Bibliograph

The Book of Mormon, a biography, Paul C. Gutjahr

Type

Label

The Book of Mormon, a biography, Paul C. Gutjahr

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references (pages 209-246) and index

Illustrations

illustrations

Index

index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

The Book of Mormon

Nature of contents

bibliography

Oclc number

758973671

Responsibility statement

Paul C. Gutjahr

Series statement

Lives of great religious books

Sub title

a biography

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 been featured in everything from comic books and action figures to feature-length films and an award-winning Broadway musical.--Publisher

Table Of Contents

part I. Germination. Prologue ; Joseph's gold bible ; Holy writ or humbug? -- part II. Budding. Multiplying prophets ; Great Basin saints and the book -- part III. Flowering. Missionary work and the book ; Scholars and the book ; Illustrating the book ; The book on screen and stage ; Epilogue -- Appendix 1. Notable Book of Mormon editions in English -- Appendix 2. Book of Mormon translations

Creator