Richard Bushman’s biography of Mormon founder Joseph Smith has been called the best book written about this extraordinary man. Bushman himself is a believer, and while he doesn’t pretend he isn’t invested in the crucial question of whether Smith was a visionary or a fraud, as an historian he’s more interested in trying to understand the mind of Joseph Smith and how he came to believe he spoke for God. Bushman has said that Smith isn’t interesting as a fraud, he’s interesting as a prophet. Richard Bushman joined us to talk his cultural biography of Mormonism’s founder. (Rebroadcast)
Archive for the ‘joseph’ Category
#016: Richard Bushman on Radiowest
Wednesday, August 1st, 2007Joseph Smith as Administrator
Wednesday, April 11th, 2007A friend emailed me a story about Joseph Smith that I thought was interesting. It comes from a 1969 BYU Master’s Thesis by a BYU student named Gary Dean Guthrie enttiled “Joseph Smith as Administrator.” The quote within the passage comes from An Apostle’s Record. The Journals of Abraham H. Cannon, Member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, 1889-1896 (Hardcover).
Joseph Smith tried the faith of the Saints many times by his peculiarities. At one time, he had preached a powerful sermon on the Word of Wisdom, and immediately thereafter, he rode throught he streets of Nauvoo smoking a cigar. Some of the brethren were tired as was Abraham of old.
Jedediah M. Grant, in speaking of this, said:
What would a man of God say, who felt alright, when Joseph asked him for his money? He would say, ‘Yes, and I wish I had more to help to build up the kingdom of God.’ Or if he came and said, ‘I want your wife?’ ‘O yes,’ he would say, ‘here she is, there are plenty more …
Did the Prophet Joseph want every man’s wife he asked for? He did not, but in that thing was the grand thread of the Priesthood developed. The grand object in view was to try the people of God, to see what was in them … If ever you are brought into the presence of God, and exalted to a seat in His Celestial Kingdom, it will be by virtue of the Holy Priesthood, therefore you have go to be proved, not only by being tempted by the devil, but the Priesthood will try you – it will try you to the core.
Man…these people had some SERIOUS faith, no?
Are LDS Missionaries (and Members) Prepared to Respond to This? — Jesus / Joseph Smith , The Translator
Thursday, April 5th, 2007There is nothing new (to me, anyway) in this video (factually speaking).
However, what’s interesting or of note to me with this is:
- It seems to stick pretty close to the facts/truth regarding Mormon history, which is almost laudable for anti-Mormon publications.
- It tells the BOM/translation story in a fairly accessible way, that can be easily understood by the average person (Mormon or non-Mormon)
- To me, it does a fairly effective job of highlighting the issues w/ the historical facts (why preserve plates to have them not be used in the translation?)
- Most importantly (to me), it provides effective visuals (in video) of Joseph engaging in the “head in the hat with stone” method of translation.
My big question/concern is this: are we adequately equipping our members, and most importantly, our missionaries – to deal with this narrative? Do we know what the official response is or should be to the big chasm between what we all were/are taught, and what the facts convey?
I really, really wish the church would provide some official material to equip us to handle this issue. Missionaries and average members are going to be assaulted with this stuff in the future — and we need guidance (I feel) on how to answer the narrative.