Customer Reviews

Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism

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Richard L. Bushman's book, Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism, presents an in-depth look at the Smith family, the start of the Mormon religion, and some of its early doctrines and foundations. Bushman's text addresses interesting ideas: the influence of the New England society and revivalism, Joseph Smith's application of religious skepticism and values inherited from his relatives, causes and explanations for the birth of some anti-Mormon factions, contemporary reflection on Smith's character, early history of the church, and refutation for some arguments against Smith and the church. Bushman's thorough analysis of Joseph Smith and the early church is placed in the context of early 19th century American culture.

Bushman, a practicing Mormon, obviously possesses a bias toward Mormonism. Bushman does not attempt to disguise his religious affiliation; yet, I never felt that Bushman gave an apologetic narrative or tried to justify Smith's claims or Mormonism's history. The book seems remarkably objective and well-researched and Bushman does not shy away from controversial topics or derogatory critiques. As he explains in his introduction, he treats Smith's claims as reality, allowing the individual reader to decide whether these experiences are true. This method enabled Bushman to approach Mormon history from a more open perspective than most readers are used to, and we can visualize Smith in a complete portrait. Bushman's work helps me understand Smith as a human being, not as a saint or a charlatan.

Bushman's thesis explains Smith and Mormonism as both a product of and reaction against his environment. Bushman is not attempting to validate Mormonism, nor provide a routine recitation of LDS history. Neither is he attacking its assumptions nor its key founders.

"Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism" (1984), written by prize-winning colonial historian Richard L. Bushman, was originally conceived as one of the sixteen volumes on Mormon history officially sponsored by the Latter-day Saint church in commemoration of its sesquicentennial in 1980. It is an excellent example of what Mormons would call "faithful history"--an approach that emphasizes the sacred nature of the history of Mormonism--and presents an elegant, eloquent, exacting, and exasperating analysis of the origins of Mormonism through the end of 1830.

In this work Bushman deals in an exceptionally faithful manner with the rise of the church, addressing many of the very real thorny historical issues swirling about Mormonism's creation mythology. How convincing his analysis may be is very much a result of whether or not one accepts Joseph Smith as a prophet of God. Bushman does and demonstrates it on virtually every page.

For example, Bushman sought to cohere the folk magic tradition of Joseph Smith with his later career as a prophet of God. There seems little doubt now, despite earlier denials, that Joseph Smith engaged in the practice of folk magic and treasure seeking. Bushman seeks to explain away affidavits and other information implicating Joseph Smith in efforts to use folk magic to recover buried treasure--specifically an 1826 account of a court case filed against Joseph Smith for defrauding a Josiah Stowel of money in a treasure hunting scheme--by exploring the larger context of folk magic in early American history and suggesting that Smith originally reflected his times but ultimately transcended them by God's intervention. In the end, Bushman fails to deal satisfactorily with the story of the Book of Mormon's "golden plates" buried in the Earth and presumably recovered by Smith in 1827, asserting rather than demonstrating this story did not originate out of a tradition of folk magic and money digging.

Equally significant, Bushman wrestles with the story of the Book of Mormon, specifically its origins and message. He plays off the comments of Disciples of Christ minister Alexander Campbell, who published the first genuine criticism of the book in 1831. In it Campbell commented that the Book of Mormon dealt with "every error and almost every truth discussed in New York for the last ten years." For this to be possible, of course, the Book of Mormon could not have been a sacred translation of ancient scripture but a modern work written by Joseph Smith. Bushman explicitly takes issue with this position and argues that the republican tendencies that were everywhere present in the early American nation were absent from the Book of Mormon. Indeed he suggests that the scripture was strangely distant from the social and political milieu of the U.S. in 1830. He sees more "Old World" perspectives than early American thought in the book.

"Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism" is an interesting and provocative defense of the sacred story. Bushman is an elegant historian with a special skill in defending the faith story. That his arguments are as successful as they are is a measure of his historical versimilitude. While it is an important synthesis, Bushman's book will be acceptable mostly to believing Mormons.

