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Prophets

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Joseph Fielding Smith—The Kindly, Helpful Scholar

Many published works of Church history and doctrine testify to the scholarship and direct literary style of the late, tenth President of the Church, President Joseph Fielding Smith. Those who were privileged to use the…

A Convert Discovers a Prophet

When I encountered missionaries from the Church two years ago, they questioned me as to the need for prophets, both ancient and modern. At that time I was a student in a Catholic College preparing…

The Love of a Prophet

Joseph Fielding Smith is a name that has been known to the Latter-day Saints for well over sixty years. His leadership and counsel have been manifest in the leading councils of the Church since his…

The Passing of a Prophet

The ancients of light radiating wisdom on wings of eagles break through the sky in a surge of compassion: 

In the Milestones section of Time 
Magazine a few cramped words: “Died, Harold B. Lee,
President of the Church 
of Jesus Christ 
of Latter-day Saints”

Harold B. Lee: An Appreciation, Both Historical and Personal

When I was asked by Dialogue to write something in memory of President Harold B. Lee, my thought immediately went in two directions: the impact President Lee had upon the Church, and the influence he…

A Prophet Is Dead: A Prophet Lives

A man of men to 
thee, a seer of thine to men 
lived here; lives; shall live. 

Apostle Extraordinary: Hugh B. Brown (1883-1975)

When Elder Hugh B. Brown (the B also stands for Brown) passed from this stage of his eternal existence on December 2, 1975, the Church lost a remarkable leader. For a generation of Latter-day Saints…

A Mormon and a Prophet | Sidney Hyman, Marriner S. Eccles: Private Entrepreneur and Public Servant

“Marriner Eccles was American economic history,” says G. L. Bach in the foreword to this enlightening biography. Eccles’ life was an “extraordinary encapsulation in one man of the explosive changes” in business and government from…

Sensational Virtue: Nineteenth-Century Mormon Fiction and American Popular Taste

Before 1900, novels about Mormons ranged from the amateurish to the slick, from the scurrilous to the rather even-handed, from the realistic to the wildly imaginary. Their one common thread was that almost all of…

The Word of Wisdom: From Principle to Requirement

The status of the Word of Wisdom at the turn of the century is evident from contemporary sources. At a meeting on May 5,1898, the First Presidency and Twelve discussed the Word of Wisdom. One…

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In defense of Joseph Fielding Smith 1876 – 1972

The Secular Binary of Joseph Smith’s Translations

Dialogue 54.3 (Fall 2021): 1–40
The debate about Joseph Smith’s translations have primarily assumed that the translation was commensurable and focuses upon theories of authorial involvement of Joseph Smith.

Matthew L. Harris, ed., Thunder from the Right: Ezra Taft Benson in Mormonism and Politics

Worthy of Their Hire? Mormon Leaders’ Relationship with Wealth D. Michael Quinn. The Mormon Hierarchy: Wealth and Corporate Power.

Authority and Priesthood in the LDS Church, Part 2: Ordinances, Quorums, Nonpriesthood Authority, Presiding, Priestesses, and Priesthood Bans

Dialogue 51.1 (Spring 2018): 167–180
In the prequel to this article, I discussed in general contours the dual nature of authority—individual and institutional—and how the modern LDS concept of priesthood differs significantly from the ancient version in that it has become an abstract form of authority that can be “held” (or withheld, as the case might be).

Authority and Priesthood in the LDS Church, Part 1: Definitions and Development

Dialogue 51.1 (Spring 2018): 167–180
The issue of authority in Mormonism became painfully public with the rise of the Ordain Women movement.

“The Perfect Union of Man and Woman”: Reclamation and Collaboration in Joseph Smith’s Theology Making

Dialogue 49.1 (Spring 2016): 1–26
Central to Joseph’s creative energies was a profound commitment to an ideal of cosmic as well as human collaboration. His personal mode of leadership increasingly shifted from autocratic to collaborative—and that mode infused both his most radical theologizing and his hopes for Church comity itself.

President David O. McKay: 1873-1970: President McKay As a Neighbor

My grandfather used to say “There’s lots and lots of ‘man-ism’ in Mor monism.” Often we see President McKay and we think and talk of him as the prophet. I grew up in the same little valley in Northern Utah where he was from, and we saw him and thought of him as a man, of the real things he did as our neighbor. 

