The Theological Value of the King James Language in the Book of Mormon
Journal of Book of Mormon Studies
University of Illinois Press
In 1831, Alexander Campbell argued that the Book of Mormon was a fraudulent work of fiction that was full of plagiarized King James English. Recent scholarship, primarily authored by Latter-day Saints, has proposed several limited explanations for the Book of Mormon’s seventeenth-century language, though all of them limit its value, in one way or another, to the nineteenth century. This article, however, has demonstrated the existence of an underlying theological value to the King James English that is relevant to a modern reader. Reviewing the unresolved sixteenth-century controversies between Thomas More and William Tyndale over priest and elder, love and charity, and congregation and church exposed some of the theological problems inherent in the King James text, and an analysis of the Book of Mormon’s use of those same six words demonstrated the many ways in which the Book of Mormon not only addresses but resolves those issues. The seventeenth-century language in the Book of Mormon should not be perceived solely as a means of smoothing the way for the volume’s acceptance in the nineteenth century, nor should it be viewed as an unnecessary or irritating relic that has long lost its usefulness. Rather, from the Book of Mormon’s own perspective, the seventeenth-century language is an indispensable tool that allows the Book of Mormon to clarify and establish the truths in the King James Bible.