Empirical Witnesses of the Gold Plates
EMPIRICAL WITNESSES OF THE GOLD PLATES Larry E. Morris “The question of the ultimate origin of a purported revelation,” writes Grant Underwood, “is ultimately beyond the scope of academic analysis.”1 Professor of religious studies James D. Tabor concurs: “We can evaluate what people claimed, what they believed, what they reported, and that all becomes part of the data, but to then say, ‘A miracle happened,’ . goes beyond our accessible methods [as historians of religion].”2 A prime example of such a report is the Three Witnesses’ account of hearing the voice of God and seeing an angel with plates. Although this is a confirmation of what Joseph Smith had already been saying, the veracity of the claim is a religious, not historical, issue. A historical argument relies on documented experiences empirically accessible, at least in theory, to any competent observer, and because hearing God’s voice and seeing angels are not part of normal human experience, the origin of these purported miracles goes beyond the scope of academic investigation.3 (Historians should report 1. Grant Underwood, “The Dictation, Compilation, and Canonization of Joseph Smith’s Revelations,” in Foundational Texts of Mormonism: Examining Major Sources, edited by Mark Ashurst-McGee, Robin Scott Jensen, and Sharalyn D. Howcroft (New York: Oxford University Press, 2018), 107. 2. James D. Tabor, “Do Historians of Religion Exclude the Supernatural?,” HuffPost, Sept. 5, 2016, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/do-historians-of-religion-exclude-the-sup ernatural_b_57cda5cde4b06c750ddb3815. 3. Lyman E. Johnson and Mary Whitmer also offered “religious” accounts of the plates. Johnson left no firsthand account of his experience, but others heard him discuss it.
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