President David O. McKay: 1873-1970: On Shaking Hands with David O. McKay

There were advantages and disadvantages to living across the street from Brother and Sister McKay. On Sunday we couldn’t play football in the street because there was always the possibility that President David O. McKay…

President David O. McKay: 1873-1970: The Prophet is Dead

The prophet is dead. Feeling a special quiet in the chapel this morning I sensed others were experiencing his going too. What did this mean to me? Why my tears and sorrow? Surely he was…

President David O. McKay: 1873-1970: Reflections on the Ministry of President David O. McKay

It is not difficult to identify the large difference that President McKay has made in the character and historical movement of the Church. I refer to the obvious fact that especially during the period of…

President David O. McKay: 1873-1970: “When Spirit Speaks to Spirit”

The deep sense of sorrow that I felt upon hearing of the passing of the prophet was incurred not because of any direct relationship I’ve had with him, nor was it the type of remorse…

President David O. McKay: 1873-1970: A Man of Love and Personal Concern

I have had but few opportunities to come close to David O. McKay, but each time has proved to be personal, memorable, and cherished deeply. I have sensed that I have had a rare opportunity in…

President David O. McKay: 1873-1970: Tribute to President David O. McKay

I do not hesitate and without reservation repeat from this remote end of the big wide world the very often heard expression from the lips of about three million people who have accepted the message…

President David O. McKay: 1873-1970: My Memories of President David O. McKay

My first recollection of David O. McKay is a sermon he gave in a Sacrament Meeting which led me as a teenager to engage in critical self-examination and to leave the meeting with high resolve. …

Willard Young: The Prophet’s Son at West Point

A common object of humor among visitors to Mormon Country in the nineteenth century was the large number of children. Many travellers’ accounts contain a version of the story of Brigham Young’s encounter with a…

Spiritual Problems in the Teaching of Modern Literature

There are certain problems which a Mormon must cope with in teaching any secular literature. What does he do, for example, with a literary work which expresses ideas and attitudes in opposition to his theology?…

God and Man in History

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sees both God and man in a temporal, that i§^ historical,’ context, but it has developed no authoritative, systematic statement of the philosophical implications of historical relationships. It has no official philosophy of history. What follows, therefore, are simply reflections on some problems which relate to the religious affirmations of the L.D.S. people and a tentative approach to my personal philosophy of history. 

The Reorganization in the Twentieth Century

On April 15, 1972 the Mormon History Association held a notable convention at Independence, Missouri. Some 130 members and friends of the Association visited historic Mormon sites and heard discourses from scholars representing both the…

Revolution and Mormonism in Asia: What the Church Might Offer a Changing Society

Asia is a land of revolution, a land where a complex of revolutions are inter related in such a way that one phase is not understood independent of the others, nor of the traditions from which they stem. These revolutionary trends are creating rapid changes throughout Asian society, one of which is a search for a new stability, and this greatly influences the development of Mormonism in Asia, including the kinds of people it attracts and its relative success or failure in sustaining activity and building a strong organization. 

Three Myths About Mormons in Latin America

For the most part, Mormons have been a socially homogeneous people. True, the initial Anglo-American stock was reinforced from time to time by immigrants from Western Europe, but these converts were quickly absorbed into the Church’s social and cultural mainstream. Although successful missions were established among the Indians and especially among the Polynesians, it was nevertheless the English-speaking white Americans who gave the Church its leadership and set the tone of its culture.

Mormons in the Third Reich: 1933-1945

The experience of the Church in non-American countries has not always been easy. In Germany in the 1930’s, for example, the Hitler regime viewed the Mormon Church as an American institution and therefore open to…

Moderation in All Things: Political and Social Outlooks of Modern Urban Mormons

Perhaps the most difficult kind of analysis that scholars may presume to make is that of presenting attitudes of people toward various ideas. Any poll can be affected by weakness in the sampling technique, by…

Reed Smoot, The L.D.S. Church and Progressive Legislation, 1903-1933

If J. Reuben Clark, Jr., will be remembered largely for his involvement in international affairs, another Mormon leader, Reed Smoot, is notable for his contribution both to international relations and domestic American affairs. In 1902,…

