The first chapter of Volume 2 of Saints, titled No Unhallowed Hand, has been released.
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/saints-volume-two-chapter-one
You can read chapter 1 here:
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/saints-v2/part-1/01-gather-up-a-company?lang=eng
I'm happy to say that so far, it's a big improvement over Volume 1.
The chapter opens with Lucy Mack Smith's address in General Conference in October, 1845. After quoting some of her comments, the book's editors established an accurate historical present, meaning they explained the context of her remarks from the perspective of those who were present to hear her.
She paused, remembering Joseph, her martyred son. The Saints in the room already knew how an angel of the Lord had led him to a set of gold plates buried in a hill called Cumorah. They knew that Joseph had translated the plates by the gift and power of God and published the record as the Book of Mormon. Yet how many Saints in the assembly hall had truly known him?
This is a very welcome correction to Volume 1.
You recall that Volume 1 completely censored Cumorah from the historical record.
That omission created a false historical present because during Joseph Smith's lifetime, every member of the Church, and everyone who heard or read what the missionaries taught, knew about the Hill Cumorah in New York. Letter VII had been published and republished many times. D&C 128:20 was part of a letter Joseph wrote to the entire Church that was published in the Times and Seasons just a year after Letter VII had been published in the same newspaper.
On his first missionary journey in 1830, Oliver Cowdery explained the Book of Mormon to his listeners this way. "This Book, which contained these things, was hid in the earth by Moroni, in a hill called by him, Cumorah, which hill is now in the State of New York, near the village of Palmyra, in Ontario County."
(You can read these accounts here: http://www.lettervii.com/p/byu-packet-on-cumorah.html.)
Now, in Volume 2, we are reading about members of the Church as they actually were. It's excellent work.
_____
Some may be dissatisfied with the language "a hill called Cumorah" because it is equivocal; i.e., it doesn't say who first called the hill Cumorah. Was it Moroni? Joseph Smith? Oliver Cowdery? Or was it someone else who created a false tradition that Joseph passively accepted, which is the theory being taught by our M2C scholars and revisionist historians?
The historical record shows it was Moroni who named the hill, but those who want Cumorah to be in Mexico dispute the historical record. And that's fine. People will believe whatever they want to believe. They will confirm their biases regardless of what the evidence is.
But at least now, readers will have an accurate historical present in mind when they read this volume of Church history.
(BTW, it's not too late to fix the electronic versions of Saints Vol. 1, The Standard of Truth. I'm still hopeful that happens.)
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/saints-volume-two-chapter-one
You can read chapter 1 here:
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/saints-v2/part-1/01-gather-up-a-company?lang=eng
I'm happy to say that so far, it's a big improvement over Volume 1.
The chapter opens with Lucy Mack Smith's address in General Conference in October, 1845. After quoting some of her comments, the book's editors established an accurate historical present, meaning they explained the context of her remarks from the perspective of those who were present to hear her.
She paused, remembering Joseph, her martyred son. The Saints in the room already knew how an angel of the Lord had led him to a set of gold plates buried in a hill called Cumorah. They knew that Joseph had translated the plates by the gift and power of God and published the record as the Book of Mormon. Yet how many Saints in the assembly hall had truly known him?
This is a very welcome correction to Volume 1.
You recall that Volume 1 completely censored Cumorah from the historical record.
That omission created a false historical present because during Joseph Smith's lifetime, every member of the Church, and everyone who heard or read what the missionaries taught, knew about the Hill Cumorah in New York. Letter VII had been published and republished many times. D&C 128:20 was part of a letter Joseph wrote to the entire Church that was published in the Times and Seasons just a year after Letter VII had been published in the same newspaper.
On his first missionary journey in 1830, Oliver Cowdery explained the Book of Mormon to his listeners this way. "This Book, which contained these things, was hid in the earth by Moroni, in a hill called by him, Cumorah, which hill is now in the State of New York, near the village of Palmyra, in Ontario County."
(You can read these accounts here: http://www.lettervii.com/p/byu-packet-on-cumorah.html.)
Now, in Volume 2, we are reading about members of the Church as they actually were. It's excellent work.
_____
Some may be dissatisfied with the language "a hill called Cumorah" because it is equivocal; i.e., it doesn't say who first called the hill Cumorah. Was it Moroni? Joseph Smith? Oliver Cowdery? Or was it someone else who created a false tradition that Joseph passively accepted, which is the theory being taught by our M2C scholars and revisionist historians?
The historical record shows it was Moroni who named the hill, but those who want Cumorah to be in Mexico dispute the historical record. And that's fine. People will believe whatever they want to believe. They will confirm their biases regardless of what the evidence is.
But at least now, readers will have an accurate historical present in mind when they read this volume of Church history.
(BTW, it's not too late to fix the electronic versions of Saints Vol. 1, The Standard of Truth. I'm still hopeful that happens.)
