Joseph Smith's Polygamy

Joseph Smith's Polygamy
Author: Brian C. Hales
Publisher: Greg Kofford Books, Incorporated
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2015
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781589587236

In the last several years a wealth of information has been published on Joseph Smith's practice of polygamy. For some who were already well aware of this aspect of early Mormon history, the availability of new research and discovered documents has been a wellspring of further insight and knowledge into this topic. For others who are learning of Joseph's marriages to other women for the first time, these books and online publications can be both an information overload and a challenge to one's faith. In this short volume, Brian C. Hales (author of the 3-volume Joseph Smith's Polygamy: History and Theology) and Laura H. Hales wade through the murky waters of history to help bring some clarity to this episode of Mormonism's past. As Joseph Smith's participation in plural marriage involved more than just the Prophet and his first wife Emma, this volume also includes short biographical sketches of the 35 other women who were sealed to Joseph but whose stories of faith, struggle, and courage have been largely forgotten and ignored over time. While we may never fully understand the details and reasons surrounding this practice, Brian and Laura Hales provide readers with an accessible, forthright, and faithful look into this challenging topic so that we can at least come toward a better understanding. Praise for Joseph Smith's Polygamy: Toward a Better Understanding "Few matters of LDS history have proven to be as faith-sensitive as Joseph Smith's plural marriages. While a number of efforts have been made in recent years to shed light on this challenging phenomenon, nothing has brought greater clarity, enlightenment, and, particularly for believing Saints, spiritual reassurance, than has the work of researcher Brian Hales. He and his wife Laura have now rendered a monumental service to Mormons and interested observers by bringing clarity and better understanding to this topic. I for one am grateful for the context, perspective, and both straightforward and faithful answers provided for so many of the questions surrounding Nauvoo polygamy. It is a book that will be read and discussed for years to come." - Robert L. Millet, Professor Emeritus of Religious Education, Brigham Young University

Reluctant Polygamist

Reluctant Polygamist
Author: Meg Stout
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 434
Release: 2018-03-31
Genre:
ISBN: 9781987413113

Joseph Smith, Jr., founded the Mormon Church. He was killed less than fifteen years later. Critics of Smith have long believed he was corrupt and dangerous. But even believers have been split. Smith's wife and sons defended a man who was honorable and monogamous. Apostles in the Church formed by Smith defended a prophet who was honorable. But they also claimed Smith taught plural marriage. Hundreds of thousands of 19th-century Mormons defended the practice of plural marriage, despite hardship and national oppression. Stout takes a fresh look at the history and allows us to see the complex reality that birthed these radically divergent viewpoints. Along the way, she gives the reader a window into the reasons for the secrecy, unifying the disparate perspectives on Smith and his contemporaries into an understandable whole. The 7th edition incorporates new insights from emerging documents and the research of other historians, validating and strengthening the patterns Stout had sketched out in previous editions. Reviews Reluctant Polygamist is a remarkable example of investigative journalism, almost a murder mystery or spy thriller in the making... There are some very scary bad guys in this story-and Joseph is not one of them. - Jeff Lindsay, LDS FAQ: Mormon Answers, MormanityBlog Reluctant Polygamist asks the reader to accept the complexity and ambiguity of LDS plural marriage, rather than going for a simplistic explanation. I think that's a real service. - Gregory A. Prince, David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism For an unexpected look at the secrets lurking around Nauvoo in the days of Joseph Smith, I highly recommend the Reluctant Polygamist as a very good place to start. Meg Stout has provided us the opportunity to see Joseph in a new light. - Gerald A. Smith, historian, blogger Meg's recent book built up my faith, and gave me faithful answers to the questions I had about Joseph's polygamy versus Brigham's polygamy. It also totally unpacked/explicated/untangled the "spiritual wifery" accusations from real sealing/eternal marriage/eternity-only-sealing. - Bookslinger, blogger

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.

Rescue for the Dead

Rescue for the Dead
Author: Jeffrey A. Trumbower
Publisher:
Total Pages: 223
Release: 2001
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0195140990

Christianity is a religion of salvation in which believers have always anticipated some type of post-mortem bliss. This belief in salvation for the faithful has usually meant non-salvation for others. This text examines the establishment of this view.

