An Unfortunate Approach to Joseph Smith’s Translation of Ancient Scripture

Review of Jonathan Neville, A Man That Can Translate: Joseph Smith and the Nephite Interpreters. Salt Lake City: Digital Legends Press, 2020. 385 pages. $22.99 (paperback).

Abstract: This is the first of two papers that explore Jonathan Neville’s two latest books regarding the translation of the Book of Mormon. Neville has long argued that Joseph Smith did not use a seer stone during the translation of the Book of Mormon, and he has more recently expanded his historical revisionism to dismiss the multitude of historical sources that include the use of a seer stone. Neville’s “Demonstration Hypothesis” is explored in A Man That Can Translate, arguing that Joseph recited a memorized text from Isaiah rather than translate Isaiah from the Book of Mormon record. This hypothesis, meant to redefine how Joseph Smith used a seer stone during the translation of the Book of Mormon, however, fails to deal with the historical record seriously or faithfully. Neville, in a purported effort to save Joseph Smith’s character, ironically describes Joseph as a liar, reinvigorating old anti-Latter-day Saint claims that Joseph simply recited a memorized text, even to the point that Neville defends hostile sources while targeting Church-published histories and publications. He further attacks the witnesses of the translation in an effort to discredit their testimonies regarding the seer stone, and repeatedly misrepresents these sources. Coming from a Latter-day Saint, such claims are troubling and demand a response.

Despite historical documentation to the contrary, Jonathan Neville has long maintained that Joseph Smith did not use a seer stone during the translation of the Book of Mormon. While belief in or rejection of the seer stone in the historical record will not affect one’s [Page 2]standing within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Neville has recently published two books relating to the translation of the Book of Mormon that explore his two latest theories regarding the translation and Joseph Smith’s use of a seer stone. This is the first of two papers that will explore the claims that Neville makes in these two books and offers a thorough response to his unorthodox and unjustified claims.

The first of the two books, A Man That Can Translate, deals in detail with the question of Joseph Smith’s use of a seer stone, presenting his “Demonstration Hypothesis” as what he believes is a faithful and superior alternative to the historical analysis offered by faithful Latter-day Saint scholars. However, Neville fails to deliver any argument that can be described as an accurate or rigorous analysis of the historical record, or even the Church itself. Neville relies heavily on misrepresenting his sources and making claims from silence, and enough factual discrepancies and contradictions are found within his book that any serious reader will quickly recognize its lack of serious scholarship or peer review. Neville states that as we are all “pursuing truth together,” he is open to hearing from anyone who finds anything that he missed or overlooked.[1] I hope his openness to hearing from those who disagree with him is as sincere as he claims, especially as the evidence is weighted against his unorthodox theories.

Neville’s approach deals heavily with the definition of the Urim and Thummim and how he believes Joseph Smith understood the word “translation.” Neville inserts his misunderstandings into the historical record, producing an analysis that is designed to lead the reader to his conclusions, while discrediting other sources that disagree. Because these two topics are so fundamental to his arguments and his new hypothesis regarding the translation of the Book of Mormon, I will first discuss what Neville says regarding the use of a seer stone by Joseph Smith and what Joseph Smith meant by the term “translate.” I will then move into a discussion of Neville’s Demonstration Hypothesis, his acceptance of sources critical of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and his targeting of sources produced by the Church. I will also discuss his treatment of the witnesses to the translation and how he attempts to discredit each of their various statements and testimonies regarding the divine translation of the Book of Mormon.

Seer Stone or Urim and Thummim?

A crucial point of contention for Neville comes from the seer stone in the historical record. Much of his work in this book attempts to argue [Page 3]that no such seer stone was used in the translation of the Book of Mormon because, “the nature of the translation implicates theological and historical issues related to the historicity and divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon itself” — that is, Neville believes that should a seer stone have been used, the “narrative of the ancient creation and preservation of the plates” would be rendered “pointless.”[2] Neville goes further to state that use of the seer stone even “contradicts the scriptural narrative,” thus questioning whether or not the Urim and Thummim or plates were ever needed and, by implication, whether or not the Book of Mormon could be regarded as historical.[3]

Neville repeats his position multiple times by claiming that Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery only ever described translation via the Urim and Thummim — as such, Joseph and Oliver must have used the term Urim and Thummim exactly as Neville proposes, limiting its use strictly to the Nephite interpreters. Neville claims that “Joseph and Oliver responded promptly to Mormonism Unvailed by emphasizing that Joseph used the Urim and Thummim that came with the plates to translate the plates. They consistently claimed this throughout the rest of their lives…. In connection with the translation of the Book of Mormon, they never referred to a Urim and Thummim as a generic term. Neither of them claimed that Joseph read words that appeared on a seer/peep stone, that he didn’t actually translate the plates, or that he had power to translate the plates with anything other than the Urim and Thummim.”[4]

This proposal has several problems.

Early Saints and the Term “Urim and Thummim”

Central to all of Neville’s claims is this question — what did early Saints understand by the term “Urim and Thummim” and could they have had a more expansive view of the term than Neville here presents?

According to Neville, there “is no indication or implication that Joseph, Oliver, or anyone else referred to the ‘seer stone’ or ‘peep stone’ as a Urim and Thummim or vice versa. All contemporary accounts referred to the objects Moroni put in the stone box as the Urim and Thummim, the spectacles, or the Nephite interpreters.”[5] Neville also repeatedly paints the use of a seer stone in the translation as a recent development in Church history in an attempt to separate the idea from Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery.[6] Not only is this a false claim, but Neville’s use of the sources is troubling for his hypothesis, since he goes on to cite contemporary sources calling the seer stone a Urim and Thummim.

