A Detailed Linguistic Analysis of Doctrine and Covenants 132
Keywords:
Doctrine and Covenants 132, Nauvoo polygamy, Origins of Mormon Polygamy, RevelationsAbstract
The origin of Doctrine and Covenants 132 has long been disputed, but debates over its authorship have largely depended on conflicting historical memories and later narrative reconstructions. This study approaches the question from a different angle by examining how the text itself is written. Rather than asking what later witnesses claimed, it asks whether the language of D&C 132 resembles the language Joseph Smith consistently used in his other revelations. Using established techniques from computational linguistics to compare patterns of common words and sentence structure, this paper evaluates whether D&C 132 fits Joseph Smith’s known writing style. The results show that large portions of the text differ markedly from his authenticated revelations in tone, structure, and habitual word use. These differences persist even when controlling for subject matter, historical period, and genre, suggesting that they are not merely the result of topic or audience. While this study does not attempt to resolve every historical question surrounding the text’s transmission, it demonstrates that stylometric evidence offers an independent and measurable basis for reassessing the authorship and composition of Doctrine and Covenants 132.
