Podcast appearances and mentions of Brant A Gardner

Show description: We are pleased to bring you part five of our five-part conversation with Brant Gardner about the Book of Mormon. In this final episode, we discuss the purpose of the Book of Mormon. Topics discussed in this series include anthropology, Joseph Smith's translation process, authorship of the Book of Mormon, historicity and anachronisms, archaeology, geographic models, and more. Brant Gardner is the award-winning author of the Second Witness commentary series, The Gift and Power: Translating the Book of Mormon, and Traditions of the Father: The Book of Mormon as History. We are grateful to the staff of Book of Mormon Central for hosting this series and allowing us to use their recording facilities. Brant A. Gardner earned his M.S. in anthropology (specializing in Mesoamerican ethnohistory) from the State University of New York at Albany. He is the author of the six-volume Second Witness: Analytical and Contextual Commentary on the Book of Mormon and The Gift and Power: Translating the Book of Mormon. He has presented papers at the Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research (FAIR), the Book of Mormon Archaeological Symposium, and Sunstone. His other published works include chapters in Estudios de Cultura Nahuatl and Symbol and Meaning beyond the Closed Community: Essays in Mesoamerican Ideas, and articles in the FARMS Review, Sunstone, and Meridian Magazine. Brant and his wife, Valerie, have four children and eleven grandchildren. Download Subscribe in Pocket Casts           

Show description: We are pleased to bring you part four of a five-part conversation with Brant Gardner about the Book of Mormon. In this episode, we discuss geographic models for the Book of Mormon. Topics discussed in this series include anthropology, Joseph Smith's translation process, authorship of the Book of Mormon, historicity and anachronisms, archaeology, geographic models, and more. Brant Gardner is the award-winning author of the Second Witness commentary series, The Gift and Power: Translating the Book of Mormon, and Traditions of the Father: The Book of Mormon as History. We are grateful to the staff of Book of Mormon Central for hosting this series and allowing us to use their recording facilities. Brant A. Gardner earned his M.S. in anthropology (specializing in Mesoamerican ethnohistory) from the State University of New York at Albany. He is the author of the six-volume Second Witness: Analytical and Contextual Commentary on the Book of Mormon and The Gift and Power: Translating the Book of Mormon. He has presented papers at the Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research (FAIR), the Book of Mormon Archaeological Symposium, and Sunstone. His other published works include chapters in Estudios de Cultura Nahuatl and Symbol and Meaning beyond the Closed Community: Essays in Mesoamerican Ideas, and articles in the FARMS Review, Sunstone, and Meridian Magazine. Brant and his wife, Valerie, have four children and eleven grandchildren. Download Subscribe in Pocket Casts           

Show description: In this episode, we are pleased to bring you part three of a five-part conversation with Brant Gardner about the Book of Mormon. Topics discussed in this series include the organization of the small and large plates, Joseph Smith's translation process, authorship of the Book of Mormon, historicity and anachronisms, archaeology, geographic models, and more. Brant Gardner is the award-winning author of the Second Witness commentary series, The Gift and Power: Translating the Book of Mormon, and Traditions of the Father: The Book of Mormon as History. We are grateful to the staff of Book of Mormon Central for hosting this series and allowing us to use their recording facilities. Brant A. Gardner earned his M.S. in anthropology (specializing in Mesoamerican ethnohistory) from the State University of New York at Albany. He is the author of the six-volume Second Witness: Analytical and Contextual Commentary on the Book of Mormon and The Gift and Power: Translating the Book of Mormon. He has presented papers at the Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research (FAIR), the Book of Mormon Archaeological Symposium, and Sunstone. His other published works include chapters in Estudios de Cultura Nahuatl and Symbol and Meaning beyond the Closed Community: Essays in Mesoamerican Ideas, and articles in the FARMS Review, Sunstone, and Meridian Magazine. Brant and his wife, Valerie, have four children and eleven grandchildren. Download Subscribe in Pocket Casts           

