Two sets of plates enters the mainstream

The most recent issue of BYU Studies includes an article by Don Bradley that introduces the concept of two separate sets of plates to a wide audience of Latter-day Saints.

You should read it if you haven't already.

https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/were-nephis-small-plates-contained-in-mormons-gold-plates

In coming posts, we'll discuss the article and its implications for M2C and SITH.

Excerpt:

Latter-day Saints have generally visualized the relationship of Mormon’s plates and Nephi’s small plates as two segments of a single record, bound together into one book by a shared set of rings. 

I will argue in this article that this visualization may also be faulty—that Mormon’s plates and Nephi’s small plates were not bound together into a single book but were utilized separately and sequentially by the Prophet Joseph Smith in translating the Book of Mormon. 

Evidence pointing to the model that the small plates and Mormon’s plates were separate records may be found in the Book of Mormon text and in sources from the early history of the Church.

Concluding note by Don:

Thank you so much to my dear sons Donnie and Nicholas Bradley for supporting and inspiring this work and for the love they have given across their lives. I also wish to acknowledge Jack Welch, John Thompson, Alex Criddle, and Jonathan Neville for their suggestions on this paper.