J. Reuben Clark, Jr.: Political Isolationism Revisited

Modern Mormonism takes just pride in having produced many men and women of distinction in politics, education, science and the arts. One of these was J. Reuben Clark, Jr., international lawyer, career diplomat, and from…

The Twentieth Century: Challenge for Mormon Historians

This year (1972), the Mormon Church is 142 years old, which means that 71 years of its history, or fully half its life, has taken place in the twentieth century. Its written history, on the…

Joseph Fielding Smith: Faithful Historian

“To record as truth that which is false, and to palm off as facts that which is fiction degrades [the writer], insults his readers, and outrages his profession.”—Joseph Fielding Smith Joseph Fielding Smith began his service in the…

From Someone Who Did Not Know Him Well

Throughout my life images of Joseph Fielding Smith come and go, connected somehow with that of my grandfather who, stern before I was born, gradually mellowed until he ended up raising a grandchild with a…

The Discomforter: Some Personal Memories of Joseph Fielding Smith

I was about twelve when I first met President and Sister Smith. They had come to visit the Thirty-Third Ward, Bonneville Stake, and the family of my pal, Doug Myers, my bishop’s son and President…

A Tribute to President Joseph Fielding Smith

As many people have remarked, President Joseph Fielding Smith was a man without guile. He presented every question exactly as he saw it and accepted the consequences of his position whether they were pleasant or…

Joseph Fielding Smith—The Kindly, Helpful Scholar

Many published works of Church history and doctrine testify to the scholarship and direct literary style of the late, tenth President of the Church, President Joseph Fielding Smith. Those who were privileged to use the…

A Convert Discovers a Prophet

When I encountered missionaries from the Church two years ago, they questioned me as to the need for prophets, both ancient and modern. At that time I was a student in a Catholic College preparing…

The Love of a Prophet

Joseph Fielding Smith is a name that has been known to the Latter-day Saints for well over sixty years. His leadership and counsel have been manifest in the leading councils of the Church since his…

The Passing of a Prophet

The ancients of light radiating wisdom on wings of eagles break through the sky in a surge of compassion: 

In the Milestones section of Time 
Magazine a few cramped words: “Died, Harold B. Lee,
President of the Church 
of Jesus Christ 
of Latter-day Saints”

Harold B. Lee: An Appreciation, Both Historical and Personal

When I was asked by Dialogue to write something in memory of President Harold B. Lee, my thought immediately went in two directions: the impact President Lee had upon the Church, and the influence he…

A Prophet Is Dead: A Prophet Lives

A man of men to 
thee, a seer of thine to men 
lived here; lives; shall live. 

Apostle Extraordinary: Hugh B. Brown (1883-1975)

When Elder Hugh B. Brown (the B also stands for Brown) passed from this stage of his eternal existence on December 2, 1975, the Church lost a remarkable leader. For a generation of Latter-day Saints…

A Mormon and a Prophet | Sidney Hyman, Marriner S. Eccles: Private Entrepreneur and Public Servant

“Marriner Eccles was American economic history,” says G. L. Bach in the foreword to this enlightening biography. Eccles’ life was an “extraordinary encapsulation in one man of the explosive changes” in business and government from…

Sensational Virtue: Nineteenth-Century Mormon Fiction and American Popular Taste

Before 1900, novels about Mormons ranged from the amateurish to the slick, from the scurrilous to the rather even-handed, from the realistic to the wildly imaginary. Their one common thread was that almost all of…

The Word of Wisdom: From Principle to Requirement

The status of the Word of Wisdom at the turn of the century is evident from contemporary sources. At a meeting on May 5,1898, the First Presidency and Twelve discussed the Word of Wisdom. One…

Did the Word of Wisdom Become a Commandment in 1851?

Joseph Fielding Smith, Apostle and Church Historian, once published an answer to an inquiry about when the Word of Wisdom became a commandment. His response, widely accepted as definitive both then and subsequently, was included…

The Word of Wisdom in Early Nineteenth-Century Perspective

The success of Mormonism’s “Word of Wisdom,” especially its prohibition of tobacco—in promoting Mormon health is now widely acknowledged. Mor mons have shown that they experience what medical science would predict from their lifestyle: a longevity several years greater than non-Mormons, with much less cancer and heart disease.

