What Reading Level Is The Book Of Mormon

[Christian Mormon]

I was wondering what the reading level of the Book of Mormon is?

in fact I want to know the reading level of the four standard works.....if they are all different...THX

[canard78]

I would say "spiritually inspiring."

I started reading it on my own at 8 years old if that helps. I started in Mosiah and got to end of Alma just before my 10th Birthday. Someone had to point out that at the end of each colum it wasn't needed to read all the footnotes (not looking them up, just reading them as part of the narrative!)

[Rivers]

I think the Book of Mormon is at a much lower reading level than the Bible. I've always had a fairly easy time understanding the Book of Mormon aside from the Isaiah passages. But that's just me.

[bluebell]

My ten year old is reading it on his own right now and has gotten to Heleman (I don't remember when he started but it's probably been a year or so). He was going to start reading the bible at Genesis but that goal did not last long-he thought it was too confusing.

My 8 year old just started reading it on his own in December and is somewhere in 1st Nephi, but who knows how much he's really understanding at this point.

[ERayR]

Reading it is easy. Comprehension depends on ones spiritual state.

[thesometimesaint]

Reading it is easy. Comprehension depends on ones spiritual state.

Not really. You can have a thorough compression of any text, and still not agree with it.

From my point of view a pretty basic understanding of the English language will allow anyone an adequate understanding of the Scriptures. Of course better the understanding the Scriptures will come from a better understanding of the English language.

[cinepro]

I would say the Book of Mormon is at a first or second grade level, but I just read the chapter headings.

[ksfisher]

I would say the Book of Mormon is at a first or second grade level, but I just read the chapter headings.

I guess then with all the changes to the headings in the D&C it will be like reading a whole new book!

[Brant Gardner]

I copied chapters 1 and 2 of Mosiah and ran them through Word with the readability statistics turned on. Those two chapters have a reading grade level of 10.6.

[rpn]

I found that my children's daily scripture reading improved their reading ability faster than any other intervention.

[pogi]

Not really. You can have a thorough compression of any text, and still not agree with it.

From my point of view a pretty basic understanding of the English language will allow anyone an adequate understanding of the Scriptures. Of course better the understanding the Scriptures will come from a better understanding of the English language.

Not necessarily. The scriptures often have layers of comprehension and symbology through parables etc. that cannot be fully understood with a simple understanding of the English language. Context, culture, and other factors all come into play, but most importantly true comprehension only comes through the spirit. There are many scriptural scholars who have very little comprehension of the sacred texts and conjure up false interpretations.

[pogi]

I copied chapters 1 and 2 of Mosiah and ran them through Word with the readability statistics turned on. Those two chapters have a reading grade level of 10.6.

This from someone with a 3rd grade education. Interesting!

[ERayR]

Not really. You can have a thorough compression of any text, and still not agree with it.

From my point of view a pretty basic understanding of the English language will allow anyone an adequate understanding of the Scriptures. Of course better the understanding the Scriptures will come from a better understanding of the English language.

One can comprehend the words and still not comprehend the spiritual message.

[Tacenda]

This from someone with a 3rd grade education. Interesting!

Didn't Oliver Cowdery help compile the BOM before it was sent to the printer? Could he have strengthened it somewhat?

[Questing Beast]

This from someone with a 3rd grade education. Interesting!

Joseph Smith's story telling ability was not third grade by a long shot. His ability to write legibly and grammatically was rudimentary, but then he did not "write" anything in the BoM, his scribes did....

[pogi]

Didn't Oliver Cowdery help compile the BOM before it was sent to the printer? Could he have strengthened it somewhat?

To edit a manuscript from a third grade reading level to a 10.6 grade reading level would require re-writting the entire manuscript. I don't think that's what Cowdery did. If he did edit it, I am sure it was more punctuation and spelling than anything.

[Calm]

The change in language over the past 200 years or so could contribute to making the text a higher reading level.

[Brant Gardner]

Didn't Oliver Cowdery help compile the BOM before it was sent to the printer? Could he have strengthened it somewhat?

The Printer's manuscript is the version that Oliver copied to give to the compositor. The Original is what he wrote down as Joseph dictated the text. We have the full Printer's Manuscript and a partial (and often very degraded) Original. Nevertheless, where we have both the Original and the Printer's Manuscripts, it is clear that Oliver was faithfully copying from the Original and not improving it. He did make some mistakes of copying, but they are of a type that confirms the copying process.

