Keywords
Mormon writing, Book of Mormon, abridgment, plates of Nephi
Abstract
When Moroni described what his father had written, he called it “an abridgment of the record of the people of Nephi” (Title Page). Mormon himself similarly referred to what he had written: “after I had made an abridgment from the plates of Nephi...” (Words of Mormon 1:3). Nevertheless, Mormon doesn’t appear to use the term in the way we might expect.101 A modern reader expects that an abridgment makes a shorter but faithful version of a longer text. This is not what Mormon did. When Mormon wrote his eponymous book within his larger work, he said that “I write a small abridgment, daring not to give a full account of the things which I have seen” (Mormon 5:9). Mormon was writing his eponymous book in real time and not interacting with the plates of Nephi as a source. He didn’t need to, as he was the one who had both experienced and written that history. For Mormon, an abridgement was anything shorter than what the full account might have been. The numerous times we hear that Mormon cannot write but the hundredth part of Nephite history confirms his idea that he was abridging by giving a less voluminous account.102
Recommended Citation
Gardner, Brant
(2020)
"Chapter 5: Mormon Writing,"
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship: Vol. 35, Article 9.
Available at:
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/interpreter/vol35/iss1/9
