by Roger Nicholson on June 14th, 2013
Editor’s note: This blog post is the introductory section of Roger Nicholson’s June 2013 article in Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture (The Spectacles, the Stone, the Hat, and the Book: A Twenty-first Century Believer’s View of the Book of Mormon Translation). The full article may be read on the Interpreter website.
In his 1916 book, The Birth of Mormonism, John Quincy Adams provided this rather colorful description of the Book of Mormon translation method.
The process of translating the “reformed Egyptian” plates was simple though peculiar. It was all done with the Urim and Thummim spectacles, but it was instant death for any one but Joe to use them. Even when he put them on, the light became so dazzling that he was obliged to look through his hat. Moreover, when so engaged, no profane eyes were allowed to see him or the hat. Alone, behind a blanket stretched across the room, Joe looked into his hat and read the mystic words.[1]
Any Latter-day Saint will immediately be able to sort the familiar from the unfamiliar elements of this story. We see the Urim and Thummim and the blanket shielding the translator from others in the room, but what is all of this talk about a hat?
As an active Latter-day Saint, I cannot remember a time when I was not familiar with the story of the translation of the Book of Mormon. The story with which we are quite familiar from Sunday School and Seminary describes Joseph using the Urim and Thummim (the Nephite interpreters) to look at the gold plates while screened from his scribe by a curtain. Joseph dictated the entire text of the Book of Mormon to his scribe, picking up the next day right where he had left off the day before, and the text was written without any punctuation. Joseph never required that any of the previous text be re-read when the translation started again the next day. The bulk of the translation was accomplished within a roughly three-month period, and the resulting text is remarkably consistent not only with itself, but with the Bible. The circumstances surrounding the translation and production of the Book of Mormon can only be considered miraculous when considered by a believing member of the Church.
There is, however, another story with which many have become familiar in recent years. Modern portrayals of the translation process such as that shown in the popular animated television show South Park[1] depict Joseph looking at a stone in the bottom of his hat and dictating to his scribe, without the use of a curtain. The popular online encyclopedia Wikipedia displays a “twenty-first century artistic representation of Joseph Smith translating the golden plates by examining a seer stone in his hat.”[3] A Google search of “Book of Mormon translation” or “seer stone Joseph Smith” produces a large number of such images, many of them hosted by websites that are critical of the Church’s truth claims. This is a method which I did not learn about in Seminary, and there are anecdotal stories of Latter-day Saints who, upon being presented with this portrayal, simply deny that this method may have ever been employed, attributing such depictions to “anti-Mormon” sources.
Depictions of the translation process by artists have also contributed to the confusion. Latter-day Saints are quite familiar with a variety of artistic portrayals of Joseph and Oliver as they participated in the translation process. Some depict Joseph and his scribe sitting at a table with a curtain across the middle. Others show Joseph and Oliver sitting together at a table, with no curtain in view and the plates clearly visible, yet we know that Oliver was not allowed to view the plates prior to acting as one of the Three Witnesses. One thing that these scenes have in common is that they do not depict the Urim and Thummim, despite the fact that we know that a translation instrument was used during the process. We see no crystal stones mounted in a set of “spectacles,” nor do we see the breastplate.[4] We certainly never see Joseph gazing into the bottom of his hat while dictating.
The twenty-first century has given us access to a wealth of historical sources that were simply unavailable to the average Latter-day Saint in previous decades. Now one must ask the question: Which of these portrayals is correct? In searching for an answer, we start with a modern Church manual in order to provide us with our first clue. The following description of the translation process appears in the 2003 Church History In The Fulness Of Times Student Manual (hereafter referred to as the Student Manual).
Little is known about the actual process of translating the record, primarily because those who knew the most about the translation, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, said the least about it. Moreover, Martin Harris, David Whitmer, and Emma Smith, who assisted Joseph, left no contemporary descriptions. The sketchy accounts they recorded much later in life were often contradictory.[5]
It makes perfect sense that those who were directly involved in or observed the translation would have the most accurate information. What, then, did these witnesses say that appears to have been contradictory? Were there other witnesses that can shed light on these events? What did outside sources have to say about the translation process? As Latter-day Saint researcher Brant Gardner summarizes it, “What stories shall we believe? What stories of the translation could we or should we tell? Which stories are true? For this last question, I would suggest that they are all true. That is, they are true for the people who are telling them.”[6]
To read the rest, please visit
The Spectacles, the Stone, the Hat, and the Book: A Twenty-first Century Believer’s View of the Book of Mormon Translation
on the Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture website.
