We are back again with historian Dr. John Turner to explore Chapter Eleven of his new book Joseph Smith: The Rise and Fall of an American Prophet. The chapter is titled “Pure Language” and covers the years 1831-1832 in Kirtland, Ohio. Turner discusses the stories of healing on the part of Joseph Smith, the controversy surrounding the publishing of the Book of Commandments as well as some of the members questioning Joseph Smith’s revelations. Dr. Turner also discusses Joseph Smith’s revelation on the three degrees of heaven and the possible connections to Emanual Swedenborg (as well as the fact that Hitler is in Mormon heaven!)
We also tackle some big questions:
-Is John Turner’s book just another hagiography idealizing his subject?
-Why did Alexander Campbell oppose Mormonism so vehemently?
-What are we to make of these stories of healing?
-Was the tar and feathering of Joseph Smith having to do with sexual impropriety?
You won’t want to miss this important episode in the Joseph Smith Podcast series!
Purchase the book here: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300255164/joseph-smith/
To support this series please donate here: https://donorbox.org/josephsmith. One half of all donations will go to Dr. Turner for as long as he is participating in the series.
You can find the Joseph Smith Podcast dedicated feed on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/show/3vxj75pNK3IkaApMy3fiOM?si=d4012f8a37004a0a&nd=1&dlsi=72514aa3da434014
