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Multiple accounts of the First Vision/Prophet's mother said First Vision was of an "angel"/Further Reading
Joseph Smith's announcement that he saw the Father and the Son in 1820 has produced a broad response, from faithful to critical. This set of articles addresses the multiple accounts of the First Vision, the events leading to and occurring after the vision, and a review of the doctrinal developments from the vision.
To view articles about the First Vision, click "Expand" in the blue bar:
Accounts |
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Historical context |
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Doctrinal impact |
Video published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Video published by BYU Religious Education.
Key sources |
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Wiki links |
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FAIR links |
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Online |
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Navigators |
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Sub categories |
Joseph Smith: Other visionary experiences
Topics
Moroni's visit (summary)
Joseph Smith's early conception of God
Personages who appeared to Joseph Smith
Swedenborg and three degrees of glory
God the Father
Jump to Subtopic:
- Characteristics of God
- Early teachings
- Deification of man
- Trinity
- Theodicy
- Worship of God
- Multiplicity of Gods
- Interaction with God
- Heavenly Mother
Mormon beliefs regarding the characteristics of God
Jump to Subtopic:
- Elohim and Jehovah in Mormonism
- God's knowledge
- Mormonism and biblical statements that "God is a Spirit"
- Joseph Smith's King Follett discourse on the nature of God
- Do Latter-day Saints actually believe in a practice called "Celestial sex"?
- Criticisms regarding the character of God
- Mormonism and the belief in the corporeality of God
Elohim and Jehovah in Mormonism
Summary: It is claimed that Elohim, Jehovah, Adonai and other similar Old Testament Hebrew names for deity are simply different titles which emphasize different attributes of the "one true God." In support of this criticism, they cite Old Testament scriptures that speak of "the LORD [Jehovah] thy God [Elohim]" (e.g., Deuteronomy 4:2; 4:35; 6:4) as proof that these are different titles for the same God.
Jump to Subtopic:
God's knowledge
Summary: Most Latter-day Saints hold to unlimited foreknowledge. This has been the traditional view of most Christians since the post-New Testament period, and it is one doctrine that Joseph Smith didn't seem to question, as there are no revelations that address it. Indeed, it appears that most LDS leaders and scholars simply haven't questioned its veracity.
Jump to Subtopic:
Mormonism and biblical statements that "God is a Spirit"
Jump to Subtopic:
- Question: Does the Mormon doctrine that God has a physical body contradict the Bible's statement in John 4:24 that "God is a Spirit"?
- Question: Does the Book of Mormon teach that God is a spirit?
- Question: Is the doctrine that God the Father and Jesus Christ have physical bodies not Biblical?
- Question: How would a statement that "God is a spirit" be interpreted in ancient Judasism?
- Mormons have "picked up" discarded beliefs of early Christians
- Mormonism does not use the Nicene Creed, and invokes earlier Christian ideas that were overshadowed by Plato
- Question: What are the Lectures on Faith?
- Question: What does Lecture 5 of the Lectures on Faith say about the nature of God?
- Question: Did Joseph began his prophetic career with a "trinitarian" idea of God?
- Question: What are modern Church leader's views on the Lectures on Faith?
Joseph Smith's King Follett discourse on the nature of God
Jump to Subtopic:
- Question: Does what Joseph Smith taught about the creation of spirits contradict the scriptures?
- Question: What was Gordon B. Hinckley's opinion about the King Follett Discourse?
- Question: Why does TIME's report make it appear the Pres. Hinckley is downplaying Joseph Smith's statements in the King Follett Discourse?
- Question: Why didn't Gordon B. Hinckley say more about the King Follett Discourse in the TIME Magazine interview?
Do Latter-day Saints actually believe in a practice called "Celestial sex"?
Summary: Mormonism and the nature of God/"Celestial sex"
Jump to Subtopic:
- Question: Do Latter-day Saints believe in a practice called "celestial sex," and that this is the manner in which "spirit children" are formed?
