On a summer day in 1828, book of mormon scribe and witness martin harris was emptying drawers, upending furniture, and ripping apart mattresses as he desperately looked for a stack of papers he. Yet this passage was written in part to replace 116 pages of lost scripture. When oliver cowdery was making the printers manuscript of the book of mormon, he copied the text of the original book of mormon manuscript faithfully, including putting down chapter iii from the original manuscript, but couldnt find chapters 1 and. Conveniently joseph claimed that the ancient authors had left a second less detailed record that coincidently covered the same period as the missing 116 pages. Nearly two centuries ago the earliest mormon scripture, the first half of the abridged account of the book of mormons narrator mormon was stolen, never to be seen again. Rigdon would have been afraid that if he rewrote the 116 pages and the first set showed up, they would be different and expose smith as a false translator. Some of what i learned about the missing pages was there to be seen had i been looking carefully in the first place, but it is the overall concept of the book of mormon itself that is most benefited by this work. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading the lost 116 pages.
The first 116 pages of the original manuscript of joseph smiths translation of the book of mormon from the plates of mormon are commonly known as the 116 pages or the lost manuscript. Imagine a parallel universe where joseph smith really was a prophet and he really did get sacred text stolen from him and the stealers had this opportunity to. In the summer of 1828, joseph smith let martin harris borrow the first 116 pages of the book of mormon s english translation. Even my tbm father had a hard time with the 116 lost. Customer calls in with issue that his book is missing 116 pages. In this episode brian hales interviews don bradley about his decadeslong research into missing parts of book of mormon narrative. In 1828, martin harris, acting as scribe for joseph smith. First, no, my research did not require any trips to the point of the mountain to visit mark hoffman. When joseph smith began translating the book of mormon, martin harris wanted to show his wife. If the book of lehi mormon s abridgment of what is currently found in the first books in the book of mormon today had been preserved, we would not have had the more spiritual first person narrative of nephi and jacob. It is by the supposed author or compiler of the entire. The loss of the 116 pages did not stop the book of mormon from coming forth. The lost 116 pages reconstructing the book of mormons missing stories, by don bradley.
The book of mormons lost pages are not the first notable historical manuscript to go missing, and i am not the first scholar to attempt to reconstruct a missing text, bradley remarks. A response to critics of joseph smiths story of the 116 lost pages of the book of mormon translation. New book sheds light on the lost 116 pages book of. Stupid, but serious, question about the missing 116 pages. The lost 116 pages were the original manuscript pages of what joseph smith, founder of the. Martin harris went to pennsylvania and helped joseph translate. When joseph smith began translating the book of mormon, martin harris wanted to show his wife lucy the manuscript to calm her fears that joseph smith was conning him out of his money. The 116 pages or the lost pages is a reference to the book of lehi. By the way, interesting side note i did not know until i just looked up harris birth date, is that his wife lucy was his first cousin. Who lost the 116 pages of the book of mormon the lost pages were the original manuscript pages of what joseph smith, founder of the smith completed the book of mormon without retranslating the book of lehi, replacing it with what he said was an abridgment taken from the. Don bradleys ability to see connections the rest of us miss is.
The lost 116 pages and the book of mormon mormons in. Joseph would translate from these, called the small plates of nephi, and revert back to the more detailed large plates when caught up. Stupid, but serious, question about the missing 116 pages from the book of mormon. What was surmised to have been written in joseph smiths. Temple worship in the lost 116 pages, i should begin by answering a few questions. Don bradley has done the world, both lds and nonbeliever, a tremendous service with this book, which accomplishes two incredible things. Lost 116 pages of the book of mormon life after ministry. Many latterday saints have wondered what is in the lost 116 pages since they first learned about the. When explaining this situation in the preface to the 1830 edition of the book of mormon, joseph smith said that the lost manuscript contained the. Reconstructing the book of mormons missing stories, greg. While acting as joseph smiths scribe, martin harris requested to take home.
Martin harris wanted to take the 116 pages home so his family could see them. Reconstructing the book of mormon s missing stories, don bradley has given us a fascinating, thoughtful, and exciting treatment on what is and what might have been. The record was so brief that the 116 pages of the manuscript written by hand brought the nephite history quite down to king benjamins time, whereas the history as now found in the book of mormon requires 141 pages of closely printed matter to bring the. In june 1828, joseph smith reluctantly allowed his scribe martin harris to borrow 116 pages of the original book of mormon manuscript. Despite the likely demise of those pages to the sands of time, the answers to these questions and many more are now available for the first time in nearly two centuries in the lost 116 pages. This book made up the first part of the book of mormon.