Spreading the Gospel in Indonesia: Organizational Obstacles and Opportunities

On 26 October 1969, Indonesia was “dedicated for the preaching of the Gospel by Elder Ezra Taft Benson.” The Church initiated its standard missionary program. Door-to-door tracting began in Jakarta on 20 January 1970.[1] Plans…

Battling the Bureaucracy: Building a Mormon Chapel

Excessive multiplication of bureaus results in a bureaucracy, which we may define as any administration in which the need to follow complex procedures impedes effective action. A bureaucrat usually works by fixed routine without exercising…

Home from the North

only from the nesting hollow 
            of our bed 
will I say how cold it’s been 
            so cold 

Grain Storage: The Balance of Power Between Priesthood Authority and Relief Society Autonomy

The developmental history of the Church shows most conspicuously, perhaps, not in purposes and theology but in details. A twentieth-century visitor to the nineteenth-century might be most struck not by the pioneer conditions as by…

“To Maintain Harmony”: Adjusting to External and Internal Stress, 1890-1930

In his landmark organizational study, Max Weber outlined three forms of authority: traditional, charismatic, and legal. Originally charismatic under Joseph Smith and to some extent under Brigham Young, by the late nineteenth century, leadership in…

Outside the Mormon Hierarchy: Alternative Aspects of Institutional Power

By 1900, the general leadership of the Relief Society, the Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association, and the Primary Association had together made plans for a woman’s building for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day…

An Introduction to Mormon Administrative History

Institutional vitality has characterized The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints from its organization with six members in 1830 to over five million by 1982. Its capacity to govern and manage an ever-enlarging…

The Uncommon Touch: Brief Moments with N. Eldon Tanner

I was a sophomore at BYU in 1953 when my parents called one Sunday from Calgary to tell me what we had already anticipated: that a new stake had been formed there. My father had…

N. Eldon Tanner, Man of Integrity

He was tall, thin, and taciturn; but he had a clear head and a big heart. He played many roles in the First Presidency and played them all dependably, admirably. 

Notes on Brigham Young’s Aesthetics

“If there is anything virtuous, lovely . . . we seek after these things.” Granted. But loveliness by what criteria? We in the Church often presume a common aesthetic; or when conflicts in judgment arise—whether…

Move Over, Fortune “500” | John Heinerman and Anson Shupe, The Mormon Corporate Empire

When it comes to explaining economic matters, Americans have difficulty resisting conspiracy theories and are even more fascinated with their second cousin, the expose. Small wonder, then, that in a single week last July Fortune…

Wilford Woodruff and the Mormon Reformation of 1855-57

The Wake of a Media Crisis: Guilt by Association or Innocence by Proclamation?

A Strange Phenomena: Ernest L. Wilkinson, the LDS Church, and Utah Politics

Ezra Taft Benson and Mormon Political Conflicts

Free Expression: The LDS Church and Brigham Young University

Patriarchal Blessings and the Routinization of Charisma

Leaders and Members: Messages from the General Handbook of Instructions

A Prophet, Seer, and Revelator: Prophet Puzzle, ed. by Brian Waterman

Mormonism’s Negro Doctrine: An Historical Overview

Seers, Savants and Evolution: The Uncomfortable Interface

The Making of a Mormon Myth: The 1844 Transfiguration of Brigham Young

Nauvoo Roots of Mormon Polygamy, 1841-46: A Preliminary Demographic Report

The Development of the Mormon Temple Endowment Ceremony

Dialogue 34.1 (Spring/Summer 2001): 87

However, the temple has maintained its central role in the lives of
Latter-day Saints by being able to create a point of intersection between
human desires for righteousness and the divine willingness to be bound
by covenant. This point has remained constant, even though emphases
in the church have changed over time, also bringing change to the en￾dowment ceremony itself

Critique of a Limited Geography for Book of Mormon Events

Dialogue 35.3 (Fall 2003):127–168
DURING THE PAST FEW DECADES, a number of LDS scholars have developed various “limited geography” models of where the events of the Book of Mormon occurred. These models contrast with the traditional western hemisphere model, which is still the most familiar to Book of Mormon readers.

