{"id":41678,"date":"2021-04-17T22:58:24","date_gmt":"2021-04-18T03:58:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.timesandseasons.org\/?p=41678"},"modified":"2021-04-17T22:58:24","modified_gmt":"2021-04-18T03:58:24","slug":"know-brother-joseph","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2021\/04\/know-brother-joseph\/","title":{"rendered":"Know Brother Joseph"},"content":{"rendered":"

What did Joseph Smith think? \u00a0What was he like as a person?\u00a0 Questions like these are interesting to think about and are important considerations when you\u2019re a part of a religion that draws so heavily on one person\u2019s writings and ministry for its foundation.\u00a0 In a recent interview with Kurt Manwaring, R. Eric Smith, Matthew C. Godfrey, and Matthew J. Grow discussed some of their insights into Joseph Smith\u2019s mind and life gained through both their work with the Joseph Smith Papers Project and in editing the recently-published Know Brother Joseph: New Perspectives on Joseph Smith\u2019s Life and Character<\/a><\/em>\u00a0(Deseret Book, 2021).\u00a0 What follows here is a co-post (a brief post with quotes and some thoughts), but I encourage folks to read the full interview as well (available here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

One of the questions that Kurt asked was about whether Joseph Smith was familiar with feelings of loneliness.\u00a0 Matt Godfrey answered as follows:<\/p>\n

In a certain sense, yes. He was a gregarious person who never lacked friends, but being the prophet and leader of the Church, I think he had moments where he felt like most people couldn\u2019t understand what it was like to be him. I think that\u2019s where his statement \u201cNo man knows my history\u201d was coming from.<\/p>\n

He also had moments where it felt like God wasn\u2019t speaking to him\u2014such as in Liberty Jail\u2014which created a sense of loneliness in him. I think many of us have had times when we have asked questions of God and feel like we are not getting an answer. It really can make you feel lonely\u2014like maybe you are not significant enough in God\u2019s eyes to get an answer. I think knowing that even Joseph Smith had moments where God felt distant helps me to better navigate those times and trust that when the time is right, God will answer my prayers.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Growing up in a culture that gives a great amount of reverence to Joseph Smith, it was actually a huge moment for me while I was reading Richard Lyman Bushman\u2019s Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling <\/em>to fully realize that Joseph Smith\u2019s experiences with the Divine weren\u2019t completely separate and different than mine.\u00a0 A significant portion of the time, he relied on the Holy Spirit for revelations and he did have his times, as Godfrey alluded to, where he felt like God wasn\u2019t answering.\u00a0 Those are certainly things I can relate to, even if I have never experienced visions in the same sense that he did.<\/p>\n

When asked \u201cwhat would Joseph Smith look like if the Joseph Smith Papers were all we had to know him by?\u201d, the editors of Know Brother Joseph <\/em>discussed a few takeaways they have had from studying and working with the Papers.\u00a0 Godfrey, for example, spoke of how: \u201cI think he would look like a real human being who was not without faults or weaknesses, but was able to do a great work even with those faults and weaknesses. \u2026 You see a church leader and a civic leader, a father and a friend, a preacher and a prophet.\u00a0 In essence, you see Joseph as a well-rounded person in all of the different facets of his life.\u201d\u00a0 Matthew Grow said that: \u201cI think that what shines through in his journal, in his histories, in his correspondence, in his legal and business records is his dedication to his family, the Latter-day Saints, the Church, and the Restoration.\u201d\u00a0 And Eric Smith added that: \u201cEven the more ordinary documents, like property deeds and miscellaneous letters, show that he was fully invested in the work God had called him to do.\u201d\u00a0 The Joseph Smith Papers Project is a huge undertaking, and a major effort in transparency on the Church\u2019s part in offering a huge amount of primary documentation about Joseph Smith.\u00a0 Taken together, they offer an amazing opportunity to study and understand a very complex and interesting person.<\/p>\n

In speaking of why Joseph Smith would probably want folks to study the Joseph Smith Papers, the editors had a few things to say.\u00a0 Eric Smith focused on how important writing his history was to Joseph Smith, noting that: \u201cIt seems he wanted to have the chance to tell his own story rather than letting it be told by outsiders and enemies.\u201d \u00a0Because of this, Eric Smith expressed that: \u201cThe Joseph Smith Papers include (among many other types of documents) all of the efforts Joseph made to tell his own story, and I think he would be thrilled that people around the world could read the pages exactly as they were written.\u201d\u00a0 Matt Godfrey added that: \u201cI would hope because he believed that it presented him and his life fairly and in all of its complexities and nuances. It is difficult to get at the true personality and life of a historical figure, but providing people with access to Joseph\u2019s writings is one way to try to help them really get to know Joseph.\u201d\u00a0 Likewise, Matthew Grow referred to Joseph Smith\u2019s statement about \u201cno man knows my history,\u201d and went on to say that: \u201cI think Joseph would want people to be familiar with the Joseph Smith Papers because they give insights into his heart, his motivations, his history, his witness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.\u201d\u00a0 Again, the Joseph Smith Papers provide opportunities for understanding Joseph Smith.<\/p>\n

For more on the thought behind Know Brother Joseph<\/em>, some of the ideas shared in the book, thoughts about why Joseph Smith found councils so important, and more on the things discussed above, read the full interview at Kurt Manwaring\u2019s site (available here<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What did Joseph Smith think? \u00a0What was he like as a person?\u00a0 Questions like these are interesting to think about and are important considerations when you\u2019re a part of a religion that draws so heavily on one person\u2019s writings and ministry for its foundation.\u00a0 In a recent interview with Kurt Manwaring, R. Eric Smith, Matthew C. Godfrey, and Matthew J. Grow discussed some of their insights into Joseph Smith\u2019s mind and life gained through both their work with the Joseph Smith Papers Project and in editing the recently-published Know Brother Joseph: New Perspectives on Joseph Smith\u2019s Life and Character\u00a0(Deseret Book, 2021).\u00a0 What follows here is a co-post (a brief post with quotes and some thoughts), but I encourage folks to read the full interview as well (available here). One of the questions that Kurt asked was about whether Joseph Smith was familiar with feelings of loneliness.\u00a0 Matt Godfrey answered as follows: In a certain sense, yes. He was a gregarious person who never lacked friends, but being the prophet and leader of the Church, I think he had moments where he felt like most people couldn\u2019t understand what it was like to be him. I think that\u2019s where his statement […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10397,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,2890],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church-history","category-from-the-desk"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10397"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41678"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41679,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41678\/revisions\/41679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}