Written by the Finger of God?: The Book of Mormon Translation Debate A crowd of witnesses to the translation of the Book of Mormon report that Joseph Smith literally read the translation through his seerstone. But a century of scholarship has identified language errors and anachronisms inconsistent with a supernaturally perfect translation. Who is right-the witnesses or the scholars? Or are they all wrong together? Can the reported visual translation method be squared with the actual contents of the book? And if Joseph Smith merely read the text through his stone, did he ‘translate’ at all? If not, who was the translator of the Book of Mormon, and what are the implications of that answer for us?

Don Bradley, Mark D. Thomas