This presentation explores the narrative strategies that characterize Joseph Smith’s readings, or “translations,” of Bible stories (the Book of Mormon, a New Translation, the Book of Abraham, temple rituals, environing revelations). Characters evolve and change in these transformed stories, and Joseph himself becomes a character, re-enacting the plot as his friends follow. Understanding how theology is belatedly spun from these dramas is a first step in any approach to the Mormon story.

Susan Staker