[1] John Quincy Adams, The Birth of Mormonism (Boston: Gorham Press, 1916), 36.
[2] South Park Season 7, Episode 12, “All About Mormons” originally broadcast on 19 November 2003.
[3] Wikipedia article “Seer Stone (Latter Day Saints).”
[4] For example, the illustrated Book of Mormon Stories (1978) shows Joseph and a scribe separated by a curtain. Joseph is looking directly at the plates without using a translating instrument. The Book of Mormon Reader (1985) and Book of Mormon Stories (1997) both replace this scene with one of Joseph and his scribe sitting at a table in the open, with the plates clearly in view. No attempt by the artist is made to depict the Urim and Thummim. There exists one image that may be found on the Internet which depicts Joseph Smith using the breastplate and spectacles, which is claimed to be from a “1970s” edition of the Book of Mormon Reader. A collection of images representative of the various ways the translation process has been depicted may be viewed on Blair Hodges’ Life on Gold Plates blog, “The ‘Stone-In-Hat’ Translation Method in Art,” posted on October 27, 2009.http://www.lifeongoldplates.com/2009/10/stone-in-hat-translation-method-in-art.html.
[5] Church History in the Fulness of Times Student Manual (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2003), 58.
[6] Brant A. Gardner, The Gift and the Power: Translating the Book of Mormon (Draper, UT: Greg Kofford Books, 2011), 8.
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
by Ned Scarisbrick on June 8th, 2013
4th Watch
From the days of Adam to the present our Father in Heaven has used symbolic representations and literal events to teach his children the principles of eternal life. As we learn these principles and inculcate them into who we are, we attempt to make sense of the world in which we live. There are those who struggle with this learning process and become discouraged or disillusioned when life is not clear-cut, when it’s not black or white but shaded with degrees of grey. In this podcast we strive to shed light on this process, using the rainbow of colors that constitute the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Podcast: Download (15.2MB)
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
by S. Hales Swift on March 16th, 2013
The Interpreter Foundation, for those who may not yet be aware, produces a journal dealing primarily with Latter-day Saint scripture and history, and many of the articles are relevant to the defense of the faith while also being interesting and enlightening in their own right. (See here for there mission statement). They release a new article promptly every Friday for those who want to keep abreast of some of the latest developments on Mormon topics.
This Friday’s article, linked here is a review of the recent book Exploring the First Vision, edited by Samuel Alonzo Dodge and Steven C. Harper. Review author Neal Rappleye discusses the various articles and highlights a few particular points made: The available historical record is supportive of the prophet’s claims. The milieu of unusual religious excitement in the years leading up to the First Vision is very much as the prophet described in the canonized account. The several accounts of the First Vision harmonize well
with both the available historical information and with one another. Lastly, many of those who have spent the most time scrutinizing the accounts of the First Vision have found that doing so helped them to gain a deeper conviction of this foundational event.
Also recently arrived from Interpreter is a two-part article by Jeffrey M. Bradshaw and David J. Larsen entitled “Ancient Affinities within the LDS Book of Enoch”. The two parts of this article linked here and here discuss correspondences between Joseph Smith’s revealed accounts of Enoch as contained in Moses chapters six and seven and extracanonical pseudopigrapha dealing with Enoch and his people. A number of interesting connections between Joseph’s Enoch and the Enoch of Old Testament pseudopigrapha are brought to the fore including Enoch’s enigmatic title of “lad” and other titles, turning of a river from its course, the names Mahijah and Mahujah, the importance of warfare and secret combinations in these narratives, and also certain particular events such as the roaring of beast out of the wilderness in Moses 7:13. He also discusses some connections between Enoch-related documents in the Joseph Smith papers and ancient sources. Taken together, this paper by Bradshaw and Larsen demonstrates the fruitfulness of the two-pronged approach of “[seeking] learning, even by study, and also by faith” (D&C 88:118).
