Mormon.ish

Rebecca Bibliotheca and Landon Brophy

A podcast for post and nuanced Mormons seeking a joyful life as they navigate their faith journey outside of orthodox Mormonism. Donate to Mormonish Podcast here: https://www.mormonishpodcast.org/support This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

  1. Ep327: The 3-Voice Framework of the Book of Mormon (Episode 2)

    Jun 18

    Ep327: The 3-Voice Framework of the Book of Mormon (Episode 2)

    In this episode of our continuing series on Book of Mormon authorship theories, Patrick lays the groundwork for understanding how the Book or Mormon is constructed, which is an essential part of considering the Book of Mormon authorship theories. In this episode we consider Rob Terry's work. Data Scientist Rob Terry utilized the BYU Book of Mormon text database to deconstruct the structure of the Book of Mormon. He demonstrates in this Wheat and Tares article https://wheatandtares.org/2020/04/23/book-of-mormon-wordprint-studies-in-2020/ how the Book of Mormon has 3 discrete “voices”. First, the Narrator Voice. This voice contains many attributes that are consistent across the book, regardless of whether the speaker is Mormon, Zeniff, or Helaman. Next, the Sermon Voice is interspersed in the narrative and contains unique attributes across the book, whether in the voice of Alma, Samuel the Lamanite, or Amulek. Finally, in the second half of the book, there is a Late Voice which muddies the clear switching between Narrator and Sermon Voices we see in the first half of the book and introduces a new set of attributes not seen in the other 2 Voices. Terry illustrates the Voices in many graphs to help the audience visualize how the book is constructed. The 3-Voice Framework must be accounted for by any Book of Mormon authorship theory and complicates the notion that the book could have been dictated without an underlying text. Finally, in the episode, we briefly show how the framework helps explain the Book of Mormon wordprint study results. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

    1h 1m
  2. Jun 3

    Ep323:Sole Author Theory Challenged by Groundbreaking Analysis of Book of Mormon Wordprint Studies

    In this episode, Patrick circles back to questions that came up after episode 305, “Was Sidney Rigdon the Real Founder of Mormonism?” From there, the conversation goes deeper into how the Book of Mormon may have been dictated, pulling together both long-standing research and newer findings to paint a fuller picture of the process. The episode also walks through the proposed plan Sidney Rigdon may have used—not just in producing the Book of Mormon, but in shaping Mormonism itself. That includes a timeline of what both Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon were doing prior to 1831, helping to show how their paths may have intersected and influenced each other. Along the way, Patrick explains how the Rigdon Theory fits together with Dr. John Lundwall’s newer “Sermon Magic” theory discussed in episode 308, highlighting where the ideas overlap and reinforce one another. One of the standout moments is a deep dive into seven different wordprint studies. The episode breaks down what those studies should look like if a single author were responsible, compared to what they actually show. The results consistently point toward multiple authors, and Patrick explores just how unlikely it would be for all seven studies to independently reach the same “wrong” conclusion—essentially close to zero. Finally, the episode zooms out to look at the bigger picture: five categories of evidence and a total of 72 individual data points. All of it is weighed against the Sole Author Theory to see if it can still hold up under scrutiny. The conclusion? It doesn’t. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

    2h 28m
4.6
out of 5
178 Ratings

About

A podcast for post and nuanced Mormons seeking a joyful life as they navigate their faith journey outside of orthodox Mormonism. Donate to Mormonish Podcast here: https://www.mormonishpodcast.org/support This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

You Might Also Like