- Question: What have Latter-day Saint leaders actually said about the method of procreation in the afterlife?
- Question: Did Bruce R. McConkie claim that our heavenly parents created our spirits "through some kind of sexual union"?
Criticisms regarding the character of God
Jump to Subtopic:
- Elder Jeffery R. Holland: "it is a characteristic of our age that if people want any gods at all, they want them to be gods who do not demand much"
- Question: Why would God send poisonous serpents to kill the Children of Israel?
- Question: Do Latter-day Saints believe in a "part-time racist" and "psychopathic schizophrenic" god?
- Question: Does the Book of Mormon refute Joseph Smith on the nature of God?
- Question: Did Elder Dallin Oaks say that "so-called Christianity sees God as an entirely different kind of being"?
Mormonism and the belief in the corporeality of God
Summary: Some Christians object to the Mormon belief that God has a physical body and human form by quoting scripture which says that "God is not a man" (e.g. Numbers 23:19, 1 Samuel 15:29, Hosea 11:9). Some have also asked how God can be material and do things like float and move through walls.
Jump to Subtopic:
- Question: Why do the Latter-day Saints believe God has a body?
- Question: What are the common objections to a belief in God's corporeality?
- Question: Does the doctrine that God has a physical body contradict the Bible?
- Question: If only God the Father had a physical body at the time Adam was created, why did He say 'Let us make man in OUR image'?
- Question: Since Mormons believe that God possesses a physical body, does that mean that He cannot be omnipresent?
- Question: Is the doctrine that God the Father and Jesus Christ have physical bodies not Biblical?
- Non-LDS Christian view of Joseph Smith's theology of divine embodiment
- Non-LDS Christian Stephen H. Webb: The "sameness of Jesus" and humanity
- Non-LDS Christian Stephen H. Webb: Mormonism an exciting mirror for other Christians
- Mormonism does not use the Nicene Creed, and invokes earlier Christian ideas that were overshadowed by Plato
- Mormons have "picked up" discarded beliefs of early Christians
- Non-LDS Christian Stephen H. Webb: Revelation versus "historical guesswork" about Jesus
- Mormons are not Arians
- "Smith would have held his own in debating with" Neo-Platonists, Gnostics, and early Christian theologians
- LDS doctrine rejects Neo-Plantonic accretions, but this does not make them automatically false
- Augustine's views about matter are perhaps less coherent than Joseph Smith's
- Non-LDS Christian Stephen H. Webb: Creedal Christians can learn from LDS views about Jesus Christ and creation
Early teachings about God in the Book of Mormon, from Joseph Smith, and among Church members
Jump to Subtopic:
- Early Mormon beliefs regarding the nature of God
- Lecture of Faith 5 teaches the Father is "a personage of spirit"
- Brigham Young's Adam-God theory
Early Mormon beliefs regarding the nature of God
Summary: Some evangelical Christians attempt to show that the LDS idea of deification is unbiblical, unchristian and untrue. They seem to think that this doctrine is the main reason why the LDS reject the Psychological Trinity.
Jump to Subtopic:
- Question: What is the historic church's concept of the Trinity and why do Mormons reject it?
- Question: Did Joseph begin his prophetic career with a "trinitarian" idea of God?
- Question: Does the Book of Mormon teach that Christ and the Father are a single individual expressing himself in different modes?
Lecture of Faith 5 teaches the Father is "a personage of spirit"
Summary: Lectures on Faith, which used to be part of the Doctrine and Covenants, teach that God is a spirit. Joseph Smith's later teachings contradict this. More generally, critics argue that Joseph Smith taught an essentially "trinitarian" view of the Godhead until the mid 1830s, thus proving the Joseph was "making it up" as he went along.
Jump to Subtopic:
- Question: What are the Lectures on Faith?
- Question: What does Lecture 5 of the Lectures on Faith say about the nature of God?
