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Guide Home > Prophets > Latter-day Prophets > Smith, Joseph

Additional Topics

The following are additional topic areas related to Smith, Joseph. If there is a bracket number after the topic, that number indicates how many actual articles there are related to that subject. If the link for the topic is not live, it simply means the topic is a 'planned area' for future growth.

FAIR Resources

These links are either to Web pages hosted on the FAIR Website, or to FAIR Papers. FAIR Papers are short articles about specific topics or questions, written by members of FAIR. These articles can be downloaded and read in PDF format and are intended to be distributed by e-mail or print for the general use of our patrons. (To read FAIR Papers you will need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader. It can be downloaded free from the Adobe Web site.) Click on a title below to visit a FAIR Web page or to read the latest version of a FAIR Paper.

"Kirtland Safety Society," FAIR Wiki (City Unknown: FAIR) This FAIR Wiki article examines Joseph's Smith's involvement with the Kirtland Safety Society, why it failed, and the critical charges related to Joseph's involement.

"Personages who appeared to Joseph Smith," FAIR Wiki (City Unknown: FAIR) This FAIR Wiki article lists all the known personages who visited Joseph Smith.

Kevin L. Barney, "Ask the Apologist" -- Is "Nauvoo" A Real Hebrew Word?.

Joseph I. Bentley, "The Legal Trials of Joseph Smith," (Mesa, Arizona: FAIR, 2006 FAIR Conference) Joseph had many legal troubles in his lifetime, as documented by Joseph Bentley in this presentation from the 2006 FAIR Conference.

Richard L. Bushman, "Joseph Smith Miscellany," (Mesa, Arizona: FAIR, 2005 FAIR Conference) In his 2005 FAIR Conference presentation, Richard Bushman discusses portions of Joseph Smith's life that have been traditionally difficult to understand and looks at how these can be understood better from the point of view of the Prophet.

Daniel C. Peterson, "Autobiographical Notes on My Testimony," FAIR Conference 2004 (2004) At this 2004 FAIR Conference address, Dr. Peterson shares some of his thoughts and experiences regarding his testimony of the Restored Gospel.

Encyclopedia of Mormonism

The resources listed below are articles available in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism. These links are to information not located on the FAIR Web site.

Richard L. Bushman, Dean C. Jessee and Truman G. Madsen; "Smith, Joseph," Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Edited by Daniel H. Ludlow (New York: Macmillan Publishing, 1992), 1331-1348

Ensign Articles

These articles cited below provide information on the topic of this page. The Ensign is one of the official publications of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When you click on one of the article links below, you are whisked to the article found in the archives of the Church's Web site.

"Highlights in the Prophet's Life," Ensign, June 1994, 24. A time line of some key events in the life and ministry of the Prophet Joseph Smith.

"Joseph Smith's Testimony," Ensign, January 1972, 79.

Richard Bushman, "How did the Prophet Joseph Smith respond to skepticism in his time? And what can we learn from him about how to respond to modern-day skeptics?," Ensign, February 1990, 61.

Neal A. Maxwell, "Joseph, the Seer," Ensign, November 1983, 54.

Joseph Smith Jr., "The King Follett Sermon," Ensign, April 1971, 13-14.

Other Resources

The resources listed below are related items available on the Web that should be of interest. These links are to information not located on the FAIR Web site.

