11 Facts I learned about Joseph Smith & Church
History reading Rough Stone Rolling.
We are highlighting one of the best written
Biographies of Joseph Smith by a LDS historian Richard Bushman
Understanding not everyone is willing to read a
500-page book about Joseph Smith, I decided to read it so you don’t have to
(unless you want to!) Rough Stone rolling is worth reading.
Richard Bushman served as the President of the
Mormon History Associate- So yes, this book is written & by a member of the
Church and is a LDS historian. Richard Bushman, the Author of Rough Stone
Rolling is one of the general editors of the Joseph Smith Papers. That means he
writes for the Church
As a lifelong LDS Member [30+ years] and one who
was a Second Councilor in the Bishopric, I was very much surprised about some of
the facts (unsettling at times ) I learned in Rough Stone Rolling concerning
Joseph Smith & Church History.
Such as Joseph’s Smiths Polygamy &
Polyandry.
Joseph Marrying women who have living
husbands
Joseph being commanded by an Angel with a
flaming sword to practice Polygamy
Freemason temple endowment connection
The Book of Abraham translation theory
Kinderhook plates
Women giving blessings
Many Prophecies that never came to pass
Joseph & the Apostles speaking in tongues
Joseph using the same Seer stone to
translate the Gold plates into the Book of Mormon as he used for
treasure hunting and so many more!
To add some clarity to these facts and to better
understand Church History, I made this presentation of 11 very interesting facts
I learned from Rough Stone Rolling.
Nearly 98% of all the text in the presentation
comes straight from the Book [Rough Stone Rolling] – Richard Bushman is a LDS
Author and a past president of the Mormon History Association, Bushman also
worked on the church published , Joseph Smith Papers Project.
I hope you enjoy!!
History of the LDS Saints
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Click on the book cover to
read in PDF
From Wikipedia
Joseph Smith: Rough Stone
Rolling: A Cultural Biography of Mormonism's Founder is a
biography of
Joseph Smith, founder and
prophet of the
Latter Day Saint movement, by historian
Richard Bushman. Bushman is both a practicing member of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the
Gouverneur Morris Professor of History emeritus at
Columbia University. Rough Stone Rolling received the
2005 Best Book Award from the Mormon History Association and the
2005 Evans Biography Award from the Mountain West Center for
Regional Studies.
Approach
The title of the book refers to a
self-description by Smith, "I [am] a rough stone. The sound of the
hammer and chisel was never heard on me nor never will be. I desire
the learning and wisdom of heaven alone."[1]
Bushman is the author of many books on early American cultural and
religious history, and his own religious and academic background
enables him to locate Smith in the cultural context of early
nineteenth-century America.
Although the five-hundred
eighty-four page biography (with additional extensive notes and
documentation) does not avoid controversial aspects of Smith's life
and work, such as his practice of
polygamy and his youthful
treasure-seeking, it treats them cautiously, and as Bushman
himself admits, with "greater tolerance for Smith's remarkable
stories than most historians would allow."[2]
Reception
Jane Lampman, reviewing the book
for the
Christian Science Monitor, called the book a fascinating,
definitive biography, saying it explored the controversy surrounding
Smith without attempting to resolve it, and lauded the book as "an
honest yet sympathetic portrayal...rich in its depiction of
developing Mormonism."[3]
Novelist
Walter Kirn in
The New York Times Book Review says that when reading
Bushman's biography, "once the reader despairs of ever finding out
whether Smith was God's own spokesman or the
L. Ron Hubbard of his day, it's possible to enjoy a tale that's
as colorful, suspenseful and unlikely as any in American history."[4]
Novelist
Larry McMurtry wrote that the book makes use of much recent
research and is the most complete biography of Joseph Smith
published to date, but that in reading Bushman, it is difficult to
determine "where biography ends and apologetics begin."[5]
In a long academic review,
Jan Shipps called the book "the crowning achievement of the new
Mormon history," that is likely to "serve as the standard work on
Mormonism's coming in to being" for the foreseeable future.[6]
Marvin S. Hill, a retired
Brigham Young University professor, wrote in
Dialogue that Bushman "comes up markedly short at times and
he does not always examine controversial issues carefully" but that
"his book suggests that thought about the Prophet has matured among
some faithful Latter-day Saints" and that "there is much to praise".[7]
In 2011,
Laurie Maffly-Kipp, a non-Mormon historian of Mormonism, called
Rough Stone Rolling "the definitive account...
on Joseph Smith’s life and legacy."[8]
In 2007, Bushman published a brief
memoir about the publication of Rough Stone Rolling, which
outlined both the genesis of the book and the reaction of audiences
and reviewers during his yearlong book tour.[9]