More on the BYU Studies article

In response to questions people have asked, here are some observations on the BYU Studies article about the two sets of plates by Don Bradley, titled "Were Nephi’s Small Plates Contained in Mormon’s Gold Plates?" (See links to two versions of the article below.)

1. Excellent article. This is an outstanding article that I hope every Latter-day Saint around the world eventually reads. I applaud BYU Studies for publishing it.

There are some details that are problematic, as I'll discuss below, but I encourage multiple working hypotheses so that's all good. 

The article is a wonderful introduction to the topic. Interested readers can find additional information on mobom.org, in Whatever Happened to the Golden Plates? and other references. 

2. The Mary Whitmer account.

One of the recurring questions people ask me is why Moroni appeared to Mary Whitmer as an old man. That's the narrative in Saints, as discussed here. This is also the narrative missionaries at the Whitmer farm have related (although hopefully they've finally stopped doing that).

Hopefully this article will make progress in correcting the historical narrative because Bradley quotes the actual source instead of the Saints narrative.  

That Mary Whitmer named the messenger “Brother Nephi” may echo the name of Nephi’s small plates that the messenger showed to her.33

This Moroni meets Mary narrative is a prime example of how historical narratives are created and perpetuated, even when they contradict the historical record and basic logic and theology. It's also a fascinating example of how difficult it is to correct narratives. We all understand that the printed Saints books cannot be recalled, but there is no good excuse for not correcting the digital versions, which are by far the most read, especially internationally.

The Moroni narrative is problematic because, among other things, it (i) contradicts what Mary herself said, (ii) contradicts Oliver Cowdery's description of Moroni, (iii) contradicts David Whitmer's accounts of his conversations with both Moroni and the messenger with the plates, and (iv) alters our understanding of the resurrection, because the Moroni narrative frames resurrected beings as shape-shifters who can assume alternative identities and appearances, contrary to the restoration explanation of Alma 11:44.

Bradley's Note 33 is important.

33. That Nephi was involved at some point in the reception or transportation of plates is suggested by Joseph Smith’s conflation of Nephi and Moroni in the earliest draft of his 1838 History. “History Drafts, 1838–Circa 1841,” 222. (See also discussion of this variant in “History Drafts, 1838–Circa 1841,” 223n56.) Were Nephi not involved in some such way, it is difficult to understand why both Mary Whitmer and the Prophet Joseph employed the name Nephi as that of a messenger involved in the coming forth of the book of plates.

For a more complete analysis, see https://www.mobom.org/moroni-and-nephi

3. Illustrations: Text vs .pdf version.

If makes a difference if you read the text version or the .pdf/print version.

Text version: https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/were-nephis-small-plates-contained-in-mormons-gold-plates

pdf/text version: https://website-files-bucket.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/issues/issue_pdfs/64-4final.pdf

The text version omits the graphics. Let's discuss those.

4. The two categories of plates.

The page facing the start of the article features this delightful illustration by Ben Crowder.

(click to enlarge)

This illustration, titled By the Gift and Power of God, offers a useful distinction between the original plates of Nephi and the abridged plates. This is an excellent depiction of the distinction made in the article between the plates Joseph translated in Harmony, PA (the abridged plates) and the plates Joseph translated in Fayette, NY (the plates of Nephi).

However, the caption is a little misleading, so I offer some corrections. 

Original caption	Corrected caption
The rectangles in the left column represent the books written on the small plates of Nephi.	The rectangles in the left column represent the books translated from the plates of Nephi (D&C 10) [We only have what Joseph translated.]
The rectangles in the right column represent those on the large plates.	The rectangles in the right column represent those translated from the abridged plates. [The "large plates" were the original sources for the abridged plates.]

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5. The SITH debacle.

The next graphic, embedded on page 40, is Anthony Sweat's infamous SITH illustration that contradicts everything Joseph and Oliver ever said about the translation. This illustration of the SITH narrative from Mormonism Unvailed has become ubiquitous. 

(click to enlarge)

The article claims that "artistic depictions, and therefore common Latter-day Saint visualizations, have often portrayed Joseph translating by simply reading from the plates with the naked eye--not using a sacred seeing implement (fig. 1)."

That is a good point, in a way. There are some illustrations of Joseph translating plates that do not show the Urim and Thummim, but there are others that do show the Urim and Thummim. Most show Joseph studying the plates, not dictating the translation. 

