How the Book of Mormon Reads Ancient Religious Texts

By Kristian S. Heal, Zach Stevenson

If you read the Book of Mormon carefully, you can learn what to look for and think about when reading other ancient scriptures. Kristian S. Heal and Zach Stevenson provide four things to remember about all ancient religious records.

Introductory paragraph:
The Book of Mormon turned the Latter-day Saints purposefully toward ancient religious texts. Early converts connected the Book of Mormon with lost texts recorded in the Bible.¹ The space left by these lost books could be filled by the Book of Mormon. But not by the Book of Mormon alone. There was room to spare, and with it, a growing desire not only to find lost scriptures that were known but also to restore lost scriptures that were until then unknown (see D&C 9:2). This fervor was centrifugal, compelling Joseph Smith and others to seek out and reveal ancient texts at every opportunity, exemplified by the purchase of expensive Egyptian artifacts at a time of great financial difficulty.² The coming forth of the Book of Mormon seemed to mark the commencement of a great age of discovery and gathering of ancient texts intimately connected to the Restoration project. Some texts were accepted as scripture; others, like the Apocrypha, contained valuable insights that could be obtained with the aid of the Spirit (see D&C 91).