The founding claims
How It Was Translated
A stone in a hat, with the plates often covered or in another room.
The point in one sentence
Joseph Smith produced most of the Book of Mormon by putting a rock in a hat and burying his face in it, with the gold plates frequently covered on the table or not in the room at all.
What most members picture, and what the Church describes
Church art through the 2010s showed one thing. The Gospel Topics Essay describes another.
- A seer stone placed in a hat
- Joseph's face pressed into the hat to block out light
- Words appearing on the stone, read aloud
- The plates often covered on the table, in another room, or in the woods
- The stone was one he found while digging a well, previously used for treasure seeking
- Joseph seated at a table
- The gold plates open in front of him
- Studying the characters directly
- Using the Urim and Thummim that came with the plates
- A scene resembling scholarly translation
Source: Church Gospel Topics Essay, "Book of Mormon Translation"
The Church's own words
- "Joseph placed either the interpreters or the seer stone in a hat, pressed his face into the hat to block out extraneous light, and read aloud the English words that appeared on the instrument." The essay
- Emma Smith, his wife and scribe, said the plates "often lay on the table without any attempt at concealment, wrapped in a small linen table cloth."
- David Whitmer, who watched: "Joseph Smith would put the seer stone into a hat, and put his face in the hat, drawing it closely around his face to exclude the light." His published account, 1887
How to use this
Do not lead with mockery of the hat. Lead with the gap. Ask what they picture when they imagine the translation. Almost everyone describes Joseph looking at the plates. Then show them the Church's own sentence.
When they say
"The method does not matter. It was a miracle either way." Fair as theology. But it does not answer why the Church promoted a different physical picture in its art, manuals, and missionary materials for over a century.
"Seer stones were normal in 1820s folk culture." Historically accurate and worth granting. But it concedes the point: the same practice Joseph was taken to court over in 1826 is the practice that produced scripture.