Historical evidence for a longterm relationship between rigdon and smith. An american, james adair, wrote a book a history of the american indians in 1775. It may be possible for literary analysts to recreate portions of the nephite record attributable to. The first and most widespread theory among skeptics was what is today sometimes called the spaldingrigdon theory for book of mormon authorship.
The book shows that there was indeed a manuscript by spalding entitled manuscript found, whose story was well known to the inhabitants of conneaut, and was remarkably similar to the story of the book of mormon. Solomon spaulding and the book of mormon fairmormon. Rice discovered the manuscript in 1884 while searching his collection for abolitionist materials for his friend james h. Somehow the spalding manuscript was lost and then resurfaced in 1884 in a pile of papers belonging to a man who had bought howes business. I have read every word of both it and the book of mormon, and i compiled a list of. I dont know of any spalding theorist that actually believes the oberlin manuscript is the base for the book of mormon. This spaulding manuscript is a fictional story about a group of romans who, while sailing to england early in the.
Spaulding manuscript the encyclopedia of mormonism. This theory first appeared in print in the book mormonism unvailed, published in 1834 by e. The original book of mormon transcript the book of. Book of mormonauthorship theoriesspalding manuscript. Solomon spalding project gutenberg selfpublishing ebooks.
Like other attempts to discredit the book of mormon, the theory of the spaulding manuscript is based on the belief that an unlearned man such as joseph smith could not have created a book as detailed and rich as the book of mormon and that he, therefore, must have obtained the content from some other source. Fairchild concluded that the theory of the origin of the book of mormon in the traditional manuscript of solomon spaulding will probably have to be relinquished. Feb 23, 2009 presentation about the spalding rigdon theory and the authorship of the book of mormon. Almost immediately after his baptism, rigdon acted as though he was in.
A very plausible lost and missing novel by solomon spalding manuscript found, separate and distinct from the oberlin manuscript has not been ruled out by mormon apologists. This will have implications for the validity of wordprint studies comparing spalding s manuscript and the book of mormon. Spalding demonstrates a lack of originality both in vocabulary and concept. Solomon spalding and revisionist history mormonthink. The most interesting literary controversy of the time, and the only one which has important practical bearing, is raging around the book of mormon, sometimes but incorrectly called the mormon bible. One aspect not addressed in the research is that spalding engages in an acceptable practice of the day, namely heavy borrowing and outright plagiarism. The first tangible result of this effort was the 1980 charting of the vocabulary common to the spalding manuscript and the book of mormon. Unique textual parallels from the oberlin spalding. Introduction to spaldings manuscript found part 1 mormon.
What are the pros and cons of the spauldingrigdon theory. A forum for exmormons and others who have been affected by mormonism to share news, commentary, and comedy about the mormon church. One hundred similarities between the book of mormon and the spaulding manuscript. Book of mormon central archive spaulding manuscript. Presented by robert hancock of the southern utah post mormon association, dec.
Book of mormon proved a fraud globedemocrat september 29, 1902. The handwriting purported to be spaldings, in the dictated book of mormon manuscript, bears a superficial resemblance to his penmanship but it bears an even closer. One of the earliest theories of book of mormon authorship was that joseph plagiarized the unpublished manuscript of a novel written by the reverend solomon spalding. The book of mormon is a volume of holy scripture comparable to the bible. Solomon spalding was an ex congregationalist minister, who had attended dartmouth college. Spaldingrigdon theory proves the book of mormon is false. Sydney rigdon somehow obtained a copy of that mythical manuscript and used it as the basis for the book of mormon which he and joseph and a bunch of others conspired to defraud the american public and the world with. Due to the obvious differences between the manuscript and the book of mormon, proponents of the theory have postulated that spaulding must have another manuscript which is similar to the book of mormon.
