Joseph Smith, Jr. and polygamy
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Most historians think Joseph Smith Jr. taught and practiced a principle that he called "plural marriage". This position is supported by "sealing" records (in many cases notarized) public marriage licenses, affidavits, journals and diaries. Early Non-Mormon Latter Day Saints originally published evidence that Smith had taught the doctrine as a fallen prophet [3], his son disagreed with the evidence presented and requested that early copies of The Latter Day Saints Herald providing evidence of this doctrine be destroyed [4]. Much of the surviving pieces of controversial evidence of Smith's teaching and practice of the doctrine is currently owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints based in Salt Lake City, Utah.
There is an important difference in this controversy between polygamous "sealings" that Joseph Smith Jr. was actually directly involved in and ceremonies that took place without his actual knowledge, approval or physical presence. The former is disputed, but no one has been known to dispute the latter.
According to current LDS scripture, Joseph Smith recorded a divine revelation July 12, 1843, outlining the law governing celestial and plural marriage. This revelation explained that even if Joseph Smith "have ten virgins given unto him by this law, he cannot commit adultery" because "they belong to him, and they are given unto him; therefore is he justified." The revelation also taught that plural wives "are given unto him to multiply and replenish the earth, according to my commandment, and to fulfill the promise which was given by my Father before the foundation of the world, and for their exaltation in the eternal worlds, that they may bear the souls of men." (Doctrine and Covenants 132:62-63) [1]
In explaining this revelation, Joseph Smith said,
"The same God that has thus far dictated me and directed me and strengthened me in this work, gave me this revelation and commandment on celestial and plural marriage, and the same God commanded me to obey it. He said to me that unless I accepted it, and introduced it, and practiced it, I, together with my people would be damned and cut off from this time henceforth. We have got to observe it. It is an eternal principle and was given by way of commandment and not by way of instruction." The Prophet Joseph Smith, Contributor, Vol. 5, p. 259
Though the doctrine was not widely taught during Smith's life, records indicate that marriages of this type were performed for select members of the Church before 1840. Joseph was sealed to several dozen women, both during his life and by proxy after his death; however, it is disputed whether he actually knew about or approved of these activities and there is no undisputed evidence to confirm that he co-habitated with anyone other than his first wife, Emma. She was the only one known with certainty to have borne his children. They had several children, including Joseph Smith III.
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[edit] Controversy over polygamy accusations
A minority believe that Joseph Smith did not personally advocate or practice plural marriage. Most support for this view comes from people associated with the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
[edit] Joseph Smith III
The first leader of the RLDS church after Joseph Smith, Jr., was his oldest son Joseph Smith III. His ideas on his father and polygamy evolved throughout his life (Launius 1988, p 190-267). However, at one point in his life, he stated,
"If it be true that Joseph Smith did teach and practice polygamy contrary to the law of the Church, he was most certainly a transgressor. Nor would his sanction of the doctrine make it a legitimate ordinance in the Church of Christ. In proof that Joseph Smith did teach and practice such a doctrine I should want more reliable testimony than can be had from the polygamous wives of Brigham Young.
Joseph Smith III was an ardent opponent of the practice of plural marriage throughout his life. For most of his career, Smith denied that his father had been involved in the practice and insisted that it had originated with Brigham Young. He served many missions to the West, however, where he met with and interviewed associates (and alleged wives) of his father who attempted to present him with evidence to the contrary. In the end, in the face of overwhelming evidence, Smith concluded that he was "not positive nor sure that [his father] was innocent" and that if, indeed, the elder Smith had been involved, it was still a false practice.
[edit] Historical RLDS
Many past and present members of the Community of Christ, and some of the groups that were formerly associated with it were (and are) still not convinced that Joseph Smith III's father did indeed engage in plural marriage, and feel that the "evidence" that he did so is largely flawed. The senior Smith's association with the doctrine is largely unchallenged by critics of Mormonism no doubt in part because it helps discredit Smith, but also because the largest group, the modern day Mormons, have never denied it.
