Editing Book of Mormon (section)

==Religious significance==

=== Early Mormonism ===
[[File:1841 Book of Mormon open to title page.jpg|alt=A photograph of the 1841 First European (London) edition of the Book of Mormon. It is open to its title page. The edges of the page are colored red.|thumb|233x233px|An 1841 copy of the Book of Mormon]]
Adherents of the early Latter Day Saint movement frequently read the Book of Mormon as a corroboration of and supplement to the Bible, persuaded by its resemblance to the [[King James Version]]'s form and language. For these early readers, the Book of Mormon confirmed the Bible's scriptural veracity and resolved then-contemporary theological controversies the Bible did not seem to adequately address, such as the appropriate mode of baptism, the role of prayer, and the nature of the Christian atonement.{{Sfn|Maffly-Kipp|2008|pp=xx–xxi}} Early church administrative design also drew inspiration from the Book of Mormon. Oliver Cowdery and Joseph Smith, respectively, used the depiction of the Christian church in the Book of Mormon as a template for their ''Articles of the Church'' and ''Articles and Covenants of the Church''.<ref name="Johnson-2018">{{Cite journal |last=Johnson |first=Janiece |date=2018 |title=Becoming a People of the Books: Toward an Understanding of Early Mormon Converts and the New Word of the Lord |url=https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1614&context=jbms |url-status=live |journal=[[Journal of Book of Mormon Studies]] |volume=27 |pages=1–43 |jstor=10.5406/jbookmormstud2.27.2018.0001 |s2cid=254309156 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707035255/https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1614&context=jbms |archive-date=July 7, 2022 |via=BYU ScholarsArchive}}</ref>

The Book of Mormon was also significant in the early movement as a sign, proving Joseph Smith's claimed prophetic calling, signalling the "restoration of all things", and ending what was believed to have been an apostasy from true Christianity.{{Sfn|Givens|2002|p=64}}<ref name="Maxwell-1992">{{Cite book |last=Maxwell |first=Cory H. |title=[[Encyclopedia of Mormonism]] |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan Publishing]] |year=1992 |isbn=0028796055 |editor-last=Ludlow |editor-first=Daniel H. |pages=1218–1219 |chapter=Restoration of All Things |chapter-url=https://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Restoration_of_All_Things}}</ref> Early Latter Day Saints tended to interpret the Book of Mormon through a [[Millenarianism|millenarian]] lens and consequently believed the book portended Christ's imminent [[Second Coming]].{{sfn|Givens|2002|pp=69–71}}  And during the movement's first years, observers identified converts with the new scripture they propounded, nicknaming them "Mormons".{{Sfn|Howe|2007|p=315}}

Early Mormons also cultivated their own individual relationships with the Book of Mormon. Reading the book became an ordinary habit for some, and some would reference passages by page number in correspondence with friends and family. Historian Janiece Johnson explains that early converts' "depth of Book of Mormon usage is illustrated most thoroughly through intertextuality—the pervasive echoes, allusions, and expansions on the Book of Mormon text that appear in the early converts' own writings." Early Latter Day Saints alluded to Book of Mormon narratives, incorporated Book of Mormon turns of phrase into their writing styles, and even gave their children Book of Mormon names.<ref name="Johnson-2018" />

==== Joseph Smith ====
Like many other early adherents of the Latter Day Saint movement, Smith referenced Book of Mormon scriptures in his preaching relatively infrequently and cited the Bible more often.<ref name="Underwood-1984" /> In 1832, Smith dictated a [[Revelation in Mormonism|revelation]] that condemned the "whole church" for treating the Book of Mormon lightly, although even after doing so Smith still referenced the Book of Mormon less often than the Bible.<ref name="Underwood-1984">{{Cite journal |last=Underwood |first=Grant |date=Fall 1984 |title=Book of Mormon Usage in Early LDS Theology |url=https://www.dialoguejournal.com/articles/book-of-mormon-usage-in-early-lds-theology/ |url-status=live |journal=[[Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought]] |volume=17 |issue=3 |pages=36–74 |doi=10.2307/45227937 |jstor=45227937 |s2cid=254397416 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005144623/https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V17N03_37.pdf |archive-date=October 5, 2021|doi-access=free }}</ref> Nevertheless, in 1841 Joseph Smith characterized the Book of Mormon as "the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of [the] religion".<ref>{{cite book|last=Millet|first=Robert L.|url=https://rsc.byu.edu/book/living-book-mormon-abiding-its-precepts|title=Living the Book of Mormon: Abiding by Its Precepts|publisher=[[Religious Studies Center]], [[Brigham Young University]]|year=2007|isbn=978-1-59038-799-3|editor1-last=Strathearn|editor1-first=Gaye|place=Provo, UT|pages=55–71|chapter=The Most Correct Book: Joseph Smith's Appraisal|author-link=Robert L. Millet|editor2-last=Swift|editor2-first=Charles|chapter-url=https://rsc.byu.edu/archived/living-book-mormon/most-correct-book-joseph-smiths-appraisal|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210427200002/https://rsc.byu.edu/living-book-mormon-abiding-its-precepts/most-correct-book-joseph-smiths-appraisal|archive-date=April 27, 2021|url-status=live}}</ref> Although Smith quoted the book infrequently, he accepted the Book of Mormon narrative world as his own.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bushman|first=Richard|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=laAdRnr759gC|title=Believing History: Latter-day Saint Essays|publisher=[[Columbia University Press]]|year=2004|editor-last=Neilson|editor-first=Reid L. |pages=65–78|language=English|chapter=The Book of Mormon in Early Mormon History|isbn=9780231130073|author-link=Richard Bushman|editor-last2=Woodworth|editor-first2=Jed}}</ref>