Form Criticism of Joseph Smith’s 1823 Vision of the Angel Moroni

A Uniform and Common Recollection: Joseph Smith’s Legacy, Polygamy, and the Creation of Mormon Public Memory

Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, and the American Renaissance

Dialogue 35.3 (Fall 2003):9a–128
I am a literary critic who has spent a professional lifetime reading, teaching, and writing about literary texts. Much of my interest in and approach to the Book of Mormon lies with the text—though not just as a field for scholarly exploration.

Prophecy and Palimpsest

The Earliest Eternal Sealing for Civilly Married Couples Living and Dead

Martin Harris: The Kirtland Years, 1831-1870

Tending the Desert: John A. Widtsoe: A Biography by Alan K. Parish

The Un-Hagiography: David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism by Gregory A. Prince and Wm. Robert Wright

Manly Virtue: Defining Male Sexuality in Nineteenth-Century Mormonism

The Last Memory: Joseph F. Smith and Lieux de Mémoire in Late Nineteenth-Century Mormonism

Personal Voices: Spencer Kimball’s Record Collection

In defense of Joseph Fielding Smith 1876 – 1972

The Secular Binary of Joseph Smith’s Translations

Dialogue 54.3 (Fall 2021): 1–40
The debate about Joseph Smith’s translations have primarily assumed that the translation was commensurable and focuses upon theories of authorial involvement of Joseph Smith.

Matthew L. Harris, ed., Thunder from the Right: Ezra Taft Benson in Mormonism and Politics

Worthy of Their Hire? Mormon Leaders’ Relationship with Wealth D. Michael Quinn. The Mormon Hierarchy: Wealth and Corporate Power.

Authority and Priesthood in the LDS Church, Part 2: Ordinances, Quorums, Nonpriesthood Authority, Presiding, Priestesses, and Priesthood Bans

Dialogue 51.1 (Spring 2018): 167–180
In the prequel to this article, I discussed in general contours the dual nature of authority—individual and institutional—and how the modern LDS concept of priesthood differs significantly from the ancient version in that it has become an abstract form of authority that can be “held” (or withheld, as the case might be).

Authority and Priesthood in the LDS Church, Part 1: Definitions and Development

Dialogue 51.1 (Spring 2018): 167–180
The issue of authority in Mormonism became painfully public with the rise of the Ordain Women movement.

“The Perfect Union of Man and Woman”: Reclamation and Collaboration in Joseph Smith’s Theology Making

Dialogue 49.1 (Spring 2016): 1–26
Central to Joseph’s creative energies was a profound commitment to an ideal of cosmic as well as human collaboration. His personal mode of leadership increasingly shifted from autocratic to collaborative—and that mode infused both his most radical theologizing and his hopes for Church comity itself.

President David O. McKay: 1873-1970: President McKay As a Neighbor

My grandfather used to say “There’s lots and lots of ‘man-ism’ in Mor monism.” Often we see President McKay and we think and talk of him as the prophet. I grew up in the same little valley in Northern Utah where he was from, and we saw him and thought of him as a man, of the real things he did as our neighbor. 

President David O. McKay: 1873-1970: On Shaking Hands with David O. McKay

There were advantages and disadvantages to living across the street from Brother and Sister McKay. On Sunday we couldn’t play football in the street because there was always the possibility that President David O. McKay…

President David O. McKay: 1873-1970: The Prophet is Dead

The prophet is dead. Feeling a special quiet in the chapel this morning I sensed others were experiencing his going too. What did this mean to me? Why my tears and sorrow? Surely he was…

President David O. McKay: 1873-1970: Reflections on the Ministry of President David O. McKay

It is not difficult to identify the large difference that President McKay has made in the character and historical movement of the Church. I refer to the obvious fact that especially during the period of…

President David O. McKay: 1873-1970: “When Spirit Speaks to Spirit”

The deep sense of sorrow that I felt upon hearing of the passing of the prophet was incurred not because of any direct relationship I’ve had with him, nor was it the type of remorse…

President David O. McKay: 1873-1970: A Man of Love and Personal Concern

I have had but few opportunities to come close to David O. McKay, but each time has proved to be personal, memorable, and cherished deeply. I have sensed that I have had a rare opportunity in…

