Mormonism")," FARMS Review 17/1 (2005): 11–82. off-site PDF link
• L. Ara Norwood, "Review of Joseph Smith and the Origins of the Book of Mormon by David Persuitte," FARMS Review of Books 2/1 (1990): 187–204. off-site
• Gary F. Novak, "Examining the Environmental Explanation of the Book of Mormon (Review of Joseph Smith's Response to Skepticism by Robert N. Hullinger)," FARMS Review of Books 7/1 (1995): 139–154. off-site PDF link
• Daniel C. Peterson, "Editor's Introduction—Not So Easily Dismissed: Some Facts for Which Counterexplanations of the Book of Mormon Will Need to Account," FARMS Review 17/2 (2005): xi–lxix. off-site PDF link
• Noel B. Reynolds, "The Book of Mormon Today (Review of By the Hand of Mormon)," FARMS Review 15/1 (2003): 5–17. off-site PDF link
• Stephen D. Ricks, "Testaments: The Literary Riches of the Book of Mormon (Review of: Testaments: Links Between the Book of Mormon and the Hebrew Bible)," FARMS Review 16/2 (2004): 55–58. off-site PDF link
• Matthew Roper, "The Mythical "Manuscript Found" (Review of: Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon? The Spalding Enigma)," FARMS Review 17/2 (2005): 7–140. off-site PDF link
• Sidney B. Sperry, "Literary Problems in the Book of Mormon involving 1 Corinthians 12, 13, and Other New Testament Books," farms.byu.edu off-site
• John L. Sorenson, "A Rare Gem (Review of By the Hand of Mormon)," FARMS Review 15/1 (2003): 15–17. off-site PDF link
• John A. Tvedtnes and Matthew Roper, "Joseph Smith's Use of the Apocrypha: Shadow or Reality? (Review of Joseph Smith's Use of the Apocrypha by Jerald and Sandra Tanner)," FARMS Review of Books 8/2 (1996): 326–372. off-site PDF link
• Richard N. Williams, "The Spirit of Prophecy and the Spirit of Psychiatry: Restoration or Dissociation? (Review of The Sword of Laban: Joseph Smith Jr. and the Dissociated Mind)," FARMS Review of Books 12/1 (2000): 435–444. off-site PDF link

Printed material

Book of Mormon authorship general printed works

• Louis Midgley, "Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon? The Critics and Their Theories," Book of Mormon Authorship Revisited: The Evidence for Ancient Origins, edited by Noel B. Reynolds, (Provo, Utah : Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1997), 101–139 ISBN 093489325X ISBN 0934893187 ISBN 0884944697. off-site GospeLink
• John W. Welch, "Joseph Smith: Author and Proprietor," in Reexploring the Book of Mormon, edited by John W. Welch, (Provo, Utah: FARMS, 1992), 154–156. ISBN 0875796001 off-site FAIR link GospeLink GL direct link
• B.H. Roberts, "Counter Theories of Origin," New Witnesses for God, Vol. 3, Chapter XLIV, 347–406. GospeLink