Doctrine and Covenants

Week 3: translation of the Book of Mormon; the Three Witnesses

Sections 3, 5, 10, 17

19 September 2024

Notes and slides will be posted after the class has been held.

• Learn more about the Three Witnesses and their testimony at WitnessesOfTheBookOfMormon.org, a website created by the Interpreter Foundation.

• A complete list of all the witnesses who saw or handled the gold plates or saw or participated in the translation process is available in Royal Skousen, “The Witnesses of the Book of Mormon,” The History of the Text of the Book of Mormon, Part Seven: The Transmission of the Text, Vol. 3 of The Critical Text of the Book of Mormon (Provo, UT: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 2021).

• Matthew McBride, “The Contributions of Martin Harris: D&C 3, 5, 10, 17, 19,” Church History: Revelations in Context.

• Elden J. Watson, “Approximate Book of Mormon Translation Timeline.”

• Robert F. Smith, Gordon C. Thomasson, and John W. Welch, “What Did Charles Anthon Really Say?”, in Reexploring the Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book / Provo, Utah: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1992), 73–75.

• “Book of Mormon Translation,” Gospel Topics Essays. This article published by the Church explores how Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon and what physical instruments he used in the translation process.

• Richard E. Turley Jr., Robin S. Jensen, and Mark Ashurst-McGee, “Joseph the Seer,” Ensign (October 2015): 45–55. Turley (who was Assistant Church Historian and Recorder) and Church historians Jensen and Ashurst-McGee examine what the historical record reveals about how Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon.

• Richard Lloyd Anderson, “‘By the Gift and Power of God’,” Ensign (September 1977): 79–91.