Teachings of Joseph Smith
The teachings of Joseph Smith include a broad spectrum of religious doctrines as well as political and scientific ideas and theories, many of which he said were
Smith's teachings evolved over his lifetime until his
Nature of God
Historians have debated about Smith's early conception of God.[1] According to Dan Vogel and Thomas Alexander, in the early-to-mid-1830s Smith viewed God the Father as a spirit.[2] However, Terryl Givens and Brian Hauglid argue that although Smith sometimes spoke of God using trinitarian language, revelations he dictated as early as 1830 described God as an embodied being.[3] Catholic philosopher Stephen H. Webb describes Smith having had a "corporeal and anthropomorphic understanding of God" evinced in his 1830 Book of Moses that described God as a physical being who literally resembles humans.[4] Steven C. Harper states that because, in the 1830s, Smith privately described to some of his followers his 1820 first vision as a theophany of "two divine, corporeal beings," "its implications for the trinity and materiality of God were asserted that early".[5]
Over time, Smith widely and clearly articulated a belief that God was an advanced and glorified man,[6] embodied within time and space.[7][a] By 1841, he publicly taught that God the Father and Jesus were distinct beings with physical bodies.[9] Nevertheless, he conceived of the Holy Spirit as a "personage of Spirit".[10] Smith extended this materialist conception to all existence and taught that "all spirit is matter", meaning that a person's embodiment in flesh was not a sign of fallen carnality, but a divine quality that humans shared with deity. Humans are, therefore, not so much God's creations as they are God's "kin".[11] There is also considerable evidence that Smith taught, at least to limited audiences, that God the Father was accompanied by God the Mother.[12][b] In this conception, God fully understood is plural, embodied, gendered, and both male and female.[13]
Church organization and structure
Smith's teachings were rooted in dispensational restorationism.[14] He taught that the Church of Christ restored through him was a latter-day restoration of the early Christian faith, which had been lost in the Great Apostasy.[15] At first, Smith's church had little sense of hierarchy, and his religious authority was derived from his visions and revelations.[16] Though he did not claim exclusive prophethood, an early revelation designated him as the only prophet allowed to issue commandments "as Moses".[17] This religious authority included economic and political, as well as spiritual, matters. For instance, in the early 1830s, Smith temporarily instituted a form of religious communism, called the United Order, that required Latter Day Saints to give all their property to the church, to be divided among the faithful.[18]
Priesthood
By the mid-1830s, Smith began teaching a hierarchy of three priesthoods—the Melchizedek, the Aaronic, and the Patriarchal.[19] Each priesthood was a continuation of biblical priesthoods through lineal succession or through ordination by biblical figures appearing in visions.[16] Upon introducing the Melchizedek or "High" Priesthood in 1831, Smith taught that its recipients would be "endowed with power from on high", fulfilling a desire for a greater holiness and an authority commensurate with the New Testament apostles.[20]
Priesthood keys
Beginning in 1834, Smith began teaching the concept of priesthood "keys", and the requirement of literal priesthood ordination and a direct line of
Clergy
Whereas the Book of Mormon had required clergy to work independently and support themselves, Smith later dictated revelations providing for clergy following the New Testament model of traveling "without purse or scrip", meaning that they would work as full-time clergy and be supported solely by donations from the church or from those to whom they taught.[21]
Scripture and revelation
Book of Mormon
In 1830, Smith published the
Bible translation
Beginning later in 1830, Smith began producing a
Revelations
According to historian Richard Bushman, the "signal feature" of Smith's life was "his sense of being guided by revelation". Instead of presenting his ideas with logical arguments, Smith dictated authoritative scripture-like "revelations" and let people decide whether to believe,[27] doing so with what Peter Coviello calls "beguiling offhandedness".[28] Smith and his followers treated his revelations as being above teachings or opinions, and he acted as though he believed in his revelations as much as his followers.[29] [c] Smith's first recorded revelation was a rebuke chastising Smith for having let Martin Harris lose 116 pages of Book of Mormon manuscript.[30] The revelation was written as if God were talking rather than as a declaration mediated through Smith; subsequent revelations assumed a similar authoritative style, often opening with words such as, "Hearken O ye people which profess my name, saith the Lord your God."[31]
According to Smith's follower Parley P. Pratt, Smith dictated his revelations, which were recorded by a scribe without revisions or corrections.[32] Revelations were immediately copied and then circulated among church members. Smith's revelations often came in response to specific questions. He described the revelatory process as having "pure Intelligence" flowing into him. Smith, however, never viewed the wording to be infallible. The revelations were not God's words verbatim, but "couched in language suitable to Joseph's time".[33]
