Saturday, September 3, 2016

John L. Sorenson on the Chronological Discrepancy between Alma 53:22 and 56:9

John L. Sorenson, author of seminal works such as Mormon's Codex: An Ancient American Book, wrote an article in 1990 entitled:


This paper examines the discrepancy between Alma 53:22 and 56:9 and explains how it could have arisen. As the summary of the paper reads:


John Sorenson analyzes the extent and significance of the discrepancy between two reports of the same event in the Book of Mormon and explores how the two versions may have arisen. He looks at the scope of the problem and the fallibility of the historical record before analyzing the problem and offering a resolution. He also provides a reconciled chronology of the years in question and discusses some lessons we can learn from the discrepancy.