Is the book of mormon like any other nineteenth century book. Presentation about the spaldingrigdon theory and the authorship of the book of mormon. The forerunner to the book of mormon, manuscript found, was a story penned by solomon spalding. Spaldingrigdon theory of book of mormon authorship wikipedia. Full text of the manuscript story of reverend solomon spalding. Book of mormon proved a fraud globedemocrat september. Im not a mormon and i believe the bom sprang from the mind of joseph smith, but i have no sympathy for proponents of the spaldingrigdon theory because it is such a weak, poorlybuttressed alternative explanation. Jan 29, 2015 im not a mormon and i believe the bom sprang from the mind of joseph smith, but i have no sympathy for proponents of the spalding rigdon theory because it is such a weak, poorlybuttressed alternative explanation. The spalding rigdon theory of book of mormon authorship is the theory that the book of mormon was plagiarized in part from an unpublished manuscript written by solomon spalding. However, almost none of these people have actually read manuscript story for themselves. The theory first appeared in print in the book mormonism unvailed, published in 1834 by e. Looking at the spaulding manuscript mormon heretic. It was resurrected in honolulu, hawaii, our new possession, and is now deposited in the library of oberlin college, in ohio, and through the kindness of that institution i have had the loan of it for the purpose of examination and comparison with the book of mormon. All but one line of the printers manuscript has survived it is in the archives of the rlds church in independence, missouri.
Believers in the book of mormon felt vindicated by this discovery, and they published spauldings work to show the world it. Mormon challenges could the book of mormon story have. An ongoing study of shared language in spaldings manuscript pages and the book of mormon demonstrates that certain sections of the book of mormon overlap the known spalding writings to a greater degree than do other sections of that book. One of the conspiracy theories that gained traction in the early years of. This theory claimed that sidney rigdon wrote the religious parts of the book of mormon while the historical parts were plagiarized from an unpublished manuscript.
Since the book of mormon was first published, many have been unwilling to accept joseph smiths account of how it was produced. Who realy wrote the book of mormon solomon spalding. Solomon spalding february 20, 1761 october 20, 1816 was the author of two related t. Like other attempts to discredit the book of mormon, the theory of the spaulding manuscript is based on the belief that an unlearned man such as joseph smith. Spalding submitted his manuscript to a pittsburgh print shop for publication.
Spaldingrigdon theory of book of mormon authorship. The manuscript which we have was apparently obtained from spauldings effects at west amity, pennsylvania, at some time after the publication of the book of mormon, and seems to have been found as a result of a search to find whatever remained of spauldings writings in order to throw light on the question of whether he was the author of the. Davis and arthur vanick in consultation with dale r. The original book of mormon transcript the book of mormon. Jun 16, 2018 the book shows that there was indeed a manuscript by spalding entitled manuscript found, whose story was well known to the inhabitants of conneaut, and was remarkably similar to the story of the book of mormon.
One of the earliest theories was that the book of mormon was based on a manuscript by solomon spaulding also spelled spalding, a fictional story about early inhabitants of america. Soon after the publication of the book of mormon, critics believed that joseph must have plagiarized it from another source. The theory is that a spalding manuscript was stolen by sidney rigdon, who used it in collusion with joseph smith. Solomon spalding february 20, 1761 october 20, 1816 was the author of two related texts. Book of mormon vs spaulding manuscript book of mormon facts.
Oliver cowdery copied the entire book of mormon onto a second manuscript, known today as the printers manuscript. The spaulding manuscript is a fictional story about a group of romans who. Believers in the book of mormon felt vindicated by this discovery, and they published spauldings work to show the world it was not the source for the book of mormon. Is the book of mormon like any other nineteenth century. This will have implications for the validity of wordprint studies comparing spaldings manuscript and the book of mormon.
Apr 27, 2010 the handwriting purported to be spalding s, in the dictated book of mormon manuscript, bears a superficial resemblance to his penmanship but it bears an even closer. Mormon challenges could the book of mormon story have come. The first and most widespread theory among skeptics was what is today sometimes called the spalding rigdon theory for book of mormon authorship. But beyond this, some surviving, badly weathered fragments of the original manuscript permit a consideration of the book of mormon from a paleographic standpoint. Nevertheless, this unique edition will be a useful reference for. But it will not take long for readers to see that it bears no resemblance to the book of mormon. The spaldingrigdon theory of book of mormon authorship is the theory that the book of mormon was plagiarized in part from an unpublished manuscript written by solomon spalding. Even though we start out knowing the ending, the story of how it all came about is still compelling, and the authors move us skillfully through the. Examining spaldings actual novel proved that the mormons had been right all along. Spauldings fiction is about a group of romans blown off course on a journey to britain who arrive instead in america. Unique textual parallels from the oberlin spalding manuscript. Believing mormons often state that solomon spalding s manuscript story if you are unfamiliar with the spalding rigdon theory, click here for a brief background has absolutely nothing in common with the book of mormon.