Show description: In this episode, we are pleased to bring you part two of a five-part conversation with Brant Gardner about the Book of Mormon. Topics discussed in this series include the organization of the small and large plates, Joseph Smith's translation process, authorship of the Book of Mormon, historicity and anachronisms, archaeology, geographic models, and more. Brant Gardner is the award-winning author of the Second Witness commentary series, The Gift and Power: Translating the Book of Mormon, and Traditions of the Father: The Book of Mormon as History. We are grateful to the staff of Book of Mormon Central for hosting this series and allowing us to use their recording facilities. Brant A. Gardner earned his M.S. in anthropology (specializing in Mesoamerican ethnohistory) from the State University of New York at Albany. He is the author of the six-volume Second Witness: Analytical and Contextual Commentary on the Book of Mormon and The Gift and Power: Translating the Book of Mormon. He has presented papers at the Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research (FAIR), the Book of Mormon Archaeological Symposium, and Sunstone. His other published works include chapters in Estudios de Cultura Nahuatl and Symbol and Meaning beyond the Closed Community: Essays in Mesoamerican Ideas, and articles in the FARMS Review, Sunstone, and Meridian Magazine. Brant and his wife, Valerie, have four children and eleven grandchildren. Download Subscribe in Pocket Casts           

Show description: In this episode, we are pleased to bring you the first part of a five-part conversation with Brant Gardner about the Book of Mormon. Topics discussed in this series include the organization of the small and large plates, Joseph Smith's translation process, authorship of the Book of Mormon, historicity and anachronisms, archaeology, geographic models, and more. Brant Gardner is the award-winning author of the Second Witness commentary series, The Gift and Power: Translating the Book of Mormon, and Traditions of the Father: The Book of Mormon as History. We are grateful to the staff of Book of Mormon Central for hosting this series and allowing us to use their recording facilities. Brant A. Gardner earned his M.S. in anthropology (specializing in Mesoamerican ethnohistory) from the State University of New York at Albany. He is the author of the six-volume Second Witness: Analytical and Contextual Commentary on the Book of Mormon and The Gift and Power: Translating the Book of Mormon. He has presented papers at the Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research (FAIR), the Book of Mormon Archaeological Symposium, and Sunstone. His other published works include chapters in Estudios de Cultura Nahuatl and Symbol and Meaning beyond the Closed Community: Essays in Mesoamerican Ideas, and articles in the FARMS Review, Sunstone, and Meridian Magazine. Brant and his wife, Valerie, have four children and eleven grandchildren. Download Subscribe in Pocket Casts           

Download Transcript In this episode, Laura Harris Hales interviews Brant A. Gardner. He is the author of several books and articles discussing the text of the Book of Mormon and ancient Mesoamerica. The discussion covers the didactic model for translating the Book of Mormon and a possible setting for it. Brant describes how he became convinced that Mesoamerica could be a possible setting for Lehi to fit into the history of the American continent. He uses several examples from the text of the Book of Mormon that converge with the history of Mesoamerica at that specific time to support his theory. Then we have some fun chatting about how our understanding of Mesoamerican artifacts and their meaning has changed over the past fifty years. He also lists some false traditions that have hampered our understanding of the relationship between Lehites and indigenous cultures. According to Brant, his research is not presented to prove the Book of Mormon is true but rather to prove it interesting. I think you will agree that he does just that.   LDS Perspectives Podcast Episode 10: Book of Mormon Scholarship, Theories, and Folklore Laura Hales:              Hello. My name is Laura Harris Hales. Welcome to LDS Perspectives Podcast. I’m here today with Brant Gardner, who earned his master’s degree in anthropology, specializing in Mesoamerican ethnohistory from the state university of New York of Albany. Thanks for visiting with us today, Brant. Brant Gardner:          Happy to be here. Laura Hales:              Tell our listeners a little bit about some of the books you’ve written on Book of Mormon studies. Brant Gardner:          I started kind of where most people would start — at the end. I began with a commentary on the Book of Mormon. The first thing that I published on the Book of Mormon was six volumes worth of more than you wanted to know about the Book of Mormon. Then I’ve been specializing since then. The other two after that series, the first was a book called The Gift and the Power: Translating the Book of Mormon, and the second, Traditions of Fathers: The Book of Mormon as History. Laura Hales:              As you write a book, it’s a research and a learning process. What was one of the biggest surprises you learned as you were writing these books? Brant Gardner:          I think the very first real surprise that I had when I was writing the commentary was that I wasn’t able to really look ahead to see where things were going. My mind would kind of range ahead, and I’d say, “Oh yeah, here’s what’s going to happen in the Book of Mormon, and here’s why that makes sense.” I found out that every time I did that, I was invariably incorrect, and that if I just went plodding through piece by piece by piece, it actually made sense. The surprising thing about that is if you think about it, if you’re taking a long trip somewhere, and you’re just a degree off in the direction you’re going that really gets you far off by the end. This process in the Book of Mormon had me dead on the whole way. I was really quite shocked that I could begin without the end in mind and have everything match up, if I just carefully plodded through and took it the way it came. Laura Hales:              That’s wonderful. Okay. We’re going to talk a little bit about your translation chapter because I think that’s what interests people so much, that Joseph Smith had this rock that he used. He put it in a hat and out came the Book of Mormon. You trace this relic that he used, this folk art, back in history to even the Bible, where prophets used something to enable them to translate or to have revelation. Can you give an example of that for us? Brant Gardner:          Yeah. Part of the question of dealing with the seer stone is to understand why anybody would even think of translating with a rock. Most of us don’t think of translating with anything. A dictionary is probably the best that we come up with, but a rock never, never comes up.