There is no evidence that there were major "improvements" in the text although there have been many changes made to spelling, punctuation, and a few word changes.

I suspect that one of the problems of reading level is that our assumed reading level may have been different then. We consider the KJV style language difficult. For Joseph's time, it was much more familiar. For many families, it was the most often read book. That may skew reading levels between the two centuries.

[JeremyOrbe-Smith]

Personally, I think the underlying premise of "reading levels" is silly. I was reading at a "college level" in elementary school, and most of my college courses were frankly an uninformative waste of time and money; arbitrary "levels" are a completely meaningless standard. You either know what a word means or you don't. The language of the King James was considered colloquial at the time; it's only because it's remained "frozen" while the rest of our linguistic culture has changed that it now seems "difficult" to some of us who weren't brought up in that culture. Joseph Smith was a brilliant guy, and it really doesn't mean much to say that he only had a few years of institutional schooling. Some of the most intelligent people I know have never had a single year of school outside their home.

[tyler90az]

Personally, I think the underlying premise of "reading levels" is silly. I was reading at a "college level" in elementary school, and most of my college courses were frankly an uninformative waste of time and money; arbitrary "levels" are a completely meaningless standard. You either know what a word means or you don't. The language of the King James was considered colloquial at the time; it's only because it's remained "frozen" while the rest of our linguistic culture has changed that it now seems "difficult" to some of us who weren't brought up in that culture. Joseph Smith was a brilliant guy, and it really doesn't mean much to say that he only had a few years of institutional schooling. Some of the most intelligent people I know have never had a single year of school outside their home.

The Book of Mormon was intentionally wrtten in plainess. Mormon was a compiler and that is a theme throughout the Book of Mormon the plainess. It is repeated by many different prophets in the BOM if I am not mistaken. It is written in plainess for all to understand and be held accountable for what they are reading. If you can read you can understand the Book of Mormon, it was made for our day, it was made to be read by people will all levels of education. Even know th KIng James may have been easy to read in its day, the Bible was not created for our day exactly. The BOM was and thus is why planess is a theme throughout.

[volgadon]

I found that my children's daily scripture reading improved their reading ability faster than any other intervention.

Personally, I think the underlying premise of "reading levels" is silly. I was reading at a "college level" in elementary school, and most of my college courses were frankly an uninformative waste of time and money; arbitrary "levels" are a completely meaningless standard. You either know what a word means or you don't. The language of the King James was considered colloquial at the time; it's only because it's remained "frozen" while the rest of our linguistic culture has changed that it now seems "difficult" to some of us who weren't brought up in that culture. Joseph Smith was a brilliant guy, and it really doesn't mean much to say that he only had a few years of institutional schooling. Some of the most intelligent people I know have never had a single year of school outside their home.

Not really. You can have a thorough compression of any text, and still not agree with it.

From my point of view a pretty basic understanding of the English language will allow anyone an adequate understanding of the Scriptures. Of course better the understanding the Scriptures will come from a better understanding of the English language.

AMEN!

[Bill “Papa” Lee]

I was wondering what the reading level of the Book of Mormon is?

in fact I want to know the reading level of the four standard works.....if they are all different...THX

They are such a high level, only the lowly in heart and the meek can truly understand them. As to who would disagree, behold when we are learned, we think we are wise. Edited March 7, 2013 by Bill “Papa” Lee

[Damien the Leper]

I would say a 6th or 7th grade level.

[thesometimesaint]

Not necessarily. The scriptures often have layers of comprehension and symbology through parables etc. that cannot be fully understood with a simple understanding of the English language. Context, culture, and other factors all come into play, but most importantly true comprehension only comes through the spirit. There are many scriptural scholars who have very little comprehension of the sacred texts and conjure up false interpretations.

I'm fine with multiple layers of understanding. However that understanding is not restricted to just Scripture.

We know very little of the culture of the ancient Hebrews, and virtually nothing of the Lehites after a few years in the America's. We try to imagine context but always fail, because of presentism.

I disagree with your statement that they have very little comprehension. We may disagree with their opinions. But it's a mistake to conflate disagreement with a lack of understanding.

Edited March 6, 2013 by thesometimesaint