One source that supposedly supports the arguments of critics that the book of mormon is not authentic is a 175page manuscript known as the manuscript story also entitled manuscript found in some editions which was written by solomon spaulding sometimes spelled spalding in the early 1800s. Excerpts from the book of alma in the 1830 book of mormon and from the 1885 printing of solomon spalding s manuscript in the previous three parts of this presentation bill a. Proponents think that perhaps smith and rigdon burned the manuscript after completing the book of mormon. From the printers manuscript, the 1830 edition of the book of mormon was typeset. Briefly, the theory states that joseph smith plagiarized or at least used as a source an unpublished book written by. Additional information from part 1 of joseph smiths plagiarism of the bible in the book of mormon, pages 3738 in 2008 another computer study was done by matt jockers, craig criddle and daniela witten, comparing various authors word prints, including solomon spalding and sidney rigdon, with that of the book of mormon. In figure i a graph line representing the count of words common to both texts has been superimposed over a chart of the 15 internal divisions of. The original book of mormon manuscript byu studies. Those who do not accept the book of mormon as scripture offer many theories about its origin.
One hundred similarities between the book of mormon and. Full text of the manuscript story of reverend solomon. Manuscript found by solomon spalding the controversy between manuscript found and the book of mormon goes all the back to e. The spalding enigma, our authors set out to accomplish a monumental task. That was the first time that it was suggested that the book of mormon had in part at least, some inspiration that originated. What are the pros and cons of the spauldingrigdon theory of. Bown argues that joseph smith was, as the author of the book of mormon, heavily influenced by spauldings manuscript. It has no connection with the spaulding manuscript. Believing mormons often state that solomon spaldings manuscript story if you are unfamiliar with the spaldingrigdon theory, click here for a brief background has absolutely nothing in common with the book of mormon. Excerpts from the book of alma in the 1830 book of mormon and from the 1885 printing of solomon spaldings manuscript in the previous three parts of this presentation bill a. Items do not represent the official views of the church of jesus christ of latterday saints or of book of mormon central. Witnesses described it as a biblicalstyle fiction that traced the origin of native americans to migrations from the middle east. In figure i a graph line representing the count of words common to both texts has been superimposed over a chart of the 15 internal divisions of the oberlin spalding manuscript.
Jul 17, 2019 for almost 200 years now, critics have been scrambling to prove that the book of mormon is nothing but a work of fiction. Spaulding manuscript mormonism, the mormon church, beliefs. What evidence is there that spaldings manuscript was the basis for the book of mormon and how would it have ended up. Of course, none of these people made any effort to systematically study the spalding manuscript and compare it with the book of mormon. It was resurrected in honolulu, hawaii, our new possession, and is now deposited in the library of oberlin college, in ohio, and through the kindness of that institution i have had the loan of it for the purpose of examination and comparison with the book of. Spalding never succeeded in getting his manuscript published it was stolen by sidney rigdon, smuggled to joseph smith junior, and ultimately altered and renamed to reappear as the book of mormon. The solomon spalding theory chapter 9 of joseph smiths. One of the most prominent theories since the 1830s is the spaulding or spalding theory. The solomon spalding manuscript 1812 by solomon spalding this unpublished manuscript was a work of fiction created by a retired minister, solomon spalding who died in 1816 before being able to publish his work. World heritage encyclopedia, the aggregation of the largest online encyclopedias available, and the most definitive collection ever assembled. According to this theory, sidney rigdon secretly gave joseph smith a copy of an unpublished manuscript written by a certain solomon spalding or spaulding. After publication of the book of mormon in 1830, many of those familiar with spaldings unpublished work claimed that spaldings manuscript found was the source of distinctive names and the nontheological content and storyline of the book of mormon. The complete original spaulding manuscript manuscript found. An ongoing study of shared language in spalding s manuscript pages and the book of mormon demonstrates that certain sections of the book of mormon overlap the known spalding writings to a greater degree than do other sections of that book.
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