Many of Smith's teachings, such as the Word of Wisdom, were delivered as revelations. Others, however, were given in Smith's own voice. Smith gave varying types of revelations. Some were temporal, while others were spiritual or doctrinal. Some were received for a specific individual, while others were directed at the whole church. An 1831 revelation called "The Law" contained directions for missionary work, rules for organizing society in Zion, a reiteration of the Ten Commandments, an injunction to "administer to the poor and needy" and an outline for the law of consecration.[34] An 1832 revelation called "The Vision" added to the fundamentals of sin and atonement, and introduced doctrines of life after salvation, exaltation, and a heaven with degrees of glory.[35] Another 1832 revelation was the first to explain priesthood doctrine.[36] Three months later, Smith gave a lengthy revelation called the "Olive Leaf" that discussed subjects such as light, truth, intelligence, and sanctification. A related revelation, given in 1833, put Christ at the center of salvation.[37]
Publication
In 1833, Smith edited and expanded many of his previously dictated revelations, publishing them as the Book of Commandments, which later became part of the Doctrine and Covenants.[38]
Secular administration and commandments
Zion
The Book of Mormon spoke of a
Word of Wisdom
In 1833, at a time of
Consecration
In 1830, Smith taught a doctrine of voluntary religious egalitarianism known as the
Theodemocracy
Smith envisioned that the theocratic institutions he established would have a role in the worldwide political organization of the Millennium.[41]
Cosmology and Plan of salvation
Degrees of glory
Beginning in 1832, Smith taught a doctrine based on 1 Corinthians 15 known as the
Exaltation
Through the gradual acquisition of knowledge, according to Smith, those who received exaltation could eventually become like God.[42] These teachings implied a vast hierarchy of gods, with God himself having a father.[43] In Smith's cosmology, those who became gods would reign, unified in purpose and will, leading spirits of lesser capacity to share immortality and eternal life.[44]
In Smith's view, the opportunity to achieve exaltation extended to all humanity. Those who died with no opportunity to accept saving ordinances could achieve exaltation by accepting them in the afterlife through proxy ordinances performed on their behalf.[45] Smith said that children who died in their innocence would be guaranteed to rise at the resurrection and receive exaltation. Apart from those who committed the eternal sin, Smith taught that even the wicked and disbelieving would achieve a degree of glory in the afterlife.[46]
Theology of family
During the early 1840s, Smith unfolded a theology of family relations, called the "New and Everlasting Covenant", that superseded all earthly bonds.[47][d] He taught that outside the covenant, marriages were simply matters of contract, and that in the afterlife, individuals who were unmarried or who married outside the covenant would be limited in their progression towards Godhood.[48] To fully enter the covenant, a man and woman must participate in a "first anointing", a "sealing" ceremony, and a "second anointing" (also called "sealing by the Holy Spirit of Promise").[49] When fully sealed into the covenant, Smith said that no sin nor blasphemy (other than murder and apostasy[50]) could keep them from their exaltation in the afterlife.[51] According to a revelation Smith dictated, God appointed only one person on Earth at a time—in this case, Smith—to possess this power of sealing.[52] According to Smith, men and women needed to be sealed to each other in this new and everlasting covenant (also called "celestial marriage") in order to be exalted in heaven after death and that such celestial marriage, perpetuated across generations, could reunite extended families of ancestors and descendants in the afterlife.[53]
Polygamy
Plural marriage, or polygamy, was Smith's "most famous innovation", according to historian Matthew Bowman.[54] Once Smith introduced polygamy, it became part of his "Abrahamic project," in the phrasing of historian Benjamin Park, wherein the solution to humanity's chaos would be found through accepting the divine order of the cosmos, under God's authority, in a "fusion of ecclesiastical and civic authority".[55] Smith also taught that the highest level of exaltation could be achieved through polygamy, the ultimate manifestation of the New and Everlasting Covenant.[56][e] In Smith's theology, marrying in polygamy made it possible for practitioners to unlearn the Christian tradition which identified the physical body as carnal, and to instead recognize their embodied joy as sacred.[57] Smith also taught that the practice allowed an individual to transcend the angelic state and become a god, accelerating the expansion of one's heavenly kingdom.[58]
There is wide evidence that Smith practiced
Although it has been alleged that Smith may have had children by his wives other than Emma (most historians believe he married at least thirty-three women, and probably as many as forty-eight), DNA investigations in three cases have established that their biological fathers were Smith's wives' other husbands. The DNA research, so far, has failed to confirm Smith's paternity for any children other than those borne by his legal spouse, Emma.[61]