For any who may prefer listening to reading, audio versions of Interpreter’s articles are available via free podcast from the Itunes store so that you can listen and learn on the go. For those who enjoy a print book more than a computer screen, they also have print on demand available for their completed volumes. Whether in print or podcast, the Interpreter Foundation is making some impressive research available for those interested in deepening their understanding of Latter-day Saint history and scripture. Don’t be the last one to find out about it.
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off
by SteveDensleyJr on February 13th, 2013
How can the Church better reach African Americans? What do the scriptures mean when they say that a person is “black?” Does it refer to skin color or is it metaphorical? What do the scriptures mean when they say that a person or people are cursed?
This episode is an audio version of segment 2 of the Blacks in the Scriptures DVD Series . The complete DVD can be purchased at the FAIR Bookstore here.
This presentation has been provided courtesy of Blacks in the Scriptures. The opinions expressed in this podcast do not necessarily represent the official views of FAIR or of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Podcast: Download (21.0MB)
Posted in Racial Issues, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
by S. Hales Swift on February 3rd, 2013
At FAIR, we like to keep abreast of various resources which become available for studying, understanding, and teaching the gospel. With the current Sunday School year focusing on the Doctrine and Covenants, there are two new resources to which we would particularly like to call your attention, as well as some old favorites. The first is found here:
http://history.lds.org/series/doctrine-and-covenants-revelations-in-context?lang=eng#
and contains articles written by historians discussing with balance and grace some of the key characters and events associated with the restoration. A particular focus is the context in which the revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants were received. These historical papers provide a golden opportunity for teachers and students to better understand the context and process through which Joseph received many of the early canonized revelations so that they can better apply the process in obtaining divine guidance in their own lives. They also provide an excellent opportunity to better understand the historical unfolding of the restoration.
The Scripture Roundtables, hosted by Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture provide a second useful resource in the study of the Doctrine and Covenants. Each Roundtable involves a rotating collection of scholars discussing the gospel doctrine lessons. The discussions are roughly forty minutes each and may be found here:
http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/category/scripture-roundtable/
The guests have included a number of BYU professors, scholars associated with FAIR, students at Claremont Graduate University and other specialists who each bring unique insights and perspective to the study of the scripture. Interpreter’s multimedia platform makes it especially ideal for those who like to learn on the go. Their roundtable discussions are available as an itunes podcast as well as in the youtube format linked above.
A few other notable resources bear mention. This site: http://bit.ly/ldsarcdc provides teachers notes, slide shows, and class handouts for the Doctrine and Covenants.
Another resource, located at http://scripture.byu.edu, provides references for each time a scripture has been used in, for example, General Conference, and allows a teacher or student to get an idea how a particular scripture is typically employed in teaching.
Used wisely, these various (ultimately explanatory) resources help us fulfil our divinely mandated duty to “seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom, seek learning even by study and also by faith” (D&C 109:7) and also to “Teach ye diligently and my grace shall attend you, that you may be instructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are expedient for you to understand;” (D&C 88:78)
Posted in General, Gospel Doctrine: D&C, LDS History, Lesson Aids, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
by Roger Nicholson on January 23rd, 2013
Editor’s note: This blog post is a reprint Roger Nicholson’s two-part article in Meridian Magazine (part 1, part 2), and is published here with their kind permission.
The Martin Harris We Know
Every Latter-day Saint who has attended Sunday School is familiar with the story of Martin Harris. We learn that Martin was a relatively wealthy man for the area in which he lived, and that he mortgaged his farm to finance the publication of the Book of Mormon. The importance of this act cannot be underestimated,
The cost of printing 5,000 copies of the Book of Mormon was $3,000—a huge sum (approximately $73,000 in today’s economy). It was simply impossible for the Smith family to raise even a small fraction of that amount. But Martin… proved his devotion once again by pledging his valuable farm to cover the tremendous expense.[1]
We also learn of Martin’s honesty. Despite his support for the prophet, Martin still wanted assurance that Joseph Smith was truly able to translate the ancient record contained on the gold plates. Martin carried a transcription of some of the characters from the plates to Charles Anthon, and Dr. Anthon fulfilled Biblical prophecy by claiming that he could not read a sealed book.