[Page 4]Neville quotes from the final testimony of Benjamin Winchester, a disgruntled former member of the First Quorum of the Seventy and mission leader. Winchester was excommunicated in 1844, and after a brief time with Sidney Rigdon’s church appears to have become opposed to the restoration as a whole. Winchester remarks that Joseph “carried what he called a ‘Peep stone’ through which he claimed to see hidden treasure & etc. This is what he afterwards called his ‘Urim and Thummem.’”[7] While Winchester was hardly a friendly source, he was a contemporary of Joseph Smith who saw little problem in calling the seer stone the Urim and Thummim.

One might claim that Benjamin Winchester was simply parroting a hostile source such as Mormonism Unvailed, but such a theory does not withstand critical analysis, since he was not the only one to refer to it in these terms. David Whitmer, who would not have any motivation to cite from sources critical to the Book of Mormon, once told a reporter that “[Joseph] Smith was given by the angel, a Urim and Thummim of another pattern, it being shaped in oval or kidney form. This seer’s stone he was instructed to place in the hat.”[8] David Whitmer later wrote that Joseph was given power to translate “by means of a stone” before referring his readers to multiple scriptures from the Bible referencing the Urim and Thummim, “being the same means and one by which the Ancients received the word of the Lord.”[9] While Neville had claimed almost one hundred pages earlier that no contemporary of Joseph Smith described the seer stone by the biblical term Urim and Thummim, Neville now admits that David’s use of the term Urim and Thummim “[implied] the term described the stone Joseph used.”[10]

Neville later tries to dismiss a journal entry by Wilford Woodruff stating that “I had the privilege of seeing for the first time in my day the URIM & THUMMIM.”[11] He tries to explain this via a quote from Brigham Young describing the same event, who recorded that Joseph “explained to us [the apostles] the Urim and Thummim which he found with the plates” and then after discussing seer stones, Joseph “showed us his seer stone.”[12] Based on Brigham Young’s statement mentioning both the Nephite interpreters and Joseph’s seer stone, Neville claims that “[Woodruff’s] statement can be interpreted several ways, including the possibility that he didn’t care much about the seer stone but was impressed because Joseph still had the actual Urim and Thummim.”[13]

However, such a reading cannot reasonably nor responsibly be taken from Brigham Young’s journal. He makes no mention of Joseph showing the apostles the Nephite interpreters — Joseph just explained [Page 5]what they were before moving on to discuss seer stones. According to Brigham Young in that same journal entry, Joseph “said every man on earth was entitled to a seer stone, and should have one, but they are kept from them in consequence of their wickedness.” This may be an expansion of Joseph’s teachings recorded in D&C 130:10–11, stating that “the white stone mentioned in Revelation 2:17, will become a Urim and Thummim to each individual who receives one” which would be given to the righteous saints “who come into the celestial kingdom.” Then, after the discussion of the Urim and Thummim and seer stones, Joseph showed the apostles one of his own seer stones.[14] Here again we have a further statement by Joseph Smith linking seer stones to the Urim and Thummim, showing that the title did not just belong to the Nephite interpreters that he found with the plates. When we consider all the historical evidence, then, Wilford Woodruff’s journal is best read as a description of Joseph showing the same item to the apostles in Nauvoo.

Heber C. Kimball was another contemporary of Joseph cited by Neville who appears to have used the title Urim and Thummim to refer to a seer stone. Kimball told the Saints in 1853 that Brigham Young had “everything that is necessary for him to receive the will and mind of God to this people,” including the Urim and Thummim.[15] Neville says that it is “congruent with Woodruff’s journal entry to infer that what Woodruff saw and what Brigham Young possessed was the Urim and Thummim that Joseph obtained with the plates.”[16] As we have already seen, it would assuredly not be congruent with Wilford Woodruff’s journal entry to believe that the item in question was the Interpreters obtained with the plates. While we might debate what Heber C. Kimball meant in his declaration, either the brown seer stone or the white seer stone (or perhaps even both) seem to be the most likely referent.

Joseph’s white seer stone appears to have been passed down to the apostles after his martyrdom, eventually being placed on the altar of the Manti temple during its dedication by Wilford Woodruff.[17] There is little reason to doubt that Brigham Young, as the President of the Church, would have had it at the time Heber C. Kimball spoke. Furthermore, the brown seer stone that was given to Oliver Cowdery passed to Brigham Young after Cowdery gave it to Brigham’s brother Phineas. The brown stone has remained in the Church’s possession since.[18] Conversely, while multiple accounts detail the return of the Nephite interpreters to Moroni, there is not a single record that corroborates the idea that Joseph eventually received those interpreters again, not even to show the apostles (none of whom ever claimed to see the Nephite interpreters).[19] [Page 6]Orson Pratt likewise taught that the Urim and Thummim were not in the possession of the Church while in Utah (contrary to Neville’s claim that Brigham Young possessed them), describing the future coming forth and translation of “other records translated by the Urim and Thummim, that same instrument that Joseph Smith used in the translation of the ‘Book of Mormon,’ which will again come forth and be revealed to the seer and revelator that God will raise up by which these ancient records will be brought to light.”[20]

It is evident that Joseph and his contemporaries (who were prominent Church leaders and apostles, including two future Church presidents[21]) used the term Urim and Thummim much more broadly than Neville admits. He goes to great lengths to redefine history according to his own conception.[22]

