Item Detail
-
27782
-
7
-
30
-
English
-
Seers and Stones : The Translation of the Book of Mormon as Divine Visions of an Old-Time Seer
-
Interpreter : A Journal of Mormon Scripture
-
24
-
Orem, UT
-
The Interpreter Foundation
-
27-98
-
Joseph Smith used the term the Urim and Thummim to refer to the pair of seer stones, or "interpreters," he obtained for translating the Book of Mormon as well as to other seer stones he used in a similar manner. According to witness accounts, he would put the stone(s) in a hat and pull the hat close around his face to exclude the light, and then he would see the translated text of the Book of Mormon. By what property or principle these stones enabled Joseph Smith to see the translated text has long been a matter of conjecture among Mormons, but the stones have commonly been understood as divinely powered devices analogous to the latest human communications technology. An alternative view, presented here, is that the stones had no technological function but simply served as aids to faith. In this view, the stones did not themselves translate or display text. They simply inspired the faith Joseph Smith needed to see imaginative visions, and in those visions, he saw the text of the Book of Mormon, just as Lehi and other ancient seers saw sacred texts in vision. Although Joseph Smith also saw visions without the use of stones, the logistics of dictating a book required the ability to see the translated text at will, and that was what the faith-eliciting stones would have made possible.
-
A Book of Mormon Bibliography for 2017
A Documentary History of the Book of Mormon
Joseph Smith's Gold Plates: A Cultural History
Preserved in Translation : Hebrew and Other Ancient Literary Forms in the Book of Mormon
Seeing Things: Technologies of Vision and the Making of Mormonism
Visions in a Seer Stone : Joseph Smith and the Making of the Book of Mormon
What Did the Interpreters (Urim and Thummim) Look Like? -
1830 : Joseph Smith's New Translation of the Bible
A Joseph Smith Commentary on the Book of Abraham : An Introduction to the Study of the Book of Abraham
An Address to All Believers in Christ. By a Witness to the Divine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon
A Pathway to Prophethood : Joseph Smith Junior as Rodsman, Village Seer, and Judeo-Christian Prophet
'A Plainer Translation' : Joseph Smith's Translation of the Bible : A History and Commentary
Archaic Pronouns and Verbs in the Book of Mormon : What Inconsistent Usage Tells Us about Translation Theories
Assessing the Joseph Smith Papyri : An Introduction to the Historiography of their Acquisitions, Translations, and Interpretations
Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith the Prophet, and His Progenitors for Many Generations
Book of Mormon Compendium
Doctrines of Salvation : Sermons and Writings of Joseph Fielding Smith
Early Mormon Documents : Volume I
Early Mormon Documents : Volume II
Early Mormon Documents : Volume IV
Early Mormon Documents : Volume V
Early Mormonism and the Magic World View
From Darkness unto Light : Joseph Smith's Translation and Publication of the Book of Mormon
How Joseph Smith Translated the Book of Mormon : Evidence from the Original Manuscript
James Colin Brewster : The Boy Prophet Who Challenged Mormon Authority
Joseph Smith : Seeker After Truth, Prophet of God
Joseph Smith's Seer Stones
Joseph Smith : 'The Gift of Seeing'
Joseph the Seer
Manuscript History of Brigham Young, 1847-1850
The 1826 Trial of Joseph Smith
The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young
The Faith to See : Burning in the Bosom and Translating the Book of Mormon in Doctrine and Covenants 9
The Gift and Power : Translating the Book of Mormon
The History and Significance of the Book of Abraham
The Miraculous Translation of the Book of Mormon
The Persisting Idea of American Treasure Hunting