Even before it was published, alternate stories were issued to compete with Joseph Smith’s explanation of the Book of Mormon’s origin. Five will be introduced and tracked chronologically: 1. The original manuscript of the Book of Mormon was written by Solomon Spaulding. 2. Collaborators helped Joseph Smith create the text. 3. Joseph Smith’s mental illness …
Speaker: Brian C. Hales
THE PRINCIPLE, THE PROPHET, AND PRISON
Part I: Of Joseph Smith’s 34 plural wives, 13 had legal husbands at the time they were sealed to him. Since Fawn Brodie’s 1945 No Man Knows My History, virtually every author who has written about Nauvoo plural marriages has concluded that the prophet practiced sexual polyandry (or at least may have) with some or …
Controversies In Joseph Smith’s Polygamy: Comparing The Opinions Of Experts
This presentation will examine the views of authors such as Fawn Brodie, Daniel Bachman, Lawrence Foster, Richard S. Van Wagoner, Todd Compton, D. Michael Quinn, Michael Marquardt, and George D. Smith regarding controversial issues in Joseph Smith’s polygamy such as: Whether he was married to Fanny alger in Kirtland? Whether any of his plural marriages …
Preview Of Coming Volumes In The Series Persistence Of Polygamy: Joseph Smith And The Origins Of Mormon Polygamy
This session focuses on forthcoming anthologies in the Persistence of Polygamy series, including eight essays examining Joseph Smith and the beginnings of Mormon polygamy up to 1844. The essays are original, never-before-published contributions by scholars with special expertise on the subject. Among the topics examined are polyandry, underage marriage, the question of Joseph Smith’s polygamous …
Sexuality in Joseph Smith’s Plurality
Sexuality in Joseph Smith’s Plurality In an 1844 publication, Joseph H. Jackson, a non-LDS visitor to Nauvoo, wrote: ‘Joe Smith boasted to me that he … from the commencement of his career had seduced 400 women.’ If this is true, that would mean there would be 400 victims of Smith’s debauchery. Ironically, the historical record …