Below are some well-known visualizations, including one on the cover of the Ensign. But note that the Ensign cover, as well as several of the others, depict Joseph looking on the plates as if studying the characters. That is what Joseph explained. "I commenced copying the characters off the plates. I copied a considerable number of them, and by means of the Urim and Thummim I translated some of them..." (Joseph Smith—History 1:62)

The illustration in the upper left shows Joseph presumably dictating as Oliver writes, with no evidence of the Urim and Thummim. The one in the center bottom shows the Urim and Thummim. The one in the center depicts SITH. Multiple working hypotheses, etc.

When we reviewed the existing artwork about the translation, we were unable to find a single illustration of Joseph using the Urim and Thummim while engaging with the plates by turning them. That's why we commissioned the artwork on the cover of our book.

Bradley's point is valid. Illustrations of Joseph translating the plates without showing the Urim and Thummim contradict what Joseph and Oliver said just as much as Anthony Sweat's SITH illustration.

Then Bradley writes, "Scholarship offers a corrective to this faulty visualization. 4"

Instead of correcting any "faulty visualization," scholarship has compounded the problem, as we can see by consulting the references in Notes 3 and 4. One weakness of this article is the citations to these references without critical analysis.

(click to enlarge)

The documentary content of the Joseph Smith Papers is exceptional and world-class. It is better than any other comparable collection of papers I've seen.

However, there is a big problem with the explanatory notes, such as the "Seer Stone" entry in the Glossary that Bradley cited here. That entry and related notes are biased in favor of promoting the SITH narrative, as I discussed here:

https://www.ldshistoricalnarratives.com/2025/02/2025-improvements-jsp-on-urim-and.html

For another example, see

https://www.ldshistoricalnarratives.com/2023/08/u-in-elders-journal-outdated-narratives.html

Note 4 quotes the Wentworth letter ("Church History"), but then references From Darkness Unto Light, a highly problematic book that simply omits historical references that contradict its authors' theories and ignores fundamental problems with the SITH narrative.

https://www.ldshistoricalnarratives.com/2022/07/from-darkness-unto-light-omitting.html

Anthony Sweat's SITH illustration in that book compounds the problem of "faulty visualization" instead of fixing it. Let's look at it again.

Figure 1 enshrines the Mormonism Unvailed narrative by rejecting what Joseph and Oliver always said. It supports Royal Skousen's claim that Joseph and Oliver deliberately misled everyone about the translation, a claim that many other LDS scholars have embraced.

Figure 1 contradicts the entire point of this article--which hopefully is what was intended. 

If, as Sweat depicts, the plates were always covered, there was no reason for the messenger (Nephi) to bring the small plates to Fayette. There was no point in the Lord instructing Joseph to "translate the engravings which are on the plates of Nephi" (Doctrine and Covenants 10:41) because all Joseph had to do was keep reading what appeared on the stone-in-the-hat (SITH).

The problem with SITH has been summarized in a well-known meme:

I trust that readers will spot the juxtaposition of Sweat's SITH illustration and the two sets of plates, but sometimes images prevail over text, and that might be the case here.

I would have liked to see an illustration of what Joseph and Oliver taught, with Joseph translating the plates by means of the Urim and Thummim. That would enliven the Lord's instruction in D&C 10:41.

6. The Mary Whitmer illustration.

It was good to see a new illustration of the Mary Whitmer account instead of the more common one titled "Moroni shows the plates."

7. The map.

The map provided in the article is clear and useful, but a little misleading because it relates the old narrative. 

The annotation at Harmony says "Most of the Book of Mormon translated (April-May 1829)." To be more accurate, it should have said "The abridged plates translated (Nov 1828-May 1829)." Joseph related that he began to translate again after the plates were returned to him in Sept 1828 (after the 116 pages had been lost). David Whitmer said it took 8 months to translate (Nov 1828-Jun 1829). Documentary evidence indicates that Oliver was not the scribe for most or all of Mosiah. The annotation could also refer to the 116 pages being translated there, but that would complicate matters and that translation was also from the abridged plates anyway.

The annotation at Fayette says "Translation completed (June 1829)." To be more accurate, it should have read "Plates of Nephi translated (June 1829)." 