President David O. McKay: 1873-1970: Tribute to President David O. McKay

I do not hesitate and without reservation repeat from this remote end of the big wide world the very often heard expression from the lips of about three million people who have accepted the message…

President David O. McKay: 1873-1970: My Memories of President David O. McKay

My first recollection of David O. McKay is a sermon he gave in a Sacrament Meeting which led me as a teenager to engage in critical self-examination and to leave the meeting with high resolve. …

Willard Young: The Prophet’s Son at West Point

A common object of humor among visitors to Mormon Country in the nineteenth century was the large number of children. Many travellers’ accounts contain a version of the story of Brigham Young’s encounter with a…

Spiritual Problems in the Teaching of Modern Literature

There are certain problems which a Mormon must cope with in teaching any secular literature. What does he do, for example, with a literary work which expresses ideas and attitudes in opposition to his theology?…

God and Man in History

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sees both God and man in a temporal, that i§^ historical,’ context, but it has developed no authoritative, systematic statement of the philosophical implications of historical relationships. It has no official philosophy of history. What follows, therefore, are simply reflections on some problems which relate to the religious affirmations of the L.D.S. people and a tentative approach to my personal philosophy of history. 

The Reorganization in the Twentieth Century

On April 15, 1972 the Mormon History Association held a notable convention at Independence, Missouri. Some 130 members and friends of the Association visited historic Mormon sites and heard discourses from scholars representing both the…

Revolution and Mormonism in Asia: What the Church Might Offer a Changing Society

Asia is a land of revolution, a land where a complex of revolutions are inter related in such a way that one phase is not understood independent of the others, nor of the traditions from which they stem. These revolutionary trends are creating rapid changes throughout Asian society, one of which is a search for a new stability, and this greatly influences the development of Mormonism in Asia, including the kinds of people it attracts and its relative success or failure in sustaining activity and building a strong organization. 

Three Myths About Mormons in Latin America

For the most part, Mormons have been a socially homogeneous people. True, the initial Anglo-American stock was reinforced from time to time by immigrants from Western Europe, but these converts were quickly absorbed into the Church’s social and cultural mainstream. Although successful missions were established among the Indians and especially among the Polynesians, it was nevertheless the English-speaking white Americans who gave the Church its leadership and set the tone of its culture.

Mormons in the Third Reich: 1933-1945

The experience of the Church in non-American countries has not always been easy. In Germany in the 1930’s, for example, the Hitler regime viewed the Mormon Church as an American institution and therefore open to…

Moderation in All Things: Political and Social Outlooks of Modern Urban Mormons

Perhaps the most difficult kind of analysis that scholars may presume to make is that of presenting attitudes of people toward various ideas. Any poll can be affected by weakness in the sampling technique, by…

Reed Smoot, The L.D.S. Church and Progressive Legislation, 1903-1933

If J. Reuben Clark, Jr., will be remembered largely for his involvement in international affairs, another Mormon leader, Reed Smoot, is notable for his contribution both to international relations and domestic American affairs. In 1902,…

J. Reuben Clark, Jr.: Political Isolationism Revisited

Modern Mormonism takes just pride in having produced many men and women of distinction in politics, education, science and the arts. One of these was J. Reuben Clark, Jr., international lawyer, career diplomat, and from…

The Twentieth Century: Challenge for Mormon Historians

This year (1972), the Mormon Church is 142 years old, which means that 71 years of its history, or fully half its life, has taken place in the twentieth century. Its written history, on the…

Joseph Fielding Smith: Faithful Historian

“To record as truth that which is false, and to palm off as facts that which is fiction degrades [the writer], insults his readers, and outrages his profession.”—Joseph Fielding Smith Joseph Fielding Smith began his service in the…

From Someone Who Did Not Know Him Well

Throughout my life images of Joseph Fielding Smith come and go, connected somehow with that of my grandfather who, stern before I was born, gradually mellowed until he ended up raising a grandchild with a…

The Discomforter: Some Personal Memories of Joseph Fielding Smith

I was about twelve when I first met President and Sister Smith. They had come to visit the Thirty-Third Ward, Bonneville Stake, and the family of my pal, Doug Myers, my bishop’s son and President…