Bushman truly lives up to his reputation as a historian with this book. This work is both fair and engrossing, and it seems a very even way to learn about a man who was important in both helping to define American religious feeling and adding yet another dimension to the dynamic world of the early American republic. Another reviewer on this site declared Bushman's insights as dry, politically correct, and biased. This review demonstrated an amateur approach to history. As an academic historian, Bushman tries and succeeds to weigh all facts and give a needed view of Joseph Smith. Bushman is not the first professional historian to write a serious work for his peers about the history of his own faith, although he may be one of the first Mormon to do so. As any conscientious historian writing from such a perspective, he admits to his reader his biases and how he dealt with them to offer an accurate portrait of Joseph Smith. "Obsessively footnoted," said that reviewer. Spare me. That's what professional historians do. A person glancing at those footnotes would see how Bushman's thorough use of sources has helped him be a judicious historian. Read this book. It's a great read and a very important contribution.

Bushman, a member of the LDS Church, writes this history of Joseph Smith from Smith's early years through 1831, one year after the founding of the Church. The book starts off slow, with a detailed history of the Smith family moving from place to place. The first two chapters have a few too many lists describing each town: "An 1824 gazeteer credited the town with three gristmills, eight sawmills, one fulling mill, an iron works, five distilleries..." (p. 45).

But the book picks up halfway through chapter two, when we encounter Joseph Smith's first spiritual manifestation. Bushman deals with the spiritual events perfectly: he describes them in the words of the individuals who experience the events, and then he provides extensive cultural context. For example, he explains that the negative reaction of local clergy to Joseph's first vision may well have been because others claimed similar visions around the same time, often justifying a departure in doctrine from established religion. He explains that while Joseph Smith did have a seerstone, such objects were not uncommon among the mixture of magic and religion that prevailed in the day.

The book is wonderfully documented, and many of the footnotes in the back provide additional insights. The book also provides sources for certain stories that I have heard circulating in the LDS Church without knowing where they came from. For example, David Whitmer is our source for the story of Joseph Smith being unable to translate while being annoyed at his wife (p. 104).

The chronology of events is occasionally confusing because Bushman discusses everything about the Book of Mormon and then jumps back in time as he treats everything about the organization of the Church, but this is a minor (and probably unavoidable) drawback. This book is an informative and inspiring read, and I'm glad to have it as a reference in my collection. I look forward to reading Bushman's full biography of Joseph Smith, due out in September 2005.

Richard L. Bushman is possibly the best historian on the subject of the Mormons. This book is thoroughly documented. Bushman focuses very much on the culture that Joseph Smith grew up in, he duscusses Joseph Smiths parents and grandparents on how they may have influenced him. Bushman is very honest and objective in his approach to the early life Joseph Smith. Bushman does not get caught up in verifying or disproving the claims of Joseph Smith. Bushman just states the facts and interprets when necessary. Richard Bushman is writing a full biography about Joseph Smith which I believe will become the definitive biography of Joseph Smith. Bushman also gives a very fair explanation on the Book of Mormon which is the most important work by Joseph Smith. I would also recomend reading "Joseph Smith: the Making of a Prophet" by Dan Vogel which covers the same period of Smith's life.

This book was the precursor to Rough Stone Rolling, and it only treats the life of Joseph Smith up to the Kirtland era. For that reason, I felt like I was left hanging.

Probably due to it's shorter length, Beginnings of Mormonism is better edited than Rough Stone Rolling and lacks that vaguely rambling tone. If you've read or own Rough Stone Rolling, you won't find anything new in this book and will probably be disappointed. It's only worth buying Beginnings of Mormonism nowadays unless you're a collector.

As a silly personal aside, can't somebody update the cover of this book? Gosh, I felt like I needed to put on another dustjacket while I was reading it -- so ugly!

This book was one the easiest to read on the subject of the LDS church history.

Bushman is able to give a thorough and well documented history, without the "sanitising filter" so often applied by Mormon historians. He is not afraid to quote non favourable sources and yet is able to put the reader as ease over less talked about issues.

I was impressed with both the research presented and the style of writing used. Bushman has obviously spent a lot of time and energy sourcing material for this book and yet presents it like a captivating novel. This was both an enjoyable read and yet at the same time extremely informing.

