Editing Textual criticism (section)

=== Book of Mormon ===
{{See also|Historicity of the Book of Mormon}}
[[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] ([[LDS Church]]) includes the [[Book of Mormon]] as a foundational reference. LDS members typically believe the book to be a literal historical record.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

Although some earlier unpublished studies had been prepared,{{citation needed|date=March 2022}} not until the early 1970s was true textual criticism applied to the Book of Mormon. At that time BYU Professor Ellis Rasmussen and his associates were asked by the LDS Church to begin preparation for a new edition of the Holy Scriptures. One aspect of that effort entailed digitizing the text and preparing appropriate footnotes; another aspect required establishing the most dependable text. To that latter end, [[Stanley R. Larson]] (a Rasmussen graduate student) set about applying modern text critical standards to the manuscripts and early editions of the Book of Mormon as his thesis project—which he completed in 1974. To that end, Larson carefully examined the Original Manuscript (the one dictated by [[Joseph Smith]] to his scribes) and the Printer's Manuscript (the copy [[Oliver Cowdery]] prepared for the Printer in 1829–1830), and compared them with the first, second, and third editions of the Book of Mormon to determine what sort of changes had occurred over time and to make judgments as to which readings were the most original.<ref>Stanley R. Larson, "A Study of Some Textual Variations in the Book of Mormon, Comparing the Original and Printer's MSS., and Comparing the 1830, 1837, and 1840 Editions," unpublished master's thesis (Provo: BYU, 1974).</ref> Larson proceeded to publish a useful set of well-argued articles on the phenomena which he had discovered.<ref>Stanley Larson, "Early Book of Mormon Texts: Textual Changes to the Book of Mormon in 1837 and 1840," ''Sunstone'', 1/4 (Fall 1976), 44–55; Larson, "Textual Variants in the Book of Mormon Manuscripts," ''Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought'', 10/4 (Autumn 1977), 8–30 [FARMS Reprint LAR-77]; Larson,  "Conjectural Emendation and the Text of the Book of Mormon," ''BYU Studies'', 18 (Summer 1978), 563–569 [FARMS Reprint LAR-78].</ref> Many of his observations were included as improvements in the 1981 LDS edition of the Book of Mormon.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

By 1979, with the establishment of the [[Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies]] ([[FARMS]]) as a California non-profit research institution, an effort led by [[Robert F. Smith (historian)|Robert F. Smith]] began to take full account of Larson's work and to publish a Critical Text of the Book of Mormon. Thus was born the FARMS Critical Text Project which published the first volume of the 3-volume Book of Mormon Critical Text in 1984. The third volume of that first edition was published in 1987, but was already being superseded by a second, revised edition of the entire work,<ref>Robert F. Smith, ed., ''Book of Mormon Critical Text'', 2nd ed., 3 vols. (Provo: FARMS, 1986–1987).</ref> greatly aided through the advice and assistance of then Yale doctoral candidate [[Grant Hardy]], Dr. [[Gordon C. Thomasson]], Professor [[John W. Welch]] (the head of FARMS), Professor [[Royal Skousen]], and others too numerous to mention here. However, these were merely preliminary steps to a far more exacting and all-encompassing project.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

In 1988, with that preliminary phase of the project completed, Professor Skousen took over as editor and head of the FARMS Critical Text of the Book of Mormon Project and proceeded to gather still scattered fragments of the Original Manuscript of the Book of Mormon and to have advanced photographic techniques applied to obtain fine readings from otherwise unreadable pages and fragments. He also closely examined the Printer's Manuscript (owned by the [[Community of Christ]]—RLDS Church in Independence, Missouri) for differences in types of ink or pencil, in order to determine when and by whom they were made. He also collated the various editions of the Book of Mormon down to the present to see what sorts of changes have been made through time.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

Thus far, Professor Skousen has published complete transcripts of the Original and Printer's Manuscripts,<ref>''The Original Manuscript of the Book of Mormon'' (Provo: FARMS, 2001); ''The Printer's Manuscript of the Book of Mormon'', 2 vols. (FARMS, 2001).</ref> as well as a six-volume analysis of textual variants.<ref>''Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon'', 6 vols. (Provo: FARMS, 2004–2009).</ref> Still in preparation are a history of the text, and a complete electronic collation of editions and manuscripts (volumes 3 and 5 of the Project, respectively). Yale University has in the meantime published an edition of the Book of Mormon which incorporates all aspects of Skousen's research.<ref>Skousen, ed., ''The Book of Mormon: The Earliest Text'' (Yale Univ. Press, 2009).</ref>