=== The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ===
[[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] (LDS Church) accepts the Book of Mormon as one of the four sacred texts in its scriptural canon called the ''[[standard works]]''.{{sfn|Turner|2016|p=44|ps=. The other three of the four standard works are the Bible, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price.}} Church leaders and publications have "strongly affirm[ed]" Smith's claims of the book's significance to the faith.{{sfn|Turner|2016|p=|pp=45–47}} According to the church's [[Articles of Faith (Latter Day Saints)|"Articles of Faith"]]—a document written by Joseph Smith in 1842 and canonized by the church as scripture in 1880—members "believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly," and they "believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God," without qualification.<!-- The specific difference between the statements on the Bible and the Book of Mormon is noted by John G. Turner in The Mormon Jesus, page 46. -->{{sfn|Turner|2016|p=46}}<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/articles/histories-volume-1-joseph-smith-histories-1832-1844|title=Joseph Smith Histories, 1832–1844|publisher=Church Historian's Press|year=2012|isbn=978-1-60641-196-4|editor-last=Davidson|editor-first=Karen Lynn|series=The Joseph Smith Papers: Histories|volume=1|pages=489–501|chapter=Historical Introduction to 'Church History,' 1 March 1842|editor-last2=Whittaker|editor-first2=David J.|editor-last3=Ashurst-McGee|editor-first3=Mark|editor-last4=Jensen|editor-first4=Richard L.|chapter-url=https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/church-history-1-march-1842/1#historical-intro}}</ref> In their evangelism, Latter-day Saint leaders and missionaries have long emphasized the book's place in a causal chain which held that if the Book of Mormon was "verifiably true revelation of God," then it justified Smith's claims to prophetic authority to restore the New Testament church.{{sfn|Givens|2009|pp=79–84}}

Latter-day Saints have also long believed the Book of Mormon's contents confirm and fulfill biblical prophecies.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Matthews|first=Robert J.|url=https://rsc.byu.edu/book/book-mormon-first-nephi-doctrinal-foundation|title=The Book of Mormon: First Nephi, the Doctrinal Foundation|publisher=[[Religious Studies Center]]|year=1989|isbn=0-8849-4647-9|editor-last=Nyman|editor-first=Monte S.|pages=193–215|chapter=Establishing the Truth of the Bible|editor-last2=Tate|editor-first2=Charles D. Jr.|chapter-url=https://rsc.byu.edu/book-mormon-first-nephi-doctrinal-foundation/establishing-truth-bible}}</ref> For example, "many Latter-day Saints" consider the biblical patriarch [[Jacob]]'s description of his son [[Joseph (Genesis)|Joseph]] as "a fruitful bough{{nbsp}}... whose branches run over a wall" a prophecy of Lehi's posterity—described as descendants of Joseph—overflowing into the New World.{{sfn|Givens|2002|pp=43–44}} Latter-day Saints also believe the Bible prophesies of the Book of Mormon as an additional testament to God's dealings with humanity.<ref name="Meservy-1992">{{Cite book|last=Meservy|first=Keith H.|title=[[Encyclopedia of Mormonism]]|publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan Publishing]]|year=1992|isbn=0028796055|editor-last=Ludlow|editor-first=Daniel H.|pages=158–160|chapter=Book of Mormon, Biblical Prophecies About|chapter-url=https://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Book_of_Mormon,_Biblical_Prophecies_About}}</ref>{{sfn|Givens|2002|p=95}}