- Question: How would a statement that "God is a spirit" be interpreted in ancient Judasism?
- Question: Did Joseph began his prophetic career with a "trinitarian" idea of God?
- Question: What are modern Church leader's views on the Lectures on Faith?
- Question: Is the Father embodied or a spirit in the first edition of the Doctrine and Covenants?
Brigham Young's Adam-God theory
Summary: Brigham Young taught that Adam, the first man, was God the Father. Since this teaching runs counter to the story told in Genesis and commonly accepted by Christians, critics accuse Brigham of being a false prophet. Also, because modern Latter-day Saints do not believe Brigham's "Adam-God" teachings, critics accuse Mormons of either changing their teachings or rejecting teachings of prophets they find uncomfortable or unsupportable.
Jump to Subtopic:
- Question: What is the Adam-God Theory?
- Question: What is the history of Brigham Young's Adam-God Theory and why was it rejected by the Church?
- Stephen E. Robinson: "Yet another way in which anti-Mormon critics often misrepresent LDS doctrine is in the presentation of anomalies as though they were the doctrine of the Church"
- Matthew Brown (2009): "Brigham Young repeated these ideas and expounded upon them during the next 25 years. His viewpoints have been variously classified as doctrine, theory, paradox, heresy, speculation, and some of the mysteries"
- Question: If the Adam-God doctrine isn't true, how come D&C 27:11 calls Adam the Ancient of Days which is clearly a title for God in Daniel 7?
- Question: What attempts have been made to reconcile the Adam-God Theory with the doctrines of the Church?
- Question: Was the "Adam-God" theory ever taught as part of the temple endowment ceremony as something called "the lecture at the veil"?
Mormon belief in the deification of Man
Jump to Subtopic:
- Gospel Topics: "Latter-day Saints see all people as children of God in a full and complete sense"
- Question: Do Latter-day Saints believe that they will one day 'supplant' God?
- Question: What were the views of early Christians on the deification of man?
- Question: Was the Latter-day Saint concept of deification derived from Greek philosophy?
- Question: What Biblical scriptures discuss the doctrine of the deification of man?
- Question: If a person faithfully practices Mormonism during this life, do they become a god after they die?
- Question: Do Mormon men believe that they will become "gods of their own planets" and rule over others?
- Question: If God was once like us, does that mean that God was once a sinner?
- Question: What do Mormons believe regarding the nature of angels?
- Theosis
Latter-day Saint views of the Trinity
Summary: A collection of articles that address the Latter-day Saint view of the concept of the Trinity.
Jump to Subtopic:
Early Mormon beliefs regarding the nature of God
Summary: Some evangelical Christians attempt to show that the LDS idea of deification is unbiblical, unchristian and untrue. They seem to think that this doctrine is the main reason why the LDS reject the Psychological Trinity.
Jump to Subtopic:
- Question: What is the historic church's concept of the Trinity and why do Mormons reject it?
- Question: Did Joseph begin his prophetic career with a "trinitarian" idea of God?
- Question: Does the Book of Mormon teach that Christ and the Father are a single individual expressing himself in different modes?
Mormons and the Nicene Creed
Jump to Subtopic:
- Gospel Topics: "Latter-day Saints Do Not Accept the Creeds of Post–New Testament Christianity"
- Question: Does the definition of the Trinity predate the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds?
- Question: Does the Nicene Creed define who is Christian, and who is not?
- Mormonism does not use the Nicene Creed, and invokes earlier Christian ideas that were overshadowed by Plato
- Augustine's views about matter are perhaps less coherent than Joseph Smith's
- Question: Was Nicean Trinitarianism always a key part of Christian belief?
- Question: Why was Nicean Trinitarianism introduced at all?
- Question: What were early Christian beliefs on the nature of God?
- Question: Does the Bible contain also the necessary elements for Trinitarianism?
