LDS History

Seer or Pious Fraud?

May 5, 2008 by Keller

In my explorations, the first person to actually use the term pious fraud in conjunction with Mormonism was Mark Twain in Roughing It. Surprisingly, the reference was not to Joseph Smith, but to Brigham Young allegedly dressing up as Joseph Smith. This is Twain’s take on the narratives about assuming the prophetic mantle. More recently, Dan Vogel’s biography is essentially a book length defense of an earlier 1996 essay championing the pious fraud model as the most plausible solution framed by Jan Shipps in “The Prophet Puzzle:”

What we have in Mormon historiography is two Josephs: the one who started out digging for money and when he was unsuccessful, turned to propheteering, and the one who had visions and dreamed dreams, restored the church, and revealed the will of the Lord to a sinful world.

[Read more…] about Seer or Pious Fraud?

All the prejudiced sources that are fit to blog

April 26, 2008 by Mike Parker

This week New York Times blogger Timothy Egan made a sophomoric attempt to connect the modern FLDS church’s practice of polygamy to that of early Mormon leaders Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. Excerpt:

[Mitt Romney’s] faith was founded in 1830 by Joseph Smith Jr., an itinerant treasure-seeker from upstate New York who used a set of magic glasses to translate a lost scripture from God. His personality was infectious, the religion very approachable.

It would have been just another Christian faith had not Smith let his libido lead him into trouble. Before he died at the hands of a mob, he married at least 33 women and girls; the youngest was 14, and was told she had to become Smith’s bedmate or risk eternal damnation.

Smith was fortunate to find a religious cover for his desire. His polygamy “revelation” was put into The Doctrine and Covenants, one of three sacred texts of Mormonism. It’s still there – the word of God. And that’s why, to the people in the compound at Eldorado, [Texas,] the real heretics are in Salt Lake City.

As his biographer, Fawn Brodie, wrote, Joseph Smith “could not rest until he had redefined the nature of sin and erected a stupendous theological edifice to support his new theories on marriage.”

It is hard for me to imagine more factual errors and loaded language that could be squeezed into four short paragraphs.

An Interesting Quote

April 2, 2008 by Greg Kearney

I offer up this quote for your collective consideration:

“Because of their Masonic characters the ceremonies of the temple are sacred and not for the public.”

October 15, 1911; Messages of First Presidency, 4: 250.

The Bainbridge Conspiracy

March 27, 2008 by Keller

Prior to assuming the mantle of a prophet, the young Joseph Smith developed a reputation as a village seer, one who was sought after to locate stray animals or optimal locations to dig for well water or treasure [1-2]. In October of 1825, Josiah Stowell (1770-1844) visited his son Simpson in Palmyra [3-4] and upon learning of Joseph’s abilities, pressured Joseph to join him on a treasure searching expedition. A short while later a company was formed and a profit-sharing pact was signed on November 1st [5]. Among those mentioned in the pact were Josiah, Calvin, Elijah, and Isaiah Stowell. William R. Hines added that another Stowell, Asa, contributed financially to the venture [6].

Struggling with Questions of History or Doctrine

March 9, 2008 by Scott Gordon

I gave a short talk recently, and it was suggested that I post it up here for others to read. I borrowed some of the information in the talk from a past president’s message I gave in the FAIR Journal. But, I still hope you find it valuable. Here it is:

Walker Lewis

March 5, 2008 by Keller

Walker Lewis is a key figure in early Mormon history as one of the few African-Americans that had the Melchizedek priesthood bestowed upon him. Before the restrictive priesthood policy tightened, Brigham Young singled out Lewis as “one of the best Elders.” [Read more…] about Walker Lewis

Restoring the Nauvoo Lodge room

March 3, 2008 by Greg Kearney

I have been thinking how better to introduce the members of the Church to the issues surrounding church history and Masonry. One of the biggest issues here is that most Latter-days Saints know next to nothing about the subject and neither do their leaders.

FAIR in Religion News Service

February 15, 2008 by Keller

Book of Mormon translation Recently Menachem Wecker contacted FAIR, at the referral of the Church’s PR department, for a reaction to a blog that has re-envisioned scenes from Church history through a critical lens. A lens that focuses on the sensational and weird under the self-justifying guise of correcting mistakes that have cropped up in Church published art. Scott Gordon, myself, and others provided Wecker with our individual takes on the revisionist blog’s artwork. Greg Smith created an illustrated wiki article that combined the contributions of FAIR members and his own to treat the subject with much more clarity than my own response to Wecker**, a portion of which is included below. First let me note that Blake Ostler and I (more Blake than me) addressed this topic on the Mormon Stories blog as well.

**Update 2/26/’08: See Greg Smith’s comment below. My original wording is in error. Greg had already had most of his article independently conceived/written to respond to general art-based criticism levied much before being aware of the art blog in Wecker’s article.

Thomas Alexander’s Arrington Lecture on the MMM

January 16, 2008 by Keller

In September of 2006 I had the exhilarating experience of attending Dr. Alexander’s coverage of Brigham Young’s post Mountain Meadows Massacre investigations. Furthermore, I got to break the news of the event to Bloggernacle as Clark Goble and the rest of the crew at the Millennial Star allowed me to do a guest post. In the interest of balance, I will share two excerpts from Dr. Alexander’s now published paper, that paint contrasting pictures of Brigham Young’s response to the Massacre.