This LDS Perspectives podcast covers translating the Book of Mormon and a possible setting for it. According to Brant, his research is not presented to prove the Book of Mormon is true but rather to prove it interesting. He uses several examples from the text of the Book of Mormon that converge with the history of Mesoamerica at that specific time to support his theory. He also lists some false traditions that have hampered our understanding of the relationship between Lehites and indigenous cultures.

In this episode, Laura Harris Hales interviews Brant A. Gardner. He is the author of several books and articles discussing the text of the Book of Mormon and ancient Mesoamerica. The discussion covers the didactic model for translating the Book of Mormon and a possible setting for it. Brant describes how he became convinced that Mesoamerica could be a possible setting for Lehi to fit into the history of the American continent. He uses several examples from the text of the Book of Mormon that converge with the history of Mesoamerica at that specific time to support his theory. Then we have some fun chatting about how our understanding of Mesoamerican artifacts and their meaning has changed over the past fifty years. He also lists some false traditions that have hampered our understanding of the relationship between Lehites and indigenous cultures. According to Brant, his research is not presented to prove the Book of Mormon is true but rather to prove it interesting. I think you will agree that he does just that. Download Transcript Extra Resources: Episode 10 Podcast Translating the Book of Mormon Anachronisms in the Book of Mormon Traditions of Our Fathers: The Book of Mormon as History A Reason for Faith: Navigating LDS Doctrine and Church History LDS Perspectives Podcast Episode 10: Book of Mormon Scholarship, Theories, and Folklore Laura Hales:              Hello. My name is Laura Harris Hales. Welcome to LDS Perspectives Podcast. I’m here today with Brant Gardner, who earned his master’s degree in anthropology, specializing in Mesoamerican ethnohistory from the state university of New York of Albany. Thanks for visiting with us today, Brant. Brant Gardner:          Happy to be here. Laura Hales:              Tell our listeners a little bit about some of the books you’ve written on Book of Mormon studies. Brant Gardner:          I started kind of where most people would start — at the end. I began with a commentary on the Book of Mormon. The first thing that I published on the Book of Mormon was six volumes worth of more than you wanted to know about the Book of Mormon. Then I’ve been specializing since then. The other two after that series, the first was a book called The Gift and the Power: Translating the Book of Mormon, and the second, Traditions of Fathers: The Book of Mormon as History. Laura Hales:              As you write a book, it’s a research and a learning process. What was one of the biggest surprises you learned as you were writing these books? Brant Gardner:          I think the very first real surprise that I had when I was writing the commentary was that I wasn’t able to really look ahead to see where things were going. My mind would kind of range ahead, and I’d say, “Oh yeah, here’s what’s going to happen in the Book of Mormon, and here’s why that makes sense.” I found out that every time I did that, I was invariably incorrect, and that if I just went plodding through piece by piece by piece, it actually made sense. The surprising thing about that is if you think about it, if you’re taking a long trip somewhere, and you’re just a degree off in the direction you’re going that really gets you far off by the end. This process in the Book of Mormon had me dead on the whole way. I was really quite shocked that I could begin without the end in mind and have everything match up, if I just carefully plodded through and took it the way it came. Laura Hales:              That’s wonderful. Okay. We’re going to talk a little bit about your translation chapter because I think that’s what interests people so much, that Joseph Smith had this rock that he used. He put it in a hat and out came the Book of Mormon. You trace this relic that he used, this folk art, back in history to even the Bible, where prophets used something to enable them to translate or to have revelation. Can you give an example of that for us? Brant Gardner:          Yeah. Part of the question of dealing with the seer stone i...