Church History Matters

Once people come to terms with the uncomfortable idea that Brigham Young committed an error in endorsing a priesthood ban on church members with black African ancestry, a puzzling question naturally follows: “If the ban was an error, then why didn’t it get corrected earlier than 1978?! There were nine Church presidents between Brigham Young and Spencer W. Kimball and 101 years between President Young’s death in 1877 and President Kimball’s revelation in 1978. So why did it take so long to correct this mistake and again offer full privileges to black Africans in the Church as they had enjoyed in Joseph Smith’s day?” In today’s episode of Church History Matters, we attempt to offer at least the beginning of an answer to this question by tracing the key moments and decisions in the leadership councils of the Church when, instead of correcting this error, they came to conclusions that led to an unfortunate hardening in place of the priesthood ban. In this episode, the years 1879, 1904, 1907, and 1908 will sadly be added alongside the year 1852 as we piece together both the timeline and the reasoning behind this ban. For show notes and transcript for this and other episodes go to https://doctrineandcovenantscentral.org/church-history-matters-podcast/

The historical record shows that Joseph Smith did not implement or endorse any practices or policies which specifically prevented Church members with black African ancestry from fully participating in priesthood offices or temple worship. But in 1847, only three years after Joseph’s death, attitudes and teachings of some church leaders began to shift away from full inclusion of blacks, to partial exclusion—until only five years later, in 1852, President Brigham Young first publicly articulated a priesthood restriction on blacks in the church. In today’s episode of Church History Matters, we probe what exists in the historical record to learn what happened between 1847 and 1852 to precipitate this divergence in attitudes and teachings about blacks away from Joseph Smith’s more inclusive teachings and practices. We’ll then look at the context and content of Brigham Young’s first public articulation of the priesthood restriction and attempt to answer the very important question, “Was Brigham Young inspired by God to institute the priesthood ban, or is this an example of an uninspired error?” For show notes and transcript for this and other episodes go to https://doctrineandcovenantscentral.org/church-history-matters-podcast/

In the broader American culture in which Joseph Smith lived and led the growing Church of Jesus Christ, white attitudes and beliefs about the inferiority of black Africans dominated the scene. In this pre-Civil War context, exactly half of the states in the Union had legalized slavery and built their economies on it, while the other half did not. Yet fears were shared on both sides about what might happen to the country (and to the purity of the white race) if all slaves were set free and allowed to be social equals with whites—chief of which being the fear of inter-racial marriage. In this episode of Church History Matters, we take a close look at how Joseph Smith led the Church while navigating within this racially fraught culture, and what specific factors were at play as he did so. For instance, how did the expulsion of the saints from Jackson County, Missouri influence the Church’s approach to missionary work going forward? How did Joseph respond to Church members in the Northern United States who were calling for the excommunication of all slave holding Church members in the southern states? And how did Joseph’s public teachings on slavery change once Church headquarters moved to Nauvoo, Illinois and Church members were no longer in Missouri? And, importantly, did Joseph Smith ever implement or endorse any practices or policies which specifically prevented Church members with black African ancestry from fully participating in priesthood offices or temple worship? For show notes and transcript for this and other episodes go to https://doctrineandcovenantscentral.org/church-history-matters-podcast/

There was a season in our Church’s history when members with black African ancestry were unevenly barred from both priesthood and temple privileges. This overtly discriminatory practice is one of the most challenging aspects of our history and, for many, is one of the most difficult to understand. How could something like this happen in a Church led by living prophets and apostles? It’s a fair question. And the truth is, the answer is impossible to really get at without understanding the prevailing attitudes and beliefs about black Africans in the broader American culture at the time the Church was established and into the century that followed. In this episode of Church History Matters, we begin our series on Race and Priesthood by exploring the racial climate in antebellum America in the 1800’s and probing the three major factors responsible for how it got that way. For show notes and transcript for this and other episodes go to https://doctrineandcovenantscentral.org/church-history-matters-podcast/

Did Joseph Smith have any regrets about plural marriage? Like, with full hindsight, if he could go back and change anything about the way he implemented plural marriage, what might he do differently? Also, more and more people are denying that Joseph Smith ever practiced polygamy or that he lied about doing so. Is there even a shred of truth to either of these claims? Did Joseph ever send men on missions and marry their wives while they were gone? Were there any women who denied Joseph’s proposals for plural marriage? If so, what happened to them? What was Emma’s relationship to plural marriage after the saints left Nauvoo for Utah? And is there any truth to the idea that plural marriage exists because there are more faithful women than men? In today’s episode of Church History Matters we tackle all of these questions and more with our special guest, Dr. Brian Hales! For show notes and transcript for this and other episodes go to https://doctrineandcovenantscentral.org/church-history-matters-podcast/

