The Book of Mormon : a biography / Paul C. Gutjahr.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gutjahr, Paul C.

Series:

Lives of great religious books.

Lives of great religious books

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Book of Mormon--History.

Book of Mormon.

Book of Mormon--Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Sacred books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (276 p.)

Edition:

Course Book

Place of Publication:

Princeton ; Oxford : Princeton University Press, 2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Late one night in 1823 Joseph Smith, Jr., was reportedly visited in his family's farmhouse in upstate New York by an angel named Moroni. According to Smith, Moroni told him of a buried stack of gold plates that were inscribed with a history of the Americas' ancient peoples, and which would restore the pure Gospel message as Jesus had delivered it to them. Thus began the unlikely career of the Book of Mormon, the founding text of the Mormon religion, and perhaps the most important sacred text ever to originate in the United States. Here Paul Gutjahr traces the life of this book as it has formed and fractured different strains of Mormonism and transformed religious expression around the world. Gutjahr looks at how the Book of Mormon emerged from the burned-over district of upstate New York, where revivalist preachers, missionaries, and spiritual entrepreneurs of every stripe vied for the loyalty of settlers desperate to scratch a living from the land. He examines how a book that has long been the subject of ridicule--Mark Twain called it "chloroform in print"--has more than 150 million copies in print in more than a hundred languages worldwide. Gutjahr shows how Smith's influential book launched one of the fastest growing new religions on the planet, and has featured in everything from comic books and action figures to feature-length films and an award-winning Broadway musical.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Illustrations

Acknowledgments

A Note on Usage

Part I. Germination

3 Prologue

Chapter 1. Joseph's Gold Bible

Chapter 2. Holy Writ or Humbug?

Part II. Budding

Chapter 3. Multiplying Prophets

Chapter 4. Great Basin Saints And The Book

Part III. Flowering

Chapter 5. Missionary Work and the Book

Chapter 6. Scholars And The Book

Chapter 7. Illustrating the Book

Chapter 8. The Book on Screen and Stage

Epilogue

Appendix 1. Notable Book of Mormon Editions in English

Appendix 2. Book of Mormon Translations

Notes

Further Reading

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9786613589828

9781782685616

1782685618

9781280494598

128049459X

9781400841615

1400841615

OCLC:

779828665