Faith Crisis and Reconstruction Podcast Series, Episode 5: Book of Mormon Translation

In this episode, I discuss the aspects of Joseph Smith’s interactions with the Angel Moroni, obtaining the gold plates, and Book of Mormon translation that could lead to faith crisis. There are some wild aspects of this history that are difficult to reconcile if one is only familiar with the very clean, traditional story. However, there are also aspects that show Joseph’s purity and sincerity that are valuable in reconstructing one’s testimony of this episode in LDS Church history into a deeper, more sustainable faith in the restoration.

Topics:

Treasure Seeking in early 1800’s frontier America
Joseph Smith treasure seeking in teenage years
Angel Moroni and Gold Plates — official 1838, D Michael Quinn, and Saints
Witnesses to the Gold Plates
Anne Taves Materialization of the Plates Theory

Lost 116 Pages
Oliver Cowdery’s divining rod
‘Study it Out’ as component of BOM Translation
Royal Skousen on dictation process and Early Modern English
Blake Ostler’s Expansion Theory  https://www.churchistrue.com/blog/book-of-mormon-modern-expansion-theory-midrash/
William Davis translation-dictation theory
My theory of BOM creation, translation, and dictation
Response to Brian Hales
My reconstructed testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon