During the last six years of his life is there any evidence that Roberts still retained his faith in the authenticity of the Book of Mormon, despite his critical examination of the origin of the book? The record is mixed. In his public statements he was still the defender of the faith. . . .

Whether or not Roberts retained his belief in the Book of Mormon may never be determined. In his last conference address of April 1933 he referred to the Book of Mormon as "one of the most valuable books that has ever been preserved, even as holy scripture." But in his "A Book of Mormon Study," Roberts presents an intense and probing evaluation of the possibility that Ethan Smith's View of the Hebrews furnished a partial framework for Joseph Smith's written composition, that the Mormon prophet had the intellectual capacity and imagination necessary to conceive and write the Book of Mormon, and that internal contradictions and other defects added further evidence that it might not be of divine origin.