The following comes from:
Arthur
Chris Eccel, Genesis of the Mormon Canon (Hilo, Hawaii: GP Touchstone, 2023),
130-31
While
I disagree with Eccel on a few issues (e.g., that the fortifications in the
Book of Mormon are modeled after those from the American Revolutionary War; Mesoamerican fortifications fits
the text better), Eccel, a critic of the Book of Mormon, does admit that
the text is much more complex and internally consistent than most:
Interwoven
Book of Mormon Complexity
1. Complex storylines, especially the story of
getting the Brass Plates, and those found in the missionary and military
campaigns;
2. A comprehensive list of recordkeepers, and a
complex set of interrelated accounts, records and plates . . .
3. The development of a complex and extensive
onomasticon of proper names, mostly composed by recombining invented pseudo
name components
4. A complex coinage system;
5. Four major KJV inclusions, including one consisting
of thirteen highly edited chapters of Isaiah, plus the Sermon on the Mount;
6. Composition of well over a hundred variant
readings to rework the texts of these inclusions to comport with the view that
they are corrected versions of corrupted Biblical passages.
7. Theological commentary on the KJV inclusions;
8. Numerous Biblical paraphrases worked into the
BoM text
9. A researched and studied roundup of scriptures
interpreted to show that sole OT prophets knew about the Nephites and that a
new bible would come forth;
10. Various apologetic arguments in anticipation
to opposition to the Book of Mormon (i.e. the BoM in defense of itself)
11. A theory of the Great Apostasy in the Old
World, its replication following the nearly two Christian centuries in the New World,
and a harsh condemnation of the churches and the Jews of Smith’s day;
12. Theological disputes with “strawman”
anti-Christs to argue against atheism and for a consistent BoM theology;
13. Explanation and examination of theological concepts,
such has the first and second resurrections; the fall of man; the condescension
of Christ; blood atonement; anthropomorphism of God; the infinite sacrifice; the
fallacy of infant baptism; OT predictions of the Messiah as shadows or types;
and defense of adherence to the law of Moses even while teaching that it has no
saving power; plan of redemption, etc.
14. A complex geography, with at least forty
cities, that is internally consistent throughout the complexities of the
storylines, and a useful and explicit key to BoM geography (in Alms 22);
15. Scores of post-Biblical Euro-Christian
phrases, drawn from Christian hymns and sermons, and seamlessly integrated into
the Nephite narrative;
16. A complex chronology, with regularly reported
dates in years after leaving Jerusalem (ALJ dates), years of the judges, years
since the sign of the birth of Jesus up to his coming to the Nephites, and
years after the birth of Jesus (i.e. CE dates).
17. A continuous diatribe against secret societies;
18. Continuously repetitious demonstrations that
wickedness is the source of curses and famines:
19. Descriptions of military fortifications modeled
after that used in the revolutionary war (picket walls, berms, ditches, stone
walls, watch towers);
20. Description of two trips from the eastern hemisphere
to the Americas, each with a different type of vessel, including a
surface-submarine vessel;
21. Scientific explanations to show that ancient
prophets knew that the world is round, that it is solid all the way through (to
refute holly earth theories of the followers of John Cleves Symmes) and that
the solar system is heliocentric.
22. Developing family genealogies, including a
list of begats in the Book of Ether, followed by histories corresponding to
them.
