Pergunta: o que são as Placas Kinderhook?

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Pergunta: o que são as Placas Kinderhook?

Placas Kinderhook: ão um conjunto forjado de placas de metal que foram dadas a Joseph Smith, para tradução

Imagens frente e verso de quarto das seis placas de Kinderhook, mostradas nestes fac-símiles (rascunhos de fac-símiles publicados anteriormente), os quais apareceram em 1909 em History of The Church, 5:374–375. BYU Studies link

Um conjunto de placas menores, gravadas com caracteres de aparência antiga, pretensamente desenterradas em Kinderhook, Illinois, em abril de 1843. As chamadas placas de Kinderhook têm sido um enigma dentro da comunidade mórmon desde que apareceram pela primeira vez. Enquanto existem fiéis Santos dos Últimos Dias que assumem diferentes posições sobre o assunto destes artefatos, a maioria concluiu que eles eram falsificações.

Joseph Smith aparentemente teve as placas em seu poder por cerca de cinco dias.

Joseph Smith's personal secretary, William Clayton said,

President Joseph has translated a portion [of the Kinderhook plates], and says they contain the history of the person with whom they were found; and he was a descendant of Ham, through the loins of Pharaoh, King of Egypt, and that he received his kingdom through the ruler of heaven and earth.

The Kinderhook plates were fakes, thus bringing into question any claim of "inspiration" that Joseph used to translate them and by extension any other revelations he received.

Joseph Smith "translated" a portion of those plates, not by claiming inspiration, but by comparing characters on the plates to those on his "Grammar and Alphabet of the Egyptian Language" (GAEL)

However, Joseph Smith "translated" a portion of those plates, not by claiming inspiration, but by comparing characters on the plates to those on his "Grammar and Alphabet of the Egyptian Language" (GAEL). (The GAEL was composed in Kirtland about the time of the translation of the Book of Abraham.) Joseph found one of the most prominent characters on the plates to match a character on the second page of characters in the GAEL. Both were boat shaped. The GAEL interpretation of this boat-shaped character included everything that William Clayton said Joseph said.

Corroborating this is a letter in the New York Herald for May 30th, 1843, from someone who signed as "A Gentile." Research shows "A Gentile" to be a friendly non-Mormon then living in Nauvoo:

The plates are evidently brass, and are covered on both sides with hieroglyphics. They were brought up and shown to Joseph Smith. He compared them, in my presence, with his Egyptian Alphabet…and they are evidently the same characters. He therefore will be able to decipher them.

We know that Joseph was interested in languages. He studied Greek, Hebrew, and German in a secular manner. Therefore, we can easily believe that he attempted to translate the Kinderhook plates without assuming prophetic powers, which powers consequently remain credible.