Abstract: The Codex Project

[Limnor]

...For my purposes it actually doesn’t matter too much—my model doesn’t require Rigdon early, only that he can be absorbed into an already forming group.

but Rigdon brought the book, right? AM I remembering that correctly?

If you mean brought the Spalding book or an altered Spalding book to Joseph to be “found,” I think the interlocutor between Rigdon and Smith was actually Parley P Pratt.

Inferred from the text — Pratt is Ammon in the book of Mosiah.

[Marcus]

but Rigdon brought the book, right? AM I remembering that correctly?

If you mean brought the Spalding book or an altered Spalding book to Joseph to be “found,” I think the interlocutor between Rigdon and Smith was actually Parley P Pratt.

Inferred from the text — Pratt is Ammon in the book of Mosiah.

I see, i didn't know about the go-between, i don't want you to say it all again, can you link to a post about that?

(I apologize, i feel like you've said all this multiple times, but if you could indulge me a link I'd really appreciate it.)

[Limnor]

If you mean brought the Spalding book or an altered Spalding book to Joseph to be “found,” I think the interlocutor between Rigdon and Smith was actually Parley P Pratt.

Inferred from the text — Pratt is Ammon in the book of Mosiah.

I see, i didn't know about the go-between, i don't want you to say it all again, can you link to a post about that?

(I apologize, i feel like you've said all this multiple times, but if you could indulge me a link I'd really appreciate it.)

This is how I’ve interpreted it:

Martin Harris, a prosperous Palmyra farmer known for funding religious causes and printing ventures, becomes Alvin’s first external collaborator. He appears as Limhi, the loyal ally who helps preserve the written record and maintain its secrecy. Harris provides material support, copies sections of text, and acts as messenger to the broader reformist network. After Alvin’s sudden death in November 1823, Harris—bewildered by the silence of his prophetic friend—dispatches a small band of confidants to “discover what had happened,” echoing Mosiah 21 where Limhi sends explorers to seek the lost brethren. These emissaries return not with the living prophet but with fragments of the record and word of his demise.

Shortly afterward, Parley P. Pratt (Ammon)—sent east by Rigdon (Mosiah)—meets Harris/Limhi and learns that “the prophet has been slain.” This meeting explains how Pratt comes to possess knowledge of the work and of its unfinished state, linking the Ohio reformers to the Palmyra household. Parley P. Pratt, then still in the Toronto-Lake Ontario region working as a canal laborer and self-educated preacher, is reported to have been traveling through upstate New York along the very routes that would have brought him near Palmyra by 1824, giving plausibility to the symbolic “journey to the land of Lehi-Nephi.”

[Kishkumen]

I have enjoyed following all of this. The role of Alvin has long been a point of curiosity for me. Alvin is very significant in the family spiritual biography, and this is evident from the traces he leaves behind in the Mormon canon. I also like the way the Book of Mormon is here being mined for possible evidence of events outside the book in the lives of the author(s). That said, I feel cautious about the use of the book to generate events outside it that may not be corroborated by external evidence. What indicates that Harris had this kind of relationship with Alvin?

[Limnor]

I have enjoyed following all of this. The role of Alvin has long been a point of curiosity for me. Alvin is very significant in the family spiritual biography, and this is evident from the traces he leaves behind in the Mormon canon. I also like the way the Book of Mormon is here being mined for possible evidence of events outside the book in the lives of the author(s). That said, I feel cautious about the use of the book to generate events outside it that may not be corroborated by external evidence. What indicates that Harris had this kind of relationship with Alvin?

There’s no clear external evidence Harris had a relationship with Alvin. I’ll admit that the evidence is inferential and difficult, if not impossible, to prove.

That said, I’m not sure my interpretation of the book requires a direct relationship between Harris and Alvin. There is no direct textual evidence that Limhi knew Abinadi personally either, and Limhi really acquires the record—the 24 plates of ore—by accident. His people find them on a failed mission.

In Mosiah 7 Limhi explicitly states that a prophet—not named, but probably Abinadi—had been slain, but his relationship with that prophet isn’t clear. The connection is through King Noah, who I assess to be Joseph Smith Sr.

So I’m not saying Harris necessarily had a direct relationship with Alvin. The parallel is that Harris, like Limhi, is relevant because his involvement is more grounded through the record than the person.

[Kishkumen]

Thanks, Limnor! I like how you are always straightforward and reasonable in how you conduct discussions.

[Gadianton]

In your line of analysis, it seems like Nephi would be the obvious pick for Joseph Smith. Any of the transparently righteous A-string prophets. But, aren't you also saying that Cain and the anti-Christ's represent Joseph Smith?

[Limnor]

Caution is fair warning, but it’s hard for me to ignore parallels when they keep showing up.

What I think is interesting is the witnesses’ later assertions that the book is “true.” It’s as if they sort of want people to understand the connection and realize that by “true” they mean those things actually happened to and around them.

[Limnor]

In your line of analysis, it seems like Nephi would be the obvious pick for Joseph Smith. Any of the transparently righteous A-string prophets. But, aren't you also saying that Cain and the anti-Christ's represent Joseph Smith?

I think the characters sometimes represent a change depending on the situation and intent of the real world players and audiences.

So what looks like a contrast and external conflict may actually represent an internal change—Korihor vs. Alma for example may actually be a before and after change within Joseph’s approach rather than two separate people.

[Gadianton]

What parallels? I can see the parallels between Nephi and what Joseph sees when he looks in the mirror. What he's aspiring to. I can also see the anti-Christ characters as a deeper psychoanalysis of Joseph, or as the other side of the coin of transparently righteous characters. I suppose if that's what you mean, I can see that. But what do you mean by parallels?