The Book of Mormon as a Mirror of the East

The Improvement Era 51:4 (April 1948): 202-204, 249-251. Reprinted, without illustrations, in The Improvement Era 73:11 (November 1970): 115-120, 122-125. The earliest version of Nibley’s theory that the portion of the meaning as well as the historical authenticity of the Book of Mormon can be uncovered and tested by drawing upon the vast literary remains of the Near East. Nibley speculates on possible links between Book of Mormon names and Egyptian etymologies. The series drew the attention of Wesley Walters, who drafted a statement concerning its contents which was signed by William Foxwell Albright in 1949. Since that time the Reverend Walters has remained an inveterate anti-Mormon. — Midgley