The Psalm of Nephi in an Age of Anxiety and Division

Authors

Patrick Q. Mason

Keywords

Book Of Mormon, Nephi, psalm, scripture analysis

Abstract

It is probably fair to say that readers over the years have responded more positively to the Book of Mormon’s religious teachings and spiritual power than to its purely literary merits. When Parley P. Pratt famously wrote that “sleep was a burden when the night came, for [he] preferred reading to sleep,” it was not because of the Book of Mormon’s page-turning plot. Rather, Pratt testified, “As I read, the spirit of the Lord was upon me, and I knew and comprehended that the book was true.” On the other hand, those uninspired by what they discovered in the book’s pages have often sounded more like nineteenth-century preacher and theologian Alexander Campbell, who called the Book of Mormon “the meanest book in the English language,” or the novelist Mark Twain, who slyly characterized it as “such a pretentious affair,” “an insipid mess,” and “chloroform in print.” Even one of the Book of Mormon’s principal academic defenders and advocates, Grant Hardy, stopped short of claiming that it is literarily on par with the Bible, making instead the more modest claim that “the Book of Mormon is a much more interesting text—rewarding sustained critical attention—than has generally been acknowledged.”

Recommended Citation

Mason, Patrick Q. (2023) "The Psalm of Nephi in an Age of Anxiety and Division," BYU Studies Quarterly: Vol. 62: Iss. 3, Article 4.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol62/iss3/4