Reading Competency in the Book of Mormon: Abish and Other Model Readers

Michael J. Call draws from the work of such reception theorists as Gerald Prince, who propose that embedded in every narrative are examples of the very act in which the actual reader is engaged at every moment of the reading process, that is, the assimilation and interpretation of observed phenomena. Call proposes that, among others, the story of Abish, servant of King Lamoni's wife, offers such an example. When the Lamanite king and queen, Nephite missionary Ammon, and King Lamoni's servants are overcome by their encounter with a divine influence, Abish gathers a crowd together to witness the miracle. This group misreads the situation in a variety of ways. It is only Abish who reads the situation correctly.