Non-Mormon Historian on the Witnesses to the Golden Plates - John Turner | Ep. 2030

Mormon Stories Podcast

Dr. John Dehlin

Religion & Spirituality

4.6 • 5.2K Ratings

🗓️ 12 June 2025

⏱️ 101 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In Part 4 of our deep-dive podcast series with historian Dr. John G. Turner, we explore one of the most debated questions in Latter-day Saint history: Did Joseph Smith actually use the golden plates to translate the Book of Mormon?

We also cover the roles of Oliver Cowdery and Martin Harris, Cowdery’s relationship to the Smiths, the use of seer stones and divining rods, and the complex origins of LDS priesthood authority. This episode covers chapter five in John G. Turner’s new book titled Joseph Smith: The Rise and Fall of an American Prophet, revealing new perspectives on how the Book of Mormon was produced and what was happening behind the scenes.

Topics include:

Joseph’s poverty and early struggles
Martin Harris’ doubts and dedication
Translation methods and spiritual tools
Priesthood revelations and baptisms
Internal conflicts and legacy

Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share if you enjoy thoughtful conversations on religious history.

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Show Notes

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Mormon Stories Podcast. I'm your host, John DeLyn. It's June 11th,
0:06.5	2025, and this is the Joseph Smith edition of Mormon Stories Podcast. We are in part four of a
0:14.6	multi-part series on Joseph Smith, and specifically, we're part four in our series covering this book that I want everyone to
0:23.7	go by right now if you haven't bought it. The book is called the Joseph Smith, The Rise and Fall of
0:28.3	an American Prophet by John G. Turner. He is a professor of my memory serves me right at George
0:33.9	Mason University in Virginia. We're having so much fun reviewing this book.
0:39.0	I want to thank the 35-ish of you who have donated to this series.
0:43.9	I think we've been able to pay for like four episodes, and this is the fourth episode.
0:48.2	So we're just hitting sustainability in terms of wanting to be able to do more episodes.
0:55.9	But really quickly, if you value today's episode or any of the past episodes and you want to see it continue,
1:02.5	we are paying John Turner for his participation.
1:05.3	And we would just ask you to please donate to donor box, d-O-N-O-R box.org.org-S-O-G-S-O-S-Smith.
1:12.2	Become a monthly donor and literally we'll do this series for as long as John will do it
1:16.3	and as long as you're willing to financially support it.
1:20.1	We've done three episodes so far.
1:22.3	For those of you who haven't checked out our three previous episodes,
1:27.0	I think these episodes are best enjoyed in succession.
1:31.3	We've talked about Joseph Smith's early family.
1:33.6	We've talked about the first vision.
1:35.4	We've talked about Joseph Smith's treasure digging.
1:37.8	We've talked about Book of Mormon translation,
1:40.6	The Lost 116 pages with Martin Harris.
	...

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