Book cover contains artist’s painting of Joseph’s white seer stone

I was pleased that Deseret Book sent me a copy of Joseph Smith’s Seer Stones to review.  I know a lot of people have complained church members have complained that we always reference the Urim and Thummim, but not seer stones.  There is also the complaint that the artwork is incorrect concerning Joseph translating the plates.  It appears Deseret Book is out to change that perception and give more information regarding this topic with this new book.  It is a welcome book that is easy to read, and uses footnotes to give the reader scholarly information on Joseph’s Seer stones (plural).  While the Church recently published a photo of the brown, chocolate colored stone, the cover of the book shows an artist’s rendition of a white seer stone Joseph used, and there was also talk of a green seer stone used by Joseph.  Apparently Joseph preferred the white one over the brown one (that he used to translate the Book of Mormon), and gave the brown one to Oliver Cowdery in 1830.  He kept the white one throughout his life, and some of the revelations from the D&C were received through this white seer stone!  A chart on page 128-9 indicates Joseph got the brown stone sometime between 1822 and 1830 (there are 4 theories that do not mesh well), got the “Nephite interpreters” between 1827-1829, and had possession of the white stone between 1822-1844.  There is talk of a green stone, but not sure when he had it. Continue Reading »