This poor historiography can even be seen in Neville’s repeated claims that Joseph and Oliver “never said anything about [translating with] a Urim and Thummim, let alone a seer stone found in a well.”[23] This is a red herring — the use or disuse of the definite article does not imply what Neville thinks it means. This is especially evident when one considers that the Urim and Thummim is a plural term that apparently could be used to describe a single stone (as in D&C 130) or multiple stones, as can be seen in the case of the Levitical high priest’s Urim and Thummim (see Exodus 28:30) and the Nephite interpreters. A similar phrase in English might be “I saw the sheep” — in this instance, the word sheep can be understood as referring to either a single animal or a whole flock of animals (or any number in between). So how many sheep were seen, and how many instruments were used in the translation of the Book of Mormon? Even if each individual sheep is not described in detail in every retelling of a child’s trip to a farm, one cannot simply declare that only a single sheep was seen. Likewise, one cannot claim that multiple instruments of translation were not used by the Prophet Joseph Smith just because he (purposefully) did not go into detail regarding the means of translation.[24]

Seer Stones and “[Contradicting] the Scriptural Narrative”

Another of Neville’s key efforts to dismiss the seer stone’s role in the translation of the Book of Mormon comes from an apparent trump card for Latter-day Saints. By claiming that the use of a seer stone “contradicts the scriptural record,”[25] he makes agreeing with him the price of maintaining a belief in the scriptures themselves. If you believe the [Page 7]scriptures, the subtext goes, then you must agree with Jonathan Neville’s interpretation of them; if you do not, you are a part of the problem.

However, Neville provides no substantial evidence that the use of a seer stone contradicts the scriptural record. As we will now see, through a selected handful of scriptures he reaches his conclusion through unfounded presuppositions and misreadings of the text. This would be more convincing if he did not portray them as agreeing with him even when he seems to deliberately avoid responding to arguments counter to his position.

Neville first states that “Moroni explained that the record could be read only with the interpreters.” For this argument, Neville draws upon Ether 3:22–24, which records the words of the Lord to the brother of Jared that “these stones shall magnify to the eyes of men these things which ye shall write.” Neville then states “Whether a stone found in a well could serve the same purpose as ‘these stones’ that the Lord gave the brother of Jared is a question we can each answer for ourselves.”[26] This is a rather coy bit of rhetoric — he won’t say that the Lord could not mean this, but leave us to draw the conclusion on our own — but it is not an argument.

It is hard to escape the impression that this rhetorical sleight of hand attempts to paper over the fact that nowhere in this scripture does the Lord limit the translation to just the stones mentioned in Ether 3. A key insight into what made those stones so special is actually even raised by Neville, albeit inadvertently — these were stones that the Lord had prepared and placed in the prophet’s possession to enable future revelations and even translations. According to Wilford Woodruff, Joseph Smith had similarly found at least one of his seer stones “by revelation some 30 feet under the earth.”[27] Under such circumstances, it is just as reasonable to claim that Joseph Smith’s seer stone could serve translation purposes, because the Lord had placed it there knowing in advance that Joseph Smith would one day find the stone and that he would be able to use it in his prophetic mission.

Another instance comes from Alma 37. Citing the 1830 edition and the Original Manuscript, Neville rightly claims that Alma 37:21 originally used the term directors instead of the modern reading of interpreters. Neville then states that this change in the 1920 edition reflected “a new interpretation of what the verse ‘should’ have read” and that the original term directors “suggests a meaning different from the ‘interpreters’ mentioned [elsewhere in the Book of Mormon.]”[28] Neville goes on to declare (based on D&C 17:1 where “marvelous directors” [Page 8]are given to Lehi) that the term directors only refers to the Liahona and perhaps a seer stone given to Lehi that is otherwise unmentioned in the scriptural record.[29]

However, Neville again offers a weak argument with contradictory evidence when he claims that the 1920 change reflected a “new interpretation” of the text. He is well aware of sources — since he quotes them elsewhere — from William McLellin and Elizabeth Ann Whitmer Cowdery describing the translation instruments as directors, demonstrating that this was not a new interpretation of the text pushed into the Book of Mormon by certain Church members, but reflects an understanding of the text that is faithful to its original message. As early as 1847, McLellin described the translation of the Book of Mormon as having been done “by the ‘inspiration of the Almighty,’ by the use of the means that the Lord had caused to be provided, viz. Interpreters, Directors, or more anciently called Urim and Thummim.”[30] Later, Oliver Cowdery’s wife, who was an eyewitness of the translation, would say that Joseph “would place the director in his hat” and then dictate the translation to his scribe.[31] While Neville claims that Oliver Cowdery made a distinction between the interpreters and the directors, his own wife was a contemporary witness that Oliver and the others likely made no such distinction.[32] Neville may disagree, but any counter argument he may provide must address these issues when citing the evidence, not ignore them.

