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Anyone interested in Book of Mormon archaeology will be fascinated by the amazing story of Thomas Stuart Ferguson. The reader accompanies Ferguson on his exploratory journeys to Mexico and Guatemala in search of the remains of Book of Mormon peoples, assisted through generous funding by the LDS church. He became a closet doubter but made peace with himself and his community without promulgating disbelief.
An identification of ziff, a word from the Book of Mormon, and a metallurgical analysis of the Book of Mormon golden plates
This is Volume II of an epic, multi-volume work entitled The Quest for the New Jerusalem: A Mormon Generational Saga, which combines family, Mormon, and American history, focusing upon how the author’s ancestors were affected by their conversion to the Mormon religion. In Volume I, four of the author’s ancestral families—the Carters, Hammonds, Knowltons, and Spencer’s—and the ancestors of Mormon Church founders Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, are followed from the time they enter the Massachusetts Bay Colony in New England in the 1600s down to the early 1800s. Their private lives are described, as well as how they are affected by such events and situations as King Philip’s War, the Salem Witch Trials, the institution of black slavery, the French and Indian War, and the American Revolution. Toward the end of Volume I, the focus is upon Joseph Smith and his family, including their move from Vermont to western New York, their religious and “magic world views,” the latter involving astrology, ritual magic, and treasure-seer and treasure-digging activities. Volume II takes up the narrative at about the year 1820, and involves a detailed, comprehensive, and critical look at the events in the life of Joseph Smith, Jr., during the decade in which he purportedly was visited by numerous heavenly messengers, received the “golden plates,” translated the writing on the plates to produce the Book of Mormon, received priesthood authority from other heavenly messengers, published the Book of Mormon, and organized the Mormon/LDS Church. Making use of the most recent historical research, the author tackles the controversial issues surrounding the First Vision (the supposed appearance to Joseph Jr. of God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ in 1820), the Second Vision (1823 to 1827) which produced the Book of Mormon, and the Third Vision (late 1820s or early 1830s) which involved the “restoration” of priesthood authority. The author looks at original sources/documents and also compares the perspectives of major loyal Mormon, non-Mormon, and ex-Mormon scholars on these controversial questions. There is a discussion of the serious lack of congruence between how Joseph Smith, Jr., described these events “officially” after 1837, and what was being said by the Smith family, their neighbors, early Mormon converts, and by newspaper accounts during the 1820s and early 1830s. There is, for example, no mention of a First Vision for at least twelve years after it supposedly occurred, and there are several conflicting versions of it by Joseph Jr. in the 1830s, once he started talking about it. Primary focus, however, is upon what the author collectively calls the Second Vision, which purportedly involved multiple visitations by an angel/spirit between 1823 and 1827. It was from this heavenly messenger that Joseph Jr. obtained “golden plates,” and the Book of Mormon was, he maintained, a “translation” by him of the ancient American writings on these plates. There is a thorough examination of the complex and contentious issues surrounding the origin of the Book of Mormon, and several chapters look closely at the evidence regarding its “authenticity”—the question whether it was written by Joseph Jr. or by ancient American prophets/scribes. The author also thoroughly discusses the “testimony” in the Book of Mormon of the Three Witnesses and Eight Witnesses, and offers an alternative narrative regarding what really transpired with Joseph Jr. during the 1820s. Later in Volume II several chapters look at how Mormon Church organization went through a significant evolution during its earliest years, moving against the American democratic grain toward an increasingly centralized, authoritarian structure. There is a detailed look at Joseph Jr.’s claims regarding a “restoration” of priesthood authority during the late 1820s and early 1830s, and the considerable controver
This insightful book offers a careful, intelligent look at doubt--at some of its common sources, the challenges it presents, and the opportunities it may open up in a person's quest for faith.
Renowned historian Richard Lyman Bushman presents a vibrant history of the objects that gave birth to a new religion. According to Joseph Smith, in September of 1823 an angel appeared to him and directed him to a hill near his home. Buried there Smith found a box containing a stack of thin metal sheets, gold in color, about six inches wide, eight inches long, piled six or so inches high, bound together by large rings, and covered with what appeared to be ancient engravings. Exactly four years later, the angel allowed Smith to take the plates and instructed him to translate them into English. When the text was published, a new religion was born. The plates have had a long and active life, and the question of their reality has hovered over them from the beginning. Months before the Book of Mormon was published, newspapers began reporting on the discovery of a "Golden Bible." Within a few years over a hundred articles had appeared. Critics denounced Smith as a charlatan for claiming to have a wondrous object that he refused to show, while believers countered by pointing to witnesses who said they saw the plates. Two hundred years later the mystery of the gold plates remains. In this book renowned historian of Mormonism Richard Lyman Bushman offers a cultural history of the gold plates. Bushman examines how the plates have been imagined by both believers and critics--and by treasure-seekers, novelists, artists, scholars, and others--from Smith's first encounter with them to the present. Why have they been remembered, and how have they been used? And why do they remain objects of fascination to this day? By examining these questions, Bushman sheds new light on Mormon history and on the role of enchantment in the modern world.
Finally, in exploring what Martin Marty refers to as the Book of Mormon's "revelatory appeal," Givens highlights the Book's role as the engine behind what may become the next world religion."--BOOK JACKET.
Is The Book of Mormon a Great American Novel? Avi Steinberg thinks so. In this quirky travelogue—part fan nonfiction, part personal quest—he follows the trail laid out in Joseph Smith’s book. From Jerusalem to the ruined Mayan cities of Central America to upstate New York and, finally, to Jackson County, Missouri—the spot Smith identified as the site of the Garden of Eden—Steinberg traces The Book’s unexpected path and grapples with Joseph Smith’s demons—and his own. Literate and funny, personal and provocative, the genre-bending The Lost Book of Mormon boldly explores our deeply human impulse to write books, and affirms the abiding power of story.
A story of one of the world's most iconic flowers documents the author's research into the lotus's ancient origins and historical significance in various world regions, tracking its medicinal uses, inspiration in art and role as a spiritual symbol
In this interdisciplinary work, William L. Davis examines Joseph Smith's 1829 creation of the Book of Mormon, the foundational text of the Latter Day Saint movement. Positioning the text in the history of early American oratorical techniques, sermon culture, educational practices, and the passion for self-improvement, Davis elucidates both the fascinating cultural context for the creation of the Book of Mormon and the central role of oral culture in early nineteenth-century America. Drawing on performance studies, religious studies, literary culture, and the history of early American education, Davis analyzes Smith's process of oral composition. How did he produce a history spanning a period of 1,000 years, filled with hundreds of distinct characters and episodes, all cohesively tied together in an overarching narrative? Eyewitnesses claimed that Smith never looked at notes, manuscripts, or books—he simply spoke the words of this American religious epic into existence. Judging the truth of this process is not Davis's interest. Rather, he reveals a kaleidoscope of practices and styles that converged around Smith's creation, with an emphasis on the evangelical preaching styles popularized by the renowned George Whitefield and John Wesley.