Origin of the Book of Mormon

There are several explanations as to the origin of the Book of Mormon. Adherents to the Latter Day Saint movement view the book as a work of divinely inspired scripture, which was written by ancient prophets in the ancient Americas. Non-Mormon theories of authorship propose that it is solely the work of man.

Adherents mostly accept Joseph Smith's account of translating ancient golden plates inscribed by prophets. Smith preached that the angel Moroni, a prophet in the Book of Mormon, directed him in the 1820s to a hill near his home in Palmyra, New York, where the plates were buried. Besides Smith himself, there were at least 11 witnesses who said they saw the plates in 1829, and three also claiming to have been visited by an angel. Several other witnesses observed Smith dictating the text that eventually became the Book of Mormon.

Skeptics of Smith's account ask several questions: (1) whether Joseph Smith actually had gold plates; (2) whether the Book of Mormon was divinely inspired; (3) whether it was written by Smith or an associate (such as Oliver Cowdery or Sidney Rigdon); and (4) whether the book was based on prior works, such as the View of the Hebrews, the Spalding Manuscript (often seen spelled as "Spaulding"), or the King James Version of the Bible.