As a final note in this debate, Neville mentions an article written by Stan Spencer that argues that the term directors could be an authentic translation of the term Urim based off of the Greek Septuagint. Regarding the use of the term directors in Alma 37, Spencer notes:

Alma uses director(s) to refer to both the interpreters and the brass ball in Alma 37 and seems to be aware of that fact. He calls the interpreters “these directors” and the brass ball “this director” (not “the director”), suggesting that he considers directors to be a class of instruments of which the interpreters and the brass ball are two examples.[33]

Spencer then discusses the term Urim in light of its Greek translation, pointing out that “in the books of Moses, [Urim] was translated by forms of deloi, likely signifying “manifestations,” and by delosis, signifying “manifestation” or “revelation,” or perhaps “direction” or “instruction.”[34] Using this interpretation, should Joseph Smith have translated the term Urim instead of the common transliteration that we find in English bibles, “it could have been translated with both a plural and a singular [Page 9]meaning — as directors (for the interpreters) and as director (for the brass ball) — just as elohim is translated as both gods and God in the Bible.”[35]

Neville claims that Spencer’s article “doesn’t mention that, in today’s editions of the scriptures, the only reference to directors is in D&C 17:1.” However, had Neville read even the first paragraph of the article, he would realize that Spencer had indeed noted that the change in 1920 made sense because “Alma is speaking of the two sacred stones used to interpret ancient writings, and everywhere else in the Book of Mormon those stones are fittingly called interpreters. Also, director (i.e., in the singular) in the Book of Mormon and directors in the Doctrine and Covenants always refer to the brass ball that guided the Nephites to their promised land, not to the two interpreter stones.”[36]

Neville goes to greater lengths to dismiss Spencer’s scholarship by avoiding any engagement with the latter’s arguments. Rather, he refers his readers to comments on the article that “raise interesting points,” though none are cited.[37] Looking at the few comments left on the online version of this paper, one also must wonder what comment he could possibly be referring to — none of the comments at the time of this writing challenges Spencer’s claim that directors is a fitting translation for Urim based on their specific uses.[38] And Neville has the responsibility — if he wishes to engage in history instead of special-pleading — to deal with contrary evidence himself, and not rely on blog comments to do the work for him. Given that Neville is likely unable to provide any response to a matter about which he has no training, his avoidance is understandable, though not excusable.

Further evidence that seer stones support, rather than contradict, the scriptural narrative lies in the fact that multiple Church leaders — from the 1800s to the present — have openly taught and supported the historical data showing that Joseph Smith used a seer stone to translate the Book of Mormon. President Russell M. Nelson described Joseph’s use of a seer stone positively in 1992,[39] and has most recently reaffirmed that fact in a video produced by the Church at the John Whitmer household, stating “We know they had the golden plates, covered usually, and Joseph used these — the Urim and Thummim, seer stones — in the hat, and it was easier for him to see the light [from the stones] when he’d take that position.”[40]

President Nelson is not the only living apostle who has taught that Joseph Smith used a seer stone to translate the Book of Mormon. In a post to social media dated 21 June 2016, Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf stated, “People have asked me, ‘Do you really believe that Joseph Smith [Page 10]translated with seer stones? How would something like this be possible?’ And I answer, ‘Yes! That is exactly what I believe.’ This was done as Joseph said: by the gift and power of God.”[41] Elder D. Todd Christofferson has similarly taught that Joseph Smith used a seer stone in the translation of the Book of Mormon in a North America Northeast Member Devotional on 20 October 2019,[42] and Elder Quentin L. Cook discussed both the Urim and Thummim and seer stones in his April 2017 General Conference address.[43]

Even as early as 1888, President George Q. Cannon wrote one of the earliest (and still useful) biographies of the Prophet Joseph Smith, wherein he states:

One of Joseph’s aids in searching out the truths of the record [the Book of Mormon] was a peculiar pebble or rock which he called also a seer stone, and which was sometimes used by him in lieu of the Urim and Thummim. This stone had been discovered to himself and his brother Hyrum at the bottom of a well; and under divine guidance they had brought it forth for use in the work of translation.[44]

While I would like to believe that no Latter-day Saint would claim that these living prophets and apostles are “contradicting the scriptural narrative,” Neville has previously stated that Elder Gong’s general conference address had fallen victim to “scholars providing bad information to Church leaders.”[45] There is thus no small irony in Neville implying that to believe in seer stones means disagreeing with scripture, while not addressing the fact that his disbelief in seers stones means disagreeing with the modern apostles and current president of the Church — and, not incidentally, implicitly charging those same leaders with disregarding scripture too.

Other Poor Arguments Against the Seer Stone

Jonathan Neville has made other weak arguments to dismiss the seer stone from Church history that are worth brief mention. Neville repeatedly conflates the seer stone with Royal Skousen’s Early Modern English hypothesis, which states that some Early Modern English may be evident in the finished translation of the Book of Mormon (which, Skousen argues, would be inconsistent with a 19th-Century composition).[46] Neville has long been a critic of Skousen’s hypothesis,[47] and so he attempts to wed it exclusively to the seer stone.[48] However, he fails to note that should Skousen be correct, the same traces of Early Modern English could come [Page 11]from Joseph’s use of the Nephite interpreters just as much as it could come from the seer stone in a hat, or any other divine instrument or process. Conflating two entirely separate ideas makes for an excellent strawman, leaving unwary readers none the wiser.

Another strange attack on the seer stone comes from Neville’s book Infinite Goodness: Joseph Smith, Jonathan Edwards, and the Book of Mormon. The odd remark does not belong in the overarching discussion of Joseph Smith’s 1832 History. One single-sentenced paragraph reads “No one proposes the 1832 History came from a stone in a hat.”[49] Of course, Neville is correct — nobody in their right mind would claim that Joseph Smith would need a seer stone to record his own life experiences. What Neville does, however, is introduce yet another red herring. Neville uses this undisputed and trivial “fact” as supposed proof against the use of the seer stone in general, but this claim ultimately proves and provides nothing of substance to the matter there discussed (with which seer stones had absolutely nothing to do) or the discussion on the use of Joseph Smith’s seer stone in general.

