Narrative Criticism and the Book of Mormon

Authors

Edgar C. Snow Jr., Jones, Day, Reavis and Pogue

Keywords

Book of Mormon Books, Helaman Book of Mormon, Language, Book of Mormon as Literature, Samuel the Lamanite

Abstract

This paper suggests the use of narrative criticism, a recent literary interpretive tool, as a favorable method of Book of Mormon interpretation. As an example of narrative interpretation, the narrative by Samuel the Lamanite in Helaman 13–16 is analyzed as a discrete narrative portion of the Book of Mormon for the exploration of the possibilities of a narrative critical approach to its text. Instead of focusing on the content of Samuel’s exhortations, lamentations, and prophecies in order to understand these passages, I interpret the surrounding narrative and find it serves as an impressive complement to the doctrinal content of Samuel’s discourse.

BYU ScholarsArchive Citation

Snow, Edgar C. Jr. (1995) "Narrative Criticism and the Book of Mormon," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies: Vol. 4: No. 2, Article 4.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jbms/vol4/iss2/4