Inside the Mind of Joseph Smith

Inside the Mind of Joseph Smith
Author: Robert D. Anderson
Publisher:
Total Pages: 328
Release: 1999
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

A troubled childhood. A difficult adolescence. How might these have affected the adult character of church founder Joseph Smith? Psychiatrist Robert D. Anderson explores the impact on young Joseph of his family's ten moves in sixteen years, their dire poverty, especially after his father's Chinese export venture failed, and his father's drinking. It is equally significant, writes Anderson, that Joseph's mother suffered bouts of depression. For instance, "for months" she "did not feel as though life was worth seeking" after two sisters died of tuberculosis and later when she buried two sons, Ephraim and Alvin. A typhoid epidemic nearly claimed her daughter Sophronia, and the same affliction left Joseph with a crippled leg, after which he was sent to live on the coast with an uncle. Such factors and others produced emotional wounds that emerged later in the prophet's life and writings, in particular, according to Anderson, in the Book of Mormon.

The Sword of Laban

The Sword of Laban
Author: William D. Morain
Publisher: American Psychiatric Pub
Total Pages: 284
Release: 1998
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 9780880488648

Dr. Morain's remarkable psychological study of Joseph Smith, Jr. will be of interest to a wide spectrum of readers -- as a social history, religious biography, an account of the dissociative elements in poetic and spiritual genius, or simply a gripping portrait of an ill-fated and tragic man.

Joseph Smith and His First Vision

Joseph Smith and His First Vision
Author: Alexander Baugh
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2020-05-10
Genre:
ISBN: 9781950304080

Joseph Smith's First Vision of the Father and the Son in 1820 was the first of many visions the Prophet and early Church members experienced. This volume brings together some of the finest presentations from the 2020 BYU Church History Symposium honoring the bicentennial of the First Vision. Explore the influence of the First Vision, as well as teachings of other visionaries.

Visions in a Seer Stone

Visions in a Seer Stone
Author: William L. Davis
Publisher: UNC Press Books
Total Pages: 265
Release: 2020-04-08
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1469655675

In this interdisciplinary work, William L. Davis examines Joseph Smith's 1829 creation of the Book of Mormon, the foundational text of the Latter Day Saint movement. Positioning the text in the history of early American oratorical techniques, sermon culture, educational practices, and the passion for self-improvement, Davis elucidates both the fascinating cultural context for the creation of the Book of Mormon and the central role of oral culture in early nineteenth-century America. Drawing on performance studies, religious studies, literary culture, and the history of early American education, Davis analyzes Smith's process of oral composition. How did he produce a history spanning a period of 1,000 years, filled with hundreds of distinct characters and episodes, all cohesively tied together in an overarching narrative? Eyewitnesses claimed that Smith never looked at notes, manuscripts, or books—he simply spoke the words of this American religious epic into existence. Judging the truth of this process is not Davis's interest. Rather, he reveals a kaleidoscope of practices and styles that converged around Smith's creation, with an emphasis on the evangelical preaching styles popularized by the renowned George Whitefield and John Wesley.

No Man Knows My History

No Man Knows My History
Author: Fawn M. Brodie
Publisher: National Geographic Books
Total Pages: 0
Release: 1995-08-01
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0679730540

The first paperback edition of the classic biography of the founder of the Mormon church, this book attempts to answer the questions that continue to surround Joseph Smith. Was he a genuine prophet, or a gifted fabulist who became enthralled by the products of his imagination and ended up being martyred for them? 24 pages of photos. Map.

Joseph Smith

Joseph Smith
Author: Richard Lyman Bushman
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 786
Release: 2007-03-13
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1400077532

Founder of the largest indigenous Christian church in American history, Joseph Smith published the 584-page Book of Mormon when he was twenty-three and went on to organize a church, found cities, and attract thousands of followers before his violent death at age thirty-eight. Richard Bushman, an esteemed cultural historian and a practicing Mormon, moves beyond the popular stereotype of Smith as a colorful fraud to explore his personality, his relationships with others, and how he received revelations. An arresting narrative of the birth of the Mormon Church, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling also brilliantly evaluates the prophet’s bold contributions to Christian theology and his cultural place in the modern world.

Joseph Smith's New Translation of the Bible

Joseph Smith's New Translation of the Bible
Author: Kent P. Jackson
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Total Pages: 888
Release: 2004
Genre: Bibles
ISBN:

This volume--the work of a lifetime--brings together all the Joseph Smith Translation manuscript in a remarkable and useful way. Now, for the first time, readers can take a careful look at the complete text, along with photos of several actual manuscript pages. The book contains a typographic transcription of all the original manuscripts, unedited and preserved exactly as dictated by the Prophet Joseph and recorded by his scribes. In addition, this volume features essays on the background, doctrinal contributions, and editorial procedures involved in the Joseph Smith Translation, as well as the history of the manuscripts since Joseph Smith's day.

Producing Ancient Scripture

Producing Ancient Scripture
Author: Michael Hubbard MacKay
Publisher:
Total Pages: 440
Release: 2020-02-28
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9781607817383

Joseph Smith, the founding prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and of the broader Latter-day Saint movement, produced several volumes of scripture between 1829, when he translated the Book of Mormon, and 1844, when he was murdered. The Book of Mormon, published in 1830, is well known. Less read and studied are the subsequent texts that Smith translated after the Book of Mormon, texts that he presented as the writings of ancient Old World and New World prophets. These works were published and received by early Latter-day Saints as prophetic scripture that included important revelations and commandments from God. This collaborative volume is the first to study Joseph Smith's translation projects in their entirety. In this carefully curated collection, experts contribute cutting-edge research and incisive analysis. The chapters explore Smith's translation projects in focused detail and in broad contexts, as well as in comparison and conversation with one another. Authors approach Smith's sacred texts historically, textually, linguistically, and literarily to offer a multidisciplinary view. Scrupulous examination of the production and content of Smith's translations opens new avenues for understanding the foundations of Mormonism, provides insight on aspects of early American religious culture, and helps conceptualize the production and transmission of sacred texts.

Living the Book of Mormon

Living the Book of Mormon
Author: Gaye Strathearn
Publisher: Brigham Young University Press
Total Pages: 312
Release: 2007-01-01
Genre: Book of Mormon
ISBN: 9781590387993