Joseph Smith and the “Translation” of Ancient Records

A key aspect of the interpretation of any historical record is offering a correct understanding of words as historical figures used them. In Neville’s work, however, this key aspect appears to be ignored, with modern definitions of words used, offering a form of presentism that is destructive to historical arguments. Because of this lapse, Neville errs repeatedly because he does not understand Joseph Smith’s use of the word “translate.”

According to Jonathan Neville, when Joseph Smith said that he translated ancient records, it means he translated ancient records much like we would expect a Hebrew scholar to translate the Old Testament:

Joseph translated the engravings on the plates in the ordinary sense of the word …. The translation was inspired both because of the aid of the interpreters and because, although Joseph had to study it out in his mind (D&C 9:8), the Spirit confirmed the translation he came up with as he dictated it to his scribe. Viewed in this way, the idea that Joseph actually translated the Nephite records into English seems obvious.[50]

Neville also states that the “acceptance of [Joseph’s use of a seer stone] means Joseph could not have translated in the ordinary sense of using his best judgement to restate something” from the language used by the [Page 12]ancient Nephites and the English spoken in Joseph Smith’s day.[51] Because of this supposed scholarly translation process, Neville proposes that as Joseph had to “study it out in his mind,” the translation process “could have taken two hours per page”[52] but would later “proceed relatively quickly once Joseph understood the Nephite characters and learned how to use the Spirit to guide his word choice and placement.”[53] Because Neville’s proposed two hours per page would be a slow pace relative to the rapid pace described by witnesses, Neville sees it as evidence against Joseph “reading already translated words” off a stone in a hat (again conflating some of Skousen’s proposed theories with the seer stone).[54] Because Neville believes that this was a scholarly translation effort, he argues further that Joseph Smith could pick up where he left off because he would (of necessity) have “ended previous [translating] sessions at the bottom of a particular plate” (an argument made completely from silence).[55]

These claims, however, show circular reasoning on Neville’s part that weaken his argument. Neville uses his own presuppositions about how long the translation took in order to provide evidence that Joseph did not use his seer stone. This illogical tactic further illustrates the weakness of his argument. Neville also uses presentism when determining what Joseph Smith meant when he described translating ancient records, using his interpretation of the word rather than Joseph Smith’s. To make sense of the historical problems that such a reading of Joseph’s use of the word translate would involve, Neville again misrepresents sources that he cites and ignores Joseph’s other translation projects that might challenge his view.

For example, Neville claims that phrases such as “in other words” or “or rather” are best understood not as Mormon’s rethinking of a phrase or fixing an error that may have crept in as he engraved on metal plates, but “it seem[s] more likely” that it was Joseph who felt that his word choice “did not capture the meaning he wanted to convey.”[56] Neville believes that “the existence of [these phrases in the translated Book of Mormon] would be another reason to reject [the seer stone’s use] as implausible” because there would be little reason for a divine translation to require a reworking of words or phrases.[57] (He does not explain why, if Joseph was unhappy with his first translation’s phrasing, he could not simply say, “Strike that, instead write….”)

This is a problem that simply does not exist. He himself notes that Paul used the phrase “or rather” in his epistles, and even Jonathan Edwards used the phrase when not translating any ancient [Page 13]text, but Neville appears to be unwilling to offer that same liberty to the Nephite authors.[58] Neville likewise fails to consider that should those phrases be authentic to Mormon’s writings, it would not discredit the seer stone or the Nephite interpreters, because Joseph Smith could as easily have translated these phrases into English from the original text, just as they were translated from the original text in Paul’s epistles (who assuredly did not write in English).

However, because Neville is intent on dismissing the seer stone as a revelatory instrument used in the translation of the Book of Mormon, this logical analysis escapes his due consideration. He instead moves on to misrepresenting sources that state that Joseph would read words as they appeared on the seer stone. Neville claims that such a possibility “contradicts Joseph’s direct claim that he translated the engravings on the plates” (using, of course, Neville’s definition of translation),[59] the “witness statements [describing Joseph reading words off of a stone in a hat] reflect inference, assumption, and conjecture.” These statements, therefore, should be treated lightly.[60] He likewise claims that “neither [Joseph nor Oliver] claimed that Joseph merely read words that appeared on a seer/peep stone.”[61]

Neville, however, quotes a source from Oliver Cowdery explaining the translation in that precise manner. In a newspaper from 1831, Oliver Cowdery is reported to have said that “by looking through [the Urim and Thummim, Joseph] was able to read in English, the Reformed Egyptian characters.”[62] While not necessarily describing a stone in a hat, Oliver explained that Joseph merely had to look into his translation instrument to be able to read the characters in English. No mention of any scholarly, two-hour-long effort was ever given by Oliver Cowdery in order to finish a page, despite Neville’s “inference, assumption, and conjecture” to the contrary.

It is also incorrect (if not dishonest) to state that all of the witnesses to the translation who testified that Joseph was able to read words off of a stone in a hat were simply basing their claims off of inference, assumptions, or hearsay.[63] David Whitmer testified that it was Joseph Smith who told him that “the original character appeared upon parchment and under it the translation in English,”[64] and on another occasion he stated that Joseph told him and others that the “letters appeared on [the Urim and Thummim] in light and would not go off until they were written correctly by Oliver.”[65] Neville cites both of these interviews, but ignores the implications when the data does not match his thesis.