A Tribute to President Joseph Fielding Smith

As many people have remarked, President Joseph Fielding Smith was a man without guile. He presented every question exactly as he saw it and accepted the consequences of his position whether they were pleasant or…

Joseph Fielding Smith—The Kindly, Helpful Scholar

Many published works of Church history and doctrine testify to the scholarship and direct literary style of the late, tenth President of the Church, President Joseph Fielding Smith. Those who were privileged to use the…

A Convert Discovers a Prophet

When I encountered missionaries from the Church two years ago, they questioned me as to the need for prophets, both ancient and modern. At that time I was a student in a Catholic College preparing…

The Love of a Prophet

Joseph Fielding Smith is a name that has been known to the Latter-day Saints for well over sixty years. His leadership and counsel have been manifest in the leading councils of the Church since his…

The Passing of a Prophet

The ancients of light radiating wisdom on wings of eagles break through the sky in a surge of compassion: 

In the Milestones section of Time 
Magazine a few cramped words: “Died, Harold B. Lee,
President of the Church 
of Jesus Christ 
of Latter-day Saints”

Harold B. Lee: An Appreciation, Both Historical and Personal

When I was asked by Dialogue to write something in memory of President Harold B. Lee, my thought immediately went in two directions: the impact President Lee had upon the Church, and the influence he…

A Prophet Is Dead: A Prophet Lives

A man of men to 
thee, a seer of thine to men 
lived here; lives; shall live. 

Apostle Extraordinary: Hugh B. Brown (1883-1975)

When Elder Hugh B. Brown (the B also stands for Brown) passed from this stage of his eternal existence on December 2, 1975, the Church lost a remarkable leader. For a generation of Latter-day Saints…

A Mormon and a Prophet | Sidney Hyman, Marriner S. Eccles: Private Entrepreneur and Public Servant

“Marriner Eccles was American economic history,” says G. L. Bach in the foreword to this enlightening biography. Eccles’ life was an “extraordinary encapsulation in one man of the explosive changes” in business and government from…

Sensational Virtue: Nineteenth-Century Mormon Fiction and American Popular Taste

Before 1900, novels about Mormons ranged from the amateurish to the slick, from the scurrilous to the rather even-handed, from the realistic to the wildly imaginary. Their one common thread was that almost all of…

The Word of Wisdom: From Principle to Requirement

The status of the Word of Wisdom at the turn of the century is evident from contemporary sources. At a meeting on May 5,1898, the First Presidency and Twelve discussed the Word of Wisdom. One…

Did the Word of Wisdom Become a Commandment in 1851?

Joseph Fielding Smith, Apostle and Church Historian, once published an answer to an inquiry about when the Word of Wisdom became a commandment. His response, widely accepted as definitive both then and subsequently, was included…

The Word of Wisdom in Early Nineteenth-Century Perspective

The success of Mormonism’s “Word of Wisdom,” especially its prohibition of tobacco—in promoting Mormon health is now widely acknowledged. Mor mons have shown that they experience what medical science would predict from their lifestyle: a longevity several years greater than non-Mormons, with much less cancer and heart disease.

Spreading the Gospel in Indonesia: Organizational Obstacles and Opportunities

On 26 October 1969, Indonesia was “dedicated for the preaching of the Gospel by Elder Ezra Taft Benson.” The Church initiated its standard missionary program. Door-to-door tracting began in Jakarta on 20 January 1970.[1] Plans…

Battling the Bureaucracy: Building a Mormon Chapel

Excessive multiplication of bureaus results in a bureaucracy, which we may define as any administration in which the need to follow complex procedures impedes effective action. A bureaucrat usually works by fixed routine without exercising…

Home from the North

only from the nesting hollow 
            of our bed 
will I say how cold it’s been 
            so cold 

Grain Storage: The Balance of Power Between Priesthood Authority and Relief Society Autonomy

The developmental history of the Church shows most conspicuously, perhaps, not in purposes and theology but in details. A twentieth-century visitor to the nineteenth-century might be most struck not by the pioneer conditions as by…

