Rational Restoration summary

We're releasing the Second Edition of The Rational Restoration soon. 

The Second Edition incorporates lots of feedback and contains new sections drawn from posts on https://www.ldshistoricalnarratives.com/ and other blogs.

Here is the summary at the end of Chapter 10: Reframing Scripture:

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Summary

When we reframe the Book of Mormon as an inspired translation of an ancient record that contained “a history of the aborigines of this country” that was “written and deposited not far from” Joseph’s home near Palmyra, New York, we have a rational explanation for all the events and teaching in Church history related to the origin and setting of the Book of Mormon.

When we reframe the translation as Joseph described it—that he first translated individual characters and then the engravings on the plates by means of the Urim and Thummim that came with the plates—we can see that the text he dictated was “after the manner of his language.” (D&C 1:24) We then have a rational explanation for the so-called “errors” such as anachronisms and quotations from the King James translation, which we would expect if Joseph translated it. We also understand why the 1840 edition claims it was “Carefully revised by the translator.”

These rational explanations provide a sharp contrast to the SITH and M2C theories that require us to ignore or reject what Joseph and his contemporaries and successors taught about the translation with the Nephite interpreters known as the Urim and Thummim. We don’t have to ignore or reject what they taught about Cumorah/Ramah in western New York.

We can readily identify extrinsic evidence that corroborates both the origin (translation) and setting (geography) of the Book of Mormon.

The rational explanations of the rational restoration lower barriers to acceptance of the Book of Mormon as another Testament of Jesus Christ.