Origin of The Book of Mormon - Summary of Theories

Summary of Theories

There are differing views on the origin of the Book of Mormon.

1. Joseph Smith's own account that he translated an ancient record compiled and abridged by Mormon, a pre-Columbian resident of the Western Hemisphere who recorded the spiritual history of generations of his people, and the teachings of their ancestors, the Hebrews.
2. Joseph Smith as the sole author, without external assistance. These theories assume that Smith was educated and intelligent enough to have produced the work on his own, although, at the time, his education barely reached above the third-grade level. One line of thinking proposed by several authors is that the Book of Mormon is a "primary source" reflecting events in Smith's own life.
3. Joseph Smith as a plagiarist of contemporaries. There are two main theories representing this point-of-view: the View of the Hebrews theory, and the Spalding-Rigdon theory.
4. One of Smith's associates as the author, who then allowed Smith to take the credit.
5. The work is a divinely inspired narrative regardless of its historicity (i.e. "inspired fiction").
6. The work is not a divinely inspired narrative. This view has been held by all non-Mormon Christian churches since the appearance of the Book of Mormon.
7. The book was written by Joseph Smith through a process known as "automatic writing."