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Abstract: Students of the Book of Mormon have long mined the Old Testament as a rich source of influence on Nephite writers. However, surprising recent finds suggest that an ancient text related to the Book of Moses may have been an especially significant influence as well. That possibility was raised in Noel Reynolds’s early analytical paper, “The Brass Plates Version of Genesis.” He found thirty-three proposed parallels between the Book of Moses and the Book of Mormon, some of which pointed to a one-way connection with the Book of Moses as the source. Our recent collaboration resulted in identifying a total of nearly one hundred parallels that cannot be readily explained based on influence from the KJV Bible, some of which further point to a text like the Book of Moses as the source for influence on Nephite writers. That prior work was not as exhaustive as we believed. Thirty-six prospective new parallels are proposed here. Finally, a reasonable challenge to the hypothesis of a Book of Moses text on the brass plates is also considered: why didn’t Book of Mormon preachers quote from the Book of Moses more directly?





Students of the Book of Mormon have often found that they can better understand the text by studying the Old Testament, an obvious source of influence on Book of Mormon writers. The Book of Mormon, for example, employs many rhetorical and poetical tools found in the Old Testament and frequently alludes to details in that text. However, few Book of Mormon students have thought to mine the Book of Moses as a tool for exploring influences on the Book of [Page 416]Mormon. After all, the Book of Moses was produced after the Book of Mormon was translated. It seemed to come not from any known document but, in the eyes of many, from the mind of Joseph Smith as he contemplated the Bible, the first fruits of his project to produce a new edition of the Bible. This new translation of the Bible was not a translation of ancient biblical manuscripts but appears to be a translation in the broad sense of “presenting it in a new way; creating it anew from one form to another, changing something old into something new.”1 Any connection between the Book of Mormon and the Book of Moses might naturally be expected to arise from Joseph’s employing language and themes he had picked up from the Book of Mormon and then applied in his translation of the early chapters of Genesis.

Here we must observe that what we call the Book of Moses is the first portion of Joseph Smith’s translation of the Bible corresponding with his translation up to Genesis 6:13. That initial portion is unique in that it has been canonized as scripture for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For a detailed analysis of the origins and history of Joseph’s translation of the Bible and a discussion of what it is and what it does, see Kent P. Jackson’s definitive Understanding Joseph Smith’s Translation of the Bible.2 Joseph “spoke of translating and correcting [the Bible] but did not explain the process.”3 There is no evidence that he used a seer stone or the Urim and Thummim for that work. He didn’t use ancient Hebrew or Greek texts but used a King James Bible that he purchased in October 1829 (after the translation of the Book of Mormon had been completed and was being prepared for printing).a id="footnote4anc" href="#footnote4sym" title="4. Kent P.

Abstract: In this study, three intersecting images are traced through the small plates until Jacob 5, where they directly (or by implication) culminate in the final section of Zenos’s allegory. The three images appear fused together in Nephi’s and Jacob’s writings. Specifically, this literary study tracks the images of the olive vineyard, the sheepfold and pasture, and the cornerstone or rock foundation. These oddly fused (or adjacent) images, though complexly employed, can be understood best as representing not only Christ but a gospel-centered record to be revealed by him. Fundamental to this reading is the idea that the Good Shepherd gathers his sheep by means of a stone or rock comparable to the gospel of Christ. In making this case, it is helpful to compare related texts such as 2 Nephi 25 and 3 Nephi 27. The value of this analysis is to demonstrate a unity amidst complexity in the aesthetic of the Book of Mormon and to offer alternative readings of certain scriptures, especially Jacob 5. Zenos’s allegory is read here as tragicomedy and as one locus for the aforementioned images.