- Question: Are there new ideas necessary for creedal Trinitarianism?
- Question: What does John 10:30 have to do with Trinitarianism?
- Question: What does 1 John 5:7-8 have to do with Trinitariansim?
- Question: Is modern Trinitarianism understood in the same sense by all who accept it?
- LDS doctrine rejects Neo-Plantonic accretions, but this does not make them automatically false
- "Smith would have held his own in debating with" Neo-Platonists, Gnostics, and early Christian theologians
Theodicy: The Problem of Evil
Summary: This page discusses the problem of evil—can one believe in a good, just, loving God when one considers all the suffering and evil in the world?
Jump to Subtopic:
Why would a loving God allow the death of innocents?
Jump to Subtopic:
- Question: Why would a loving God would kill innocent children in the flood of Noah's day?
- Question: Why would a loving God kill the firstborn of Egypt? (Exodus 12:12)
- Joseph Fielding Smith: "This was also in the similitude of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ"
How Latter-day Saints worship God
Jump to Subtopic:
- Why do we worship or praise God?
- Do the Latter-day Saints use praise of God as part of their prayers and songs in worship?
- Question: Does the Church violate the Biblical command against "graven images" by displays sculptures of Christ?
Mormonism and the multiplicity of gods
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Mormonism and the concept of infinite regress of gods
Jump to Subtopic:
- Question:Is it true that Mormon doctrine teaches a "genealogy of gods," in which God the Father had/has a god, and this god had a god, and so forth?
- Gospel Topics, "Becoming Like God"
Mormons, polytheism and the Nicene Creed
Summary: Some non-LDS Christian claim that Latter-day Saints are polytheists because we don't believe the Nicene Creed. Others say Mormons are polytheists because they believe humans can become gods. Is this an accurate characterization of LDS belief?
Jump to Subtopic:
- Question: Are Mormons polytheists because they don't accept the Nicene Creed?
- Question: Are Christians monotheists?
- Question: What scriptures explain the Mormon view of Jesus' divine Sonship?
- Question: How is Mormon belief compatible with Isaiah's statement that beside the Lord "there is no God?"
- LDS trinitarian views are not polytheistic
- Mormons are not Arians
- Joseph Smith's theology is not pagan—his theology is vast as the multiverse, and eliminates Neo-Platonism and Augustine
- Common misrepresentation: Joseph Smith does not teach polytheism or "supplanting God" with his doctrine of human divination
- Gospel Topics on LDS.org, "Becoming Like God"
Man's interaction with God
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Mormonism and biblical statements that no man has seen God
Summary: It is claimed by some that the Bible teaches that God cannot be seen by mortals, and that therefore claims by Joseph Smith and others to have seen God the Father or Jesus Christ must be false. The most commonly used Biblical citation invoked by those who make this assertion is John 1:18, which reads “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.”
Jump to Subtopic:
- Question: How could Joseph Smith have seen God if the Bible says that God cannot be seen by mortals?
- Question: Does Doctrine and Covenants 84 say that one cannot see God without holding the priesthood?
- Question: Why did Jesus say “Never have I showed myself unto man whom I have created” to the Brother of Jared, when Enoch and others had already seen Jehovah face to face?
- Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture, "Can a Man See God? 1 Timothy 6:16 in Light of Ancient and Modern Revelation"
Heavenly Mother
Jump to Subtopic:
- Gospel Topics: Our theology begins with heavenly parents. Our highest aspiration is to be like them
- Question: Do Latter-day Saints believe in a female divine person, a "Heavenly Mother" as counterpart to God, the Heavenly Father?
- Question: Are we allowed to pray to our "Heavenly Mother"?
- Question: Is it true that little is known about our Heavenly Mother because she is "protected"?
- Question: Is Heavenly Mother not talked about more because the prophets are sexist?