In the 1980s, the church placed greater emphasis on the Book of Mormon as a central text of the faith.{{sfn|Turner|2016|p=45}}{{sfn|Givens|2009|pp=109–111}} In 1982, it added the subtitle "Another Testament of Jesus Christ" to its official editions of the Book of Mormon.<ref>{{Cite news|date=January 2, 1988|title=Since 1982, Subtitle has Defined Book as 'Another Testament of Jesus Christ'|work=[[Church News]]|url=https://www.thechurchnews.com/archives/1988-01-02/since-1982-subtitle-has-defined-book-as-another-testament-of-jesus-christ-154250|access-date=April 21, 2021}}</ref>{{sfn|Turner|2016|pp=44–45}} [[Ezra Taft Benson]], the church's thirteenth [[President of the Church (LDS Church)|president]] (1985–1994), especially emphasized the Book of Mormon.{{sfn|Turner|2016|pp=45–47}}{{sfn|Givens|2009|pp=81–82}} Referencing Smith's 1832 revelation, Benson said the church remained under condemnation for treating the Book of Mormon lightly.{{sfn|Givens|2009|pp=81–82}}

Since the late 1980s, Latter-day Saint leaders have encouraged church members to read from the Book of Mormon daily, and in the twenty-first century, many Latter-day Saints use the book in private devotions and family worship.{{sfn|Turner|2016|p=46}}{{sfn|Givens|2002|p=242}} Literary scholar Terryl Givens observes that for Latter-day Saints, the Book of Mormon is "the principal scriptural focus", a "cultural touchstone, and "absolutely central" to worship, including in weekly services, Sunday School, youth seminaries, and more.{{sfn|Givens|2009|pp=111, 240–246}}

Approximately 90 to 95% of all Book of Mormon printings have been affiliated with the church.<ref>{{cite interview |last=Messick |first=Robert |subject-link= |interviewer=Steven Pynakker |title=Interview of Robert of ''Book of Mormon Editions'' YouTube Channel |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EtJrNbo-zQ |work=Mormon Book Reviews |publisher=YouTube |date=July 8, 2021}} (12:38).</ref> As of October 2020, it has published more than 192 million copies of the Book of Mormon.<ref name="Walch-2020">{{Cite news|last=Walch|first=Tad|date=October 4, 2020|title=12 Things I Learned About the Church That I Didn't Know Before General Conference|work=[[Deseret News]]|url=https://www.deseret.com/faith/2020/10/4/21500695/october-general-conference-mormon-lds-elder-matthew-holland-elder-jeffrey-holland-elder-gong-covid|access-date=April 21, 2021}}</ref>
[[File:Book of Mormon Talks.png|alt=Transcription follows: Book of Mormon Talks (line break) By Orion (line break) Birth Offering Series.—No. 4 (line break) Third Edition (line break) Lamoni, Iowa  Published by the Board of Publication of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (line break) 1912|left|thumb|289x289px|RLDS devotional literature about the Book of Mormon, published in 1912]]

===Community of Christ===
The [[Community of Christ]] (formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints or RLDS Church) views the Book of Mormon as scripture which provides an additional witness of Jesus Christ in support of the Bible.<ref name="Moore-2014">{{Cite journal|last=Moore|first=Richard G.|date=Spring 2014|title=LDS Misconceptions About the Community of Christ|url=https://ensignpeakfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/LDS-Misconceptions.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://ensignpeakfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/LDS-Misconceptions.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|journal=[[Mormon Historical Studies]]|volume=15|issue=1|pages=1–23}}</ref> The Community of Christ publishes two versions of the book. The first is the Authorized Edition, first published by the then-RLDS Church in 1908, whose text is based on comparing the original printer's manuscript and the 1837 Second Edition (or "Kirtland Edition") of the Book of Mormon.{{sfn|Gutjahr|2012|p=82}} Its content is similar to the Latter-day Saint edition of the Book of Mormon, but the versification is different.{{Sfn|Maffly-Kipp|2008|p=xxiv}} The Community of Christ also publishes a "New Authorized Version" (also called a "reader's edition"), first released in 1966, which attempts to modernize the language of the text by removing archaisms and standardizing punctuation.{{sfn|Gutjahr|2012|p=83}}

