Greg Matsen has become one of my favorite LDS Podcasters. He has had over 5 Million views of his podcasts. This year at our 31st Book of Mormon Evidence Conference he will speak for the second time on a subject he titled, Nephite Dissenters & Social Justice. It will be on Sat April 8th 11:45 to 12:30, just After Tim Ballard speaks from 10 to 11:30 am at the Mountain America Expo Center at 9575 S. State St. Hall 4 in Sandy, Utah 84070. That evening Alex Boye will also be singing for us.
Greg Matsen- Cwic Show
He has studied the scriptures and history almost daily since his mission, seeks and develops interfaith relationships, and diligently seeks to help others learn what he has learned through lenses he developed called Cwic Interpreters. He also does a weekly Come Follow Me podcast. Greg sold his Wealth Management Firm in Scottsdale, AZ in 2020 and now runs Cwic Media full time. He and his wife have four kids and one son-in-law.
Our great Heartland friend Jonathan Neville, just sat down with Greg Matsen to discuss two of the most important “Linchpins” within the Heartland Model, the correct Geography and the Proper method of Translation of the Book of Mormon. You will enjoy Greg’s wonderful interview style and Jonathan’s easy to understand description of events it these two podcasts.
Jonathan Neville’s New Books
Please share these videos with others. Both Greg an Jonathan will be speaking at our Expo. Jonathan will be speaking about his two new books.
1- Fri April 7 from 9 am to 945 am on a presentations title,
“The Rational Restoration”
Jonathan Neville with a friend, Jim Lucas, will also speak on:
2- Sat April 8th from 2:30 to 3:15 pm just after lunch on the presentation titled,
“By Means of the Urim and Thummim: Restoring Translation to the Restoration.”
“Joseph Smith claimed the Book of Mormon was his translation of writings on ancient plates made using an even more ancient translation device called the Urim and Thummim. By Means of the Urim and Thummim explores the many controversies surrounding this claim. Did Joseph actually use a magic rock he put in a hat rather than the ancient interpreter device? Did he write the Book himself rather than translating an ancient record? Was Joseph really a near illiterate country bumpkin, or was he plausible as an actively engaged translator? And if he was a real translator as he claimed, how would such a translation process have worked to produce the Book of Mormon as we have it, with its strange mélange of 1820s American English and the Bible underlain by ancient concepts and linguistic forms in an incredibly complex narrative? By Means of the Urim and Thummim will be a must read for anyone interested in the unique and unusual work that is the Book of Mormon.” Amazon Remarks
Reviews of Jonathan and Mr. Lucas’ book, “By Means of the Urim and Thummim: Restoring Translation to the Restoration”
“Lucas and Neville’s By Means of the Urim and Thummim is a substantial contribution to the translation debates that have roiled Book of Mormon scholarship for the past twenty years. It is conservative in that it restores the preeminent role of the Urim and Thummim in the translation process and virtually erases the seerstone from the story. It also proposes a translation theory of its own that preserves the importance of the Urim and Thummim and yet accounts for the presence of language from Joseph Smith’s world. All readers who take the translation debates seriously must reckon with this book.” Richard Lyman Bushman, author of Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling, Gouverneur Morris Professor Emeritus of History, Columbia University
“By Means of the Urim and Thummim: Restoring Translation to the Restoration by lawyers James W. Lucas and Jonathan E. Neville is in part an advancement of arguments in Neville’s previous work where he found over 1,700 separate correlations between the non-biblical Book of Mormon and language sources readily available to Joseph. In addition, Lucas and Neville find considerable evidence that Joseph Smith did not use a seer stone in a hat to translate the Book of Mormon—or, as some argue, simply to read what was on the stone. They convincingly offer new approaches to the evidence, explore previously overlooked evidence, and propose a new model for the translation process which corroborates and supports what Joseph affirmed that he, “by the gift and power of God, … translated the Book of Mormon from hieroglyphics.” Richard Dilworth Rust, Professor Emeritus of English, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill”
“The celebrated authors attempt to solve the question of the Book of Mormon translation process– Urim and Thummim and seer stone. Enjoy reading their scholarly work and academic approach to the question.” Susan Easton Black, Emeritus Professor Church History and Doctrine, Brigham Young University Kindle Edition
“Demonstration” or “Hat as a Prop”?
Jonathan Neville in his podcast with Greg Matsen spoke about how he believes it is possible that Joseph Smith showed many of the Whitmer’s a “demonstration” of the stone in the hat. It is a very interesting possibility but I don’t think it is correct. In my opinion I have a question about Joseph showing a demonstration to appease others curiosity and I don’t think that was necessary.
I will address this question more in my blog, called “Sacredly Attached: Spectacles and Breastplate”