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Summary. This is an outstanding article that will hopefully generate more discussion and understanding among Latter-day Saints everywhere.

Hopefully it will lead to some corrections in the Saints book, the Joseph Smith Papers, and the works of other LDS scholars.

 

Unity through the 2 sets of plates and the end of M2C (and SITH)

Greg Matsen at the Cwic Show interviewed me about the two sets of plates article by Don Bradley in BYU Studies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WExjn1MZt3k

During the interview, I said I thought Don's article will be the most unifying article BYU Studies has ever published. 

As more and more Latter-day Saints come to learn about the two sets of plates, many of them will discover for the first time that Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery answered the questions about the origin and setting of the Book of Mormon.

Origin. Understanding the two sets of plates will help all Latter-day Saints accept what Joseph and Oliver taught about the translation of the Book of Mormon. We can all read in the scriptures that the Lord told Joseph Smith "you shall translate the engravings which are on the plates of Nephi." (Doctrine and Covenants 10:41)

That commandment explains why Joseph needed to have the plates of Nephi. If Joseph wasn't actually translating the plates by means of the Urim and Thummim (as he and Oliver always said), and instead he was reading words that appeared on the stone in the hat (SITH), the Lord would have not needed to tell Joseph anything other than to keep reading what appeared on the stone.

For that matter, all of Section 10 would be superfluous. 

E.g.,  "Behold, I say unto you, that you shall not translate again those words which have gone forth out of your hands" (Doctrine and Covenants 10:30). if Joseph was not translating the engravings on the plates, there was no point in the Lord telling him not to translate them again. 

The stone would simply not have shown him words he wasn't supposed to translate.

Maybe, finally, Latter-day Saints can unify around what Joseph and Oliver said instead of what others claimed years later. Maybe we can all unite in rejecting the Mormonism Unvailed narrative about SITH, as well as Royal Skousen's assertion that Joseph and Oliver were "intentionally misleading" everyone when they wrote about the Urim and Thummim.

Setting. Understanding the two sets of plates will help all Latter-day Saints accept what Joseph and Oliver taught about the New York Cumorah/Ramah. Then we can all agree that theories about the setting that put Cumorah/Ramah elsewhere cannot, by definition, be correct.

Of course, that does not mean we know the locations of other Book of Mormon events. People have all kinds of theories about that, which makes sense because there are hundreds of possibilities and most relevant archaeological sites have been overbuilt and/or destroyed. 

But at least we have one "pin in the map" that will unify Latter-day Saints so we can move on from whatever disagreements have existed regarding Cumorah.

Good times for us all.

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People remind me often of the quotation attributed to Arthur Schopenhauer:

"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident."

The quotation is actually a paraphrase of what Schopenhauer originally wrote.*

The psychology involved reflects a pattern of human resistance to paradigm-shifting ideas, often tied to psychological attachment to familiar beliefs.

The cognitive dissonance experienced by the M2Cers and SITH sayers will undoubtedly intensify, but that's not a long-term problem. 

New or revolutionary truths (important ideas, discoveries, or insights that challenge the status quo) typically go through three predictable phases in how society receives them:

Ridicule — At first, people mock or dismiss it as absurd, ridiculous, or laughable because it clashes with what everyone already believes or takes for granted.

Violent opposition — Next, as it starts gaining some traction, it faces strong, sometimes fierce resistance — emotional backlash, heated arguments, suppression, censorship and hostility — from those who feel threatened by the change it implies.

Acceptance as self-evident — Finally, once enough evidence accumulates and people get used to it, the idea becomes widely accepted as obvious or "common sense." People then wonder how anyone could have ever thought otherwise.

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Schopenhauer's observation also helps explain overall Christian reaction to the Restoration. Despite early ridicule and current opposition, more and more Christians are migrating toward the LDS positions on pre-mortal existence, the nature of the Godhead (3 distinct beings), the need for ordinances for the dead, etc.

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*While this exact phrasing is popularly attributed to Schopenhauer and appears on many quote sites, scholars have pointed out that his actual writing in The World as Will and Representation (1818/1819 preface) expresses a similar but not identical sentiment: 

truth gets only a brief moment of victory sandwiched between long periods of being condemned as paradoxical and then dismissed as trivial. 

The three-stage version with "ridiculed / violently opposed / self-evident" is apparently a later paraphrase or popularization rather than a direct quote.

