On Tuesday, September 25, 2018, Royal Skousen spoke at BYU on the just-published The Nature of the Original Language, parts 3 and 4 of volume 3 of the Book of Mormon Critical Text Project, sponsored by BYU Studies and the Interpreter Foundation. The lecture included additional commentary by Stanford Carmack, Skousen’s collaborator in authoring and researching these two new books.
The two new books are available for purchase from BYU Studies, the joint publisher of these books, along with the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS), at https://byustudies.byu.edu/content/nature-original-language-book-mormon-parts-3-and-4-volume-iii-book-mormon-critical-text.
We are pleased to make the video of Dr. Skousen’s presentation available.
It seems clear that the English language of the original Book of Mormon translation by Joseph Smith is full of elements that neither Joseph nor any of his contemporaries could have created. Joseph did not create the translation he dictated. The process of translating the writing on the plates into a version of English took place prior to Joseph seeing the English version he read from the interpreters. This cannot be explained by any ordinary translation process, or any creative writing process, known to English speakers in 1829. Separate from the semantic content of the Book of Mormon, its form could not be created through any known human process. It demonstrates an intelligent process outside the realm of human invention. The only rational explanation for this is the one offered by Joseph and the witnesses: that it was done through God’s power.
En español podra ser alguna vez…?? todos los santos de los ultimos dias que no hablamos ingles tenemos derecho a comprender todos los videos de la Iglesia, oficiales y no oficiales, tenemos el mismo derecho que los santos de habla inglesa, porque de otra manera se caeria definitivamente en “DISCRIMINACION” y quiero creer que esa no es su intencion, me despido de ustedes creyendo que haran todo lo posible para que esto cambie, muchas gracias.
Thank you for recording and posting this. I was fascinated!
Great video. No Q&A after??