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Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Nauvoo Polygamy/Preface: Difference between revisions
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====ix====
====ix====
||Joseph was inspired by Napoleon's Egyptian discoveries||
||Joseph was inspired by Napoleon's Egyptian discoveries
||
*[[../../Napoleon's Egyptian discoveries]]
*[[../../Napoleon's Egyptian discoveries]]
||
||
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====ix====
====ix====
||Joseph proposed a tryst with Sarah Ann Whitney||
||Joseph proposed a tryst with Sarah Ann Whitney
* [[Joseph Smith and polygamy/"Love letters"]]
||
* {{GLS-Nauvoo Polygamy-FARMS}}
*[[Joseph Smith and polygamy/"Love letters"]]
*{{GLS-Nauvoo Polygamy-FARMS}}
||
||
*Joseph Smith to "Brother and Sister, [Newel K.] Whitney, and &c. [Sarah Ann,] Nauvoo, Illinois, August 18, 1842, Joseph Smith Collections, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), Salt Lake City, Utah
*Joseph Smith to "Brother and Sister, [Newel K.] Whitney, and &c. [Sarah Ann,] Nauvoo, Illinois, August 18, 1842, Joseph Smith Collections, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), Salt Lake City, Utah
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====ix====
====ix====
||Joseph age 36, versus Sarah 17||
||Joseph age 36, versus Sarah 17
* Smith commonly exploits the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presentism_(literary_and_historical_analysis) presentist fallacy] in the matter of Joseph's wives' ages.
||
*Smith commonly exploits the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presentism_(literary_and_historical_analysis) presentist fallacy] in the matter of Joseph's wives' ages.
*[[Polygamy book/Age of wives|Age of wives]]
*[[Polygamy book/Age of wives|Age of wives]]
*[[../../Presentism]]
*[[../../Presentism]]
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====ix====
====ix====
||Joseph's letter to Sarah Whitney was analogous to Napoleon's passionate love letter to Josephine.||
||Joseph's letter to Sarah Whitney was analogous to Napoleon's passionate love letter to Josephine.||
*[[Joseph Smith and polygamy/"Love letters"]]
*[[Joseph Smith and polygamy/"Love letters"]]
* {{GLS-Nauvoo Polygamy-FARMS}}
*{{GLS-Nauvoo Polygamy-FARMS}}
||
||
*Author's opinion.
*Author's opinion.
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====x====
====x====
||Joseph had a "predilection" to "take an interest in more than one woman."||
||Joseph had a "predilection" to "take an interest in more than one woman."||
* [[Joseph Smith and polygamy]]
*[[Joseph Smith and polygamy]]
* [[../../Loaded and prejudicial language]]
*[[../../Loaded and prejudicial language]]
* [[../../Assumptions and presumptions]]
*[[../../Assumptions and presumptions]]
*[[../../Romance]]
*[[../../Romance]]
*[[../../Mind reading]]
*[[../../Mind reading]]
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* [[../../Mind reading]]
* [[../../Mind reading]]
* [[../../Assumptions and presumptions]]
* [[../../Assumptions and presumptions]]
||
||
*No source provided.
*No source provided.
|-
|-
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|-->
|-->
====xi====
====xi====
||"Little did Napoleon dream that by unearthing the Egyptian past, he would provide the mystery language of a new religion."||[[../../Napoleon's Egyptian discoveries]]||
||"Little did Napoleon dream that by unearthing the Egyptian past, he would provide the mystery language of a new religion."
||
*[[../../Napoleon's Egyptian discoveries]]
||
*Author's opinion.
*Author's opinion.
|-
|-
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<!--====xi====
<!--====xi====
||"Using Old Testament polygamy as a model"||NOTE||
||"Using Old Testament polygamy as a model"
||
*NOTE
||
*No source provided.
*No source provided.
|-
|-
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====xii====
====xii====
||"Beyond his quest for female companionship...."||[[../../Mind reading]]<br>[[../../Loaded and prejudicial language]]||
||"Beyond his quest for female companionship...."
||
*[[../../Mind reading]]
*[[../../Loaded and prejudicial language]]
||
*Author's opinion.
*Author's opinion.
|-
|-
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====xii====
====xii====