Two sets of plates enters the mainstream

The most recent issue of BYU Studies includes an article by Don Bradley that introduces the concept of two separate sets of plates to a wide audience of Latter-day Saints.

You should read it if you haven't already.

https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/were-nephis-small-plates-contained-in-mormons-gold-plates

In coming posts, we'll discuss the article and its implications for M2C and SITH.

Excerpt:

Latter-day Saints have generally visualized the relationship of Mormon’s plates and Nephi’s small plates as two segments of a single record, bound together into one book by a shared set of rings. 

I will argue in this article that this visualization may also be faulty—that Mormon’s plates and Nephi’s small plates were not bound together into a single book but were utilized separately and sequentially by the Prophet Joseph Smith in translating the Book of Mormon. 

Evidence pointing to the model that the small plates and Mormon’s plates were separate records may be found in the Book of Mormon text and in sources from the early history of the Church.

Concluding note by Don:

Thank you so much to my dear sons Donnie and Nicholas Bradley for supporting and inspiring this work and for the love they have given across their lives. I also wish to acknowledge Jack Welch, John Thompson, Alex Criddle, and Jonathan Neville for their suggestions on this paper.

Scott Adams and M2C cognitive dissonance

In honor of Scott Adams, who passed away today, I'm posting this cartoon of his as adapted to the content of this blog.

It depicts our M2C scholars confronting Letter VII.

[cross posted at lettervii.com]

Copying LE Hills

 

Dean Jessee - an awesome historian

 Dean Jessee has passed away. Dean was one of a handful of important, influential LDS historians who were a big influence on me. 

When I first delved into Church history with the research that led to my book The Lost City of Zarahemla, which among other things discussed the origin of the 1842 Times and Seasons articles that launched M2C, I met with Dean and showed him what I had discovered. He was enthusiastic and strongly encouraged me to keep working on Church history, which I did. He even wanted me to come teach his High Priests Quorum someday, but I had too many other Sunday commitments and never was able to do that.

Dean wanted to make original documents available to Latter-day Saints everywhere, which led to the Joseph Smith Papers. 

He was not interested in pursuing or promoting specific narratives the way so many other LDS historians do today.

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Here's an excellent article about Dean Jessee.

https://www.deseret.com/faith/2026/01/05/latter-day-saint-historian-dean-jessee-dies-joseph-smith-papers/

As the article notes, 

In the nearly 40 years Jessee then proceeded to work in the office and Church History Department, he published several works including a series of journal articles for BYU Studies, a book titled “The Personal Writings of Joseph Smith,” and two volumes of “The Papers of Joseph Smith.” These scholarly works were among the first published on Joseph Smith’s documents, Esplin said.

I still remember the day I was reading these books and saw, for the first time, the letter Joseph wrote to Emma that included this passage:

The whole of our journey, in the midst of so large a company of social honest men and sincere men, wandering over the plains of the Nephites, recounting occasionally the history of the Book of Mormon, roving over the mounds of that once beloved people of the Lord, picking up their skulls & their bones, as a proof of its divine authenticity...

https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/letterbook-2/62

I thought, why haven't I heard about this before?

And if Joseph Smith considered the mounds of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois as "proof of the divine authenticity" of the Book of Mormon, why do modern LDS scholars reject what he said?

Those questions led me to do more research and eventually write Moroni's America.

Naturally, the M2Cers have a rationale for rejecting what Joseph wrote. They say he was merely speculating and he was wrong. Or else he was talking about the "hinterlands" of Book of Mormon events.

M2C is such a farce.

If more LDS historians and other intellectuals followed Dean Jessee's example of seeking truth instead of promoting narratives, Latter-day Saints around the world would be far better informed, less confused, and would share with Joseph Smith the realization that the setting of the Book of Mormon is proof of its divine authenticity.

Blessings to Dean's family.

Retrospective on President Holland

Let's start the year 2026 with a retrospective.

President Holland wrote his Masters Thesis in 1966 about the Book of Mormon. Among other things, he included comments about the translation. 

I found his thesis more useful and relevant than the Gospel Topics Essays and the writings of all the modern SITH scholars (SITH = stone-in-the-hat theory).

I posted comments about it here:

https://www.ldshistoricalnarratives.com/2026/01/president-hollands-masters-thesis-on.html

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:)