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History of the Critical Text Project of the Book of Mormon
モルモン書の本文批評プロジェクトの歴史
ROYAL SKOUSEN
ロイヤル・スカウセン
A Critical Text for the Book of Mormon
Critical texts have previously been prepared for important historical and literary works, but until fairly recently, not for the Book of Mormon. The first critical text of the Book of Mormon was published by the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (or FARMS) in 1984-86. That first version, although preliminary, helped to establish criteria for the current project, especially the need for direct access to the original and printer's manuscripts as well as the clearest photographs of those manuscripts.
A critical text shows all the substantive changes that a written work has undergone, from its original version to its present editions. The word critical is derived from the Greek word krites, meaning "judge." When referring to a critical text, the term means that notes accompany the text so that the reader can see how the work has changed over time and thus judge between alternative readings.
There are two main goals for a critical text of the Book of Mormon. The first is to determine, to the extent possible, the original English-language text of the book. The second purpose is to establish the history of the text, including both accidental errors and editorial changes that the book has undergone as it has been transmitted down through time in its many editions.
モルモン書の本文批評プロジェクトには目的が二つあります。第一は，可能な限りの原文の英語の本文を決定すること。第二の目的は，本文成立の履歴を確立することです。これには，これまで出されたモルモン書のこれまでの多くの版にある偶然の誤りと編集上の変更の両方が含まれています。
I use the term original text to refer to the English-language text that Joseph Smith received by means of the interpreters and the seer stone. The term will not be used to refer to the actual ancient language that Mormon, Moroni, Nephi, and others wrote on the plates. We have no direct record of their ancient language, but we should also recognize that we actually have no direct record of the original English-language translation either. The closest source for what Joseph received is the original manuscript of the Book of Mormon, the manuscript that the scribes wrote down as Joseph dictated the English-language text. But we must not assume that the original manuscript is identical to what Joseph Smith received. Joseph had to read off the text, and the scribe had to understand his words and then write them down correctly. As we shall see, even the original manuscript contains errors in transmission. (page 5)
わたしの言う原文という言葉の意味は，ジョセフ・スミスが解訳器と聖見者の石を使って受けた英語の原文のことです。この言葉は実際の古代の言語でモルモン，モロナイ，ニーファイやその他の人々が書き記した言語を指すものではありません。わたしたちは古代の言語の記録を所有していません。でも，わたしたちは英語の原文の翻訳をも所有していないことを認識するべきです。ジョセフ･スミスが受けた記録に最も近い情報の出典は，モルモン書の原文の原稿，すなわちジョセフが口述したものを筆記者が書き取ったものです。しかしながら，最初の原稿ですらジョセフ･スミスが受けたものと全く同じものだと想定してはいけません。ジョセフは文書を読まなければなりませんでした。そして筆記者は彼の言葉を理解しなければならず，その上で正確に書き記さなければなりませんでした。わたしたちが見て分かるとおり，原文の原稿にも情報伝達の際の誤りが含まれています。
We therefore have the following early stages in transmitting the Book of Mormon text:
モルモン書本文の原文の情報伝達は次のように行われました。
Joseph Smith sees the text
ジョセフ・スミスが文書を見る。
Joseph reads off the text
ジョセフが文書を読む。
the scribe hears Joseph's words
筆記者がジョセフの言葉を聴く。
the scribe writes down the words (the original manuscript)
筆記者が言葉を書く（最初の原稿）
the scribe copies the text (the printer's manuscript)
筆記者が本文を写す。（印刷業者の本文）
the 1830 printer sets the type from manuscript, as follows: from the printer's manuscript,
1830年の印刷業者は印刷業者の本文から組版を下記の方法で準備する。
for five-sixths of the text: 1 Nephi 1 – Helaman 13；Ether 1– Moroni to
本文の６分の５：（１ニーファイ１（章）からヒラマン１３（章）まで（そして）エテル１（章）からモロナイまで
from the original manuscript, for one-sixth of the text: Helaman 13 – Mormon 9 (pages 6-7)
最初の原稿からの６分の１：ヒラマン１３（章）からモルモン９（章）まで
But over time, I have become more amazed about the nature of the original text of the Book of Mormon. In particular, the original manuscript provides important evidence that the Book of Mormon is a revealed text from the Lord. Indeed the consistency of the original language supports the argument that the text was revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith, word for word. (page 21)
Professor Skousen's critical text project is a landmark of meticulous, painstaking academic research, representing a high point in the history of Latter-day Saint scholarship. For decades, detractors of the Book of Mormon have pointed to textual changes in the book as evidence of its falsehood. Now, at a level of careful scholarship far beyond anything ever produced on this subject by any critic of the book, Royal Skousen has shown, without having set out to do so, that the text of the Book of Mormon is even more impressive than believers have previously recognized. Restoring the Original Text of the Book of Mormon Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, 2004.
スカウセン教授の（モルモン書）の本文批評プロジェクトは，末日聖徒の学問的研究のひとつの頂点を表すものであり，厳密で，手間のかかる学問的調査の規範となるものです。数十年にわたり，モルモン書の批判者はモルモン書の本文の変更が，モルモン書が誤っている証拠だと指適してきました。しかしながら，ロイヤル・スカウセンによるモルモン書の本文批評という主題における注意深い学問的研究が達成したレベルは，モルモン書の本文が，信者ですら理解できなかったほどに印象深いものであることを示すものとなりました。
Restoring the Original Text of the Book of Mormon Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, 2004.