Through negligence and disobedience, harris subsequently lost the manuscript, and its contents have never been recovered. Martin harris served as scribe for the first 116 pages, and his skeptical wife lucy harris asked martin to get her the pages so she could take a look. Don bradleys highly anticipated book, the lost 116 pages. What was in the lost 116 pages of the book of mormon. What we do know, in the coming forth of the book of mormon. Reconstructing the book of mormons missing narratives, is now available from greg kofford books in paperback and ebook. The lost 116 pages of the book of mormon lds member beliefs. The last book that was written was the words of mormon this small 2 page. On a summer day in 1828, book of mormon scribe and witness martin harris was emptying drawers, upending furniture, and ripping apart mattresses as he. The lost 116 pages of the book of mormon noncompliant. Harris promised to guard the pages and show them only to certain family members, but the pages soon disappeared and have never been recovered.
These foolscapsize pages were handwritten in harmony, pennsylvania, between april and june 14, 1828. The lost 116 pages of the book of mormon mormonthink. Since youve all read the title of my presentation today, piercing the veil. Bradley reaffirms the value of continued study and close reading of. In this episode, brian hales interviews don bradley about his decadeslong research into missing parts of book of mormon narrative. They also can foster a greater appreciation for the book. The lost 116 pages is the missing portion of the manuscript of the book of mormon. Martin harris and the 116 lost pages book of mormon. The earliest scripture revealed in the restoration, the book of mormons lost 116 pages. Joseph asked the lord if martin could take the pages, but the. As joseph translated the words from the gold plates, martin wrote them on paper.
This story was originally published on lds living in january 2018. So my question is basically just how would one tamper with a page of hand written text flawlessly. For 190 years, latterday saints and others have been enriched by the teachings and stories in the book of mormon. The lost 116 pages represent the book of lehi from the large plates. Smith completed the book of mormon without retranslating the book of lehi, replacing it with what he said was an abridgment taken from the. The incident of the missing 116 pages, then, raises serious, troubling questions about the book of mormon and about joseph smiths claim to be a divinely inspired, angelically guided prophet of god. Reconstructing the book of mormons missing stories, don bradley has given us a fascinating, thoughtful, and exciting treatment on what is and what might have been.
Don bradley, a prominent latterday saint historian, has tackled the task of interpreting the timeline and what may indeed be in those lost pages. Strangely enough we find inserted in the middle of the book of mormon, pages 141143 bom p. Book of mormontranslationthe lost 116 pages fairmormon. Another indication that the first few chapters of mosiah are missing is that, unlike the other books in mormons abridgement, there is no explanatory introduction.
Manuscript, lost 116 pages the encyclopedia of mormonism. It is possible that verses 1218 of words of mormon were not originally part of words of mormon, but were part of the book of mosiah. In 1827 joseph smith began his work in translating the nephite records gold plates. When published in 1830, the book of mormon contained a statement about the lost 116 pages, as well as the testimony of three witnesses and the testimony of eight witnesses, who claimed to have seen and handled the golden plates. Additionally, bradley hopes to use the tools of source criticism to plausibly reconstruct what he postulates was likely contained in the 116 pages.
These findings can help us make sense of some confusing book of mormon passages. Consequently, within the latterday saint community the situation. The book of mormon is regarded as sacred text by the church of jesus christ of latterday saints otherwise known as mormons. At any rate, smith didnt go back and start work on the book of mormon again for seven months. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. The infamous story of the lost 116 pages to the bom sits in the hallways of mormon history waiting its turn to be exposed for the lie that it is. The lost 116 pages with don bradley the interpreter. So, joseph smith gets these golden plates, and starts translating or, begins his madeup story with the book of mormon with 1 nephi.
After god told joseph no two times, martin continued to plead with joseph to let him take the manuscript back. If the book of lehi mormons abridgment of what is currently found in the first books in the book of mormon today had been preserved, we would not have had the more spiritual first person narrative of nephi and jacob. The earliest scripture revealed in the restoration, the book of mormon s lost 116 pages, disappeared 192 years ago this summer, never to resurface. Critchlow iii the first 116 pages of the original manuscript of joseph smiths translation of the book of mormon from the plates of mormon are commonly known as the 116 pages or the lost manuscript. Ever since he was a youngster, dons wondered about the content of the 116 pages of the book of lehi transcript that martin harris lost in 1828. Originally i was not going to answer, then i read all of the replies from faithful saints who beat me to the punch. From chapter 35 of the book history of joseph smith by his mother lucy. In the summer of 1828, joseph smith let martin harris borrow the first 116 pages of the book of mormons english translation. Most people familiar with the story of the translation of the book of mormon know about the lost first 116 pages of the book of mormon manuscript. Reconstructing the book of mormons missing stories kindle edition by bradley, don. Joseph and martin translated 116 pages of the book of mormon. Reconstructing the book of mormons missing stories. I hope don spends some time in his book discussing the reasoning given for not retranslating the 116 pages, which in my view, is not very plausible. Back when joseph smith, the man who restored christs church, first started translating the book of mormon, his good friend, martin harris, began nudging him to take the first 116 pages to show his wife and a few close friends.