according to the "33 challenges of the book of mormon" (which, IIRC, was a missionary pamphlet) Joe wrote the BoM in 80 days.

according to other sources (Brodies NMKMH, IIRC) he took over 2 years to come up with the story

I am told that they now teach that - yes, Joe did take years to complete the BoM.

is this correct?
if so, how do they explain the earlier timescale?

Can anyone point me to a good source that talks about the time taken during the "translation"

Even the longer timetable assumes "translation" started when JS said it did. But if the Spalding-Rigdon hypothesis is approximately true, then the creation of what would become the BoM might have taken many years longer. Rigdon could have started long before he even heard of JS. And, of course, there are all the years spent by the authors JS, SR, OC and fellow conspirators ripped off.

http://www.mormonthink.com/transbomweb.htm#timeline

In essence, he had from 1823 - when he first supposedly learned of the plates - until 1829 when the book was finished.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/31/2013 09:25AM by Satan Claus.

The Tran Ass Lation process continues to this day...

So. let's see... almost 200 years now

He didn't translate anything.

There were no gold plates.

He made it up.

So, the question is: How long did it take him to make it up?

According to his mother, he'd been telling tales of the Native American tribes to the family for years and years - "...it was as if he had lived among them." Add plagerism from the Bible to his stories and.....poof! The Book of Mormon is written.

The original publication listed Smith as the Author, NOT Translator.