Richard L. Anderson, "Joseph Smith and the Millennarian Time Table Joseph Smith and the Millennarian Time Table," BYU Studies, 55-66 �Of that day and hour knoweth no man� (Matt. 24:36), though claims to date the millennial coming are no historical rarity. In the past year newspapers carried stories of more than one group which separated itself to await the appointed day. Failures become miscalculation or misdefinition to persistent believers�and illusion to others. Joseph Smith joins the ranks of discredited visionaries in current publications reaching various intellectual levels. But the image is not a true one. Corrective historical analysis is not only in order, but also a word to those accustomed to dismiss him under the rubric of millennialism. A recent article of widely influential protestant distribution does essentially this: �Like leaders of other groups in the early nineteenth century, Smith believed that Christ�s coming was imminent, �even 56 years should wind up the scene.�� This statement of Joseph Smith, made on the occasion of choosing the Twelve on February 14, 1835, has been given more direct treatment. Most elaborate is a curious expos�, Harrison�s Mormons Are Peculiar People, in which no less than fifty-seven false prophecies of Joseph Smith are formally listed. With minor exceptions this parade of instances is a redundant application of three techniques: making ultimate promises immediate, precluding human agency by affixing total responsibility on the author of the revelation, and giving relative statements of time absolute value. The last method well matches the lack of sophistication claimed by the author for Mormons. Promises that �the hour is nigh� and �I come quickly� are now discredited in Harrison�s perspective of history, despite Joseph Smith�s express words that Millennial events �are now nigh at hand��speaking after the manner of the Lord.� Distortion is carried further; in spite of citation of correct explanatory sources, �even fifty-six years should wind up the scene� becomes number seven in the list of �false prophecies�: �According to Joseph Smith, Christ�s second coming should have taken place no later than February 14, 1891.�

Richard L. Anderson, "Parallel Prophets: Paul and Joseph Smith," BYU Speeches (9 August 1983) Dr. Anderson looks at the similarities between Joseph Smith and Paul and points out that some of the arguments against Joseph Smith (by non-LDS Chrisitan critics) are unfair because they can be applied to Paul as well.

Kent P. Jackson, "Joseph Smith's Cooperstown Bible: The Historical Context of the Bible Used in the Joseph Smith Translation," BYU Studies (2001), 41-70 In October 1829, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery obtained the Bible that was later used in the preparation of Joseph Smiths new translation of the Holy Scriptures. It was a quarto-size King James translation published in 1828 by the H. and E. Phinney company of Cooperstown, New York. In this article we will examine Joseph Smith�s Phinney Bible, the history of the Bible in the English language and in America, the roots from which the Phinney Bible descended, and the way it was used in the creation of the Joseph Smith Translation.

Lindsay Jeff, Fulfilled Prophecies of Joseph Smith. A listing of documented fulfilled prophecies of Joseph Smith. Not exhaustive, but several listed here.

Robert Paul, "Joseph Smitn and the Manchester (New York) Library," BYU Studies, Vol. 22:3 (1982) In a recent work on Mormon origins, it was again suggested that Joseph Smith may have derived some of his religious and theological ideas from the old Manchester Rental Library, a circulating library located within five miles of the Smith family farm. This claim has received wide circulation, but it has never really received the serious critical consideration it merits. This paper attempts to assess the Manchester Library�its origin, content, current disposition, and possible usefulness to Joseph Smith and others prior to the organization of the Church in 1830.

Richard D. Poll, "Joseph Smith's Presidential Platform: Joseph Smith and the Presidency, 1844," Dialogue (Autumn 1968), 17-21 Historian, Richard D. Poll, examines Joseph's lobby for Presidency and what the prophet might have expected as an outcome in the presidential race.

Margaret C. Robertson, "The Campaign and the Kingdom: The Activities of the Electioneers in Joseph Smith's Presidential Campaign," BYU Studies (2000), 147-176 Despite all that has been written on the Prophet's candidacy, the electioneers themselves have been almost completely ignored. Some historians have seen the sheer number of electioneers as prima facie evidence that Joseph seriously believed he could become president. In this essay, Robertson does not attempted to prove whether the electioneers deemed their prophet's campaign viable, rather, to examine the available journals and autobiographies of the campaigners in an attempt to illuminate some of the possible reasons for and effects of the campaign. While many of the electioneers gave political addresses and distributed copies of Joseph Smith's platform, in the main, their activities did more to strengthen the Church than to present the Prophet to the nation as a presidential candidate.