- BYU Studies Article: A Mother There
FairMormon web site
First Vision FairMormon articles on-line |
- Craig Ray, "Joseph Smith's History Confirmed," (Mesa, Arizona: FAIR, August 2002) FAIR link (Key source)
External links
First Vision on-line articles |
Primary sources
- Joseph Smith, Jr. A History of the Life of Joseph Smith (1832) (Contains the 1832 First Vision account)
- Joseph Smith, Jr. Joseph Smith Diary (1835–1836) (Contains the 1835 First Vision account on pages 22-23)
On-line articles about the First Vision
- James B. Allen, "The Significance of Joseph Smith’s ‘First Vision’ in Mormon Thought," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 1 no. 3 (Fall 1966), 29–45. off-site
- James B. Allen and Leonard J. Arrington, "Mormon Origins in New York: An Introductory Analysis," Brigham Young University Studies 9 no. 3 (Spring 1969), 241–74. off-site
- Richard L. Anderson, "The Reliability of the Early History of Lucy and Joseph Smith," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 4 no. 2 (Summer 1969), 13–28. off-site
- Richard L. Anderson, "Circumstantial Confirmation of the First Vision through Reminiscences," Brigham Young University Studies 9 no. 3 (1969), 1–27. PDF link
- Richard L. Anderson, "Joseph Smith’s Home Environment," Ensign (July 1971), 57–59. off-site
- Richard L. Anderson, "‘Of Goodly Parents’," New Era (December 1973), 34–39. off-site
- Richard L. Anderson, "Joseph Smith’s Testimony of the First Vision," Ensign (April 1996), 10–21. off-site
- Carlos E. Asay, "‘Oh, How Lovely Was the Morning!’: Joseph Smith’s First Prayer and the First Vision," Ensign (April 1995), 44–49. off-site
- Milton V. Backman Jr., "Awakenings in the Burned-over District: New Light on the Historical Setting of the First Vision," Brigham Young University Studies 9 no. 3 (1969), 301. PDF link
- Milton V. Backman Jr. and James B. Allen, "Membership of Certain of Joseph Smith’s Family in the Western Presbyterian Church of Palmyra," Brigham Young University Studies 10 no. 4 (Summer 1970), 482–84. off-site
- Milton V. Backman, Jr., "Joseph Smith's Recitals of the First Vision," Ensign (January 1985), 8.off-site
- Milton V. Backman, Jr., "Confirming Witnesses of the First Vision," Ensign (January 1986), 32.off-site
- Milton V. Backman Jr., "I Have A Question: Did Brigham Young Confirm or Expound on Joseph Smith’s First Vision?," Ensign (April 1992), 59–60. off-site
- Milton V. Backman, "First Vision," in Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 4 vols., edited by Daniel H. Ludlow, (New York, Macmillan Publishing, 1992), 2:515–516.off-site
- Ronald O. Barney, "The First Vision: Searching for the Truth," Ensign (January 2005), 14–19. off-site
- Dale L. Berge, "Archeological Work at the Smith Log House," Ensign (August 1985), 24–26. off-site
- Davis Bitton, "[review of Richard P. Howard, The Church through the Years, vol. 1,]," Brigham Young University Studies 33 no. 3 (Summer 1993), 607–608. off-site
- Hoyt W. Brewster Jr., "I Have A Question: What Was There in the Creeds of Men that the Lord Found Abominable, as He Stated in the First Vision?”," Ensign (July 1987), 65–67. off-site
- Richard L. Bushman, "The First Vision Story Revived," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 4 no. 1 (Spring 1969), 82–93.off-site
- Richard L. Bushman, "Just the Facts Please (Review of Inventing Mormonism: Tradition and the Historical Record by H. Michael Marquardt and Wesley P. Walters)," FARMS Review of Books 6/2 (1994): 122–133. off-site
- Richard L. Bushman, "The Visionary World of Joseph Smith," Brigham Young University Studies 37 no. 1 (1997–98), 183–204. off-site
- Church Educational System, “Additional Details from Joseph Smith’s 1832 Account of the First Vision,” in Presidents of the Church: Student Manual (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2003), 5–6.