[Page 14]How, then, should we understand Joseph Smith’s use of “translate” in light of his prophetic calling? If we accept the presuppositions of Neville, then what can we make of Joseph Smith’s other translation projects? Are we to expect that he held in his hands an ancient papyrus written in koine Greek by the apostle John and was able to translate Doctrine and Covenants 7 through his (nonexistent) knowledge of the Greek language? Did Joseph Smith have in his possession some ancient Hebrew, Greek, or Coptic manuscripts from which he was able to provide his “New Translation” of the Bible, and if so, what happened to those manuscripts? Did Joseph also learn how to read and translate Egyptian hieroglyphics to provide a scholarly translation of the Book of Abraham?[66] Using Neville’s proposed model, none of these translations would be possible. However, when “translate” is understood in the more inclusive sense used by Joseph, it does not require scholarly work to be part of the translation process at all. (None of this is a novel idea; Latter-day Saint scholars have written reams about Joseph’s conception of translation.[67] Neville neither acknowledges nor engages this work.)

Returning also to Neville’s concern that the seer stone invalidates the existence of the plates, while such a concern is valid, it need not be troubling when all things are duly considered. While Joseph did initially use the plates and the Urim and Thummim in the conventional method that Neville accepts, as he spiritually matured and learned how he might receive revelation he apparently was able to receive the words without having to open the plates at any given time. He similarly felt at a later point that he no longer needed to rely on the seer stone for revelation, giving it to Oliver Cowdery. Elder Quentin L. Cook similarly discussed the seer stone and Urim and Thummim in terms of “training wheels on a bicycle” used until Joseph Smith could exercise the faith to receive revelations without relying on these instruments, showing a level of spiritual progression for the young prophet.[68] This is attested by Orson Pratt, who saw Joseph working on the New Translation of the New Testament and wondered why Joseph did not use an instrument like the Urim and Thummim as he did when translating the Book of Mormon: “Joseph, as if he read his thoughts, looked up and explained that the Lord gave him the Urim and Thummim when he was inexperienced in the Spirit of inspiration. But now he had advanced so far that he understood the operations of that Spirit, and did not need the assistance of that instrument.”[69]

Joseph’s lack of strength following the First Vision (see Joseph Smith — History 1:20) is similarly contrasted with his reaction following the reception of “The Vision” now recorded in Doctrine and Covenants 76, [Page 15]where he joked upon viewing Sidney’s composure (recorded as being “limp and pale, apparently as limber as a rag”) that “Sidney is not used to it as I am.”[70] Even when Joseph was not looking at the characters engraved on the plates as he translated, the translation still took place in close vicinity to the plates, perhaps showing his reliance on their existence,[71] and they would have served as an actual, physical witness to both prophet and scribe that the translation being performed was of divine origin.[72] The existence of the plates still remained crucial to the Restoration, even when a seer stone was placed inside a hat.

However, it is also important to note that even disregarding the Book of Mormon, Joseph could provide (and indeed has provided) translations and restorations of ancient texts even when he did not have them in his possession. Examples include Doctrine and Covenants 7 or the visions of Enoch and Moses in the New Translation of the Bible, and these were even translated without a working knowledge in Hebrew, Greek, or Egyptian. Such a translation feat — these were, after all, ancient texts not originally written in English, so “translation” still applies to them — are greater evidence of Joseph Smith’s prophetic calling, and could help contextualize how Joseph Smith could provide a translation of the Book of Mormon while using a seer stone in a hat.

Demonstrations and Lies of Translation

Because Neville does not accept all the historical documents, the most untenable of his theories lies at the heart of this book. By redefining how early Saints saw the Urim and Thummim and Joseph Smith’s translation projects, Neville attempts to produce a harmonization between his heterodox beliefs and the historical records that he has so far tried to discredit.[73] Ironically, despite Neville’s claim to purportedly defend Joseph Smith’s character and honesty, his Demonstration Hypothesis is rooted in the presupposition that Joseph Smith was an apparent liar who would take advantage of his friends’s trust in him throughout their lives.[74]

The Demonstration Hypothesis claims that Joseph Smith, being unable to show the Nephite interpreters to anyone, assuaged his friends’s curiosity by reciting Isaiah from memory with his seer stone in a hat:

Joseph conducted demonstrations to satisfy curiosity and explain the gift and power of God. He used a stone in a hat, a process with which his contemporaries were familiar, as [Page 16]a proxy to demonstrate how he could translate the engravings on the plates by means of the [Urim and Thummim] and then dictate the English words to a scribe…. Joseph simply dictated — from memory — some of the chapters from Isaiah that are found in 2 Nephi today. (I think he recognized Nephi was quoting from Isaiah and he saw this as an opportunity to conduct a demonstration.) …Because Joseph dictated these passages from memory, he did not translate them. This made it possible for Joseph and Oliver to truthfully say that Joseph translated the plates with the [Urim and Thummim] even though others observed him dictating Isaiah with [his seer stone].[75]

The sources that Neville uses to support such an audacious claim, however, are lacking and his hypothesis requires a great deal of special-pleading and blatant misrepresentation. Furthermore, as will be demonstrated with the passages of Isaiah that Neville cites, the proposal that Joseph dictated Isaiah from memory is not consistent with textual evidence in the Book of Mormon and early manuscripts of Isaiah. Neville’s proposal is effectively an ill-advised resuscitation of early (and still unfortunately common) anti-Latter-day Saint arguments that have little merit.

