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One of the closest possible links between John Smith and Kircher is the appearance of Kircher’s work in a list of books in the Dartmouth library from about 1850. So it may be that Kircher’s work was available for John Smith to read and maybe he read it. Maybe. That mention in Bibliotheca Sacra and ...

Thank you for the "return and report." I generally don't like to prejudge a book based on interviews an author has where the author cannot fully explain their arguments and evidence. Asking them to explain all of that would eliminate the need to buy the book. Your description is about what I would ...

I just finished listening to Mormonism live with Nelson. He claims it is the most parsimonious theory. His statistical opionion is that Joseph only had about 5% authorship with Rigdon and Spalding carrying the majority? That seems tenuous especially with the scant evidence that Rigdon recieved the ...

Fence Sitter wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 28, 2024 4:31 pm

I look at it this way.
We have the Book of Mormon.
It was clearly created in the 19th century in a very specific 19th century milieu.
How exactly that was done is irrelevant to the fact it was a 19th century production.

Yes, it is definitely a 19th-century book.

Dr. Shades wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 28, 2024 9:07 am

So, it's good for people to continue believing in Mormonism?

I would say that most consequential life decisions are better made when they are undertaken with good information backing them up.

So, started to read the book today, and, again, I am unimpressed. Sure, it is fun, but it basically raises interesting coincidences and possibilities. There is nothing that convincingly connects Kircher, Monmaur, John Smith, and Joseph Smith. I don’t see that apologists have much to worry about here...

Congratulations, Philo! You are a dynamo!

By the way, I just noticed this comparison of Book of Mormon passages with John Smith’s writings, and I have to say I am not that impressed.

https://faenrandir.github.io/a_careful_ ... s-and-bom/

I would really appreciate a "return and report" on the book. I listened to the some of the podcasts he has been on, and the more he spoke, the less interested I became. The title seemed to raise expectations for a theory of Book of Mormon authorship. The more he spoke, the more it seemed to be most...

I know that the general (and reasonable) standard is to look for definitive ties, but for me just the existence of certain ideas within the time and area -- even amongst seemingly unrelated individuals -- is interesting to me because of my own (young) experiences with just how organically informati...