There was frustration in Oliver Cowdery's 4 February 1835 letter to Bishop Newel K. Whitney. Oliver Cowdery was trying to acquire "the original copy of ... The Law of the Church" and had so far been unable to locate a reliable source. He even confessed publicly to being "not a little surprised" in preparing the revelations of Joseph Smith for publication "to find the previous print[ing in the church newspaper] so different from the original." The problem, as historian Richard P. Howard has noted, was that Cowdery was using "a different original" from what he had seen four years earlier. Indeed, agrees author H. Michael Marquardt, it is apparent that the 1835 version of Smith's revelations was a "revised, expanded text that contained material anachronistic to the original 1831 setting." More specifically, many documents were "added to, excised, and in some cases assigned different historical settings. ... Among other emendations, the changes softened language, reinterpreted economic matters, added offices existing at the time of revision, and inserted references to priesthood restoration." Where events had "not unfolded as proposed," prophecies were reevaluated and, where necessary, revised. What does it matter? Many of the changes are significant, whether one sees them as historical curiosities, background to the intent of now ambiguous passages, or as insight into God's "line upon line" dealings with mortal men and women. The latter may be the most important, as the "evolution of the canon" implies something about the nature of revelation itself. The obvious casualty for anyone undertaking a careful study of church documents is the assumption of infallibility versus a fluid, dynamic model of revelation, what Marquardt calls the "richness of the living text as it is transformed over time." This new understanding reveals "important, fundamental vistas" for understanding doctrine, policy, and history. In some ways Marquardt's seminal study reminds one of the work of biblical scholars sifted through ancient parchments. The object in this case is the earliest extant manuscripts of Joseph Smith's revelations. Marquardt compares these to the canonized versions of the documents as included in the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants; adding annotation and commentary for convenience. The source documents include: A Book of Commandments (manuscript, Law and Covenants books B and C, and printed sheets from 1833), the Book of the Law of the Lord manuscript, the William Clayton Journal, Zebedee Coltrin Journal, The Evening and the Morning Star, Joseph Smith Letterbook 1, Kirtland Revelations Book manuscript, Manuscript Letter to John E. Page, Manuscript History books A-1 and C-1, Manuscript Revelations Collection, William E. McLellin Collection, Scriptory Book of Joseph Smith manuscript, Joseph Smith Journal, Frederick G. Williams Papers, Newel K. Whitney Collection, and many others.
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Editorial Reviews
Review
Michael Marquardt, a retired civil servant, has written extensively on Mormon history. He is an internet webmaster for "Mormon Origins." His collection of 170 documents "arranges in chronological order the revelations received by Mormonism's founding prophet, Joseph Smith, in their earliest available form. Important textual revisions that appeared in the canonized 1835 Doctrine and Covenants are included at the end of each revelation affected." The documents include "not only foundational doctrinal assertions and visions but also pronouncements regarding the duties of church leaders." The compiler includes a historical introduction, commentary, sixteen illustrations, six appendices, a bibliography, and an index.". --Theology Digest
About the Author
H. Michael Marquardt is co-author with the late Wesley P. Walters of the acclaimed The Four Gospels According to Joseph Smith; Inventing Mormonism:Tradition and the Historical Record; The Rise of Mormonism: 1816-1844; and editor of Early Patriarchal Blessings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In addition, he is the author of several historical monographs, including The Book of Abraham Revisited, Joseph Smith's Diaries, and The Strange Marriages of Sarah Ann Whitney, and of essays that have appeared in a variety of professional and religious journals. A retired civil servant, he is now the webmaster for the Mormon Origins site. He and his wife, Dorothy, live in Sandy, Utah, and have five children.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Authors
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Valuable reference book - a must for serious historians,
By Matthew Bryde (Australia) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Joseph Smith Revelations: Text and Commentary (Hardcover)
This volume is a record of the revelations received by Joseph Smith which were included in the original "Book of Commandments". It compares the original published revelations with what we have today in the LDS and RLDS "Doctrine and Covenants". Marquardt details what changes were made, when they were made, and where appropriate, adds his own commentary on the changes.
Each revelation has cross-references to the appropriate Section number in today's version for ease of comparison. To correct the previous reviewer's comments, this is not about the Book of Mormon.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An absolute "must-have" resource for college libraries,
By Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Joseph Smith Revelations: Text and Commentary (Hardcover)
Retired civil servant and independent historian H. Michael Marquardt presents The Joseph Smith Revelations Text & Commentary, a thoughtful and insightful examination of how canonical Mormon text - indeed, the revelations of Joseph Smith himself - have allegedly been revised and altered in significant ways, an issue visibly noted as early as within Oliver Cowdery's 1835 letter to Bishop Newel K. Whitney, which complained that "the original copy of... The Law of the Church" had substantial alterations from its 1831 rendition. Marquardt advances to the viewpoint that when studying church documents, one should be avoid assumptions of absolute infallibility, but instead explore a dynamic model of revelation, and scrutinize how the text is transformed over time. An in-depth, scholarly, and thought-provoking analysis of doctrine, policy, and history, The Joseph Smith Revelations Text & Commentary is an absolute "must-have" resource for college libraries and private collections featuring extensive studies of Mormon religious belief and history.
7 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Mormonism Unveiled,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Joseph Smith Revelations: Text and Commentary (Hardcover)
This book is yet another fascinating study between Joseph Smith's words versus those finally printed in the Book of Mormon. A very interesting read.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