In 1852, only eight years after Joseph Smith’s death, Church leaders in Utah publicly announced to the astonished world what some had suspected—that Latter-day Saints did indeed practice the principle of plural marriage. But now that it was out there in the open, it could be openly challenged and attacked. And it was. Relentlessly. For decades. In today’s episode of Church History Matters we’ll walk you through the history of how plural marriage came to a rocky end under the draconian legislation and crushing pressure of the United States government. We’ll dive into the George Reynolds trial, President Wilford Woodruff’s Manifesto, the Reed Smoot trials and the Second Manifesto, the resignation of the two members of the Quorum of the Twelve over this, the beginning of the FLDS Church, and more! For show notes and transcript for this and other episodes go to https://doctrineandcovenantscentral.org/church-history-matters-podcast/

In June and July of 1843 tensions ran high in the marriage of Joseph and Emma Smith. After she had tried but failed to embrace the principle of plural marriage earlier that May, and after Hyrum Smith had tried but failed to convince her of the rightness of plural marriage even with a copy of Doctrine and Covenants 132 in hand, records indicate that Emma became for a time rebellious, bitter, resentful, and angry. In fact from July through September of 1843 Emma became confrontational to Joseph’s other wives trying (sometimes successfully) to drive them away from him. In this episode of Church History Matters we dive into the details of this challenging time as well as the reconciliatory place Joseph and Emma ultimately seem to come to on this. We’ll also dig into how Joseph’s practice of plural marriage was a major factor behind the conspiracy which ultimately led to his martyrdom. For show notes and transcript for this and other episodes go to https://doctrineandcovenantscentral.org/church-history-matters-podcast/

As Joseph Smith quietly practiced plural marriage in Nauvoo in 1842 and 43, all was not well. Three people in particular complicated things for Joseph. The first was John C. Bennett, a highly gifted convert who’s meteoric rise to civic and church leadership in Nauvoo abruptly ended when he was exposed for his secret practice of “spiritual wifery,” which was nothing more or less than illicit serial adultery. Bennett’s defamatory opposition to Joseph after his excommunication was fierce and directly impacted Joseph’s own private practice of plural marriage. Surprisingly, Joseph’s own brother and member of the First Presidency, Hyrum Smith, was openly opposed to polygamy during this time and sought to use his influence to put down any hint of it in Nauvoo, all the while suspecting that his own brother and others of the apostles may be living it. Yet amidst his opposition, in one key moment, everything changed for Hyrum. Joseph’s wife Emma Smith was the third and most important person in his life to complicate his practice of plural marriage. Although she sought for a time to embrace it, Emma struggled mightily with this practice on many levels—to the point that it almost ended their marriage. In this episode of Church History Matters we discuss each of these three individuals—John C. Bennett, Hyrum, and Emma Smith—and how each factored in to the complexities and troubles of living plural marriage in Nauvoo. For show notes and transcript for this and other episodes go to https://doctrineandcovenantscentral.org/church-history-matters-podcast/

Did you know that Joseph Smith’s first attempt to obey the Lord’s command to him to practice plural marriage ended quite badly and ended up straining his relationships both with his first wife Emma and with his close friend Oliver Cowdery? And have you ever heard that Joseph was sealed to several women who already had living husbands? Was this a scandalous practice, or was something else going on? And have you heard that Joseph was also sealed to Helen Kimball, who was only 14 years old at the time? You might be both surprised and relieved to learn the reason behind this. And have you ever wondered if Joseph had any children with any of his other 35 wives besides Emma? In this episode of Church History Matters we do a deep dive into all of these topics and more as we trace Joseph Smith’s creative trial and error approach to personally living the practice of plural marriage, including some innovative uses of the sealing power to accomplish God’s will the best he understood it. For show notes and transcript for this and other episodes go to https://doctrineandcovenantscentral.org/church-history-matters-podcast/

Plural marriage—a form of religious polygamy (or polygyny to be technical)—is one of the most controversial and faith-challenging aspects of the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was difficult when it was first introduced in the early Church and, although it was discontinued over 130 years ago, it is still a difficult issue for many both within and outside of the Church to reckon with. So why was it introduced into the Church in the first place? When did Joseph Smith first learn that this practice would be restored? Why did he delay practicing it? How did he and others who were asked to live it initially respond? And what were the four theological reasons given by the Lord in the Doctrine and Covenants to justify the practice of plural marriage? In this episode of Church History Matters we explore the best sources to answer these and related questions. And while we know that learning the answers to these questions may not fully remove one’s wrestle with this issue, we believe it can sure help. For show notes and transcript for this and other episodes go to https://doctrineandcovenantscentral.org/church-history-matters-podcast/

