The most notable literary products of Joseph Smith's relatively short life were his ancient scriptures: the Book of Mormon, his revision of the Bible (JSR; portions of which are in the Pearl of Great Price), and the Book of Abraham. These were put forward as records of ancient peoples, restoring or revealing ideas, histories, covenants, and ordinances lost to humanity or "hidden up" to come forth in the last days. Mormon tradition at the beginning accepted these works as ancient, and today great reservation is shown in traditional circles to suggestions otherwise. Nevertheless, some studies in recent years have been making it clearer that these works are not ancient but recent compositions set pseudonymously or pseudepigraphically in the past. In my view these studies are on the right track, and in what follows I would like to add to the evidence for this view. Specifically I will show that Alma chapters 12-13, traditionally dated to about 82 B.C.E., depend in part on the New Testament epistle to the Hebrews, dated by critical scholars to the last third of the first century C.E. The dependence of Alma 12-13 on Hebrews thus constitutes an anachronism and indicates that the chapters are a composition of Joseph Smith.

But I have another purpose in this study which goes beyond this simple auctorial observation and which actually constitutes the major goal here. I am interested more generally in how Joseph Smith used Hebrews in his composition of Alma 12-13: What parts of that epistle did he pick up? How did he represent and transform these elements in the Book of Mormon chapters? What new ideas grew out of his use of the biblical text? What solutions did he give to difficulties that appear in the text of Hebrews? Answers to these questions will tell us something about Smith's view of the Old and New Testaments and about the development of religious ideas in his life and in early Mormonism. I make these observations my major goal, too, because going beyond observations about authorship to see the creativity in Smith's use of the biblical material and to observe how the Book of Mormon reflects his life will demonstrate to the religious community that it can learn from and appreciate its scriptural heritage despite conclusions about authorship (see the Afterword, which follows below). One of the points I hope will be borne out is that Smith is as interesting and religiously relevant when understood to be the author of the Book of Mormon as when he is considered the translator.

I assume Joseph Smith's authorship in this study in order to speak about how he has used and transformed the biblical text. At certain points in the discussion, however, I will break out of this mode to note pieces of evidence which demonstrate the dependence of Alma 12-13 on Hebrews. When I cite the Bible in English, I will generally use the King James Version (KJV), whose influence is manifested in the chapters of Alma and the Book of Mormon generally. Though modern scholarly translations are clearer, having the idiom of the KJV in mind will facilitate comparisons. The Book of Mormon text I use is, despite its failings and tentativeness, the FARMS critical text. I use this because in most matters it gets us closer to what the original dictated text was like. It should be noted that there are no differences between this text, the Printer's Manuscript (P), the first edition (1830), and the current Latter-day Saint edition which affect the conclusions of this paper.

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Afterword

Some might think that acceptance of the conclusion that Joseph Smith is author of the Book of Mormon requires rejecting the work as religiously relevant and significant. I append this afterword to make it clear that such a rejection does not follow from this critical judgment. Historical conclusions about a scriptural text, such as who authored it, are existential judgments, as William James has pointed out, and can and should be separated from judgments about spiritual value (James 1961, 23). Historical conclusions might be made about a scriptural text showing that it has errors and demonstrates more humanness than previously thought, but these conclusions do not mean a priori that the text has no religious value. They are only challenging if one retains a traditional viewpoint which requires that scripture, to be scripture, be miraculous, free (or mostly free) of error, and God's own word rather than humans' words about God. One can adopt an alternative attitude, tempered by the acceptance of critical conclusions (or more abstractly the critical method, which generates critical conclusions), that allows the text to speak a spiritual message. This attitude depends less on scripture's proving itself to the reader and more on an individual's and community's willingness to appreciate the text as religiously relevant.

The separation between existential and spiritual judgments and the change in presuppositions about the nature of scripture have been exemplified in the work and lives of modern Jewish and Christian students of the Bible. Many of these scholars have come to conclusions about the biblical text very similar in tenor to those offered in this paper about the Book of Mormon. For example, they recognize that authorship of many biblical books is not that which tradition or the texts themselves claim. Many texts attributed to early times were actually written later. Many of the events recorded in the Bible did not actually occur. And some of the works were written pseudonymously, in the names of writers who did not write them. Despite these historical conclusions, these scholars have found religious value in the Bible. Indeed, having made this distinction in judgments, they have reintegrated the historical observations into the religious side by viewing them as evidence of how God works. The critical approach does not lead then to a denial of the hand of God. Rather it becomes a way of understanding God's manner of revelation. The way these scholars have managed a religious yet critical approach shows the possibility of such with regard to Joseph Smith's scriptures. Their response should be studied by Mormons for indications of how we might deal with a critical and religious reading of scripture.

Certainly a critically based approach to the Book of Mormon as scripture would lead to a different reading of that book. I would like here, in conclusion, to suggest one way the work might be read. Adopting the critical conclusion about authorship made in this paper might lead one to appreciate the Book of Mormon as a window to Joseph Smith's life, revealing the sharpness of his intellect and portraying his religious growth. It records many of his questions and answers. It reflects his internal struggles and spiritual challenges in the context of his social and religious environment. As such it becomes a "true record," to adapt William James's phrase applied to Jewish and Christian scripture critically read, "of the inner experience of [a] great-souled [person] wrestling with the crises of [his] fate" (1961, 24). The Book of Mormon is the apprentice's workshop of Smith's prophetic career. In it we see him becoming a prophet. By careful and critical reading of its chapters against the environment in which it was produced, we can understand him much more completely and thus appreciate the foundations of the tradition he inaugurated. We can also use this study of Joseph Smith to reflect on our own situations and work out solutions to our questions and problems.