About BookofMormon.Online
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What is BookofMormon.Online?
BookofMormon.Online is a study resource aimed towards making the text of Book of Mormon as accessible as possible. It breaks the text into reader-friendly segments supplemented with narrative synopses, organized by headings that focus on context and connections.
The text is further supplemented with images, commentary, and audio, and is linked to a database of people, places, facsimiles, maps, and events. Additional historical and analytical resources also serve to enable in-depth research and study.
How do readers approach the Book of Mormon?
The Book of Mormon is a complex text that interweaves historical narratives, doctrinal teachings, quotations, and discourse of a period of over a thousand years, often including intricacies such as flashbacks within flashbacks, and sometimes presented in non-chronological form. Many readers of the Book of Mormon, intimidated by its volume and ancient script, have trouble distinguishing where one segment begins and one ends, and how the multiple segments tie in with one another. Mark Twain famously described the text as ”chloroform in print,” referencing the difficulty involved in engaging the text with any interest. Indeed, to many readers, the Book of Mormon narrative often ends up viewed as a unintelligible mass of words, organized and structured only by books that are titled based on authorship, but to nothing to elucidate the contents. Sometimes readers will encounter familiar stories and sermons emerge while skimming the book, but these are too often drowned in a tide of seemingly indistinguishable supplement. Readers frequently encounter great difficulty in seeing any forest through the trees, and thereby fail to the big picture of the Book of Mormon narrative. Even the student of the Book of Mormon with the best of intentions can become lost or overwhelmed in its complexity, and can finish reading the book with only a passing understanding of its full scope.
Why BookofMormon.Online?
BookofMormon.Online sets out to be the means by which any student of the Book of Mormon, casual or serious, can experience the text in a systematic, immersive manner in which context and explanations are provided every step of the way. No matter if the student seeks only a cursory overview, or an in-depth study, this site provides narrative expositions, doctrinal commentary, artistic renderings, social study groups, and other multi-media offerings to create an interactive and engaging experience whereby one can obtain a thorough understanding and appreciation for the Book of Mormon's text, narratives, characters, and teachings.
Who created BookofMormon.Online?
BookofMormon.Online is created and developed by KC Kern, with some development support from outsourcing partners. Original outlines were created in early 2004, and the work of organizing, digitizing, programming, and writing went on until official launch in late 2007. Since then, it has undergone two major rearchitectures with the inclusion of many new features. Facsimile indexing was made possible by support from Book of Mormon Central in 2018.
Disclaimer
BookofMormon.Online is not an official Web site of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
How can I contribute?
There are a variety of ways that you can get involved and contribute to BookofMormon.Online:
- Community involvement:
Make yourself an account, start a study group, and invite your friends. Making and keeping a vibrant study community would be a great way to show support.
- Data entry:
There are a number of ongoing data entry projects, from commentary input to deeper analysis. Volunteers are needed and welcome to participant in these efforts.
- Translation and localization:
BookofMormon.Online was redesigned with multi-language support in mind. Many new languages are in the queue, and you can contribute your expertise in foreign languages by assisting in translation efforts.
- Code contributions:
Code maintenance, refactoring, and bug fixing is an ongoing workstream. If you have expertise in app development, especially JavaScript React, please consider becoming a GitHub contributor.
- Sponsor a Developer or Server:
Outsourcing and infrastructure costs are burdensome. You can help lighten the load by adopting a server or a developer with cash donations.