Misusing and Misrepresenting Historical Sources

There are three main sources that Neville uses to support his initial claims to a demonstration of the translation.[76] One of the first sources Neville mentions is unintentionally ironic: William McLellin in 1880 recounted fifty-five reasons to explain why he no longer sustained any branch of the Restoration. Neville only quotes two: “I do not believe Joseph translated the book of Mormon. He only read the translation as it appeared before him. The Lord translated it for him, so says the book [drawing on 2 Nephi 27:20 for support]” and McLellin did not “believe in pretending to translate with Urim and Thummim when only a small Stone was used.”[77] Neville believes that should make everyone reconsider the narrative: “These reasons McLellin listed for not being a [Latter-day Saint] are being taught to new members and the youth of the Church today. That should give everyone pause.”

Neville then suggests that it is more “productive (and historically accurate) to articulate a reconciliation of the historical sources” which he will attempt through his Demonstration Hypothesis.[78] Neville apparently sees no problem, however, with “pretending to translate” [Page 17]while Joseph really just recited Isaiah from memory, nor does he give the same weight to other statements from McLellin, betraying a double standard. Had Neville been consistent, he would have to claim that it should give us pause that the Church still teaches that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God to youth and recent converts, since McLellin became disillusioned with Joseph and criticized him throughout his life.[79]

Another source used by Neville to reinforce his already weak Demonstration Hypothesis comes from an interview of David Whitmer by Zenos Gurley in 1885. Gurley recorded that Whitmer reported “that Joseph had another stone called seers’ stone, and ‘peep stone,’ is quite certain. This stone was frequently exhibited to different ones and helped to assuage their curiosity; but the Urim and Thummim, never, unless possibly to Oliver Cowdery.”[80] Neville then concludes from this quotation that Joseph felt he must demonstrate the translation with his seer stone, something that Whitmer never claims.[81]

Instead, David Whitmer merely related how Joseph was commanded not to show the Nephite interpreters to other individuals, but Joseph was under no such obligation in regard to his seer stone. Hence, without mentioning the translation method, David described how Joseph could show one translation instrument and not the other. It is disingenuous to misrepresent this interview to force it into Neville’s hypothesis.

However, Neville misrepresents another source even further — to the point that he offers direct contradictions to what the source says and what he thinks it should say. Neville cites an interview of David Whitmer published in the Millennial Star (and elsewhere in the Chicago Tribune) that reads as follows:

In order to give privacy to the proceeding, a blanket, which served as a portiere, was stretched across the family living room to shelter the translators and the plates from the eyes of any who might call at the house while the work was in progress…. In fact, Smith was at no time hidden from his collaborators, and the translation was performed in the presence of not only the persons mentioned [Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer], but of the entire Whitmer household and several of Smith’s relatives besides. The work of translating the tablets consumed about eight months, Smith acting as the seer, and Oliver Cowdery, Smith’s wife, and Christian Whitmer, brother of David, performing the duties of [scribe], in whose handwriting the original manuscript now is. Each time before resuming the work, each present [Page 18]would kneel in prayer and invoke the Divine blessing on the proceeding. After prayer, Smith would sit on one side of the table, and the [scribes], in turn, as they became tired, on the other. Those present and not actively engaged in the work, seated themselves around the room, and then the work began. After affixing the magical spectacles to his eyes, Smith would take the plates and translate the characters one at a time.[82]

Neville claims this source must demonstrate how Joseph “dictated in front of a group without consulting the Urim and Thummim or the plates,”[83] yet Whitmer says precisely the opposite. There is no mention of the seer stone being placed in a hat, nor are the plates described as being out of the picture. Rather, Whitmer is recorded as saying that both the plates and the Nephite interpreters were used. We might argue that this is a conflation of what the reporter had been told, but Neville’s own account of this source does not hold up. If he cannot fairly tell us what the account baldly states, why ought we to trust his interpretations of other sources?

Neville also draws attention to the blanket that “was stretched across the family living room to shelter the translators and the plates from the eyes of any who might call at the house while the work was in progress” and states that had the plates been covered, “a blanket would not be needed to shield them” from other people’s view.[84] This is another quick argument that Neville makes without seeming to think through what the source was saying or the historical context behind it. Had Joseph and his scribes ever translated a portion of the Book of Mormon downstairs (an atypical event in the Whitmer home, but still possible on occasion nonetheless), the blanket was expressly used to shield the process from the view of anyone who might visit the Whitmers at that time.[85]

A third issue Neville takes with this source deals closely with his belief that Joseph Smith translated the plates at a slow and scholarly pace of two hours per page.[86] “Joseph dictated fast enough that his scribes tired and traded off,”[87] says Neville, claiming that this “also indicates it was a demonstration.”[88] However, one would be hard-pressed to find support for this claim from the source Neville uses — while the scribes did trade off as they became tired, nothing is said regarding the atypical speed that Joseph Smith displayed when he (as Neville has it) speedily recited Isaiah from memory.

The scribes switching places could be indicative of any number of reasons, most likely sitting and writing for long periods of time. By contrast, under Neville’s two-hours-a-page model, it seems to be less [Page 19]likely that the scribes could grow tired of writing and would demand a much faster pace in order to translate the rest of the Book of Mormon in time.[89] This source thus “solves” the problem that Neville has invented (however, it would get tiring and test the patience of the scribes, one would imagine, if they had to wait two hours while Joseph worked out a scholarly translation). Neville has “solved” a problem that he invented through his return to an old argument from critics of the Church — he claims that Joseph didn’t really translate the plates (or, in this case, a portion of them), but only feigned to do so (which is ironic, given the title of his book).