||"...Smith utilized plural marriage to create a byzantine structure of relationships intended for successive worlds."||* There is no evidence that Joseph intended the relationship structure to be "byzantine."  He ''did'' however, want all believers connected into one family.<br>[[../../Loaded and prejudicial language]]||
||"...Smith utilized plural marriage to create a byzantine structure of relationships intended for successive worlds."
||
* There is no evidence that Joseph intended the relationship structure to be "byzantine."  He ''did'' however, want all believers connected into one family.
*[[../../Loaded and prejudicial language]]
||
*No source provided.
*No source provided.
|-
|-
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====xii====
====xii====
||Joseph "was arrested for destroying a local press"||* The destruction of the press was a decision ordered by Joseph as mayor with the approval of the Nauvoo city council.  Joseph was charged with riot because of the press' destruction, released on bail, and offered to pay a fine if necessary.  He was rearrested on a capital charge of treason.
||Joseph "was arrested for destroying a local press"
||
* The destruction of the press was a decision ordered by Joseph as mayor with the approval of the Nauvoo city council.  Joseph was charged with riot because of the press' destruction, released on bail, and offered to pay a fine if necessary.  He was rearrested on a capital charge of treason.
* [[Nauvoo Expositor]]  
* [[Nauvoo Expositor]]  
||
||
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====xii====
====xii====
||"Whether Joseph's wife Emma, consented to any of these marriages remains a mystery.  She was aware of at least five of her husbands wives whom she sent away..."||[[Joseph_Smith_and_polygamy/Emma_Smith]] ||
||"Whether Joseph's wife Emma, consented to any of these marriages remains a mystery.  She was aware of at least five of her husbands wives whom she sent away..."
||
*[[Joseph_Smith_and_polygamy/Emma_Smith]]  
||
*No source provided.
*No source provided.
*{{HistoricalError}}
*{{HistoricalError}}
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====xiii====
====xiii====
||"Smith's wives remain unacknowledged in the official ''History of the Church''..."||[[Censorship and revision of LDS history]]<br>[[../../Censorship]]||
||"Smith's wives remain unacknowledged in the official ''History of the Church''..."
||
*[[Censorship and revision of LDS history]]
*[[../../Censorship]]||
*No source provided.
*No source provided.
|-
|-
|xiii||"...today, in official Mormon circles, Smith's granting of favors to chosen followers, allowing them to take extra women into the home, is rarely mentioned."||[[Censorship and revision of LDS history]]<br>[[../../Censorship]]||
|xiii||"...today, in official Mormon circles, Smith's granting of favors to chosen followers, allowing them to take extra women into the home, is rarely mentioned."
||
*[[Censorship and revision of LDS history]]
*[[../../Censorship]]||
*No source provided.
*No source provided.
|-
|-
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|
====xiii-xiv====
====xiii-xiv====
||"extant records constitute a secret chronicle, an addendum...to the carefully edited official history from which any mention of the topic has been expurgated for the early period."||[[Censorship and revision of LDS history]]<br>[[../../Censorship]]||
||"extant records constitute a secret chronicle, an addendum...to the carefully edited official history from which any mention of the topic has been expurgated for the early period."
||
*[[Censorship and revision of LDS history]]
*[[../../Censorship]]||
*No source provided.
*No source provided.
|-
|-
|
|
====xiv====
====xiv====
||"After 1890, when polygamy went underground again, it became difficult to access records."||[[Censorship and revision of LDS history]]<br>[[../../Censorship]]||
||"After 1890, when polygamy went underground again, it became difficult to access records."
||
*[[Censorship and revision of LDS history]]
*[[../../Censorship]]||
*No source provided.
*No source provided.
|-
|-
|
|
====xiv====
====xiv====
||"The cyclical nature of this suppression of information, first in Illinois and later in Utah, left a brief window in Mormon history from which most of the documentation has been recovered."||[[Censorship and revision of LDS history]]<br>[[../../Censorship]]||
