Welcome to episode 27 of the Joseph Smith Podcast with Dr. John G. Turner!
In this episode, we take a deep dive into Joseph Smith’s early practice of polygamy in Nauvoo, tracing how it began, how it expanded so rapidly, and what it reveals about power, belief, and risk.
We examine the first plural marriages, the people Joseph trusted to introduce the practice, and the recurring patterns that emerge as polygamy spreads among church leadership. Along the way, we ask difficult questions about revelation, consent, secrecy, scripture, and whether Joseph believed his actions were divinely required –or something else entirely.
This discussion also situates polygamy within the broader political and social pressures Joseph faced in the early 1840s, including legal threats, growing opposition, and his increasing confidence and recklessness as Nauvoo flourished. Ultimately, we explore whether Joseph’s polygamy can be understood as sincere belief, institutional experimentation, abuse of authority, or some combination of all three.
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3 Responses
Hi John, I have followed you for a long time. Since about 2008 or so I think. I have likely watched thousands of hours of Mormon Stories and it has helped me greatly. I watched as you left the church and even told you via comments or email, I don’t remember, that your trying to balance between staying in and squaring your new understanding of things would be extremely uncomfortable and wouldn’t work well.
I think you guys missed a significant doctrinal explanation for Josephs polyandry. There was an exchange between Joseph and a brother of one of the polyandrous wives, might have been Dimick or one of the Johnsons, that he would understand the principle upon which he (Joseph) was acting the next day as it would be revealed in a sermon Joseph was to give the following day, perhaps in a Sunday meeting. Joseph spoke upon the parable of the talents in a way that equated talents to women. Basically advancing the law of consecration which required that one put all, even loved ones and in this case ones wife upon the alter of god much as Abraham did his son Issac. It was presented as a test of ones faith and obedience. Also Jedediah Grants comments to the saints in Salt Lake about how when Joseph began to increase his heavenly family according to Gods command how there was such a howling in Israel…, they should have responded “here Joseph is my wife, take her, and if I had more to give you I would be glad to”. That I’m sure is a very sloppy paraphrase but you get the gist. Respond back if you feel inclined to do so.
Hey John, sent you some comments yesterday and can’t check to see if you responded back because the email address I gave you doesn’t work anymore. I will give you one that works just in case you respond back.
The Red Brick Store in Nauvoo is not original. It was rebuilt by the RLDS church on the same foundations in 1980.