As the Church becomes increasingly transparent about its history, do you foresee a conflict with those who are uncomfortable with historical criticism?No, I don’t. If Latter-day Saints are taught from a young age that Joseph Smith used a hat and a seer stone to translate the Book of Mormon, it won’t faze them when they encounter this notion on the internet.
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Book of
Mormon Translation |
My comments |
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https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/book-of-mormon-translation?lang=eng
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Joseph Smith
translated an ancient text “by the gift and power of God” to produce the Book
of Mormon. |
This is an
excerpt from what Joseph actually said. It omits his reference to the Urim
and Thummim. |
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His early
work on the translation, with Emma Smith and Martin Harris serving as the
main scribes, was lost in 1828. |
Neither Emma
nor Martin ever said which parts, exactly, they scribed. |
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Almost all of
the present Book of Mormon text was translated during a three-month period
between April and June 1829 with Oliver Cowdery as the scribe. |
Joseph said
he resumed translating after he received the plates and Urim and Thummim in
September 1828. David Whitmer said it took 8 months, which suggests Joseph
started translation in November. The earliest extant Original Manuscript has
Oliver’s handwriting starting in Alma 11, which suggests Emma and/or Martin
may have scribed Mosiah and the first part of Alma before Oliver arrived in
Harmony. |
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Much can be
known about the coming forth of the English text of the Book of Mormon
through a careful study of statements made by Joseph Smith, his scribes, and
others closely associated with the translation of the Book of Mormon. |
Particularly
what Joseph and Oliver said. |
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The
manuscript Joseph Smith dictated to Oliver Cowdery and others is known today
as the original manuscript, about 28 percent of which still survives.
This manuscript corroborates Joseph’s statements that he dictated the text
from another language within a short time frame. For example, it includes
errors that suggest the scribe heard words incorrectly rather than misread
words copied from another manuscript. In addition, some grammatical
constructions more characteristic of Near Eastern languages than English
appear in the original manuscript, suggesting the base language of the
translation was not English.1 |
All good
points. |
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Joseph and
his scribes wrote of two instruments used in translating the Book of Mormon. |
This is
misleading because of how it is written. Joseph never once “wrote of
two instruments” as the article claims. Neither did Oliver. They both explained
that Joseph used the Urim and Thummim as directed by Moroni. Other scribes,
such as David and Emma, did write about two instruments, but they always made
the distinction between the Urim and Thummim and the seer stone perfectly
clear. |
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One
instrument, called in the Book of Mormon the “interpreters,” is better known
to Latter-day Saints today as the “Urim and Thummim.” Joseph found the
interpreters buried in the hill with the plates. |
This was
better known to Latter-day Saints as the “Urim and Thummim” during Joseph’s
lifetime than it is today. Modern LDS scholars have retroactively and anachronistically
redefined the term “the Urim and Thummim” to apply to both the Nephite interpreters
and the seer stone Joseph supposedly used to translate the plates. |
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The other
instrument, which Joseph discovered in the ground years before he retrieved
the plates, was a small oval stone, or “seer stone.” As a young man during
the 1820s, Joseph, like others in his day, used a seer stone to look for lost
objects and buried treasure. As he grew to understand his prophetic calling,
he learned he could use this stone for the higher purpose of translating
scripture.2 |
This is a
combination of hearsay and speculative rationalization, all stated as fact. |
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Scribes and
others who observed the translation left accounts giving insight into the
process. Some accounts indicate Joseph studied the characters on the plates. |
Joseph
himself said he copied and translated the characters. He and Oliver said
Joseph translated the engravings (D&C 10). |
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Most of the
accounts speak of Joseph’s use of the interpreters or the seer stone.
According to these accounts, Joseph placed either the interpreters or the
seer stone in a hat, pressed his face into the hat to block out extraneous
light, and spoke aloud the English words inspired by the instrument. The
process as described brings to mind a passage from the Book of Mormon that
speaks of God preparing “a stone, which shall shine forth in darkness unto
light.”3 |
The number of
accounts is irrelevant because “most” of them came from one person: David
Whitmer. |
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The scribes
who assisted with the translation unquestionably believed Joseph translated
by divine power. Joseph’s wife Emma believed the text of the Book of Mormon
surpassed her husband’s writing abilities. |
The first sentence is accurate, but the second is is a euphemism for what Emma actually wrote. She claimed that Joseph couldn’t even write a good letter at the time, but Joseph’s cursive handwriting on the Original Manuscript (1829) is clear and legible, indicating he was fully capable of writing clearly. Emma's claim appears to be an apologetic reframing. |
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Oliver
Cowdery testified under oath in 1831 that Joseph “found with the plates, from
which he translated his book, two transparent stones, resembling glass, set
in silver bows. That by looking through these, he was able to read in
English, the reformed Egyptian characters, which were engraved on the
plates.”4 |
This is
consistent with other accounts from Oliver and refutes SITH. |
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Questions
raised during the translation process led to many of the earliest revelations
now recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants and to significant events like the
restoration of the priesthood. The translation and publication of the Book of
Mormon immediately preceded the organization of the Church in the spring of
1830. |
All good. |
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Church
Resources “Book of Mormon
Translation,” Gospel Topics, topics.lds.org. “The
Gold Plates and the Translation of the Book of Mormon,” josephsmithpapers.org. Royal Skousen
and Robin Scott Jensen, eds., Revelations and Translations,
Volume 3, Part 1: Printer’s Manuscript of the Book of Mormon,
1 Nephi 1–Alma 35, facsimile ed., vol. 3 of the
Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, eds. Ronald K.
Esplin and Matthew J. Grow (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press,
2015). Royal Skousen
and Robin Scott Jensen, eds., Revelations and Translations,
Volume 3, Part 2: Printer’s Manuscript of the Book of Mormon, Alma
36–Moroni 10, facsimile ed., vol. 3 of the Revelations and
Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, eds. Ronald K.
Esplin and Matthew J. Grow (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press,
2015). |
The first
reference goes to a SITH-promoting essay. The article
in the JSP offers a list of all the references in the JSP, none of which
state or support either SITH or M2C. As noted previously, some of the JSP editorial content supports SITH and M2C, but none of the actual historical documents in the JSP do. The historical documents all reaffirm what Joseph and Oliver said about the origin and setting of the Book of Mormon. For a discussion of the editorial bias in the Joseph Smith Papers, see https://www.ldshistoricalnarratives.com/p/joseph-smith-papers-awesome-except-for.html |
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