Book of Mormon Origins: A crowdsourced annotation project

[_canadaduane]

Hey all,

When my brother and I did a computer analysis a couple of years ago that led us to The Late War by Gilbert Hunt, many of you were instrumental in helping crowdsource insights and parallels that led to this online document. Its ready availability on the internet has been influential in helping many people see through the claim that the Book of Mormon was distinctive and without parallel in its day--it hit its peak a year ago with 5,000 unique users viewing it in a day, and now averages about 100 per day. Thank-you for that help, credit is given where due.

Now, we've begun work on a new, less compute-intensive project: a book we're calling Book of Mormon Origins. It's an online, crowdsourced annotated Book of Mormon that shows all known sources, remix candidates, and close parallels from the early 19th century. It will be published online as HTML, as a downloadable PDF, and as an ebook. Check it out here (NOTE: Work In Progress):

http://www.bookofmormonorigins.com/

(For some examples of work already done, see 1 Nephi 8, Joseph Smith Sr.'s Tree of Life dream; Moroni 10, a lot of New Testament content in Moroni; and Alma 51, which is heavy with remix potential from The Late War).

We think Book of Mormon Origins has even more potential to help curious seekers falsify the "miraculous origin" theory of the Book of Mormon--i.e. the idea that there is no plausible explanation for the book other than a divinely inspired translation of an ancient American civilization's publication. While there are many online sources that show biblical verses in the Book of Mormon, or remix candidates from its day (such as The Late War) there are no comprehensive, annotated, beautiful-to-read, online documents that we know of that show the Book of Mormon in the context of its literary cousins. We're going to fix that, and we think online crowdsourcing is the way to do it. Because we each have a little to bring to the table, the sum of everyone's little bit is going to result in what I believe will be a landmark reference that will make it very clear that Joseph had a lot of natural inspiration during his creative writing project.

If you'd like to help out, please contact me, or just dive right in. Here are some ways to help:

1. As you browse the book, if you see any missing references, begin by adding a note to the editors. You can do so by hovering over the verse with your mouse, and when a "+" (plus sign) appears on the right-hand side, click it and add a note. An editor will either discuss with you or add the reference directly within a day or two.
2. There is a list of resources that we intend to add as annotations listed here: Discussions and Resources. If you'd like to help by taking responsibility for one of these resources, you can do so in the comments there. Taking responsibility means looking through the resource for annotatable content, comparing with existing annotations, and adding annotations if not already present. And communicating with the group as you make progress or need help :)
3. If you know of a resource that we haven't included yet (book, historical anecdote, article, etc.), please start a New Discussion (it's a button on the page) and let us know about the resource.
4. For those who wish to get their hands really dirty, you can become an editor and we'll give you full editing rights. There are instructions available in the Editing Guide.

Thanks!

[_mackay11]

I'm not a big name in the community, but I would be interested in contributing to this project. I'll sign up.

[_Always Changing]

Please feel free to integrate my findings with this project. If you no longer have it, just ask.

[_deacon blues]

I've wondered lately about the the reference to "many prophets" predicting the fall of Jerusalem. According to the book of Jeremiah, there were many false prophets who opposed Jeremiah, and predicted that Zedekiah and Jerusalem would prevail in the political turmoil of the times.

[_canadaduane]

Please feel free to integrate my findings with this project. If you no longer have it, just ask.

Yes please :) I'm afraid I may not have them now.

[_Always Changing]

Please feel free to integrate my findings with this project. If you no longer have it, just ask.

Yes please :) I'm afraid I may not have them now.

Your email is still first.last@gmail?

[_canadaduane]

Your email is still first.last@gmail?

Yes, that's correct.

[_canadaduane]

I'm not a big name in the community, but I would be interested in contributing to this project. I'll sign up.

Great! Any help is appreciated.

If you'd like to join the editors list, PM me, or if there's anything else I can do to help let me know. We have a chatroom and a mailing list where questions and editing guidelines are being discussed.

[_Always Changing]

I may be able to participate later. However, what I sent you should keep you busy for quite a while. I no longer have enough anger to keep me motivated. I guess that is a good thing.

[_canadaduane]

I may be able to participate later. However, what I sent you should keep you busy for quite a while. I no longer have enough anger to keep me motivated. I guess that is a good thing.

That's good news :)

I've found that my motivation is now primarily a kind of collaborative excitement. Working on something that people are likely to care about, and having had a part in it. I also find new gems here and there that are interesting. Like just today I discovered (through someone else working on this project) that to "make an abridgment" is used in the Apocrypha. It's stuff like that that gives me an "oh, cool!" moment :)