{"id":47651,"date":"2024-07-29T12:09:30","date_gmt":"2024-07-29T18:09:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/?p=47651"},"modified":"2024-07-29T12:09:30","modified_gmt":"2024-07-29T18:09:30","slug":"john-turner-on-his-joseph-smith-biography","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2024\/07\/john-turner-on-his-joseph-smith-biography\/","title":{"rendered":"John Turner on his Joseph Smith Biography"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

John Turner is known in Latter-day Saint circles for his biography of Brigham Young and his book The Mormon Jesus: A Biography<\/em>. Next year, however, he will add to that collection with John Turner\u2019s Joseph Smith biography<\/a>. Turner recently spoke about the forthcoming biography with From the Desk<\/em>, and announced that \u201cI loved writing Joseph Smith: The Rise and Fall of an American Prophet<\/em>, which Yale University Press will publish in Summer of 2025.\u201d What follows here is a copost to the full interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

John Turner\u2019s efforts to write about Joseph Smith were rooted in his previous work in Latter-day Saint history. He wrote, \u201cAs a research subject, Brigham Young pretty much wore me out. He lived such a long and controversial life, and there were so many tough questions to answer.\u201d Even though he had been worn out, he still felt drawn to Joseph Smith:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After finishing that second book, I planned to stop writing Mormon History, but it proved difficult and ultimately impossible. The Joseph Smith Papers kept bringing out richly annotated volumes. New sources, like the Council of Fifty minutes, became available. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is also a community of historians\u2014academic historians but also many others\u2014engaged in creative and thorough scholarship, not just on Smith but on the global history of the many movements that trace their origins to his career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, even though I segued into other writing projects, I kept coming back to Joseph Smith. Several years ago, I decided to write my own biography of Smith. It seemed a propitious time. The Joseph Smith Papers project was nearing completion, and the relevant sources were readily available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the subject\u2014he continued to fascinate and sometimes astonish me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026 Joseph Smith published what his followers regarded as scripture, gathered large communities in several places, introduced rituals that remain sacred to people around the world and married more than thirty women. Is there a more remarkable life in nineteenth-century America?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Joseph Smith is a fascinating figure and resources to research his life are more available now than ever before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, Turner\u2019s biography of Brigham Young gives an unvarnished look at the man, portraying him as a rougher individual than most Latter-day Saints are familiar with. I would expect that his portrayal of Joseph Smith may be similar. For example, in the interview he shared a story along these lines:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Just a few weeks after a Nauvoo court freed Joseph Smith after his arrest at the hands of Reynolds and Wilson, Smith tangled with Walter Bagby, the Hancock County tax collector. The altercation stemmed from a dispute over property taxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On August 1, 1843, Bagby approached Smith\u2019s carriage as the prophet arrived at the temple. Smith accused Bagby of abusing the citizens of Nauvoo, and Bagby called Smith a liar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joseph climbed down out of his buggy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bagby picked up a stone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to his own admission, Smith then seized Bagby by the throat \u201cto choke him off.\u201d The prophet apparently struck Bagby several times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Daniel H. Wells separated Smith and Bagby, Smith told Wells\u2014a justice of the peace\u2014to fine him for the assault. Wells declined to do so, so Smith went to see Newel K. Whitney, another justice of the peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whitney apparently did as Smith requested, and the prophet paid the fine for his transgression. That outcome didn\u2019t satisfy Bagby, one of the leaders of the anti-Mormon movement that caused Smith and the Saints so much trouble in the months ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I probably wouldn\u2019t have put the above story together without the indefatigable research of the Joseph Smith Papers project, whose Legal Papers series summarizes the case. The episode brings together several aspects of Joseph\u2019s personality: bravado, defiance, occasional tempestuousness, and a splash of humor. Choke and punch an antagonist, but pay the fine immediately.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s an interesting incident that sheds light on Joseph Smith\u2019s personality, but also shows a more violent side than most Latter-day Saints are accustomed to hearing about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps more controversial, however, is that Turner is looking to address some of the fundamental questions that face historians and Latter-day Saints when they examine the life of Joseph Smith. He noted that when he wrote about Brigham Young, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There were certain other questions that I did not need to answer in what became Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet. Those questions pertained to Joseph Smith. \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether or not Smith actually possessed golden plates, Young accepted the divinity of the Book of Mormon. No matter what motivated Smith to introduce plural marriage, once Brigham Young accepted the teaching, he pursued it wholeheartedly. \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, I mostly left those questions alone when writing about Brigham Young, and I did the same when I wrote a book about the role of Jesus Christ in Latter-day Saint thought and devotion.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In a biography about Joseph Smith himself, however, Turner indicated that he will need to address questions of this sort:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Unlike in my prior books, I cannot simply set aside or work around the key questions surrounding Joseph Smith\u2019s life:<\/p>\n\n\n\n