||"The cyclical nature of this suppression of information, first in Illinois and later in Utah, left a brief window in Mormon history from which most of the documentation has been recovered."
||
*[[Censorship and revision of LDS history]]
*[[../../Censorship]]||
*No source provided.
*No source provided.
|-
|-
|
|
====xiv====
====xiv====
||"because the history of polygamy in Nauvoo was never officially rewritten, even during the period of openness, Joseph Smith's initiation of the practice has remained in an historical penumbra to this day."||[[Censorship and revision of LDS history]]<br>[[../../Censorship]]||
||"because the history of polygamy in Nauvoo was never officially rewritten, even during the period of openness, Joseph Smith's initiation of the practice has remained in an historical penumbra to this day."
||
*[[Censorship and revision of LDS history]]
*[[../../Censorship]]||
*No source provided.
*No source provided.
|-
|-
|
|
====xiv====
====xiv====
||Joseph "courted and eloped with his first wife."||[[../../Loaded and prejudicial language]]||
||Joseph "courted and eloped with his first wife."
||
*[[../../Loaded and prejudicial language]]
||
*No source provided.
*No source provided.
|-
|-
|
|
====xiv====
====xiv====
||"The topic [of polygamy] was already on Joseph's mind, even in the 1820s."||[[Psychobiographical analysis of Joseph Smith]]<br>[[../../Mind reading]]||
||"The topic [of polygamy] was already on Joseph's mind, even in the 1820s."
||
[[Psychobiographical analysis of Joseph Smith]]
*[[../../Mind reading]]
||
*No source provided.
*No source provided.
|-
|-
|
|
====xv====
====xv====
||"...these same polygamists continued marrying to the point that they had acquired an average of nearly six wives per family.  This model became the blueprint for forty years of Utah polygamy."||*{{InternalContradiction|p. 289: "the typical Utah polygamist whose roots in the principle extended back to Nauvoo, had between three and four wives."}}<br>[[Prevalence of polygamy]] ||
||"...these same polygamists continued marrying to the point that they had acquired an average of nearly six wives per family.  This model became the blueprint for forty years of Utah polygamy."
||
*{{InternalContradiction|p. 289: "the typical Utah polygamist whose roots in the principle extended back to Nauvoo, had between three and four wives."}}<br>[[Prevalence of polygamy]]  
||
*No source provided.
*No source provided.
*{{HistoricalError}}
*{{HistoricalError}}
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====xv====
====xv====
||"suppressed history"||[[Censorship and revision of LDS history]]<br>[[../../Censorship]]||
||"suppressed history"
||
*[[Censorship and revision of LDS history]]
*[[../../Censorship]]||
*No source provided.
*No source provided.
|-
|-
|
|
====xv====
====xv====
||Nauvoo "a more or less insignificant river town"|| *{{InternalContradiction|p. 2: Nauvoo was "a bustling Mississippi River town with several thousand inhabitants."  And, ultimately only Chicago was a larger city in all of Illinois.{{ref|p2fn1}}}}||
||Nauvoo "a more or less insignificant river town"
||  
*{{InternalContradiction|p. 2: Nauvoo was "a bustling Mississippi River town with several thousand inhabitants."  And, ultimately only Chicago was a larger city in all of Illinois.{{ref|p2fn1}}}}||
*No source provided.
*No source provided.
*{{HistoricalError}}
*{{HistoricalError}}
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====xv====
====xv====
||"sources which somehow survived both neglect and contempt so that we are able to know both the facts of the matter and the behind-the-scenes human emotions"||[[Censorship and revision of LDS history]]<br>[[../../Censorship]]||
||"sources which somehow survived both neglect and contempt so that we are able to know both the facts of the matter and the behind-the-scenes human emotions"
||
*[[Censorship and revision of LDS history]]<br>[[../../Censorship]]
||
*No source provided.
*No source provided.
|-
|-
|
|
====xvi====
====xvi====
||Mormon "grandparents considered [polygamy] requisite for heaven."||[[The only men who become gods are those that practice polygamy?]]||
||Mormon "grandparents considered [polygamy] requisite for heaven."
||
*[[The only men who become gods are those that practice polygamy?]]
||
*No source provided.
*No source provided.
{{EndClaimsTable}}
{{EndClaimsTable}}