John Milton’s Paradise Lost, not unlike the Book of Mormon, deals with the Creation, Fall, and Redemption of humankind. It is also an epic patterned after the Eastern aesthetic of the Holy Bible that this study will term fusion poetics. This term refers to a poetic characterized by the varied and complex mingling of symbols and metaphors to illustrate diverse aspects of a topic or theme. In Deuteronomy 33:26–29, for instance, “God” is compared in rapid fire, and without [Page 376]differentiation or discussion, to a raptor, a rock with arms (a personified place of refuge), a shield, and a sword. In effect, God is described in this passage by means of several fused (adjacent) images that act as metaphors. This aesthetic is found in the writings of Nephi and Jacob, who apply mixed imagery involving plants, sheep, and rocks or stones. Further, and more broadly, whereas the Miltonic epic seeks to explain the fulfillment of the earliest messianic prophecy (Genesis 3:15), the Nephite record has much to say about messianic prophecy and the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant (Genesis 12:3). Milton’s narrative poem is a creative expansion of Genesis 1–3. It is more of a literary epic than a historical one, though. Yet, both works claim to be inspired and employ an aesthetic of fusion that, for Milton, is manifest in his passion poetics.1 Especially for Milton, this creative aesthetic of fusion has implications for his reader’s interpretive experience, and ultimately, his/her salvation.2 As in Hebrew prophetic tradition, Milton, an aspiring poet-prophet, pulls together disparate textual strands into a oneness that is excessively detailed. This dense detail may disorient his reader. When dictating his literary testament, Milton drew heavily on his wide learning, thereby creating an intertextual complexity to rival those epic works before him. Without overstating the comparison between these distinct religious texts, except to say that as Milton (and the prophets among the Hebrews whom he imitated) had a tendency to gather together in-one scattered biblical images in making an apocalyptic theodicy, so did, it appears, the Nephite prophets, who were also students of the Hebrew prophetic tradition and imitators of the same,

Abstract: With the popularity of social media growing exponentially, prominent critics of the Church are leveraging the platforms, particularly YouTube, as a key resource to produce thousands of negative videos about the Church. The accusations made in the videos about Church history, leadership, doctrine, and culture are so numerous that it could take months or even years to research fully, all while the flood of new content continues. It is easy for those exposed to the accusations to be overwhelmed by the sheer volume and, therefore, assume at least some of it must be true. This could place at least some members on a path to a faith crisis. While many members understand the need to seek information from reliable sources to cope with such accusations, for some it may also be of value to consider the financial incentives for the extensive hostile content being created. In this paper the business models and apparent revenue of several influential organizations are considered, which may help explain why the content, especially video content, is being produced in such volume. Financial incentives, of course, do not necessarily call a work into question but can be of interest in seeking to understand behaviors and the relationship between business models and organizational output and success.





Prominent critics of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints produce thousands of videos that disseminate misinformation via social media, targeting the Church’s history and doctrine. Their goal is to persuade viewers that the Church is fundamentally flawed and has been dishonest for generations. Conversely, there are apologetic [Page 362]entities aligned with the Church that counteract the misinformation and offer substantiated responses to these allegations, which critics generally respond to with additional criticism. This paper does not aim to reevaluate these arguments but instead focuses on analyzing the motivations of the critics, supported by data, and the strategies they employ to foster revenue growth. While financial incentives do not necessarily call into question the validity of an argument—many important sources of information naturally require paid employees—financial motivations may be relevant in evaluating problematic behavior such as producing extensive questionable material that demonstrates strong contempt for the Church.

The Numbers

A recent financial analysis of the primary critics of the Church, namely, Mormon Stories1 and Mormon Discussions,2 has brought to light some concerning statistics: their YouTube channels alone have a combined total of over 4,200 videos, with 96,000,000 views between them.3 These statistics don’t include Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or any other social media platform. A significant percentage of their video content takes a negative stance toward the Church,

