Vol. 9, No. 6, 1992

Articles on Mormonism

Rick Branch

In his book, Joseph Smith and the Origins of the Book of Mormon, David Persuitte gives a fresh look at an old theory. That theory being "that the author of the Book of Mormon had acquired an essential measure of his material and ideas, perhaps even his very `inspiration,' from Ethan Smith's book" View of the Hebrews (p. 2).

While this theory has been around since the 1800's, Persuitte gives a more extensive parallel column comparison of the two books than do any other authors on this subject.

This book also provides a brief overview of several other very important aspects of Smith's early life. These would include problems with the various versions of the First Vision accounts; his conviction in New York for "glass looking" (crystal ball gazing or divination); his buried treasure hunting and his attempt to join the Methodist Church after his supposed First Vision (Chapters 3-7).

After setting the stage of Smith's early adventures, Persuitte next turns to the thesis of his book. He provides material not only from the Book of Mormon and View of the Hebrews, but also comments from Mormon leaders about this theory.

He mentions that B.H. Roberts, a prominent LDS scholar, had "noticed similarities between View of the Hebrews and the Book of Mormon" (p. 105).

He also noted that Sidney B. Sperry "admitted to some parallels between the two books" (p. 108).

At the conclusion of chapter 14, Persuitte mentions a possible alternative for the problems found in Book of Mormon geography. He discusses the idea that perhaps Smith was using places in New York and Ohio as well as the Great Lakes for his point of reference (pp. 166-167).

This idea, as well as many others that Persuitte mentions in his book are discussed in other works. The Book of Mormon geography idea is expanded in another, little know book, Book of Mormon Authorship: A Closer Look by Vernal Holley.

While it is true that many of Persuitte's ideas can be found in other books on Mormonism, unless one wishes to purchase 15-20 books, all of which will by necessity overlap to a certain extent, Persuitte's book is worth having and reading.

Do not make the mistake, however, of thinking that everything in Persuitte's book is simply a re-hash of other works. For to do so would be incorrect.

He has done some original research and dug up some very interesting quotes and sources. Some of which this author has never seen before!

One of the most interesting sections in his book are his four appendixes. This first discusses the Wood Scrape incident. While D. Michael Quinn, in his book Early Mormonism and the Magic World View discusses this at length, Persuitte has done an excellent job in his synopsis (Appendix A).

Appendix B is a personal favorite topic of this author, that being Book of Mormon Archaeology - or the lack there of!

Appendix D is a synopsis of the problems found in the Mormon scripture the Pearl of Great Price. For some of these problems, which are covered in brief detail by Persuitte, see other articles in this issue of the Watchman Expositor.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this book was a "purely speculative scenario. Having read so many books on Mormonism, it is hard to find new ideas that have not been expressed by at least ten other authors.

However, Persuitte has presented a new idea!

For years there have been researchers of Mormonism who believed that Joseph Smith gained his inspiration for the Book of Mormon from Ethan Smith's View of the Hebrews. Believing this, they present their evidence to build their case.

There are also other researchers who believe that Joseph Smith's inspiration came from the writings of Solomon Spalding. For example Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon by Cowdrey, Davis and Scales. They therefore present their evidence to shore up their case.

While both have evidence, both disagree as to who influenced Smith and his writing of the Book of Mormon. That is until now.

Until Persuitte, (as far as this author knows) no one has ever suggested that "Ethan Smith and Solomon Spalding do meet and become good friends. they correspond with each other. This trading of ideas stimulates both men to write romances about the ancient Americans.

"Spalding takes Ethan Smith's manuscript and combines it with his own ideas." Oliver Cowdery then comes in contact with Ethan Smith and asks "permission" to read his manuscript.

Realizing what he read, Cowdery takes the ideas to "a relative of his, Joseph Smith", and thus begins the story of the Book of Mormon.

While this author does not agree with all of Persuitte's conclusions, it is a book well worth reading. Much of this information is very factual and every serious student of Mormonism will want to have this book in their library.

Order from:

Cost is $19.95 plus $2.00 shipping