We also know that Martin was far from perfect. He was, in fact, referred to several times in the revelation comprising Doctrine and Covenants Section 10 as a “wicked man,” Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Book of Mormon, LDS History, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
by Lance Starr on November 30th, 2012
A few weeks ago on a private message board that I participate on I had a bit of a meltdown, for lack of a better word. Let’s just say that my response to a fellow poster was less than Christian and leave it at that. I make no excuses; my response was “over the top” (as another fellow poster put it). However, in my defense I’ve only ever claimed to be Mormon and never claimed to be particular good at being a Mormon.
The topic which raised my ire was the question of the Church’s stance on immigration, and specifically illegal immigration. I will not rehash the Church’s stance here as it’s not really relevant to my post nor was it the focus of my ire on this particular equation. My problem came from the way another poster was talking about such immigrants and the “facts” that he cited in support of his claims.
Before I start this, I need to make a disclosure: I work and make my living as an immigration attorney. My practice focuses on the defense of immigrants, both legal and illegal, who are in removal (deportation) proceedings. I also practice a fair amount of criminal defense work trying to help immigrants who’ve had run-ins with the law in an attempt to salvage their immigration status. So, yes, I have some skin the game.
Let me, then, address a few issues immigration issues which are quite commonly misunderstood. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Politics, Uncategorized | 40 Comments »
by SteveDensleyJr on November 28th, 2012
Don Bradley is a writer, editor, and researcher specializing in early Mormon history. In his early years as a historian, he found it difficult to understand and explain many of the actions of Joseph Smith. He found that he could make sense of much of the history if he assumed that Joseph Smith was a fraud who sought after money, sex and power. As he pursued this strategy of analysis, he drifted further and further away from the Church in which he had been raised. Along the way, he spent time as an agnostic and atheist, then back to theist, then Baha’i, then generic Protestant. As he continued his research into the history of Joseph Smith, he found that the Joseph-as-fraud approach proved increasingly inadequate to explain what he was finding. In this interview, Don talks about what eventually led him back to the Church, why he finally decided that Joseph Smith is truly a prophet of God, and how adopting this new interpretive model has helped him to understand Joseph Smith better than he ever did before.
Don recently performed an internship with the Joseph Smith Papers Project and is completing his thesis toward an M.A. in History at Utah State University. He has published on the translation of the Book of Mormon, plural marriage before Nauvoo, and Joseph Smith’s “grand fundamental principles of Mormonism” and plans to publish an extensive analysis, co-authored with Mark Ashurst-McGee, on the Kinderhook plates. Don’s first book, The Lost 116 Pages: Reconstructing the Missing Contents of the Book of Mormon,is slated to be published by Greg Kofford Books.
His 2012 FAIR Conference address can be read here: Piercing the Veil: Temple Worship in the Lost 116 Pages.
Podcast: Download (37.9MB)
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
by Trevor Holyoak on November 13th, 2012
If you would like to read FAIR’s Front Page without using the full FAIR app that was announced yesterday, there is also now an app just for that.
FAIR’s Front Page contains daily news clippings about how the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is represented in the media. It is also available by e-mail (you can sign up at http://www.fairlds.org).
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
by Stephen Smoot on November 4th, 2012
Much has been said in popular media about the so-called “Mormon Moment”. The accuracy and fairness of recent media coverage of Mormonism has been a mixed bag, to say the least. It is sad to admit that there are plenty of media personalities who know next to nothing about Mormonism, and yet feel unconstrained to opine on this or that subject relating to Mormon doctrine or history. Unsurprisingly, those who are the most ignorant of Mormonism usually choose to write about the most complex and controversial aspects of Mormonism, such as polygamy, Mormon racial history, and esoteric aspects of Mormon belief and practice best left untouched by non-Mormon novices of Mormon history and doctrine. (Andrew Sullivan, I’m looking at you.)
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Book reviews, Interfaith Dialogue, LDS Culture, News stories, Politics, Racial Issues, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
