this statement, still published in Bible Dictionary...

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Originally Posted by ChinoCoug

that's exactly my point. you're trying to establish the JST's revelatory authority using the same methods of textual criticism ("circumstantial evidence") that scholars use for Biblical criticism. We don't know how Joseph Smith did the "translation." We only know "probablilities," "likelihoods."

Again, this is exactly wrong. The revelatory authority of the JST is and always was established solely on the calling and authority of the prophet Joseph Smith.

We can debate into which of the four categories suggested by Matthews that a passage might fall (restoration of lost text, commentary, etc.) based on textual criticism, but its position as revelation is unimpeachable, based on the calling of the prophet who translated it.