The more carefully one studies the production process of the Book of Mormon, the more interesting the questions become. For example, since Joseph Smith never could read the original base language engraven on the plates, what did he mean when he said he “translated” the Book of Mormon? And was his translation best characterized as a “tight” translation, a “loose” translation, or something else entirely? And if the Book of Mormon was translated correctly the first time, why did Joseph Smith make changes and adjustments to the text for subsequent editions years later? Also, did Joseph translate with one seer stone or two? And just how common was seer stone use in New England in Joseph Smith’s day? And when did their use die off in both US and Church culture? In this episode of Church History Matters Scott and Casey sit down with Dr. Michael MacKay, one of the world’s foremost scholars on Seer Stones and the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, to discuss these and other great questions. For show notes and transcript for this and other episodes go to https://doctrineandcovenantscentral.org/church-history-matters-podcast/

Aside from the text of the Book of Mormon itself and a personal witness from God’s Spirit, what is the best evidence for the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon? Different people might answer this question in different ways, but in today’s episode of Church History Matters Casey and Scott propose that the very best external evidence for the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon is the collective testimony of the Three and Eight Witnesses. Their experiences appear to have been premeditated, anticipated, and orchestrated by God in order to help the rest of us have reason to pause and take seriously both Joseph Smith’s testimony and, most importantly, the primary evidence of the text of the Book of Mormon itself. In every copy of the Book of Mormon ever published, the written witnesses of these three and eight have been printed for all to consider. And it’s true that several of these eleven men either left the Church because of difficulties with Joseph Smith or were excommunicated from it, yet none of them ever denied the reality of their experience as a Book of Mormon witness. In this episode we discuss why this matters. For show notes and transcript for this and other episodes go to https://doctrineandcovenantscentral.org/church-history-matters-podcast/

What would you say if somebody told you that a 23 year old farm boy dictated to a scribe a sacred text of 531 pages while looking down at stones placed in the bottom of his hat? And what would you think if they then told you that this book was dictated and written in one pass—from beginning to end—in approximately 60 days without any punctuation and with little to no revising? And what if they then showed you countless examples of how this book contains a high degree of literary and semitic complexity, suggesting highly skilled and detail-oriented authors who wrote in ancient Hebrew writing forms? Would you be open to accepting the proposition that this book was the product of a genuine miracle? If so, you’re not alone. And if not, you’re also not alone. In fact, several alternative naturalistic theories about the Book of Mormon’s origins have been put forth by those who reject the possibility of the miraculous. In this episode we examine all of this—the speed of the Book of Mormon translation, the complexity of the text itself, and the naturalistic theories of the Book of Mormon’s origins. For show notes and transcript for this and other episodes go to https://doctrineandcovenantscentral.org/church-history-matters-podcast/

If we had video footage of the translation process of the Book of Mormon, what would we see? What would we actually watch Joseph Smith “do” during a translation session? Now of course we don’t have video footage, but we do have perhaps the next best thing—multiple eyewitness accounts of those who saw the process up close first hand. And what they said they saw was a decidedly non-secular, non-academic, one-of-a-kind translation method involving a young 22 and 23 year old Joseph looking at seer stones in a hat—a process many of these witnesses described as truly miraculous. In today’s episode we take a closer look at what we can know from the historical record about Joseph Smith’s translation process. We’ll also briefly explore the New England subculture in Joseph’s day in which some believed that people with certain spiritual gifts could use special objects—like seer stones or divining rods—to channel divine power to do things like find lost objects or find underground water sources. We’ll also discuss the fascinating details of what we know about how and when Joseph came upon two seer stones in addition to those that came with the plates and were bound together in silver bows, and what we know about his using these during the Book of Mormon translation. For show notes and more go to https://doctrineandcovenantscentral.org/church-history-matters-podcast/

After four years of waiting, learning, and personal refinement, 21 year old Joseph Smith was finally entrusted by the angel Moroni with the ancient record that for centuries had lain in waiting in a stone box embedded in a hill near his home. Recalling this time years later, Joseph said that almost as soon as he had received the plates “the most strenuous exertions were used to get them from me. Every stratagem that could be invented was resorted to for that purpose. The persecution became more bitter and severe than before, and multitudes were on the alert continually to get them from me if possible.” In today’s episode we take a closer look at what we know of these efforts to get the plates from Joseph and the surprising supernatural means his antagonists resorted to in their attempts to do so. We also dive into Joseph’s initial creative efforts in 1828 to get the record translated, including creating an Egyptian alphabet from the engravings on the plates, as well as sending Martin Harris to New York to recruit linguistic experts to help in translating the book. And although these secular translation efforts ultimately failed, the lessons learned through this experience continue to offer value to us today.

