Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Polyandry

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Articles about Plural marriage

Doctrinal foundation of plural marriage	Purpose of plural marriage Plural marriage as a requirement for exaltation Plural marriage in early Christianity Plural marriage in the Book of Mormon Plural marriage and the Bible
Introduction of plural marriage	Initiation of the practice of plural marriage 1835 Doctrine and Covenants denies polygamy Fanny Alger was Joseph Smith's first plural wife Joseph Smith hid polygamy from the general Church membership Divine manifestations to plural wives and families Plural marriage and the law
Questions about Joseph Smith and plural marriage	Initiation of the practice of plural marriage Fanny Alger was Joseph Smith's first plural wife Joseph Smith hid polygamy from the general Church membership Joseph Smith's marriages to young women Did Joseph Smith coerce women to marry him? Mormon women refusing offers of plural marriage Polyandry Joseph Smith and children through plural marriage Marrying other men's wives? Joseph Smith hiding plural marriages from his first wife, Emma Emma Smith's reaction to Joseph Smith's plural marriages Emma Smith in Doctrine and Covenants 132 Did Joseph have lustful motives for practicing polygamy? Did Joseph Smith send men on missions in order to steal their wives? Did Joseph Smith practice polygamy for the purpose of monetary gain?
John C. Bennett and Nauvoo polygamy	Bennett before Nauvoo Bennett and Prostitution Brothel at Nauvoo Rise and Fall of Bennett Sarah Pratt Nancy Rigdon Sidney Rigdon
Notable plural wives of Joseph Smith	Emma Smith Fanny Alger Prescindia Lathrop Huntington Buell Marinda Nancy Johnson Hyde Zina Diantha Huntington Jacobs Helen Mar Kimball
Plural marriage in Utah	Difficulties with plural marriage Brigham Young's statements regarding plural marriage John Taylor's statements regarding polygamy Latter-day Saints and divorce in the nineteenth century Prevalence of plural marriage in Utah
End of plural marriage	The First Manifesto Official Declaration Number 1 Plural marriage practiced after the First Manifesto The Church of Jesus Christ and plural marriage today

Polyandry: Women married to more than one husband

Children of polygamous marriages

John C. Bennett

Polyandry: Women married to more than one husband

Jump to details:

• Question: What do we know about Joseph Smith's "polyandrous" sealings or plural marriages?

Perhaps nothing is less understood than Joseph Smith's sealings to women already married, because the evidence supports conflicting interpretations.
—Kathryn M. Daynes

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Joseph Smith's "polyandrous" sealings or plural marriages?

Jump to details:

• Question: What do we know about Joseph Smith's "polyandrous" sealings or plural marriages?
• The doctrine of sealing and adoption
• Evaluating each polyandrous marriage
• Group 1: Women with non-member spouses
• Observations about the first group
• Group 2: Women with non-faithful LDS spouses
• Observations about the second group
• Group 3: Women with faithful LDS spouses
• Observations about the third group
• Group 4: Women likely separated/divorced from their first husbands (i.e., pseudopolyandry)
• A hypothesis—why so many early polyandrous marriages?
• Further evidence against sexual polyandry
• Nauvoo witnesses did not try to justify sexual polyandry
• Nauvoo detractors likewise say nothing about sexual polyandry
• Evidence from the "Temple Lot" case of non-consummation of polyandrous marriages
• Would polyandrous testimony have been harmful to the Church, and so avoided?
• Conclusion

See also Brian Hales' discussion

Joseph Smith and Polyandry: Common questions

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Source(s) of the criticism:

Critical sources

Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945), 302. ( Index of claims ) Todd Compton, In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1997). ( Index of claims ) John Dehlin, "Questions and Answers," Mormon Stories Podcast (25 June 2014). Bill McKeever and Eric Johnson, Mormonism 101. Examining the Religion of the Latter-day Saints (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 2000), Chapter 17. ( Index of claims ) MormonThink.com website (as of 28 April 2012). Page: http://mormonthink.com/joseph-smith-polygamy.htm Richard N. and Joan K. Ostling, Mormon America: The Power and the Promise, (New York:HarperCollins Publishers, 2000), 59. ( Index of claims ) Richard S. Van Wagoner, Mormon Polygamy: A History (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1989), Chapter 4.

Notes