Abstract: Nephi saw in vision that in the latter-days “the saints of the church of the Lamb” and “covenant people of the Lord” who, though scattered across the earth, “were armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory” (1 Nephi 14:14). Nephi’s prophetic statement is loaded with meaning. This study explores how “armed with righteousness” means “clothed with righteousness” (Psalm 132:9) not merely in a martial, but also in a priestly sense (compare 1 Samuel 17:5; Isaiah 59:17). This concept relates to the latter-day temple and its ordinances, which enable the Lord’s people to “go forth” from the temple “armed with [the Lord’s] power” with his “name . . . upon them, and [his] glory be round about them” (Doctrine and Covenants 109:22). When we consider the spiritual power and protection associated with being “armed” or “clothed with righteousness,” we can better appreciate the value of temple ordinances that involve clothing or investiture. These ordinances help us “put on the Lord Jesus Christ”—investing the recipients with the priestly power of Christ’s Atonement, which authorizes them to do his work, enables them to withstand temptation, and enables them to stand in the spiritual battles of mortal life.





The expressions “armed with righteousness” (1 Nephi 14:14) and “clothed with righteousness” (Psalm 132:9) occur one time each in the scriptures. Evidence found elsewhere within scripture suggests that these two phrases derive from a single Hebrew idiom. One of the most important prophetic texts in the Book of Mormon, which gives [Page 334]readers a vision of the church that would be established after the book’s coming forth occurs, as part of Nephi’s vision of the Tree of Life (1 Nephi 11–14) in 1 Nephi 14:14:

And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld the power of the Lamb of God, that it descended upon the saints of the church of the Lamb, and upon the covenant people of the Lord, who were scattered upon all the face of the earth; and they were armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory.

Psalm 132, a temple hymn, contains the liturgical lines, “Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness; and let thy saints shout for joy” (Psalm 132:9).

In this study, I examine Nephi’s prophetic statement, “and they were armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory,” in the context of imagery from the Hebrew Bible—including temple imagery—and from the standpoint of Alma’s teaching on Melchizedek and priesthood in Alma 13. Unpacking this language and imagery helps us better understand the plea from the prophet Joseph Smith during his dedicatory prayer for the Kirtland temple on 27 March 1836 and how those words apply to us in our present circumstances:

And we ask thee, Holy Father, that thy servants may go forth from this house armed with thy power, and that thy name may be upon them, and thy glory be round about them, and thine angels have charge over them; And from this place they may bear exceedingly great and glorious tidings, in truth, unto the ends of the earth, that they may know that this is thy work, and that thou hast put forth thy hand, to fulfil that which thou hast spoken by the mouths of the prophets, concerning the last days. (Doctrine and Covenants 109:22–23)

Understanding 1 Nephi 14:14 as a temple text not only helps us better understand the Prophet’s petition in Doctrine and Covenants 109:22–23, but it also helps us better understand the overarching purpose of latter-day temples and the urgency of building them. This urgency has been a driving force in the ongoing restoration from the beginning. (See, for example, Doctrine and Covenants 36:8 where the Lord declared on 9 December 1830 to Edward Partridge that he [Page 335]would “suddenly come to [his] temple.”a id="footnote1anc" href="#footnote1sym" title="1. Matthew L. Bowen, “‘The Messenger of Salva

Abstract: Nephi laboriously copied many of the words of Isaiah in hopes that his readers would rejoice in Christ. While Isaiah 4:1 (2 Nephi 14:1) is generally not viewed as Messianic, there may be an allegorical interpretation that would place this verse among Isaiah’s other Messianic writings. A pre-Nicene patristic writer, Victorinus of Poetovio, interpreted the seven women of Isaiah 4:1 as representing the seven churches of the Apocalypse and the one man as Christ. Victorinus’s Christ-centered interpretation of Isaiah 4:1 has received very little attention in modern scholarship. This paper uses textual analysis to determine if a Christ-centered allegorical interpretation may be considered a strong reading of the verse and the surrounding text (Isaiah 3–4). The results of this analysis show that Isaiah 4:1 may symbolize Zion’s turning point in a doctrinally rich allegory of Zion’s sin, sorrow, repentance, and redemption through Jesus Christ.





