Dan Vogel is a sixth-generation Mormon most well-known for his biography, Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet—the product of decades of research into the life of Joseph Smith. In these Mormon Stories interviews, we are excited to delve into Dan’s own personal Mormon background and to begin to understand the motivations behind his ground-breaking work into the life of Joseph Smith.

What motivated Dan to deeply study the Smith family’s spiritual dynamics and financial circumstances, as well as Joseph’s history of learning to create an environment for belief through his treasure seeking activities?

With these 3 episodes, we hope to set the stage to delve deeper into Dan’s studies on Joseph Smith’s treasure digging and the creation of the Book of Mormon.

Dan has an extensive Youtube video collection devoted to many different aspects of the life of Joseph Smith.  These highly informative and popular videos may be found here.

Part 1 – Dan shares his Mormon background:

Part 2 – Dan shares what led to his interest in LDS Church history:

Part 3: Dan describes his motivations for writing Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet:

Part 1

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Part 2

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Part 3

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9 Comments

  1. Vickie Duncan January 22, 2019 at 5:34 pm - Reply

    I have loved the first 3 of Dan Vogel and this sharing of knowledge, studies and perceptions. I simply can’t wait to read all of his books…where have I been?? Thanks, John!

  2. Isaac Mathews January 22, 2019 at 6:00 pm - Reply

    Dan Vogel is amazing. We all need to buy his books and support him in order for him to have the means to publish more!

  3. Jeremy Valentiner January 24, 2019 at 11:10 am - Reply

    At the beginning of the episode you discussed a new billboard campaign, I think it is a really great idea. I think another good question to ask would be:

    “Why were 24 women sealed to Joseph Smith before Emma Hale?”

    Bergera, “The Earliest Eternal Sealings for Civilly Married Couples”, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Volume 35, Fall 2002, Pgs. 41-66, available at https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/issues/V35N03.pdf – “By the time of his sealing to Emma, Smith had married some twenty-five celestial wives” (Pg. 54); also see Bushman, “Rough Stone Rolling”, Vintage Books, 2005, Pg. 494, “on a cold Sunday evening, May 28, 1843, in the upper room of Joseph’s redbrick store, Joseph and Emma were ‘sealed’ for eternity by the power of the priesthood”, available at books.google.com/booksopen_in_new ; Madsen, “My Dear and Beloved Companion”, Ensign, September 2008, available at https://www.lds.org/ensign/2008/09/my-dear-and-beloved-companion-the-letters-of-joseph-and-emma-smith?lang=eng&_r=1 – “May 28, 1843 – Joseph and Emma were sealed for eternity.”

  4. David January 25, 2019 at 11:16 am - Reply

    Great podcast. I’d love to read Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet, but it looks like it is out of print. Sells for $350 on Amazon, which is slightly out of my price range. Any chance of another print run of this book?

    • Mormon Stories January 25, 2019 at 11:34 am - Reply

      Our blog description contains a hyperlink to a free online version of the book since it is currently out of print

      • Josh Gallant January 31, 2019 at 1:08 pm - Reply

        Can you provide a direct link to the online version of Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet?

        • Mormon Stories January 31, 2019 at 1:43 pm - Reply

          It’s already in our blog description

          • Franz Fleischer June 25, 2019 at 6:31 pm

            Is it possible for you to provide a link to the blog description so we can get the link to the on-line book? (Or maybe just provide the link to the book direct here.)

  5. Mark LeBaron March 3, 2019 at 12:56 pm - Reply

    👍🏼

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