- Church Educational System, “The First Vision,” in Church History in the Fullness of Times: Student Manual (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2003), 29–36. off-site
- Richard H. Cracroft, "Rendering the Ineffable Effable: Treating Joseph Smith’s First Vision in Imaginative Literature," Brigham Young University Studies 36 no. 2 (1996–97), 93–116. off-site
- Peter Crawley, “A Comment on Joseph Smith’s Account of His First Vision and the 1820 Revival,” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, vol. 6, no. 1 (Spring 1971), 106–107.
- Donald L. Enders, "A Snug Log House," Ensign (August 1985), 14–23. off-site
- Donald L. Enders, "The Sacred Grove," Ensign (April 1990), 14–17. off-site
- James E. Faust, "The Magnificent Vision Near Palmyra," Ensign (May 1984), 67–69. off-site
- Marvin S. Hill, "A Note on Joseph Smith’s First Vision and Its Import in the Shaping of Early Mormonism," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 12 no. 1 (Spring 1979), 90–99. off-site
- Marvin S. Hill, "The First Vision Controversy: A Critique and Reconciliation," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 15 no. 2 (Summer 1982), 31–46. off-site
- Dean C. Jessee, "The Early Accounts of Joseph Smith’s First Vision," Brigham Young University Studies 9 no. 3 (Spring 1969), 279–80.
- Dean C. Jessee, "The Early Accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision (1831–1839)," Brigham Young University Studies 9 no. 3 (Spring 1969), 275–296.
- Dean C. Jessee, "The Earliest Documented Accounts of Joseph Smith’s First Vision," in Opening the Heavens: Accounts of Divine Manifestations 1820–1844 (Documents in Latter-day Saint History), edited by John W. Welch with Erick B. Carlson, (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press / Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company, 2005), 1–33. ISBN 0842526072. This book has recently been reprinted, in paperback. BYU Studies and Deseret Book (July 13, 2011)
- Melvin J. Peterson, "“I Have A Question: Does D&C 84:19–22 Indicate that a Person Has to Have the Melchizedek Priesthood in Order to See God? Joseph Smith Didn’t Have the Priesthood at the Time of the First Vision," Ensign (December 1985), 60–61. off-site
- Paul H. Peterson, "[review of Marquardt and Walters, Inventing Mormonism,]," Brigham Young University Studies 35 no. 4 (1995–96), 209–15. off-site
- Larry C. Porter, "Reverend George Lane—Good ‘Gifts,’ Much ‘Grace,’ and Marked ‘Usefulness,’," Brigham Young University Studies 9 no. 3 (Spring 1969), 321–40. off-site
- Larry C. Porter, "Reinventing Mormonism: To Remake or Redo (Review of Inventing Mormonism: Tradition and the Historical Record by H. Michael Marquardt and Wesley P. Walters)," FARMS Review of Books 7/2 (1995): 123–143. off-site
- Larry C. Porter, "Solomon Chamberlain’s Missing Pamphlet: Dreams, Visions, and Angelic Ministrants," Brigham Young University Studies 37 no. 2 (1997–98), 113–29. off-site
- D. Michael Quinn, "Joseph Smith's Experience of a Methodist 'Camp-Meeting'," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought - Dialogue Paperless: E-Paper #3 (12 July 2006), PDF link
- Joseph Fielding Smith, "I Have A Question: What evidences do we have to substantiate the First Vision of Joseph Smith?," Ensign (October 1987), 58–59. off-site See also original version in Joseph Fielding Smith, Improvement Era (February 1960), 80–81.
