Foundational Texts of Mormonism
1st Edition
Published on 16. February 2018
384 pages
978-0-19-027439-9 (ISBN)
Description
Joseph Smith, founding prophet and martyr of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, personally wrote, dictated, or commissioned thousands of documents. Among these are several highly significant sources that scholars have used over and over again in their attempts to reconstruct the founding era of Mormonism, usually by focusing solely on content, without a deep appreciation for how and why a document was produced. This book offers case studies of the sources most often used by historians of the early Mormon experience. Each chapter takes a particular document as its primary subject, considering the production of a document as an historical event in itself, with its own background, purpose, circumstances, and consequences. The documents are examined not merely as sources of information but as artifacts that reflect aspects of the general culture and particular circumstances in which they were created. This book will help historians working in the founding era of Mormonism gain a more solid grounding in the period's documentary record by supplying important information on major primary sources.
More details
Other editions
Additional editions
Mark Ashurst-McGee | Robin Scott Jensen | Sharalyn D. Howcroft
Foundational Texts of Mormonism
Examining Major Early Sources
Book
04/2018
Oxford University Press Inc
€126.00
Shipment within 15-20 days
Persons
Mark Ashurst- McGee is the Senior Historian and Senior Research and Review Editor for the Joseph Smith Papers Project, where he specializes in document analysis and documentary editing methodology. He is a coeditor of several volumes of the Joseph Smith Papers and is the author of several articles on Joseph Smith and early Mormon history.
Robin Scott Jensen is Associate Managing Historian and the Project Archivist for the Joseph Smith Papers Project. Jensen is a coeditor of the volumes in the Revelations and Translations series of the Joseph Smith Papers and is the author of several articles on Joseph Smith and early Mormon history.
Sharalyn D. Howcroft is a member of the Academy of Certified Archivists and an archivist for the Joseph Smith Papers Project specializing in handwriting identification and custodial history.
Content
Foreword
Harry S. Stout
Contributors
Chapter 1
Introduction
Mark Ashurst-McGee, Robin Scott Jensen, and Sharalyn D. Howcroft
Chapter 2
The Gold Plates as Foundational Text
Richard Lyman Bushman
Chapter 3
Textual Criticism and the Book of Mormon
Grant Hardy
Chapter 4
Intertextuality and the Purpose of Joseph Smith's New Translation of the Bible
Thomas A. Wayment
Chapter 5
The Dictation, Compilation, and Canonization of Joseph Smith's Revelations
Grant Underwood
Chapter 6
Joseph Smith's Missouri Prison Letters and the Mormon Textual Community
David W. Grua
Chapter 7
The Textual Culture of the Nauvoo Female Relief Society Leadership and Minute Book
Jennifer Reeder
Chapter 8
Joseph Smith's Sermons and the Early Mormon Documentary Record
William V. Smith
Chapter 9
Joseph Smith's Nauvoo Journals
Alex D. Smith and Andrew H. Hedges
Chapter 10
The Early Diaries of Wilford Woodruff, 1835-1839
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
Chapter 11
A Textual and Archival Reexamination of Lucy Mack Smith's History
Sharalyn D. Howcroft
Chapter 12
The Image as Text and Context in Early Mormon History
Jeffrey G. Cannon
Chapter 13
Joseph Smith and the Conspicuous Scarcity of Early Mormon Documentation
Ronald O. Barney