Most historians accept "sealing" records (in many cases notarized) as evidence that Smith taught and practiced polygamy. The records are supported by personal journals and diaries maintained by Smith's followers. These sources indicate that, though the doctrine was not widely taught during Smith's life, marriages of this type were performed for select members of the church in the early 1830s. Smith was married (sealed) to several dozen women, both during his life and by proxy after his death, though the records are incomplete. Evidence suggests that he may have cohabited only with his first wife, Emma, and she was the only one known with certainty to have borne his children. Historian Todd Compton notes that Smith's practices included elements of both polygyny and polyandry.[62]
Temples
During Smith's time in Kirtland, he instructed his followers to construct a temple as a "house of God." Later, the Nauvoo Temple was promoted as a place for recovering lost ancient knowledge.[63]
Endowment ceremony
On May 3, 1842,
Baptism for the dead
Smith first taught the doctrine of baptism the dead at the funeral sermon of a church member, Seymour Brunson.[66] Smith later expanded upon this doctrine and stated that such baptisms are to be performed only in temples.[67] Vicarious baptism is performed in connection with other vicarious ordinances in temples of the LDS Church, such as the endowment and celestial marriage.
Ethics and behavior
A succinct statement of ethics by Smith is found in his 13th Article of Faith:
We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.[68]
Smith said his ethical rule was, "When the Lord commands, do it".[69]
He also taught:
that which is wrong under one circumstance, may be and often is, right under another. God said thou shalt not kill—at another time he said thou shalt utterly destroy. This is the principle on which the government of heaven is conducted—by revelation adapted to the circumstances in which the elders of the kingdom are placed. Whatever God requires is right ... even things which may be considered abominable to all those who do not understand the order of heaven.[70]
Beginning in the mid-1830s and into the 1840s, as the Mormon people became involved in conflicts with the Missouri and Illinois state governments, Smith taught that "Congress has no power to make a law that would abridge the rights of my religion," and that they were not under the obligation to follow laws they deemed as being contrary to their "religious privilege".[71] Smith may have thus felt justified in promoting polygamy despite its violation of some traditional ethical standards.[72]
Political views
While
To protect U.S. business and agriculture, Smith favored high tariffs and a publicly-owned central national bank with democratically elected officers that would print currency but "never issue any more bills than the amount of capital stock in her vaults and the interest".[78][79] He opposed imprisonment for debt or as a criminal penalty (except in the case of murder), recommended abolishing courts-martial for military deserters, and encouraged citizens to petition their state leaders to pardon all convicts.[78][80] He suggested that courts instead sentence convicts to labor on public works projects, such as road building, and he argued that providing education would make prisons obsolete.[81] He also advocated capital punishment for public officials who failed to aid people whose constitutional rights had been abridged.[78]
Smith declared that he would be one of the instruments in fulfilling Nebuchadnezzar's statue vision in the Book of Daniel: that secular government would be destroyed without bloodshed, and would be replaced with a "theodemocratic" Kingdom of God.[82] He taught that this kingdom would be governed by theocratic principles, but that it would also be multi-denominational and democratic, so long as the people chose wisely.[83]
Slavery and race
Smith held differing positions on the issue of
However, biographer Donna Hills notes that Smith's "feelings were complex...and cannot be neatly classified as liberal."[87] Smith did not support black self-government[88] and opposed interracial marriage.[89] Although he welcomed black Americans, enslaved and free, into church membership,[90] he instructed his followers not to baptize slaves without permission of their enslavers.[91] He once said that black people "came into the world as slaves" but that this was a situational condition of enslavement rather than a permanent characteristic, and that black Americans were as capable of education as white Americans.[89]
Smith and other early Mormons believed racial division was a temporary estrangement of an initially united human family, and they considered Smith's religious movement a divinely ordained way to restore humanity to its original relationship.[92] However, they envisioned this unity in terms of a "white universalism" in which people of color and indigenous people would assimilate into whiteness and "overcome the legacy of spiritual inferiority of the cursed lineages" into which Smith and his followers believed people of color were born.[93][f]
See also
- Articles of Faith (Latter Day Saints)
- Wentworth Letter
- Prophecies of Joseph Smith
- Mormonism#Theology
- Latter Day Saint movement#Beliefs
- Mormonism and Nicene Christianity
Notes
- ^ According to Smith's teachings, God's throne is situated near a star or planet named Kolob[8]
- JSTOR 43042019
- ^ Vogel (2004, p. viii, xvii) argues that Smith believed he was called of God, but occasionally engaged in fraudulent activities to preach God's word more effectively; and that Smith's private beliefs were revealed through his revelations.