About three and a half years after his “first vision,” Joseph Smith experienced his “second vision.” It occurred on the evening of the 21st of September 1823 in Palmyra, New York, when Joseph was only seventeen years old. In this vision he met a stunning angelic messenger named Moroni who delivered an even more stunning message: that the preparatory work for the second coming of the Messiah was soon to commence, and that the fulness of the Gospel was soon to be preached in power to all nations to prepare a people for his Millennial reign and to fulfill an ancient covenant between God and the house of Israel. Joseph was informed by this messenger that there was a sacred record in the form of ancient plates buried in a hill near his home that was somehow connected to fulfilling this joyful news. In this episode we discuss Joseph’s second vision and explore the ups, the downs, and the insights of those preparatory years between his first meeting with Moroni at age 17 and when he was finally trusted with the sacred record at age 21. For show notes for this episode go to https://doctrineandcovenantscentral.org/church-history-matters-podcast/

The more carefully one studies Joseph Smith’s First Vision and the context of his world at that time, the more interesting the questions become. For example, if Joseph Smith saw God the Father and Jesus Christ in a vision, does that mean he didn’t actually see them in reality? And what are we to make of the fact that other people around the time of Joseph Smith’s vision also claimed to have had visions of God (many of whom were Methodists)? And how might the form of these Methodist conversion narratives at the time have impacted how Joseph Smith recorded his vision? Furthermore, what is the interplay between Joseph Smith’s memory of his First Vision and the various contexts in which he recalled it and recorded it? In this episode we sit down with Dr. Steven C. Harper, one of the world’s foremost scholars on Joseph Smith’s First Vision, to discuss these and other great questions.

Thousands of people heard Joseph Smith’s testimony first hand. Some of those testimonies included him telling about his First Vision experience. Some of those people who heard his witness wrote down the details of what they heard. Luckily, a few of those handwritten accounts have survived until today and some of them contain even more details about Joseph’s vision which add to our understanding of what happened in 1820 in the Sacred Grove in Palmyra, New York. In today's episode we explore three of these second hand accounts and then one bonus third-hand account which contains a significant detail that no other account ever mentions.

Did you know that the first time the story of Joseph Smith’s First Vision was ever printed was in a pamphlet written by apostle Orson Pratt and published in Scotland while Pratt was on a mission there in 1840? Intriguingly, Pratt's language from this pamphlet was used by Joseph Smith himself two years later, in 1842, when writing the story of his First Vision for a non-Latter-day Saint newspaper editor named John Wentworth. Pratt’s pamphlet also heavily influenced another insightful telling of Joseph’s vision written by his fellow apostle Orson Hyde which was published in Germany in 1842. In today's episode we dive into all three of these accounts.

In 1835, Joseph Smith shared his second recorded account of his First Vision with an eccentric visitor to Kirtland, Ohio who claimed to be a Jewish minister. How did this fact that Joseph believed he was speaking with a Jewish man shape and influence the details he chose to share and the language he used to tell about his experience? Also, three years later in 1838, after moving to Far West, Missouri in the aftermath of sever persecution in Ohio, Joseph began to record his official history with the help of several scribes, which begins with the account of his First Vision. What are the unique details of this account and why does it make sense to be the only “official” account of Joseph’s vision canonized in LDS scripture? And what are we to make of perhaps the most controversial line of this 1838 account where Jesus said of the Christian sects of the day that “they were all wrong” and “that all their creeds were an abomination” to him. What did this mean? And what did this NOT mean?

Joseph Smith’s First Vision is foundational to our narrative of the Restoration today, but it was not always so from the Church’s beginning. So how did the First Vision go from what began as a very personal experience of Joseph’s, to growing in institutional significance for the whole Church as it has today? Also, given that there are unique differences in Joseph Smith’s 4 separate accounts of his First Vision, what role does our personal “hermeneutic” play in how we make sense of these? And what might a letter Joseph wrote from Indiana to his wife Emma tell us about the context of his 1832 account of his vision?