Ask Gramps

Ask Gramps
Author: H. Clay Gorton
Publisher:
Total Pages: 146
Release: 2002-05
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780970800862

Questions run the breadth of the Mormon experience, including doctrinal questions as well as questions about the LDS lifestyle.

The Ghost of Eternal Polygamy: Haunting the Hearts and Heaven of Mormon Women and Men

The Ghost of Eternal Polygamy: Haunting the Hearts and Heaven of Mormon Women and Men
Author: Carol Lynn Pearson
Publisher: Pivot Point Books
Total Pages: 244
Release: 2016-07-12
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780997458206

"Polygamy?" says the mainstream Mormon Church. "We gave that up long ago." Not so, claims noted LDS poet and author Carol Lynn Pearson, who examines the issue as it has never been examined before. Any member of the LDS Church today who enters the practice of polygamy is immediately excommunicated. However, Pearson claims, polygamy itself has never been excommunicated, but has an honored and protected place at the table. It has only been postponed, a fact confirmed by thousands of "eternal sealings" giving a man an assurance that he will claim as wives in heaven the two, three, or even more women he has sequentially married during his lifetime. No such opportunity is available to women. Through her own personal stories, those of her ancestors, and the thousands of stories that came to her through an Internet survey, Pearson shows the power of the Ghost of Eternal Polygamy as it not only waits on the other side to greet the most righteous in heaven, but also haunts the living-hiding in the recesses of the Mormon psyche, inflicting profound pain and fear, assuring women that they are still objects, harming or destroying marriages, bringing chaos to family relationships, leading many to lose faith in the church and in God. Mormon historian and author Dr. Gregory Prince says of The Ghost of Eternal Polygamy: "Carol Lynn Pearson has hit a home run in her quest to illuminate both the damage that Mormonism's de facto practice of polygamy continues to inflict, and the route to a better, more humane place. Those who truly hope for eternal polygamy or who resent any call to institutional reform will be upset, but countless others will rejoice that she has shown 'a more excellent way.' "

In Sacred Loneliness

In Sacred Loneliness
Author: Todd Compton
Publisher:
Total Pages: 830
Release: 1997
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

Beginning in the 1830s, at least thirty-three women married Joseph Smith. These were passionate relationships which had some longevity, except in instances in which Smith's first wife, Emma, learned of the secret union and quashed it. Emma remained a steadfast opponent of polygamy throughout her life.

Nauvoo Polygamy

Nauvoo Polygamy
Author: George Dempster Smith
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2011
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9781560852070

Mormon Mormon polygamy began in Nauvoo, Illinois, a river town located at a bend in the Mississippi about fifty miles upstream from Mark Twain's Hannibal, Missouri. After church founder Joseph Smith married some thirty-eight women, he introduced this "celestial" form of marriage to his innermost circle of followers. By early 1846, nearly 200 men had adopted the polygamous lifestyle, with an average of nearly four women per man--717 wives in all. After leaving Nauvoo, these husbands would eventually marry another 417 women. In Utah they were the polygamy pioneers who provided a model for thousands of others who entered into plural marriages in the nineteenth century. Their story is colorful, wrapped in images of people in the next life piloting celestial worlds. Plural marriage was not initiated all at once, nor was it introduced though a smooth progression of events but rather in fits and starts, though defenses and denials, hubris and mea culpas. The story, as told here, emphasizes the human drama, interspersed with underlying historiographical issues of uncovering what has hidden--of explaining behavior that was once allowed and then denied as circumstances changed.

Joseph Smith Fought Polygamy,Volume 2

Joseph Smith Fought Polygamy,Volume 2
Author: Richard Price
Publisher:
Total Pages: 312
Release: 2014-07-15
Genre:
ISBN: 9781891353031

Volume 2 is a continued compilation of in-depth articles written by Richard and Pamela Price for Vision, entitled Joseph Smith Fought Polygamy, to prove that Joseph Smith, Jr. was innocent of polygamy. These articles, with their forty-five years of careful research and extensive documentation, bring startling new evidence that, instead of being a polygamist, Joseph Smith actually fought against the dogma.