I love the Book of Mormon! On this page you can find links to download articles I’ve written about this amazing book.
The Book of Mormon
Brad Wilcox and I wrote a book called 52 Life-Changing Questions from the Book of Mormon. The genesis of the book came when I noticed that there are 543 questions asked in the Book of Mormon, many of which can provide important nourishment for our souls. You can buy the hardcover book, the e-book, or download a free excerpt. You can also download a spreadsheet of all of the questions in the Book of Mormon.
My grandfather did several wordprint studies on the Book of Mormon. The basic idea is that the Book of Mormon was authored by different prophets and so we would expect their writing styles to be different from each other. I’ve tried to pick up a thread of his research by looking at how different Book of Mormon authors use certain key words. I published this article with Jana Johnson (a great Research Assistant!) on “The Word Baptize in the Book of Mormon.” We also published “Who Uses the Word Resurrection in the Book of Mormon and how is it Used?” Check them out!
At a stake conference one time, a visiting General Authority talked about finding patterns in the scriptures, and mentioned the idea of searching the Book of Mormon, specifically looking for patterns in how prophets pray. I have really enjoyed exploring this pattern, and wrote this article on a few of the things I’ve found: Patterns of Prayer in the Book of Mormon.
To me, one of the most fascinating things in the Book of Mormon is how Book of Mormon prophets quote from each other. This article gives a brief overview of intertextuality in the Book of Mormon, and provides an extended example of how Alma the Younger used Abinadi’s words when teaching his son Corianton: Textual Similarities in the Word of Abinadi and Alma’s Counsel to Corianton.
Another interesting example of intertextuality in the Book of Mormon is how Book of Mormon authors utilize phrases from the Old Testament Psalms. This topic is explored in chapter I wrote for the 2013 Sperry Symposium book: “Old Testament Psalms in the Book of Mormon.”
I also studied Jacob’s words to see how their were used by later Book of Mormon prophets. It appears that Jacob utilized some phrases that were then frequently used by other Book of Mormon prophets. Read the article: “Jacob’s Textual Legacy.”
Jacob is not the only prophet whose words reverberate throughout the Book of Mormon. In fact, the first prophet after Jacob to give us a large number of words is Abinadi. Read the article: Abinadi’s Legacy – Tracing his Influence Through the Book of Mormon and you’ll find out why I say that Abinadi comes before King Benjamin!
A similar study that I wrote with Sunny Hafen and Jaron Hansen focuses on how Samuel the Lamanite uses the words of previous Nephite prophets. There are several intricate details that can be unraveled through careful intratextual analysis of Samuel’s discourse. Read the article: “Samuel’s Sources.”
On multiple occasions, Elder David A. Bednar has invited teachers and learns to carefully study 1 Nephi 11-14 and look for what these chapters teach about teaching and learning. This article is a humble attempt to start a conversation on some of these lessons: Look and I Looked.
I also wrote a book called The Little Book of Book of Mormon Evidences published by Deseret Book. It’s meant to be a quick, simple introduction to some of the intellectual evidence that the Book of Mormon is what it claims to be. Buy the book, download an excerpt in English, or you can find a complete Spanish version that is available for free.