Lawrence Foster

Why the Prophet is a Puzzle: The Challenges of Using Psychological Perspectives to Understand the Character and Motivation of Joseph Smith, Jr.

Dialogue 53.2 (Summer 2020): 1–35
This article will explore how one of the most open-ended psychological interpretations of Smith’s prophetic leadership and motivation might contribute to better understanding the trajectory of this extraordinarily talented and conflicted individual whose life has so deeply impacted the religious movement he founded and, increasingly, the larger world.

A Little-Known Defense of Polygamy from the Mormon Press in 1842

Dialogue 9.4 (Winter 1974): 21–34
Foster points out that in 1842 an unpublished pamphlet was written called “The Peace Maker” that expressed its support for polygamy. It is the first-known defense of polygamy before 1852.

Three Communities — Two Views | Louis J. Kern, An Ordered Love: Sex Roles and Sexuality in Victorian Utopias — the Shakers, the Mormons, and the Oneida Community

This study seeks to look analytically at the reorganization of sex roles and sexual expression in three of the most controversial religious movements of nineteenth-century America—the Shakers, who practiced celibacy; the Mormons, who introduced a…

A Personal Odyssey: My Encounter with Mormon History

For nearly a decade, the greater part of my waking hours has been spent in the study of Mormon history. In writing a dissertation at the University of Chicago and then a book dealing in…

Career Apostates: Reflections on the Works of Jerald and Sandra Tanner

For more than two decades, Jerald and Sandra Tanner have devoted I their lives to exposing and trying to destroy Mormonism. They have succeeded in upsetting Mormons of various persuasions, largely because of their abrasive…

The Psychology of Religious Genius: Joseph Smith and the Origins of New Religious Movements

Dialogue 26.4 (Winter 1993): 1–22
The analysis that follos is an admittedly speculative personal reflection on elements that need to be kept in mind in understanding the psychological dynamics of Joseph Smith’s creativity.

New Paradigms for Understanding Mormonism and Mormon History

Sex and Prophetic Power: A Comparison of John Humphrey Noyes with Joseph Smith, Jr.

Plural Marriage, Singular Lives: In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith by Todd Compton

The Psychology of Prophetic Charisma