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Revival Terminology and its Powerful Effects
“The translation of the Book of Mormon is English in idiom, and the idiom of the time and locality where it was produced, as all must know who read it, and especially those who have read the first edition of it…”1
Contrary to B.H. Robert’s assertion that “all must know who read it,” modern readers of the Book of Mormon have little hope of recognizing the use of revival phraseology without help. Even so, Mark D. Thomas maintained that “a knowledge of the theological terminology of the original audience is necessary to understand certain passages in the Book of Mormon.”2 Fortunately for the displaced reader, Thomas, Grant Palmer, Dan Vogel and other scholars past and present have researched the extant Protestant publications and have recovered these forgotten idioms, formed from a combination of paraphrased Bible verses and homespun expressions.3 Once brought to light, the incendiary tone and vehement exhortation that characterize this era of frontier preaching become readily apparent in the sermons of Alma, Amulek, Jacob, King Benjamin, Abinadi, and others in the Book of Mormon. Palmer has identified hundreds of parallels.
Two peculiar Evangelical phrases worthy of mention are “probationary state” or “state of probation,” and “methinks” or “methought.” The word “probation” occurs only in the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants, and appears to have no Old Testament, or Brass Plate, precedent. The same can be said for the very quaint word, “methought.” It appears only twice in the entire Book of Mormon and nowhere else in the standard works. It is obviously a variation on the word, “methinks,” a word that Reverend George Whitefield used in his sermons. These are just two more examples where it is clear that revival terminology unique to the early 19th century had an impact in shaping the text of the Book of Mormon. 1 B.H. Roberts, Defense of the Faith, 1:293 2 Mark D. Thomas “Revival Language in the Book of Mormon,” Sunstone, Issue 39, May-June 1983. 3 For a late nineteenth century examination, see M.T. Lamb’s Golden Bible, 1887. |
