To interpret the Book of Mormon responsibly requires readers be brought into a historical conversation with early nineteenth-century North America and into a larger hermeneutical conversation with the text itself. This presentation will outline how this interpretive strategy will enable a more adequate reading of the Book of Mormon, including the perceived aims and purposes of Joseph Smith Jr. himself, and will argue that without this approach, it is impossible to adequately understand the word and witness of the Book of Mormon.

Dale E. Luffman, Brent Johns