The book starts with the family histories of both Joseph Smith's grandparents, and ends in the year 1831, when the general church membership make the move to Kirtland, Ohio. I assume this was to be the first in a series of books to be written. I look forward to reading "Rough Stone Rolling" by the same author to see how he tackles the post 1831 history.

I highly recommend this book to anyone serious about church history - member and non-member alike.

Richard Lyman Bushman (born 1931) is an American historian and Professor of History emeritus at Columbia University, and Visiting Professor in Mormon Studies at Claremont Graduate University. He is himself a practicing Latter-day Saint, and is also the author of the biography, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling.

He wrote in the Introduction to this 1984 book, "The perspective of this work is that Joseph Smith is best understood as a person who outgrew his culture... The viewpoint of this book is that parts of early Mormonism did resemble aspects of the environment, other parts were alien and peculiar... We can understand Mormonism better if it is seen as an independent creation, drawing from its environment but also struggling against American culture in an effort to realize itself... The aim of this volume is to recognize the unusual as well as the common in Joseph Smith's early work; to tell how Mormonism unloosed itself from its immediate locale in those critical first years, and to portray as accurately as possible what it had become by the time the Prophet, his family, and his followers left New York for Ohio early in 1831."

Here are some additional quotations from the book:

"(In the First Vision) Joseph had two questions in his mind: which church was right, and how to be saved. The two questions were actually one." (Pg. 54)
"In his first narrative Joseph said only that he saw the Lord in the light and heard His words of forgiveness... By 1838 Joseph understood how significant it was that God the Father had appeared to introduce the Son. A new era in history began at that moment. Joseph's personal salvation paled in comparison to the fact that the God of Heaven had set His hand again to open a new dispensation." (Pg. 57)
"For a time Joseph probably used the (seer) stone to help people find lost property and other hidden things, and his reputation reached (Josiah) Stowell... All of this was later turned against Joseph Smith." (Pg. 69-70)
"The very existence of a (1826) trial record, if it is indeed authentic, attests to the popular interest in stone looking and treasure hunting." (Pg. 75)
"Even in the midst of translation questions flickered across Martin's mind. During a break the two men sometimes went to the river to throw stones. Once Martin found one that resembled the seerstone and made a substitution without Joseph's noticing." (Pg. 90)
"While Book of Mormon critics complained about the absence of miraculous proof, they had some explaining of their own to do. How did these 584 pages of text come to issue from the mind of an untaught, indolent ignoramus, notable only for his money-digging escapades? That caricature had to be reconciled with the large, complex, intense volume that Mormons carried in their satchels." (Pg. 124)
"Almost everything Ethan Smith (in View of the Hebrews 1825) worked so industriously to prove, the Book of Mormon disproved or disregarded." (Pg. 136)
"Alexander Campbell (in his Delusions: an analysis of the Book of Mormon : with an examination of its internal and external evidences, and a refutation of its pretences to divine authority ...) thought the Book of Mormon was Joseph Smith's attempt to decide 'all the great controversies,' but neither Joseph nor the early Mormons used the book that way. Mormons were much more likely to seek revelation through their Prophet. Despite the effort that went into the translation, Joseph Smith did not make the book the foundation of the church." (Pg. 142)

Richard L. Bushman is possibly the best historian on the subject of the Mormons. This book is thoroughly documented. Bushman focuses very much on the culture that Joseph Smith grew up in, he duscusses Joseph Smiths parents and grandparents on how they may have influenced him. Bushman is very honest and objective in his approach to the early life Joseph Smith. Bushman does not get caught up in verifying or disproving the claims of Joseph Smith. Bushman just states the facts and interprets when necesary. Richard Bushman is writing a full biography about Joseph Smith which I believe will become the definitive biography of Joseph Smith. Bushman also gives a very fair explanation on the Book of Mormon which is the most important work by Joseph Smith.

If you are looking for a history of the early beginings of Joseph Smith this is the book. It contains the early history of JS in New Hampshire and New York. If you are looking for entertainment, don't look here. The reading is on the dry side, as it is historical in nature. A very good reference book