Skip to content
  • Give me access to SECRET EPISODES
  • Episodes
  • Watch
  • Listen
  • Subscribe
Menu
  • Episodes
  • Watch
  • Listen
  • Subscribe
  • Give me access to SECRET EPISODES
PrevPrevious EpisodeReviewing Polygamy Criticisms (Part 1 of 6 Brian Hales)
Next ExpisodeAutomatic Writing/Bill Davis’s Visions of Seer StoneNext

Looking at Spalding & Collaborator Theories (Part 2 of 6)

Table of Contents: Looking at Spalding & Collaborator Theories (Part 2 of 6)

Click to Support
Gospel Tangents

Ever since the Book of Mormon was first published, critics have tried to figure out its authorship.  Did Joseph Smith plagiarize the book from other sources, such as Solomon Spaulding or other collaborators?  Dr. Brian Hales tells more about these collaborator theories for Book of Mormon authorship.

YouTube player

Brian:  I’ve isolated eight different theories that people have promoted, naturalists, as possibly explaining how Joseph created the Book of Mormon. We’ve heard about the Solomon Spalding theory. In 1812, a guy named Solomon Spalding wrote a manuscript, and he shared it with his friends and neighbors. He died two years later. Then, the Book of Mormon comes out in 1830. Well, some of those friends and neighbors said, “Hey, I remember this is the same story that Solomon Spalding told me.” Well, the manuscript was lost, so you couldn’t check the two. You had the Book of Mormon in your hand, but you only had the memory of these people. So, everybody jumped on this bandwagon. For 50 years, it was by far and away the most popular theory. But, then in 1884, they found the manuscript and compared the two.

GT:  [They found it] in Hawaii, of all places.

Brian:  Right.  Well, they had it in 1834, but it wasn’t similar to the Book of Mormon.

GT:  It was E.D. Howe that had it.

Brian:  Right, and he knew there was huge dissimilarities, but it didn’t go along with the theory that he was promoting in his book. So, they just deep-sixed the thing, and it emerged 50 years later in Hawaii. I don’t know, I’m sure somebody has probably tried to trace that. It’s probably not too big a mystery.

GT:  From what I understand, there was a newspaper in Pittsburgh, and then the assets got sold and it ended up in Hawaii, which is just a weird, weird story.

Brian:  Well, I haven’t looked at it, but in 1884, when you compare the two, the names are different. There are some very general similarities on the fact that it’s a lost manuscript that’s found and there’s some talk about the origin of the Indians. But it’s about 50,000-51,000 words. The Book of Mormon is nearly 270,000. So, even if Joseph plagiarized every word, he’d still have to come up with 220,000 words on his own. So, to use it as a theory isn’t a real strong, real convincing interpretation.

GT:  Well, I’d like to go in there because I do have a lot of very vocal people who still believe the Spalding manuscript is a legit theory. My response is, “Read it.”

Brian:  Yeah, good point.

GT:  It’s so stereotypically Indian. We talk about wigwams, and squaws, and delawanucks, and just very stereotypically Indian. Plus, it takes place, I believe, in the time of Constantine. So it’s off by about 1000 years, just the story plot. It begins when the Book of Mormon ends, basically.  I’ve read it. It’s actually I think, unintentionally funny. It’s kind of like Gilligan’s Island version of the Book of Mormon, if you ask me.

Have you read “Manuscript Found”?  Do you think that Joseph collaborated with others to produce the Book of Mormon?  Check out our conversation….

- Looking at Spalding & Collaborator Theories (Part 2 of 6) - Mormon History Podcast
Brian Hales reviews the Spalding Conspiracy and other Collaborator Theories of Book of Mormon origins.

Don’t miss our previous conversation with Brian!

572: Reviewing Polygamy Criticisms

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 12:54 — 12.0MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Email | RSS | More

Love this? Donate or Subscribe

Do you love the friendly, non-bashing interviews about Mormonism here on Gospel Tangents? 
Please show your support for Gospel Tangents by becoming a donor or subscriber:

Make me a Donor
Make me a Subscriber
No related products found.

More Podcasts with these Guests:

  • *The Anachronism Gap? (Part 6 of 6)
  • Wordprint Studies (Part 5 of 6)
  • What Skills Were Needed to Write Book of Mormon? (Part 4 of 6)
  • Automatic Writing/Bill Davis's Visions of Seer Stone
  • Reviewing Polygamy Criticisms (Part 1 of 6 Brian Hales)

Get more information on the people and things discussed in this episode:

  • Guest: Brian Hales
  • Theology: Mormon Scripture
  • Spalding Conspiracy
  • Historical Mentions Mormon History
  • Tags: Church History, GT Podcast, iTunes

Tell me when the next episode drops!

PrevPrevious EpisodeReviewing Polygamy Criticisms (Part 1 of 6 Brian Hales)
Next ExpisodeAutomatic Writing/Bill Davis’s Visions of Seer StoneNext

One Response

  1. Glenn Thigpen says:
    October 21, 2021 at 12:01 pm

    The Spaulding theorists that I am acquainted with know that the Book of Mormon was not plagiarized from the extant Spaulding manuscript. Brother Hurlbut realized it also after he had obtained it from Spaulding’s widow. He went back to Ohio and interviewed at least some of the original people that had signed affidavits, inquiring if Spaulding had rewritten the story in Biblical language. Sure enough they remembered that Spaulding had indeed gone back and reworked his story to sound more Biblical. The problem with that story is in the extant manuscript itself. Page 134 of the 171 page document is written on the back of an unfinished letter to Spaulding’s parents dated January of 1812, the year that Spaulding moved to Pittsburgh. Thus he was still working on the first manuscript at that time. It would take some mental gymnastics to spin the narrative to include a second manuscript which would have had to be written concurrently with the “Manuscript Found.”

    Glenn

Comments are closed.

  • Date: October 17, 2021
  • Guest: Brian Hales
  • Theology: Mormon Scripture
  • Spalding Conspiracy
  • Historical Mentions Mormon History
  • Tags: Church History, GT Podcast, iTunes
  • Posted By: RickB

Subscribe

Rick Bennett, Host

Rick Bennett is the friendly host of Gospel Tangents LDS Podcast: The Best Source for Mormon History, Science, and Theology. Book Rick for your fireside or conference.

More Interviews

  • Ben Spackman
  • David Ostler
  • Denver Snuffer
  • Lachlan McKay
  • Lindsay Hansen Park
  • Margaret Toscano
  • Richard Bushman
  • Sally Gordon
  • Terryl Givens
  • Ugo Perego...
View all 100+ Interviewees

Proud to be an Amazon Associate

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Subscribe

Go ad-free, get written transcripts, and talk to Rick one-on-one!
Stop Seeing Ads

Rick Bennett, Host of Gospel Tangents

Rick Bennett is the friendly, independent historian at the heart of Gospel Tangents LDS Podcast: The Best Source for Mormon History, Science, and Theology. When he isn't interviewing Mormon scholars, prophets, and others, he is teaching math and statistics at Utah Valley University. He also freelances as a research biostatistician in the fields of Dermatology and Traumatic Brian Injuries, as well as in the network television/cable T.V. industries as a sports statistician. Rick holds a Master of Statistics Degree from the University of Utah.

Contact Rick
Book Rick for your Event
0 +
Podcast Episodes
0 +
People Interviewed
  • Home
  • About
  • Episodes
  • Subscribe
  • Fan Shop
  • Book Rick
  • Contact Us
Menu
  • Home
  • About
  • Episodes
  • Subscribe
  • Fan Shop
  • Book Rick
  • Contact Us
Copyright 2023, Gospel Tangents. All Rights Reserved.