Author: Samuel Brown
Title: Joseph Smith’s Translation: The Words and Worlds of Early Mormonism
Oxford University Press, 2020. Hardcover, 320 pages.
Reviewed by Christopher Angulo
Joseph Smith’s Translation: The Words and Worlds of Early Mormonism is the newest publication to tackle how Joseph Smith translated scripture throughout his life. Brown’s approach to this subject is unique and refreshing. Previous works have focused on whether or not Smith literally translated ancient records or created the records from his own mind. This book does not focus on this type of translation. “Smith’s translation is much more complex, and interesting, than observers have traditionally given it credit for. Smith and his disciples used this translation to attempt an escape from the modern prisons of language, time and space. He fought against the brokenness of language, the stifling horizon of time, and the walls erected between individuals. (p.7).
The book is divided into 2 sections: Section 1-Contexts and Section 2-Texts. Both sections were excellent and deserve to be read and re-read, but to me, Section 1 was so exciting that I’m going to focus my time there. Section 1 is the foundation for Brown’s later arguments about the various translations Smith made throughout his prophetic career (Bible, Book of Mormon, Book of Abraham, and the temple).
In the chapter, The Quest for Pure Language, Brown argues that Smith sought “to move from bare human language back to the primordial language.” To Smith, language became corrupted in the days of the tower of Babel; language was problematic and failed to adequately express thoughts, connections, and power. “Smith believed that his task was to discover the language beyond human language, a pure language he thought was once present on earth but had been lost through human sin. The primordial language promised freedom and power. As he puzzled over existence, ontology, and community, he saw the lost pure language as the solution.” (p. 21). Smith sought to restore a language that had power to create, power to restore, power to unite, and the power to transcend time as we presently know it.
In his chapter on the Nature of Time, Brown explores Smith’s “metaphysically potent understanding of time.” (p. 49). To setup his discussion on time, Brown analyzes Parley Pratt’s One Hundred Years Hence. 1945. Written in 1845, the reader is transported to the future, 1945, where the Saints are digging the ground to lay a foundation of the 124th temple. While excavating, the Saints discover a time capsule that contains a record of this fallen city. The time capsule details the depravity of the people of the land, which we find out is New York City. “Pratt’s idiosyncratic vision thrums with ideas relevant to Latter-day Saint understandings of time and translation. The living and the dead feast together, incorporating guests from all tribes and epochs, including other planets. . . Time and space are jumbled up, in a structure organized by ecclesial forms and priesthood community.” (p.53). This interweaving of past, present and future, with the pure language wrapping it all together, sent my mind buzzing. I felt that I could physically sense the power and connection of words and time. Brown breaks apart the “flat, linear, sequential, and invariant” (p. 53) time that we are accustomed to, and shows us the power the saints sought “from their ability to flit back and forth between the world’s beginning and its end. . .” to stand “at the beginning and the end of the world. . . transformed, body and soul.” (p.78-79). You end this chapter with a clear view of how the Saints viewed and experienced time and its power.
Section 1 concludes with a chapter on Human and Divine Selves. Brown argues that Smith “saw physical matter not as a curse, but as a necessary medium for eternal flourishing” and that the “physical is intimately joint to the spiritual and individuals only really exist in community.” (p.120). It was an excellent chapter. Section 2 applies the foundation into Smith’s various translations. Each chapter deserves special attention, but I fear that I have droned on too long.
I have always loved Smith’s notion of Zion, and his attempts at uniting all people and all things into one. By providing a better understanding of what Joseph was “translating,” Brown allows to see more clearly how Smith viewed his prophetic role. Language is powerful, and by breaking the chains of secularism, Smith was able to show the world just how powerful language really is.