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Joseph Smith and the Origins of the Book of Mormon (2nd Edition) | 
 enlarge | Author: David Persuitte
Publisher: McFarland & Company
Category: Book
Buy New: $35.00
New (3) Used (3) from $34.92
Avg. Customer Rating:  24 reviews
Sales Rank: 740941
Media: Paperback
Edition: 2
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 335
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.8 x 6.7 x 0.9
ISBN: 078640826X
Dewey Decimal Number: 289.322
EAN: 9780786408269
ASIN: 078640826X
Publication Date: October 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
Just as a growing interest in millennialism at the turn of the century has rejuvenated religious debate and questions of the fate of the world, so did Mormonism develop from millennial enthusiasm early in the nineteenth century. Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, and a provocative, even controversial figure in history, believed that he had been given the authority to restore a corrupted Christianity to the true church. The primary source of Smith's latter-day revelation is The Book of Mormon, and to fully understand his role as the founder of the Mormon faith, one must also understand The Book of Mormon and how it came to be. Unfortunately, the literature about Joseph Smith and The Book of Mormon is permeated with contradiction and controversy.
This impressive work, now in an expanded and revised second edition incorporating new findings, presents new biographical information about Smith and resolves many of the controversies concerning his character. Through an extensive comparative analysis it posits as a probable conceptual source for The Book of Mormon, a book written by New England minister Ethan Smith entitled View of the Hebrew; or the Tribes of Israel in America. The results of this research were presented together for the first time ever in the first edition of this work and are instrumental in shedding much new light on the path Joseph Smith took toward founding the Church of the Latter-day Saints.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 19 more reviews...
 A great, if bitter, attack on Joseph Smith April 11, 2008
I read the first edition and really liked it. It goes into detail about how much of The Book of Mormon was directly lifted from the book "View of the Hebrew." There are some pretty slanderous things said about Joseph Smith, and the overall tone reminds me of Thomas Paine's "The Age of Reason," but I doubt that someone who's already a firm believer in the Mormon faith will be swayed by it. The overall theme of "how can anyone believe this?" can be grating, but the evidence itself is hard to deny.
Persuitte's Accomplishment December 26, 2007
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Despite an interest for years in the Mormon Church and its doctrines, I have been quite ignorant about the story of Joseph Smith's life- or theories about the origin of his Book- that are not officially endorsed by the LDS Church. Mormon rebuttals to this book I have found online seem to focus almost exclusively on Persuitte's persual of what is called the "View of the Hebrews Theory." (According to this theory, Smith was inspired by a work called "A View of the Hebrews", an argument written by a Congregationalist minister for the American Indians being the lost tribes of Israel.) However, Persuitte's most interesting (and damning) material comes in the first half of the book, where "A View of the Hebrews" is hardly mentioned.
Persuitte's book is heavily documented- to the point where the information is distracting to the argument at times. Most interesting is his careful biography of the young Joseph Smith, including his activities as a treasure digger who claimed to divine buried gold with a stone in his hat and his 1826 trial for "juggling" (conning). The "Golden Plates" story, as it turns out, predates his discovery of the Book of Mormon. In fact, the events leading up to the Book's eventual unveiling (and many of the events afterwards) are a mixture of ever-escalating con-manship and comedy of errors. The number of documented facts- many from official Mormon sources- that show Smith's duplicity and showmanship are what really undermine the LDS-version of the story; the "View of the Hebrews Theory" will be just a topping for most readers, even though Persuitte finds it fascinating. What the "View of the Hebrews Theory" does do- along with much of the rest of the book's evidence- is place Joseph Smith and his Book firmly within their time and place.
If you are interested in Mormon origins, Persuitte's book is definitely worth a read.
 A technical writer who is spot on March 14, 2007
David Persuitte is Spot on. He masters and assimilates many works of other credible researchers and authors on Mormonism. The systmatic manner in which he disects Joe Smiths plagarism of Pastor Ethan Smiths work, View of the Hebrews, is masterful. When you are done reading, studying, and comparing this book to the truth of Joe Smith's out right plagarism of many contemporary sources that resulted in the creation of a "translation of the Book of Mormon", it is laughable. I recommend this book only to those who are true philosophers at heart. Those who truly want to know the truth about the most plausible way in which Joe Smith created his Book of Mormon " revelation". I was an ultra-active Mormon for over 46 years. I was a High Priest and Mormon Temple worker. I know Mormon doctrine. This book helped me leave the Mormon cult.
 Haven't read it, but why? January 24, 2007
2 out of 28 found this review helpful
If you read one anti-mormon book then you've read them all. Very rarely do they tell you anything new.
Regardless of what this book will tell you, the Spirit will tell you that the Book of Mormon is true.... if you'll read it.
 Ultimately fails in its premise November 4, 2006
11 out of 21 found this review helpful
After having read many texts that show parallels between the Book of Mormon and Ethan Smith's View of the Hebrews, this book by Persuitte is one of the best I have thus far encountered. Notwithstanding, it has many failings, not the least is (i) Persuitte's unequviocal acceptance of anti-Mormon claims against the Book of Mormon that have long been outdated, and (ii) his failure to explain away evidences conducive to Book of Mormon authenticity.
On the topic of (i), for instance, Perussuitte claims that the mention of synagogues in the Book of Mormon represents an anachronism in the Book of Mormon. Notwithstanding, the current paradigm among scholars is that synagogues existed *before* the exile, consistent with the Book of Mormon. Lee Levine, a non-LDS scholar from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, has shown in his 2000 book, "The ancient synagogue: the first thousand years" that synaogues existed as chambers in city gates in the pre-exilic era. With the centralisation of Temple worship and animal sacrifice in Jerusalem contemporary with the Deuteronomic Reformation in 622 BCE, local congregations established buildings for the worship (without animal sacrifce) in these chambers that served as synaogues. The charge that synagogues in the Book of Mormon represents an anachronism is not another out-dated claim made against the Book of Mormon volume. Others could be dealt with, such as Perusitte's appendix on Book of Mormon archaeology, but I will suggest the reader to pursue "An ancient American setting for the Book of Mormon" by John L. Sorenson from 1985 that blows holes into most, if not all, the claims made against the volume.
On the issue of (ii), if the Book of Mormon, as Persuitte believes it to be, is 19th century fiction, he really should have dealt with the evidences LDS scholars and apologists cite as conducive to Book of Mormon historicity. For instance, *all* the Old World sites in the Arabian Peninsula have been discoverd, such as the River of Laman and Valley of Lemuel (1 Nephi 2:5-8); Shazeer (1 Nephi 16:11), Nahom (1 Nephi 16:34), and Bountiful (1 Nephi 17:5). In the case of Nahom, recent lime altars have been discovered attesting to the historicity of the name NHM and its function as a burial site comtemporary with the Book of Mormon, becoming the first archaeological artefacts attesting Book of Mormon historicity.
While much more could be said on why I feel this text fails, the above should be enough to give some food for thought. I will urge, however, people to read the Book of Mormon and Ethan Smith's View of the Hebrews themselves, and see that the latter could not possiblt be a source for the former, contra Persuitte.
I welcome sincere feedback at Robert.S.Boylan@nuim.ie
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