- Our Heritage: A Brief History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1996), 1–4. LDS link
- Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "The Fruits of the First Vision," Ensign (May 2005), 36–38. off-site
- Elden Watson, "Joseph Smith's First Vision—A Harmony";—complete text of all Joseph Smith's accounts on-line off-site (Key source)
- Elden Watson, "Joseph Smith's First Vision (introduction)" off-site
Joseph Smith other visionary issues on-line links |
- Dean C. Jessee, "Early Accounts of Joseph Smith (1831–1839)," Brigham Young University Studies 9 no. 3 (1969), 275–294. PDF link
- David L. Paulsen, "The Doctrine of Divine Embodiment: Restoration, Judeo-Christian, and Philosophical Perspectives," Brigham Young University Studies 35 no. 4 (1995–96), 6–94. PDF link (Key source)
Printed material
First Vision printed materials |
- James B. Allen, "The Emergence of a Fundamental: The Expanding Role of Joseph Smith’s First Vision in Mormon Thought," Journal of Mormon History 7 (1980): 437–461.
- James B. Allen, "Eight Contemporary Accounts of Joseph Smith’s First Vision–What Do We Learn From Them?," Improvement Era (April 1970), 4–13.
- Richard L. Anderson, “Alvin Smith,” in Kyle R. Walker, ed., United By Faith: The Joseph Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith Family (American Fork, UT: Covenant Communications, 2005), 83–121.
- Richard L. Bushman, Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism (Urbana and Chicago, Illinois: University of Illinois Press; Reprint edition, 1987), 56. ISBN 0252060121.
- Richard L. Bushman, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling (New York: Knopf, 2005), 30–56.
- James B. Allen and John W. Welch, "The Appearance of the Father and the Son to Joseph Smith in 1820," in Opening the Heavens: Accounts of Divine Manifestations 1820–1844 (Documents in Latter-day Saint History), edited by John W. Welch with Erick B. Carlson, (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press / Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company, 2005), 35–75. ISBN 0842526072. This book has recently been reprinted, in paperback. BYU Studies and Deseret Book (July 13, 2011) See also BYU Studies version: PDF link
- Milton V. Backman, Joseph Smith’s First Vision: The first vision in its historical context (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1971).
- Milton V. Backman Jr., Joseph Smith’s First Vision: Confirming Evidences and Contemporary Accounts, 2nd ed. (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1980).
- Milton V. Backman Jr., Joseph Smith’s First Vision: Cornerstone of a Latter-day Faith,” in Robert L. Millet, ed., To Be Learned Is Good, If... (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1987), 21–41.
- Milton V. Backman Jr., “Lo, Here! Lo, There! Early in the Spring of 1820,” in Larry C. Porter and Susan Easton Black, eds., The Prophet Joseph: Essays on the Life and Mission of Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1988), 19–35.
- Milton V. Backman Jr., “Verification of the 1838 Account of the First Vision,” in H. Donl Peterson and Charles D. Tate Jr., eds., The Pearl of Great Price: Revelations from God (Provo, UT: BYU Religious Studies Center, 1989), 237–48.
- Milton V. Backman Jr., "Defender of the First Vision [Elder Orson Pratt]," in Larry C. Porter, Milton V. Backman, Jr., and Susan Easton Black, eds., Regional Studies in Latter-day Saint History: New York and Pennsylvania (Provo: BYU Department of Church History and Doctrine, 1992), 33–48.
- Donald Q. Cannon, "Palmyra, New York: 1820–1830," in Larry C. Porter, Milton V. Backman, Jr., and Susan Easton Black, eds., Regional Studies in Latter-day Saint History: New York and Pennsylvania (Provo: BYU Department of Church History and Doctrine, 1992), 1–13.
- Larry E. Dahl, “The Theological Significance of the First Vision,” in Robert L. Millet and Kent P. Jackson, eds., Studies in Scripture, Volume 2: The Pearl of Great Price (Salt Lake City: Randall Book, 1985), 315–37.