- ISBN 978-1-62972-888-9. Archived from the original on December 18, 2022.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location (link - ^ Bushman (2005, p. 443) explains that it was only later that Latter-day Saints interpreted Smith's 1843 revelation on "celestial marriage" as applying exaltation to both polygamy and monogamy. However, see Hales (2013, pp. 3: 191–194) for a contrary interpretation holding that although Smith taught that God commanded Latter-day Saints to practice polygamy in his time, "there is no known evidence that Joseph Smith taught that all men and women, irrespective of the time and place they existed, must practice plural marriage in order to be exalted"; for this, see also Foster, Craig L. "Doctrine and Covenants Section 132 and Joseph Smith's Expanding Concept of Family". Persistence of Polygamy. p. 96, in Bringhurst & Foster (2010, pp. 87–98)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: postscript (link) - ^ This belief in "cursed lineages" was related to a racist biblical interpretation, popular in early America, which held that Noah had placed a hereditary curse on Ham's son Canaan and that Canaan and Ham were the ancestors of people of Black African descent. See Mueller (2017, pp. 15–16).
Citations
This section has an unclear citation style. The reason given is: Some of these citations put a surname and a publication date, but no book/article/magazine/publisher name, nor any other identifying information. No reliable information for article verification. (March 2014) |
- S2CID 171908868– via Scholarly Publishing Collective
- ^ Vogel, Dan (1989). "The Earliest Mormon Conception of God". Line Upon Line, in Bergera (1989, pp. 17–33)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: postscript (link); Alexander, Thomas (1989). "The Reconstruction of Mormon Doctrine: From Joseph Smith to Progressive Theology". Line Upon Line. p. 53, in Bergera (1989, pp. 53–66){{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: postscript (link) - ^ Givens & Hauglid (2019, p. 73)
- ^ Webb (2011, p. 254)
- ^ Harper (2019, p. 55)
- ^ Widmer (2000, p. 119); Alexander, Thomas (1989). "The Reconstruction of Mormon Doctrine: From Joseph Smith to Progressive Theology". Line Upon Line. p. 59, in Bergera (1989, pp. 53–66)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: postscript (link); Bloom (1992, p. 101) - ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 421); Bloom (1992, p. 101)
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 455)
- ^ Remini (2002, p. 106); Givens (2014, p. 95); Coviello (2019, p. 59)
- JSTOR 43039922 – via JSTOR; Givens (2014, p. 96)
- ^ Coviello (2019, pp. 65–68)
- JSTOR 43044842
- S2CID 247971894.
- ^ Brooke (1994, p. 33)
- ^ Remini (2002, p. 84)
- ^ a b Quinn (1994, p. 7)
- ^ Quinn (1994, pp. 7–8); Bushman (2005, pp. 121, 175); Phelps (1833, p. 67)
- ^ Brodie (1971, pp. 106, 112, 121–22)
- ^ Quinn (1994, pp. 27–34); Bushman (2005, pp. 264–65)
- ^ Brodie (1971, p. 111); Bushman (2005, pp. 156–60); Quinn (1994, pp. 31–32); Prince (1995, pp. 19, 115–116, 119)
- ^ Phelps (1833, pp. 55–57).
- ^ Years later, Smith would state that "the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion Mormonism, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book."
- ^ Widmer, Kurt (2000), Mormonism and the Nature of God: A Theological Evolution, 1830-1915, Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, p. 6 .