Isaiah 4:1 reads as follows in the King James Version: “And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.” Nephi included this verse in his Isaiah chapters of the Book of Mormon (see 2 Nephi 14:1). As an introduction to these Isaiah chapters, Nephi wrote that “my soul delighteth in proving unto my people that save Christ should come all men must perish” (2 Nephi 11:6). He then added “I write some of the words of Isaiah, that whoso of my people shall see these words may lift up their hearts and rejoice for all men. Now these are the words, and ye [Page 296]may liken them unto you and unto all men” (2 Nephi 11:8). Even though we may not typically place Isaiah 4:1 on the list of Messianic verses contained in Nephi’s Isaiah chapters,1 some have seen this verse as a testimony of Jesus Christ.

The earliest record of such an interpretation was made by Victorinus, a patristic commentator and Bishop of Poetovio (Ptuj in modern-day Slovenia), who was martyred during either the Diocletian or Numerien persecutions. Around AD 2602 Victorinus wrote, “The one man is Christ . . . the seven women are seven churches, receiving His bread, and clothed with his apparel, who ask that their reproach should be taken away, only that His name should be called upon them.”3 Victorinus was citing Isaiah 4:1 in a commentary on the seven churches of the Apocalypse (see Revelation 2–3). Unfortunately, we don’t know why Victorinus interpreted Isaiah 4:1 this way since, even though Victorinus wrote a commentary on Isaiah, that commentary has not survived.a id="footnote4anc" href="#footnote4sym" title="4. Jerome respected the work of Victorinus, and it is through Jerome that we know of Victorinus and his commentaries. Miran Špelič, “Jerome and Victorinus: A Complex Relationship Between the Compatriots,” Theological Quarterly 81, no. 2 (2021), 293–298. Victorinus’s reference to Isaiah 4:1 occurs in his commentary on the...

Abstract: This paper views the sacrament prayers and rituals of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the broader context of Christian eucharistic worship, focusing on how the Latter-day Saint observances both resemble and differ from those of other Christian communities. It argues that, contrary to what is often supposed, the Church has a relatively “high” eucharistic theology.





The aim of this article is to examine the sacrament ritual of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the broader context of Christian worship: more specifically, in the context of what Nicene Christian churches often refer to as the “eucharist.” An attempt will be made to identify both differences and similarities between the Latter-day Saint sacrament and the eucharistic rituals of other Christian communities.

This article is written by a scholar of the history of religions rather than by a practicing Latter-day Saint. Its emphasis is on comparing faith traditions, rather than on determining what is or is not theologically “correct.” It is recognized at the outset that Latter-day Saints believe that their practices come from revelation, and the intention is not to question (either explicitly or implicitly) the veracity of those beliefs. Rather, the intention is to increase understanding by making comparisons that often tend to go overlooked.

[Page 272]The Eucharist and its Origin

What is the eucharist? The term is not normally used in the Church of Jesus Christ, so some explanation may be in order. The word eucharist literally means thanksgiving in Greek: it comes from εὐχαριστέω (eucharisteó), “thank.” In the vocabulary of Christian practice, the eucharist may be defined as a ritual in which the participants consume food and drink in emulation of an episode in which Jesus Christ fed his disciples with bread and wine, associating those elements with his body and blood. The episode in question is recounted several times in the New Testament, and it appears to have taken place in Jerusalem, at a Passover meal or seder (known to Christians as the “Last Supper”), just before Jesus was crucified. The earliest New Testament account appears in Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. In the King James Version, it reads as follows:

For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, this cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. (1 Corinthians 11:23–25)1

The next-earliest account appears in the Gospel of Mark:

And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body. And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it. And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many. (Mark 14:22–24)

This account from Mark may arguably be traced back to a reconstructible original text written in Jesus’s own language, Aramaic.2

Within the context of the Bible as a whole, the eucharist forms part of a web of symbolism that includes the narratives of the Old Testament. Latter-day Saint scholars have noted that it

[Page 273]invites one to remember the unleavened bread of the Passover, the manna from heaven, and, most pointedly,