Use of the Book of Mormon varies among Community of Christ membership. The church describes it as scripture and includes references to the Book of Mormon in its official lectionary.<ref name="Howlett-2007">{{cite interview|last=Howlett|first=David|interviewer=|title=Q & A – The Community of Christ and Latter-day Saints|url=https://bycommonconsent.com/2007/08/13/q-a-the-community-of-christ-and-latter-day-saints/|work=[[By Common Consent]]|date=August 13, 2007}}</ref> In 2010, representatives told the [[National Council of Churches]] that "the Book of Mormon is in our DNA".<ref name="Moore-2014" /><ref>{{Cite web|last=Welsh|first=Robert|date=November 3, 2010|title=Memorandum to the 2010 General Assembly of the NCC|url=http://www.ncccusa.org/witnesses2010/ga-merc-report-community-of-christ.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819200311/http://www.ncccusa.org/witnesses2010/ga-merc-report-community-of-christ.pdf|archive-date=August 19, 2014|access-date=June 2, 2021|website='Witnesses of These Things: Ecumenical Engagement in a New Era,' 2010 Centennial Ecumenical Gathering and General Assembly of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA and Church World Service|publisher=[[National Council of Churches]]}}</ref> The book remains a symbol of the denomination's belief in continuing revelation from God.<ref name="Peter-2022">{{cite podcast |title=Theo-History {{!}} Early Church |website=Project Zion |publisher=Publisher |date=August 16, 2022 |url=https://www.projectzionpodcast.org/podcast/503-cuppa-joe-theo-history-early-church/ |access-date=22 October 2022 |last=Peter |first=Karin |time=1:33:33 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221022204831/http://www.projectzionpodcast.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/503-Cuppa-Joe-Theo-History-Early-Church.pdf |archive-date=October 22, 2022 |last2=Mackay |first2=Lachlan |last3=Chvala-Smith |first3=Tony |url-status=live}}</ref> Nevertheless, its usage in [[North America]]n congregations declined between the mid-twentieth and twenty-first centuries.<ref name="Howlett-2007" /> Community of Christ theologian Anthony Chvala-Smith describes the Book of Mormon as being akin to a "subordinate standard" relative to the Bible, giving the Bible priority over the Book of Mormon,<ref name="Peter-2022" /> and the denomination does not emphasize the book as part of its self-conceived identity.{{Sfn|Maffly-Kipp|2008|p=xxiv}} Book of Mormon use varies in what David Howlett calls "Mormon heritage regions": North America, Western Europe, and French Polynesia.<ref name="Howlett-2022">{{Cite web |last=Howlett |first=David J. |date=December 11, 2022 |title=Community of Christ |url=https://wrldrels.org/2022/12/11/21325/ |access-date= |website=World Religions and Spirituality Project |language=en}}</ref> Outside these regions, where there are tens of thousands of members,<ref name="Howlett-2007" /> congregations almost never use the Book of Mormon in their worship,<ref name="Howlett-2022" /> and they may be entirely unfamiliar with it.<ref name="Howlett-2007" /> Some in Community of Christ remain interested in prioritizing the Book of Mormon in religious practice and have variously responded to these developments by leaving the denomination or by striving to re-emphasize the book.<ref name="Stokes-2016">{{Cite journal |last=Stokes |first=Adam Oliver |date=2016 |title=Mixing the Old with the New: The Implications of Reading the Book of Mormon from a Literary Perspective |url=https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1592&context=jbms |department=Reviews |journal=[[Journal of Book of Mormon Studies]] |volume=25 |pages=85–92 |via=BYU ScholarsArchive|jstor=10.18809/jbms.2016.0108 }}</ref>

During this time, the Community of Christ moved away from emphasizing the Book of Mormon as an authentic record of a historical past. By the late-twentieth century, church president [[W. Grant McMurray]] made open the possibility the book was nonhistorical.{{sfn|Gutjahr|2012|p=83}} McMurray reiterated this ambivalence in 2001, reflecting, "The proper use of the Book of Mormon as sacred scripture has been under wide discussion in the 1970s and beyond, in part because of long-standing questions about its historical authenticity and in part because of perceived theological inadequacies, including matters of race and ethnicity."<ref name="McMurray-2001">McMurray, W. Grant, [https://archive.today/20050218115333/http://www.cofchrist.org/docs/NativeAmericanConference/keynote.asp "They 'Shall Blossom as the Rose': Native Americans and the Dream of Zion,"] an address delivered February 17, 2001, cofchrist.org.</ref> When a resolution was submitted at the 2007 Community of Christ World Conference to "reaffirm the Book of Mormon as a divinely inspired record", church president [[Stephen M. Veazey]] ruled it out-of-order. He stated, "while the Church affirms the Book of Mormon as scripture, and makes it available for study and use in various languages, we do not attempt to mandate the degree of belief or use. This position is in keeping with our longstanding tradition that belief in the Book of Mormon is not to be used as a test of fellowship or membership in the church."<ref name="Stokes-2016" />

