Review of Edward K. Watson, Verifiable Evidence for the Book of Mormon: Proof of a Deliberate Design Within a Dictated-from-Imagination Book (Springville, UT: Brainy Press, 2022). 252 pp.; $32.95 (hardcover).

Abstract: Edward K. Watson provides a new twist in the textual evidence for the authenticity of the Book of Mormon. Drawing upon his expertise in working with argumentative and persuasive essays (collectively known as “structured essays”) and applying modern scholarship to the requirements for sound argumentation in such essays, Watson seeks to apply objective criteria and scoring methods to evaluate several of the many structured essays in the Book of Mormon. Watson argues that because such essays generally require considerable planning and revision, it would be very unlikely for them to have been created, rather than translated, by Joseph Smith dictating at high speed and without major revisions. While his analysis adds new dimensions to the complexity and depth of the Book of Mormon, I believe that his claims are overstated and not adequately supported, especially when he says that dictating structured essays would be “impossible” for any mortal. Nevertheless, Watson does provide interesting evidence on a long-overlooked aspect of the Book of Mormon that merits consideration.





Not being familiar with Edward K. Watson and his background, I was skeptical when I picked up his Verifiable Evidence for the [Page 178]Book of Mormon: Proof of a Deliberate Design Within a Dictated-from-Imagination Book.1 Watson’s thesis is that the Book of Mormon contains a significant number of formal “structured essays,” such as argumentative or persuasive essays, and that such essays are extremely difficult to compose without significant planning and rewriting. Examples include 2 Nephi 2, where Lehi takes a deep dive into logical corollaries involving the Atonement, agency, and the Creation, and Alma 32, where Alma2 explores faith in terms of logical experiments that can lead one to greater knowledge and growing faith.

Dictating such structured essays on the fly, over and over, without notes and without revision in content or structure, certainly seems like it would be outside the skills of Joseph Smith or anyone else. Watson explains that objective criteria or rubrics exist to identify a structured essay and to evaluate its quality. Based on applying such criteria in a detailed examination of five of the Book of Mormon’s many such essays (pp. 10–11), Watson concludes that the writing of these structured essays shows that they were deliberately and artfully crafted, and that they could not have been created using the oral dictation process that Joseph used in the translation of the Book of Mormon. These essays, according to Watson, thus constitute evidence for the authenticity of the Book of Mormon.

Overview of Watson’s Approach and Conclusions

Watson’s background includes three decades of experience in analyzing, creating, and organizing complex documents, such as proposals for projects, project execution plans, and user manuals and procedures, thus making him sensitive to the challenges of making arguments and explanations in texts. He has skills to recognize that structured essays naturally are written with multiple revisions, otherwise a poorly organized essay would result with significant gaps in the structure and logic. Given this useful background, the question is whether his methodology supports the conclusions.

The book’s title signals strong conclusions will be drawn. I generally dislike the noun proof or the verb prove when it comes to broad claims regarding Book of Mormon evidence, even though Nephi1 did not share my caution (see 2 Nephi 11:3),