- ^ Alma 31:36 (a high priest clapped his hands those listening to his sermon, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit); Moroni 2:2 (a set of Native American apostles of Jesus were given power for the laying on of hands)
- ^ This is widely viewed by secular scholars as an opposition to Freemasonry, although years later Smith would become a Freemason himself.
- ^ A later reinforcement of that teaching: Sermon given by Joseph Smith, Jr., March 20, 1842, Nauvoo, Illinois, in a grove on the west side of the Temple ("all men will come from the grave as they lie down; whether old or young, there will not be added unto their stature one cubit, neither taken from it.").
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. xxi)
- ^ Coviello (2019, p. 59)
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. xxi,173)
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 69); Vogel (2004, pp. 128–129); Brodie (1971, pp. 55–57)
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. xx, 129)
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 130)
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 174)
- ^ Brodie (1971, pp. 106–7); "D&C 42".
- ^ Brodie (1971, pp. 117–18); "D&C 76".
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 202–205); "D&C 84".
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 205–212); "D&C 93".
- ^ Quinn (1994, pp. 5–6, 9, 15–17, 26, 30, 33, 35, 38–42, 49, 70–71, 88, 198); Brodie (1971, p. 141)
- ^ Brodie (1971, p. 166); Bushman (2005, pp. 212–213); "D&C 89".
- ^ Brodie (1971, p. 289); Bushman (2005, p. 213); Ostling & Ostling (1999, pp. 177–78)
- ^ Quinn (1994, pp. 111–12, 115)
- ^ Larson (1978, pp. 201, 205); Widmer (2000, p. 119)
- ^ Widmer (2000, p. 119); Bushman (2005, pp. 535, 544)
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 455–56, 535–37)
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 422)
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 199)
- ^ Foster (1981, pp. 161–62)
- ^ Foster (1981, p. 145)
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 497–98); Brooke (1994, pp. 256–57)
- ^ Brooke (1994, p. 257)
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 497–98)
- ^ Davenport (2022, p. 143), quoting D&C 132:7.
- ^ Foster, Craig L. "Doctrine and Covenants Section 132 and Joseph Smith's Expanding Concept of Family". Persistence of Polygamy, in Bringhurst & Foster (2010, pp. 87–98)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: postscript (link) - ISBN 978-0-19-932917-5.
- ^ Park (2020, pp. 91–92, 105, 153)
- ^ Foster (1981, pp. 206–11); Compton (1997, pp. 11, 22–23); Smith (2008, pp. 356); Brooke (1994, p. 255); Brodie (1971, p. 300)
- ^ Coviello (2019, pp. 56–57, 68–69, 82–88)
- ^ Bloom (1992, p. 105); Foster (1981, p. 145); Brodie (1971, p. 300); Coviello (2019, pp. 56–57)
- ^ name=quinn
- Roberts, Brigham Henry (ed.). History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Vol. 2. Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company. Retrieved 15 June 2009.) Provided by BYU Studies. Published in book form under the direction of the First Presidency in 1902
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link
Tandy, Jon. "Differences between the RLDS and LDS Doctrine and Covenants on the subject of Marriage". Retrieved December 26, 2008.{{cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires|journal=
(help)
These citations refer to Section 101:4 of the 1835 Kirtland Edition, section CIX in the 1844 Nauvoo Edition and Section 111 in the 1950 Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints version. They reads: "Inasmuch as this church of Christ has been reproached with the crime of fornication, and polygamy: we declare that we believe, that one man should have one wife; and one woman, but one husband." This section was removed from the LDS Church's publication of the Doctrine and Covenants in 1876 along with the insertion of Section 132 describing the new and everlasting covenant, including the plurality of wives. (D&C 132 Intro) - Molecular Genealogy Research Project.
- ^ In Sacred Loneliness, pp. 15-16.
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 448–49); Park (2020, pp. 57–61)
- ^ Anderson and Bergera, 2
- ^ John D. Charles. (2004). Endowed from on high: Understanding the symbols of the endowment. Springfield, UT: Horizon Publishers.
- ISBN 0-910523-39-8.
- ^ Doctrine and Covenants Covenant 124:29, Covenant 127:5-10 and Covenant 128
- ^ See the Thirteenth Article of Faith.
- ^ Roberts (1904, p. 170); Bushman (2005, p. 441)
- ^ Quinn (1994, p. 112) (quoting a letter Smith wrote to Nancy Rigdon after she had rejected his proposal of polygamous marriage); Ostling & Ostling (1999, p. 65).