Isaiah, Nephi, and the Masoretic text

As a final note on the Demonstration Hypothesis, it is worth examining the claim that Joseph Smith merely recited portions of Isaiah from memory. Neville begins his discussion on the matter by stating that there are “inexplicable anomalies” between the King James Version (KJV) of Isaiah and 2 Nephi 13–21 that “are typical of memorization errors.”[90] Neville argues from silence that because there is not a quote of Joseph “saying it was a translation,” we are unable to claim whether it is or not.[91] Neville offers no reason to suggest that Joseph ever claimed any part of the Book of Mormon came about by means other than a translation, as no source could ever support such a claim, and so he can only hope that a claim made from silence can stand in for the evidence he needs. That is poor historiography. (Joseph likewise never said that the third word of the Book of Mormon was a translation, so it probably wasn’t — we can see how absurd this quickly becomes.)

After briefly discussing some Isaiah variants that differ widely from the KJV and, Neville recognizes, are perhaps produced by a retranslation, he claims that these variants “make more sense as errors in reciting memorized material.”[92] Unfortunately, Neville appears entirely unwilling to view minor differences in the Isaiah portions of the text as retranslations as well, since many of the variants do not dramatically alter the meaning or clarify the text. This is an unfair assumption of what the translation must be, and it is important to note how even the most minor of changes could still reflect a retranslation of an ancient Isaiah text. (It would in fact be suspicious if a retranslation matched word-for-word, especially words of little consequence.)

For evidence that Joseph Smith was able to recite Isaiah, Neville errs by twisting more sources to fit his narrative. For example, Neville claims that based on Joseph Smith’s 1838 history and his encounter with the angel [Page 20]Moroni, “Joseph recognized the scriptures Moroni quoted by chapter and verse — well enough to recognize the changes.” Neville also uses Joseph’s multiple sermons quoting extensively from the Bible to suggest that Joseph Smith could have memorized and recited Isaiah during the translation of the Book of Mormon.[93] What Neville fails to consider, however, is how each of these instances were recorded at a much later date — between hearing Moroni in 1824 and writing about it in 1838, Joseph had ample time to discover the references for the scriptures that were repeated to him multiple times by the angel (or, perhaps, Moroni could have told him the specific chapters and verses that he was quoting for Joseph to refer to the next day — a possibility that Neville fails to consider). Similarly, most of Joseph’s recorded sermons date from well into his prophetic career. They were preceded by a long apprenticeship during which he had received multiple revelations, translated an entire book of scripture, and after he had begun retranslating the Bible. These later sermons, then, cannot be used as evidence of Joseph Smith’s familiarity with the Bible years earlier in his life.

Neville similarly uses an anecdotal fallacy by comparing his own memory and experiences to that of Joseph Smith: “I once memorized Ether 12, which has more words than Isaiah 18–19 combined. It’s not that difficult.”[94] Obviously, citing Neville’s own ability to memorize scripture says nothing about history itself, and is a poor argument. It is also a relatively poor analogy, since the Isaiah passages are much longer than Ether 12, contain language that is more complex and opaque, and Neville has much more education and literacy than Joseph in 1829.

Neville even endorses sources written with the intent of destroying the Prophet’s character and the nature of his work. He cites an 1831 article published by a critic of the Church who accused Joseph Smith of reciting the New Testament to an unsuspecting Martin Harris. Neville states that this is another evidence of another “demonstration” (i.e., feigned translation) given to Martin Harris: “[I]f Martin wanted to know how the translation worked … such a demonstration would be an effective solution — just as it was for the observers in Fayette.”[95] Elsewhere (and in a connected vein), Neville suggests that Joseph “drew on his mental language bank to render [the Sermon at the Temple in 3 Nephi] the way he had memorized [the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew].”[96]

In response to claims that Joseph Smith recited from the Bible by memory (and especially Isaiah), both Royal Skousen and Brant Gardner have pointed out that such a reading of the text is not supported by the manuscript evidence,[97] which groups Isaiah into larger thematic groups [Page 21]rather than the somewhat awkward KJV chapter divisions (which were imposed upon the published Book of Mormon almost forty years after Joseph Smith was killed in Carthage). There are enough variants in the text that likewise align with ancient manuscripts that makes coincidence an unlikely explanation for how Joseph Smith’s poor memory (considering how Neville believes these variants are memorization errors on Joseph’s part) could align so well with ancient sources.[98]

While Neville claims that all of 2 Nephi 13–21 was recited from memory,[99] he includes three tables in his book that describe various textual variants only in 2 Nephi 17, 19, and 20. Though these tables are flawed (even introducing many variants through his own error that are not attested in any Book of Mormon), he presents them as evidence that 2 Nephi is best understood as containing recitation errors.[100] It is worth considering these variants to see that they more plausibly arose and are best understood not from Joseph’s faulty memory, but rather as a translation of an ancient text.[101]

2 Nephi 13:1 Compared with Isaiah 3:1

Regarding the variant in this verse, John Tvedtnes wrote:

The problem found in this verse is known to biblical scholars, who generally consider the text to be corrupt (the New English Bible deletes the problematic passage). [The] KJV speaks of “the stay and the staff” but then goes on to mention the “stay of bread” and the “stay of water.” The word translated “stay” from [the Masoretic Text] is ms’n, while its feminine counterpart, ms’nh, is translated “staff.” The occurrence of the latter but once in [the Masoretic Text]/KJV destroys a parallel (probably caused by dropping the feminine singular suffix) which is corrected in [the Book of Mormon].[102]

Thus, the verse as presented in the Book of Mormon likely reflects an ancient reading that Joseph would have been unaware of had he simply recited his KJV from memory.

2 Nephi 13:10 Compared with Isaiah 3:1

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