“They Were Angry Because of the Word for It Did Destroy Their Craft”

Alan C. Miner

Brant Gardner notes that the phrase "they [the Zoramites] were angry because of the word, for it did destroy their craft" indicates that Mormon certainly doesn't consider the Zoramites to be true religion, but rather a "craft." What he means by the destruction of the craft is that the gospel would destroy something in the Zoramite culture, but what? In the Zoramite case, the religio-political structure was firmly rooted in the establishment and maintenance of a social hierarchy. The gospel was egalitarian, and completely opposed to the very organization of privilege that the Zoramites had elected in preference to Nephite egalitarianism. The gospel would have clearly destroyed not only the "craft" but the entire political organization. Had the Zoramites been converted, their entire way of life would have changed, their entire social and political structure would have changed along with their religion. Those things could not have been separated. [Brant Gardner, Book of Mormon Commentary, [http://www.highfiber.com/~nahualli/LDStopics/Alma/Alma35.htm], pp. 1-2] .

Step by Step Through the Book of Mormon: A Cultural Commentary

References