Podcast: Download (15.9MB)
Subscribe: RSS
From the book: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting the Prophet Joseph Smith
By Michael Ash
Although the method Joseph Smith used to translate the The Book of Mormon has been described in church history and literature, some members seem taken aback when they find that their perceptions about the translation mechanics employed by Joseph don’t conform to what they previously envisioned. Some members are surprised because they had been taught that Joseph Smith translated the plates by way of the Urim and Thummim. This is true. What most members don’t realize however, is that Urim and Thummim was the name given both to the Nephite Interpreters that were included in the stone box with the plates, as well as the seer stone that Joseph owned and later used to received revelations.
Michael R. Ash is the author of: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting The Prophet Joseph Smith. He is the owner and operator of MormonFortress.com and is on the management team for FairMormon. He has been published in Sunstone, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, the Maxwell Institute’s FARMS Review, and is the author of Shaken Faith Syndrome: Strengthening One’s Testimony in the Face of Criticism and Doubt. He and his wife live in Ogden, Utah, and have three daughters.
Julianne Dehlin Hatton is a broadcast journalist living in Louisville, Kentucky. She has worked as a News Director at an NPR affiliate, Radio and Television Host, and Airborne Traffic Reporter. She graduated with an MSSc from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 2008. Julianne and her husband Thomas are the parents of four children.
Music for Faith and Reason is provided by Arthur Hatton.