Item Detail
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30485
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4
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0
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English
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Rendering Fiction : Translation, Pseudotranslation, and the Book of Mormon
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The New Mormon Challenge : Responding to the Latest Defenses of a Fast-Growing Movement
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Grand Rapids, Michigan
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Zondervan
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367-397
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"Given the exceptional nature of the revelation to which Joseph Smith laid claim, it is hardly surprising that he felt it necessary to secure the signed testimony of several witnesses as a guarantee of the Book of Mormon's authenticity. Neither it is surprising, given the skepticism of many observers then ans now, that the editions of the Book of Mormon, beginning with the editio princeps (1830_, have included these statements as external evidence of its credibility. If the substance of these testimonies has remained largely unchanged from then until now, one way in which the first printing and subsequent editions of the 'testimony of eight witnesses' differ is in their characterization of Joseph Smith's role with regard to the Book of Mormon's emergence as a published work. While in later editions of the Book of Mormon this testimony and the title page of the work refer to Smith as the 'translator,' the original edition preferred isntead to bestow on him the titles