Revision as of 07:28, 23 December 2008


A FAIR Analysis of:
Criticism of Mormonism/Books
A work by author: George D. Smith
 Chapter 1

Claims made in Preface

Page Claim Response Author's sources

ix

 Joseph was inspired by Napoleon's Egyptian discoveries
  • No source provided.

Egyptian influence? (edit)

ix

 Joseph proposed a tryst with Sarah Ann Whitney
  • Joseph Smith to "Brother and Sister, [Newel K.] Whitney, and &c. [Sarah Ann,] Nauvoo, Illinois, August 18, 1842, Joseph Smith Collections, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), Salt Lake City, Utah
  • Full text of the letter may be viewed at Letter from Joseph Smith to the Whitneys (18 August 1842) (Wikisource)

ix

 Joseph age 36, versus Sarah 17
  • No source provided

ix

 Joseph's letter to Sarah Whitney was analogous to Napoleon's passionate love letter to Josephine.
  • Author's opinion.

x

 Joseph had a "predilection" to "take an interest in more than one woman."
  • Author's opinion.

x

 Napoleon's Egyptian findings "lit a fire in Smith that inspired even the language of his religious prose."
  • No source provided.

xi

 "Little did Napoleon dream that by unearthing the Egyptian past, he would provide the mystery language of a new religion."
  • Author's opinion.

xii

 "Beyond his quest for female companionship...."
  • Author's opinion.

xii

 "...Smith utilized plural marriage to create a byzantine structure of relationships intended for successive worlds."
  • No source provided.

xii

 Joseph "was arrested for destroying a local press"
  • The destruction of the press was a decision ordered by Joseph as mayor with the approval of the Nauvoo city council. Joseph was charged with riot because of the press' destruction, released on bail, and offered to pay a fine if necessary. He was rearrested on a capital charge of treason.
  • Nauvoo Expositor
  • No source provided.
  •  History unclear or in error

xii

 "Whether Joseph's wife Emma, consented to any of these marriages remains a mystery. She was aware of at least five of her husbands wives whom she sent away..."
  • No source provided.
  •  History unclear or in error

xiii

 "Smith's wives remain unacknowledged in the official History of the Church..."
xiii "...today, in official Mormon circles, Smith's granting of favors to chosen followers, allowing them to take extra women into the home, is rarely mentioned."

xiii-xiv

 "extant records constitute a secret chronicle, an addendum...to the carefully edited official history from which any mention of the topic has been expurgated for the early period."

xiv

 "After 1890, when polygamy went underground again, it became difficult to access records."

xiv

 "The cyclical nature of this suppression of information, first in Illinois and later in Utah, left a brief window in Mormon history from which most of the documentation has been recovered."

xiv

 "because the history of polygamy in Nauvoo was never officially rewritten, even during the period of openness, Joseph Smith's initiation of the practice has remained in an historical penumbra to this day."

xiv

 Joseph "courted and eloped with his first wife."
  • No source provided.

xiv

 "The topic [of polygamy] was already on Joseph's mind, even in the 1820s."

Psychobiographical analysis of Joseph Smith

  • No source provided.

xv

 "...these same polygamists continued marrying to the point that they had acquired an average of nearly six wives per family. This model became the blueprint for forty years of Utah polygamy."
  •  Internal contradiction: p. 289: "the typical Utah polygamist whose roots in the principle extended back to Nauvoo, had between three and four wives."
    Prevalence of polygamy
  • No source provided.
  •  History unclear or in error

xv

 "suppressed history"

xv

 Nauvoo "a more or less insignificant river town"
  •  Internal contradiction: p. 2: Nauvoo was "a bustling Mississippi River town with several thousand inhabitants." And, ultimately only Chicago was a larger city in all of Illinois.[1]||
  • No source provided.
  •  History unclear or in error

xv

 "sources which somehow survived both neglect and contempt so that we are able to know both the facts of the matter and the behind-the-scenes human emotions"
  • No source provided.

xvi

 Mormon "grandparents considered [polygamy] requisite for heaven."
  • No source provided.

Endnotes

  1. [note]  Leonard J. Arrington and Davis Bitton, The Mormon Experience: A History of the Latter-Day Saints, 2nd ed. (New York: Knopf : distributed by Random House/University of Illinois Press, [1979] 1992), 69. ISBN 0252062361. off-site
  2. [note]  Leonard J. Arrington and Davis Bitton, The Mormon Experience: A History of the Latter-Day Saints, 2nd ed. (New York: Knopf : distributed by Random House/University of Illinois Press, [1979] 1992), 69. ISBN 0252062361. off-site
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