Text: How did Moroni decide what to add? His father had produced a long and complex text that focused on the Messiah while explicating the social and cultural flaws that led to the Nephite demise. Moroni has created his own similar, although smaller, text that documents the same fate for an earlier people (book of Ether) and that reinforces both the principle of faith and the need to be faithful to the promise of the land. What is left?
Chapters 2–6 are, technically, liturgy. Moroni is not telling us doctrine but describing practices—the actions that constitute the rites of the church. Moroni begins with the principle of authority, specifically with the ultimate authority of the church. Chapter 2 deals with the apostles’ ordination. He emphasizes that their ordination originated with Yahweh-Messiah himself. The doctrine of the Messiah might be simply repentance and baptism, but the foundation of the church is priesthood authority.