Writes on Book of Mormon interpretation, translation, and ancient American cultural contexts.
anthropology · religious studies
Degree
MA, Anthropology, State University of New York at Albany1
Brant A. Gardner received a master’s degree in anthropology from the State University of New York at Albany, specializing in Mesoamerican ethnohistory.
Gardner argues that many apparent anachronisms belong to the English translation rather than to the ancient objects or ideas it describes. He distinguishes names assigned by ancient migrants from terms chosen by a translator, and proposes evaluating horses, chariots, and other details in that light.
Ancient record, revealed translation · Limited Mesoamerican
Gardner reads the Book of Mormon as a translated ancient history situated among the peoples of Mesoamerica. He argues for a connected historical and cultural context rather than a collection of isolated parallels, treating the English translation and the ancient authors’ perspectives as layers that must be distinguished.
Gardner proposes that revelation supplied an understanding of the plate text, which Smith rendered into English through his own vocabulary and cultural resources. He suggests that Smith’s mind could project that wording onto the stone, reconciling witnesses’ descriptions of reading words with a translation shaped by Smith’s language.