Book of Mormon Questions #9 (Scriptures)

 To see the context for this and other questions in this series, please see the introduction, parts 1, 2, 3, and 4. 

Does the Book of Mormon Text Assume a Post-Gutenberg Society?

Scriptures constitute an important topic in the Book of Mormon. It all began when Lehi sent his sons back to Jerusalem to retrieve the brass plates from Laban. These plates contained the scriptures of the time, and once he had them in his possession, Lehi searched them diligently, as did his son Nephi. In Nephi 19:23, Nephi says that he likens all scriptures unto his family.

After Nephi died, his younger brother Jacob became the spiritual leader of the Nephites, who were becoming a large enough people to have “wars” with the Lamanites (see Jacob 7:25). After Sherem came among the Nephites and tried to deceive the people and God cursed him with death, Jacob said that “peace and the love of God was restored again among the people, and they searched the scriptures, and hearkened no more to the words of this wicked man” (Jacob 7:23). It is possible that the Nephites were still a small enough group that the adults among them could take turns reading in the brass plates. Or perhaps they had made perishable copies of certain portions of the plates on some other medium.

The scriptures do not make another significant appearance in the Book of Mormon until Alma’s preaching mission to the people of Ammonihah, a largely apostate city. Alma found Amulek in the city and taught him before they went out together to preach. After Amulek publicly confounded the lawyer Zeezrom, Alma began to speak and “to establish the words of Amulek, and to explain things beyond, or to unfold the scriptures beyond that which Amulek had done” (Alma 12:1). Their preaching was partially successful, and after Alma “had made an end of speaking unto the people, many of them did believe on his words and began to repent, and to search the scriptures” (Alma 14:1). This suggests that the scriptures were widely available among the people of Ammonihah, and that they could read them. Those who rejected the teachings of Alma and Amulek, however, were angry, and they rounded up those men who believed, along with their wives and children, and “caused that they should be cast into the fire; and they also brought forth their records which contained the holy scriptures, and cast them into the fire” (Alma 14:8). So, these new converts had flammable copies of the scriptures, which likely contained at least the most relevant portions of the brass plates (because they had to search them) and perhaps the writings of Nephi and Jacob and others of their prophetic ancestors.

Near the same time, Ammon, the son of King Mosiah, went with his brothers among the Lamanites and converted King Lamoni and “expounded unto them all the records and scriptures from the time that Lehi left Jerusalem down to the present time” (Alma 18:38).

A short time after this, when Korihor came before Alma to be judged, Alma said to him, “Will ye [sic] say, Show unto me a sign, when ye [sic] have the testimony of all these thy brethren, and also all the holy prophets? The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it” (Alma 30:44). The assumption of Alma here was, of course, that Korihor was well acquainted with the scriptures, even though he was a nonbeliever.

Alma then went to preach to the Zoramites, and when the poor approached him, he said to them, “Ye have said that ye could not worship your God because ye are cast out of your synagogues. But behold, I say unto you, if ye suppose that ye cannot worship God, ye do greatly err, and ye ought to search the scriptures; if ye suppose that they have taught you this, ye do not understand them. Do ye remember to have read what Zenos, the prophet of old, has said concerning prayer or worship?” (Alma 33:2–3). Alma took for granted that the poor among the Zoramites had ready access to the scriptures, especially the writings on the brass plates, where the words of Zenos were recorded, even though these poor people were not allowed in the synagogues.

In 3 Nephi 1:24, Mormon observes that “there were no contentions” among the Nephites after the sign of Christ’s birth was given, “save it were a few that began to preach, endeavoring to prove by the scriptures that it was no more expedient to observe the law of Moses.” Again, the scriptures were a central pillar in their society. After Christ appeared to the Book of Mormon people, he “expounded all the scriptures unto them which they had received” and then said, “Behold, other scriptures I would that ye should write, that ye have not” (3 Ne. 23:6). These were the words of Samuel the Lamanite that Nephi had neglected to write down, and also the fulfillment of Samuel’s prophecy that many saints would arise and appear to many at the Savior’s resurrection (see 3 Ne. 23:10–11).

The final significant reference to scriptures in the Book of Mormon comes in 3 Nephi 27. Jesus appeared to his twelve disciples, and they asked him what the name of his Church should be, because “there are disputations among the people concerning this matter” (v. 3). Jesus then asked them, “Have they [the people] not read the scriptures, which say ye must take upon you the name of Christ, which is my name?” (v. 5). His assumption, apparently, is that the people (not just the religious leaders) have ready access to the scriptures.

All of this makes perfect sense . . . in a post-Gutenberg society, where long texts are relatively inexpensive to reproduce and procure. But Nephite society was primitive in this regard. We can probably assume that there was no such thing as inexpensive paper, as we know it, and certainly no such thing as a printing press that could rapidly produce copies of long texts. In ancient societies, copying texts by hand was a laborious and expensive process that was available only to the very wealthy. Ancient societies used parchment—the specially prepared, tanned skins of animals—and papyrus—a thick paper-like material made from the pith of the papyrus plant. Both of these materials would have been difficult to produce and expensive to procure. Similarly scarce and expensive were other media for writing, such as stone, wood, or clay tablets; pieces of ivory; or tree bark, which the Maya used. And this was the inner tree bark of fig trees, not the outer bark, so the process of producing this “paper” would have been laborious.

 For this reason, literacy in ancient societies was very limited. Scholars estimate, for instance, that in Roman Israel, long after Lehi left Jerusalem, literacy was as low as 3 percent, but perhaps as high as 7.7 percent. The Nephite and Lamanite societies of the Book of Mormon would likely have mirrored other ancient societies in this regard because of the expense and scarcity of writing materials. The Nephites presumably kept records on metal plates, but these would have been even more expensive than almost every other medium. And learning to read and write would have been cost-prohibitive for most members of society. We never see the word “school” in the Book of Mormon, although we do see mention of “synagogues.” What they taught in the synagogues is not explained, although in 3 Nephi 6:12 we read that “the people began to be distinguished by ranks, according to their riches and their chances for learning; yea, some were ignorant because of their poverty, and others did receive great learning because of their riches.” We can assume that the great majority of the people fell into the poverty category. This is simply a fact for almost every civilization, including, to an unfortunate degree, our own.

So, it makes very little sense that Alma should ask the poor Zoramites if they remembered having read the words of Zenos. Most of them likely could not read at all. Reading became a widespread ability only after the invention of the printing press and mass production of paper.

So, as I read the Book of Mormon, it simply jumps off the page at several points that the Nephite society is subtly assumed to be a post-Gutenberg society. Is this something that the translator (whoever that was) inserted into the record? Or was the entire book written sometime in the seventeenth or eighteenth centuries? (I strongly believe that Joseph Smith could not have produced it. He was one of the uneducated poor of his day.) Royal Skousen’s critical text of the Book of Mormon that I am well acquainted with (I was the final proofreader of the seven printed books of volume 3) raises some important questions regarding textual anachronisms in the book. This is one Royal did not specifically address, but it dovetails comfortably with some of his other observations.

So, why does the Book of Mormon describe a society in which scripture is apparently ubiquitous and the ability to read and understand it is seemingly universal?