- ^ Quinn (1994, p. 88).
- ^ Quinn (1994, pp. 88–89).
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 377)
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 522)
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 516)
- ^ McBride (2021, p. 97)
- ^ McBride (2021, p. 97); Bushman (2005, p. 516)
- ^ JSTOR 45224011– via JSTOR.
- ^ McBride (2021, pp. 101–102)
- ^ McBride (2021, pp. 103–104)
- ^ McBride (2021, pp. 104–105)
- ^ Brodie (1971, pp. 356–57); Bushman (2005, p. 521); Bloom (1992, p. 90)
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 522–23)
- ^ McBride (2021, p. 98); Park (2020, p. 70); Harris & Bringhurst (2015, p. 1)
- ^ Bushman (2005, pp. 289, 327–28); Harris & Bringhurst (2015, pp. 21–22); Hill (1977, pp. 380–383); Brodie (1971, pp. 173, 212)
- ^ Hill (1977, p. 384); Harris & Bringhurst (2015, pp. 27–28); McBride (2021, p. 99)
- ^ Hill (1977, p. 383)
- ^ Hill (1977, pp. 384–385)
- ^ a b Bushman (2005, p. 289)
- ^ Bushman (2005, p. 289); Harris & Bringhurst (2015, p. 19); Mueller (2017, p. 28)
- ^ Harris & Bringhurst (2015, p. 17)
- ^ Mueller (2017, pp. 34–35, 38, 91)
- ^ Mueller (2017, pp. 28–29, 39)
References
- Anderson, Lavina Fielding, ed. (2001). Lucy's Book: A Critical Edition of Lucy Mack Smith's Family Memoir. Salt Lake City, UT: Signature Books.
- Arrington, Leonard; Bitton, Davis (1979). The Mormon Experience: A History of the Latter-day Saints. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-394-46566-0..
- Avery, V.T.; Newell, L.K. (1980). "The Lion and the Lady: Brigham Young and Emma Smith". Utah Historical Quarterly. 48 (1): 81–97. S2CID 254428549. Archived from the originalon October 21, 2013. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
- Bergera, Gary James, ed. (1989). Line Upon Line: Essays on Mormon Doctrine. Salt Lake City, UT: Signature Books. ISBN 0-941214-69-9.
- ISBN 978-0-671-67997-2.
- Bringhurst, Newell G.; Foster, Craig L., eds. (2010). The Persistence of Polygamy: Joseph Smith and the Origins of Mormon Polygamy. Independence, MO: John Whitmer Books. ISBN 978-1-934901-13-7.
- ISBN 0-394-46967-4.
- Brooke, John L. (1994). The Refiner's Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology, 1644–1844. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-34545-6.
- Bushman, Richard Lyman (2004). Neilson, Reid L.; Woodworth, Jed (eds.). Believing History: Latter-day Saint Essays. New York, NY: ISBN 0-231-13006-6.
- ISBN 1-4000-4270-4.
- Bushman, Richard Lyman (2008). Mormonism: A Very Short Introduction. ISBN 978-0-19-531030-6.
- ISBN 1-56085-085-X.
- Coviello, Peter (2019). Make Yourselves Gods: Mormons and the Unfinished Business of American Secularism. Class 200. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-47433-5.
- Davenport, Stewart (2022). Sex and Sects: The Story of Mormon Polygamy, Shaker Celibacy, and Oneida Complex Marriage. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press. ISBN 978-0-8139-4705-1.
- Easton-Flake, Amy; Cope, Rachel (2020). "Reconfiguring the Archive: Women and the Social Production of the Book of Mormon". In MacKay, Michael Hubbard; Ashurst-McGee, Mark; Hauglid, Brian M. (eds.). Producing Ancient Scripture: Joseph Smith's Translation Projects in the Development of Mormon Christianity. Salt Lake City, UT: University of Utah Press. pp. 105–134. ISBN 978-1-60781-743-7.
- Foster, Lawrence (1981). Religion and Sexuality: The Shakers, the Mormons, and the Oneida Community. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-252-01119-1.
- Givens, Terryl L. (2014). Wrestling the Angel: The Foundations of Mormon Thought: Cosmos, God, Humanity. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-979492-8.
