The Book of Mormon's Witness to Its First Readers

"Interesting perspective on Book of Mormon" according to Nancy. I read this book when taking a MEADS course with Dale. It is an excellent look at the historical context of this book and what it meant to the people who read it at the beginning of the LDS movement. It doesn't try to "prove" whether the book is historically true. Rather, it focuses on the impact it had on the people and their belief systems. Good reading for any LDS, CofChrist person wanting a wider perspective on the Book of Mormon.

The author contends that the Book of Mormon has been regarded over time in incredible ways: it has been revered and ignored, treasured and neglected. A sacred text or tradition stands at the beginning of almost every religion. This work offers the reader a means to grasp the memory of the early nineteenth-century community who composed the book's first readers and interpreters. For the Restoration movement and Community of Christ, the coming forth of the Book of Mormon was the founding event. as an ongoing witness of God and God's revelatory nature, became a means to save individuals and communities. But because of its place in Community of Christ we are required to take this text seriously. The text, provided by Joseph Smith Jr. This book is an attempt to take the Book of Mormon seriously -- to hear how it spoke to its first audience of "seekers," who found in this work a witness that changed their lives, and to hear how this witness may be heard and understood today.