- Donald L. Enders, “The Joseph Smith Sr., Family: Farmers of the Genesee,” in Susan Easton Black and Charles D. Tate Jr., eds., Joseph Smith: The Prophet, The Man (Provo, UT: BYU Religious Studies Center, 1993), 213–25.
- Kent P. Jackson, “The First Vision,” in Kent P. Jackson, From Apostasy to Restoration (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1996), 66–79.
- Kent P. Jackson, “Lessons from the Sacred Grove,” in Kent P. Jackson, From Apostasy to Restoration (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1996), 80–89.
- Dean C. Jessee, "The Earliest Documented Accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision," in Opening the Heavens: Accounts of Divine Manifestations 1820–1844 (Documents in Latter-day Saint History), edited by John W. Welch with Erick B. Carlson, (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press / Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company, 2005), 1–33. ISBN 0842526072. This book has recently been reprinted, in paperback. BYU Studies and Deseret Book (July 13, 2011) (Key source) See also BYU Studies version: PDF link
- Dean C. Jessee, The Early Accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision (Mormon Miscellaneous reprint series) (Mormon Miscellaneous, 1984).
- Dean C. Jessee (editor), The Papers of Joseph Smith: Autobiographical and Historical Writings (Vol. 1 of 2) (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company, 1989), 6–7, 127, 272–73, 429–30, 444, and 448–49.. ISBN 0875791999
- Dean C. Jessee, The Personal Writings of Joseph Smith, [original edition] (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book, 1984), 5–6, 75–76, 199–200, 213. ISBN 0877479747. GL direct link
- Dean C. Jessee, The Personal Writings of Joseph Smith, revised edition, (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book, 2002), 9–20. (Key source)
- Dean C. Jessee, “The Early Accounts of Joseph Smith’s First Vision,” in Robert L. Millet and Kent P. Jackson, eds., Studies in Scripture, Volume 2: The Pearl of Great Price (Salt Lake City: Randall Book, 1985), 303–314.
- Neal E. Lambert and Richard H. Cracroft, “Literary Form and Historical Understanding: Joseph Smith’s First Vision,” Journal of Mormon History, vol. 7 (1980), 31–42.
- Truman G. Madsen, “The First Vision and Its Aftermath,” in Truman G. Madsen, Joseph Smith the Prophet (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1989), 7–18.
- Adele Brannon McCollum, “The First Vision: Re-Visioning Historical Experience,” in Neal E. Lambert, ed., Literature of Belief: Sacred Scripture and Religious Experience (Provo, UT: BYU Religious Studies Center, 1981), 177–96.
- Hugh W. Nibley, Tinkling Cymbals and Sounding Brass: The Art of Telling Tales About Joseph Smith and Brigham Young (Vol. 11 of the Collected Works of Hugh Nibley), edited by David J. Whittaker, (Salt Lake City, Utah : Deseret Book Company ; Provo, Utah : Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1991),55–101. ISBN 0875795161. GL direct link
- Larry C. Porter, “The Youth of the Grove and the Prophet of the Restoration,” in Susan Easton Black and Andrew C. Skinner, eds., Joseph: Exploring the Life and Ministry of the Prophet (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2005), 36–46.
- John W. Welch, “‘All Their Creeds Were an Abomination’: A Brief Look at Creeds as Part of the Apostasy,” in Fred E. Woods, et al., eds., Prelude to the Restoration: From Apostasy to the Restored Church (Salt Lake City and Provo, UT: Deseret Book and BYU Religious Studies Center, 2004), 228–49.
Joseph Smith other visionary issues printed works |
- Hugh W. Nibley, Tinkling Cymbals and Sounding Brass: The Art of Telling Tales About Joseph Smith and Brigham Young (Vol. 11 of the Collected Works of Hugh Nibley), edited by David J. Whittaker, (Salt Lake City, Utah : Deseret Book Company ; Provo, Utah : Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1991), 1. ISBN 0875795161. GL direct link