Ep308: Sermon Magic: A Textual Analysis of The Book of Mormon episode artwork

EPISODE · Mar 18, 2026 · 3H 11M

Ep308: Sermon Magic: A Textual Analysis of The Book of Mormon

from Mormon.ish

On this groundbreaking episode of Mormonish Podcast, John Knight Lundwall (PhD, comparative myth and religion) evaluates claims that the Book of Mormon contains colophons—ancient paratextual scribal features used to identify and classify texts. He concludes instead that the book employs an unusual first‑person narrative and speech structure absent from both ancient and modern historical writings. So where did this structure come from? Lundwall traces this structure not to antiquity but to the oratorical conventions of Joseph Smith’s cultural milieu, and he likewise attributes another distinctive feature—the presence of Early Modern English in the earliest manuscripts—to Smith’s magical practices. This episode is a must watch as you start to realize that Joseph Smith's magical practices might be the key to everything! Connect with Dr. Lundwall: www.johnklundwall.com Other videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzh1qiLbCcyfzKyzwbutQ6gawpGXdSkFa Join Dr. John Knight Lundwall on a once in a lifetime tour of Egypt, May, 2027. Discounted graduate school rates, professional academic guides, and Dr. Lundwall leading you through all the major sites up and down the Nile. https://www.stylishtours.com/tours/egyptianodysseytour Thank you so much for watching Mormonish Podcast! ***How to DONATE to Mormonish Podcast: If you would like to help financially support our podcast, you can DONATE to support Mormonish Podcast here: Mormonish Podcast is a 501(c) (3) https://donorbox.org/mormonish-podcast ****WE HAVE MERCH! **** If you’d like to purchase Mormonish Merch, you can visit our Merch store here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/mormonishmerch You can get your own quote to attend our Post-Mormon Celebration Cruise by visiting - https://kheskethtravel.com/post-mormon-celebration-cruise And you can get more info on the cruise by visiting - https://mormondiscussionpodcast.org/post-mormon-celebration-cruise/ We appreciate our Mormonish viewers and listeners so much! Don't forget to LIKE and SUBSCRIBE to Mormonish Podcast! Contact Mormonish Podcast: [email protected] #mormonish #lds #mormon #exmormon #postmormon #religion #news, #ldschurch #comeuntochrist #churchofjesuschrist #churchofjesuschristoflatterdaysaints #byu #byui #josephsmith #comefollowme #polygamy #bookofmormon #becauseofhim #hearhim #ldstemple FAIR USE DISCLAIMER All Media in this video (including the thumbnail) is used for the purpose of review and critique. The images in the thumbnail are used as the primary means of visually identifying the subject matter of the video.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

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Ep308: Sermon Magic: A Textual Analysis of The Book of Mormon

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On this groundbreaking episode of Mormonish Podcast, John Knight Lundwall (PhD, comparative myth and religion) evaluates claims that the Book of Mormon contains colophons—ancient paratextual scribal features used to identify and classify texts. He...

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