=== Greater Latter Day Saint movement ===
Since the death of Joseph Smith in 1844, there have been approximately seventy different [[List of denominations in the Latter Day Saint movement|churches]] that have been part of the Latter Day Saint movement, fifty of which were extant as of 2012. Religious studies scholar Paul Gutjahr explains that "each of these sects developed its own special relationship with the Book of Mormon".{{sfn|Gutjahr|2012|p=69}} For example [[James Strang]], who led a denomination in the nineteenth century, reenacted Smith's production of the Book of Mormon by claiming in the 1840s and 1850s to receive and translate new scriptures engraved on metal plates, which became the [[Voree plates|Voree Plates]] and the [[Book of the Law of the Lord]].{{sfn|Gutjahr|2012|pp=72–75}}

[[William Bickerton]] led another denomination, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (today called [[the Church of Jesus Christ (Bickertonite)|The Church of Jesus Christ]]), which accepted the Book of Mormon as scripture alongside the Bible although it did not canonize other Latter Day Saint religious texts like the [[Doctrine and Covenants]] and [[Pearl of Great Price (Mormonism)|Pearl of Great Price]].{{sfn|Gutjahr|2012|p=72}} The contemporary Church of Jesus Christ continues to consider the "Bible and Book of Mormon together" to be "the foundation of [their] faith and the building blocks of" their church.<ref>{{cite interview|last=Gehly|first=Josh|interviewer=Steven Pynakker|title=A Christian Apologist Defense of the Book of Mormon: Conversation with Evangelist Josh Gehly|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcjS63mN_UM|work=Mormon Book Reviews|publisher=YouTube|date=October 21, 2021}}</ref>

[[Nahuas|Nahua]]-[[Mexicans|Mexican]] Latter-day Saint [[Margarito Bautista]] believed the Book of Mormon told an Indigenous history of Mexico before European contact, and he identified himself as a "descendant of Father Lehi", a prophet in the Book of Mormon.<ref name="Murphy-2000">{{Cite journal |last=Murphy |first=Thomas W. |author-link=Thomas W. Murphy (anthropologist) |date=Fall 2000 |title=Other Mormon Histories: Lamanite Subjectivity in Mexico |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23288220 |journal=[[Journal of Mormon History]] |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=179–214 |issn=0094-7342 |jstor=23288220 }}</ref> Bautista believed the Book of Mormon revealed that Indigenous Mexicans were a chosen remnant of biblical Israel and therefore had a sacred destiny to someday lead the church spiritually and the world politically.<ref name="Murphy-1999">{{Cite journal |last=Murphy |first=Thomas W. |author-link=Thomas W. Murphy (anthropologist) |date=Summer 1999 |title=From Racist Stereotype to Ethnic Identity: Instrumental Uses of Mormon Racial Doctrine |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/483199 |journal=Ethnohistory |volume=46 |issue=3 |pages=451–480 |issn=0014-1801 |jstor=483199 |pmid=20499476 }}</ref> To promote this belief, he wrote a theological treatise synthesizing Mexican nationalism and Book of Mormon content, published in 1935. Anglo-American LDS Church leadership suppressed the book and eventually excommunicated Bautista, and he went on to found a new Mormon denomination. Officially named ''El Reino de Dios en su Plenitud'', the denomination continues to exist in Colonial Industrial, Ozumba, [[Mexico]] as a church with several hundred members who call themselves ''Mormons''.<ref name="Murphy-2000" />

Separate editions of the Book of Mormon have been published by a number of churches in the Latter Day Saint movement,{{Sfn|Vogel|1986|p=1}} along with private individuals and organizations not endorsed by any specific denomination.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Messick |first=Robert |date=March 21, 2020 |title=Book of Mormon Editions, Introduction to the Series |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzBQoh1PzBY |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220102234910/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzBQoh1PzBY |archive-date=January 2, 2022 |access-date=January 2, 2021 |website=Book of Mormon Editions |publisher=YouTube |quote=Most people know the current printed edition of the Book of Mormon through The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from Salt Lake City, Utah. However, there are actually quite a number of printed editions from third-party publishers, editors, or other religious organizations that have been printed over the years.}}</ref>