Editor's Introduction—Not So Easily Dismissed: Some Facts for Which Counterexplanations of the Book of Mormon Will Need to Account

Introduction to the current issue, including editor’s picks. Recent research supporting the authenticity of the Book of Mormon includes evidence that the book was, as witnesses claimed, orally dictated; that its opening chapters accurately depict the ancient Near East in details unknown in Joseph Smith’s day; and that many of its expressions and word meanings had disappeared from English before 1700. Such evidence argues against claims that the Book of Mormon was memorized or otherwise cribbed from another document.