- Givens, Terryl; Hauglid, Brian M. (2019). The Pearl of Greatest Price: Mormonism's Most Controversial Scripture. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. OL 28940280M.
- Gutjahr, Paul C. (2012). The Book of Mormon: A Biography. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-14480-1.
- Hales, Brian C. (2013). Joseph Smith's Polygamy. Vol. 1–3. With the assistance of Don Bradley. Salt Lake City, UT: Greg Kofford.
- Harper, Steven C. (2019). First Vision: Memory and Mormon Origins. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-932947-2.
- Harris, Matthew L.; Bringhurst, Newell G., eds. (2015). The Mormon Church and Blacks: A Documentary History. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-09784-3.
- Hill, Donna (1977). Joseph Smith: The First Mormon. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co. ISBN 0-385-00804-X.
- ISBN 978-0-941214-70-4.
- ISBN 978-0-19-507894-7.
- OCLC 10395314.
- Jortner, Adam (2022). No Place for Saints: Mobs and Mormons in Jacksonian America. Witness to History. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-1-4214-4176-4.
- JSTOR 43040756.
- Mack, Solomon (1811). A Narraitve [sic] of the Life of Solomon Mack. Windsor, VT: Solomon Mack. OCLC 15568282.
- Marquardt, H. Michael; ISBN 1-56085-108-2.
- Marquardt, H. Michael (1999). The Joseph Smith Revelations: Text and Commentary. Salt Lake City, UT: Signature Books. ISBN 978-1-56085-126-4.
- Marquardt, H. Michael (2005). The Rise of Mormonism: 1816–1844. Grand Rapids, MI: Xulon Press. ISBN 1-59781-470-9.
- McBride, Spencer W. (2021). Joseph Smith for President: The Prophet, the Assassins, and the Fight for American Religious Freedom. New York, NY: ISBN 978-0-19-090941-3.
- Mueller, Max Perry (2017). Race and the Making of the Mormon People. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-1-4696-3375-6– via Project MUSE.
- ISBN 0-252-06291-4.
- ISBN 0-252-00554-6.
- ISBN 0-06-066371-5.
- Park, Benjamin E. (2020). Kingdom of Nauvoo: The Rise and Fall of a Religious Empire on the American Frontier. New York, NY: Liveright. ISBN 978-1-324-09110-3.
- Persuitte, David (2000). Joseph Smith and the Origins of the Book of Mormon. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co. ISBN 0-7864-0826-X.
- OCLC 77918630. Archived from the originalon May 20, 2012. Retrieved October 11, 2005.
- Prince, Gregory A (1995). Power From On High: The Development of Mormon Priesthood. Salt Lake City, UT: Signature Books. ISBN 1-56085-071-X.
- ISBN 1-56085-056-6.
- ISBN 1-56085-089-2.
- ISBN 0-670-03083-X.
- Roberts, B. H. (1904). History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Salt Lake City, Utah: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
- Shipps, Jan (1985). Mormonism: The Story of a New Religious Tradition. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-01417-0.
- Smith, George D. (1994). "Nauvoo Roots of Mormon Polygamy, 1841–46: A Preliminary Demographic Report" (PDF). S2CID 254329894.
- Smith, George D (2008). Nauvoo Polygamy: "... But We Called It Celestial Marriage". Salt Lake City, UT: Signature Books. ISBN 978-1-56085-201-8.
- Smith, Joseph Jr. (1830). The Book of Mormon: An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon, Upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi. Palmyra, New York, NY: E. B. Grandin. OCLC 768123849. See Book of Mormon.
- Smith, Joseph Jr. (1832). "History of the Life of Joseph Smith". In ISBN 1-57345-787-6.
- Smith, Joseph Jr.; OCLC 18137804. See Doctrine and Covenants.
- The History of Joseph Smith by His Mother
- Turner, John G. (2012). Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet. Cambridge, MA: OCLC 894538617 – via Internet Archive.
- Ulrich, Laurel Thatcher (2017). A House Full of Females: Plural Marriage and Women's Rights in Early Mormonism, 1835–1870. New York, NY: ISBN 978-0-307-74212-4.
- S2CID 254395171.
- ISBN 978-0-941214-79-7.
- ISBN 1-56085-179-1.
- ISBN 978-0-19-982795-4.
- Widmer, Kurt (2000). Mormonism and the Nature of God: A Theological Evolution, 1830–1915. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-0776-7.