“To Maintain Harmony”: Adjusting to External and Internal Stress, 1890-1930

In his landmark organizational study, Max Weber outlined three forms of authority: traditional, charismatic, and legal. Originally charismatic under Joseph Smith and to some extent under Brigham Young, by the late nineteenth century, leadership in…

Outside the Mormon Hierarchy: Alternative Aspects of Institutional Power

By 1900, the general leadership of the Relief Society, the Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association, and the Primary Association had together made plans for a woman’s building for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day…

An Introduction to Mormon Administrative History

Institutional vitality has characterized The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints from its organization with six members in 1830 to over five million by 1982. Its capacity to govern and manage an ever-enlarging…

The Uncommon Touch: Brief Moments with N. Eldon Tanner

I was a sophomore at BYU in 1953 when my parents called one Sunday from Calgary to tell me what we had already anticipated: that a new stake had been formed there. My father had…

N. Eldon Tanner, Man of Integrity

He was tall, thin, and taciturn; but he had a clear head and a big heart. He played many roles in the First Presidency and played them all dependably, admirably. 

Notes on Brigham Young’s Aesthetics

“If there is anything virtuous, lovely . . . we seek after these things.” Granted. But loveliness by what criteria? We in the Church often presume a common aesthetic; or when conflicts in judgment arise—whether…

Move Over, Fortune “500” | John Heinerman and Anson Shupe, The Mormon Corporate Empire

When it comes to explaining economic matters, Americans have difficulty resisting conspiracy theories and are even more fascinated with their second cousin, the expose. Small wonder, then, that in a single week last July Fortune…

Wilford Woodruff and the Mormon Reformation of 1855-57

The Wake of a Media Crisis: Guilt by Association or Innocence by Proclamation?

A Strange Phenomena: Ernest L. Wilkinson, the LDS Church, and Utah Politics

Ezra Taft Benson and Mormon Political Conflicts

Free Expression: The LDS Church and Brigham Young University

Patriarchal Blessings and the Routinization of Charisma

Leaders and Members: Messages from the General Handbook of Instructions

A Prophet, Seer, and Revelator: Prophet Puzzle, ed. by Brian Waterman

Mormonism’s Negro Doctrine: An Historical Overview

Seers, Savants and Evolution: The Uncomfortable Interface

The Making of a Mormon Myth: The 1844 Transfiguration of Brigham Young

Nauvoo Roots of Mormon Polygamy, 1841-46: A Preliminary Demographic Report

The Development of the Mormon Temple Endowment Ceremony

Dialogue 34.1 (Spring/Summer 2001): 87

However, the temple has maintained its central role in the lives of
Latter-day Saints by being able to create a point of intersection between
human desires for righteousness and the divine willingness to be bound
by covenant. This point has remained constant, even though emphases
in the church have changed over time, also bringing change to the en￾dowment ceremony itself

Critique of a Limited Geography for Book of Mormon Events

Dialogue 35.3 (Fall 2003):127–168
DURING THE PAST FEW DECADES, a number of LDS scholars have developed various “limited geography” models of where the events of the Book of Mormon occurred. These models contrast with the traditional western hemisphere model, which is still the most familiar to Book of Mormon readers.

Form Criticism of Joseph Smith’s 1823 Vision of the Angel Moroni

A Uniform and Common Recollection: Joseph Smith’s Legacy, Polygamy, and the Creation of Mormon Public Memory

Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, and the American Renaissance

Dialogue 35.3 (Fall 2003):9a–128
I am a literary critic who has spent a professional lifetime reading, teaching, and writing about literary texts. Much of my interest in and approach to the Book of Mormon lies with the text—though not just as a field for scholarly exploration.

Prophecy and Palimpsest

The Earliest Eternal Sealing for Civilly Married Couples Living and Dead

Martin Harris: The Kirtland Years, 1831-1870

Tending the Desert: John A. Widtsoe: A Biography by Alan K. Parish

The Un-Hagiography: David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism by Gregory A. Prince and Wm. Robert Wright

Manly Virtue: Defining Male Sexuality in Nineteenth-Century Mormonism

The Last Memory: Joseph F. Smith and Lieux de Mémoire in Late Nineteenth-Century Mormonism

Personal Voices: Spencer Kimball’s Record Collection