Although Joseph Smith III and most RLDS church leaders denied that the elder Joseph Smith Jr. practiced polygamy, some leaders believed that he did. One of the founders of the Reorganization, Jason W. Briggs stated during the Temple-Lot lawsuit that he "heard something about a revelation on polygamy, or plural marriage, when I was in Nauvoo, in 1842." The editor of the earliest official RLDS periodical, Isaac Sheen, was more direct. He wrote that Joseph Smith, Jr., gave a revelation, committed polygamy, but repented of this "sin" before his death. (See Isaac Sheen, The True Latter Day Saint Herald 1, no. 1 (January 1860).) Sheen's statement was affirmed by William Marks, the stake president of Nauvoo during Joseph Smith, Jr.'s lifetime and a close counselor to Joseph Smith III. Marks claimed to have seen Hyrum Smith read the polygamy revelation to the High Council in 1843. (See the quote of RLDS church leadership "joint council" minutes from 2 May 1865, Launius, Joseph Smith III, p.201). Early in his life, Joseph Smith III could not affirm Marks's statement despite its eye-witness nature.
[edit] Modern fundamentalist RLDS
Modern fundamentalist RLDS and many late nineteenth-century RLDS contended that the exact polygamy revelation was not published in the lifetime of Joseph Smith, Jr.; they believe that the revelation endorsing polygamy and attributed to Joseph Smith, Jr., was presented by Brigham Young to his followers several years after Joseph Smith, Jr., died. However, others state that the Nauvoo Expositor of June 1844, quoted several items that bear striking similarity to the revelation Young presented. The Nauvoo Expositor was published by dissident saints who were outraged by what they alleged was Joseph Smith, Jr.’s practice of polygamy and his theocratic rule.
Currently, fundamentalist members of the former Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (many of whom have organized and/or meet in separate organizations like the Restoration Branches) do not recognize the polygamy revelation as an authentic document given by Smith.
[edit] Community of Christ
From the 1930s until the present, many RLDS (now Community of Christ) church leaders have affirmed that Joseph Smith, Jr. was involved in polygamy or some type of plural marriage sealings. The topic remains controversial among some Community of Christ members. Many now recognize Smith's involvement; a minority vehemently deny Smith's complicity. Still others no longer see the issue as important. For people concerned about this topic and related to the RLDS tradition, the issue remains as much about current liberal/conservative church politics as it does an issue of history. (See Howlett, "Remembering Polygamy," pp. 149-172.)
[edit] Sealing vs Marriage
There is a subtle difference between 'sealing' (which is a priesthood ordinance that binds individuals together in the eternities), and 'marriage' (a social tradition in which the man and woman agree to be husband and wife in this life). In those early days of this religion, common practices and doctrines were not yet well-defined. It is speculated that many, if not all, of the arrangements between Smith and these women were more in alignment with the concept of sealings, not marriages, in the sense that Smith did not join with any of these women, except for Emma, in a family unit.
Even among those who accept the views of conventional historians, there is disagreement as to the precise number of wives Smith had: The LDS Church's genealogical website lists 24 marriages for Smith, four of which are indicated to have taken place after his death.[2] Fawn Brodie lists 48, D. Michael Quinn 46, and George D. Smith 43. The lack of documents to support specific wives creates the discrepancy.
A number of Smith's "marriages" occurred after his death, with the wife being sealed to Joseph via a proxy that stood in for him.[3] One historian, Todd M. Compton, documented at least thirty-three plural marriages or sealings during Smith's lifetime. Many people think it is without question that Joseph had multiple wives; but, as Compton states multiple times in his work, "Absolutely nothing is known of this marriage after the ceremony"—that is, it is unclear how many of the women Smith had sexual relations with. There are allegations that Smith had at least one child born to a plural wife, but this remains unproven.[4]
Compton lists the following as possible wives:
Current policy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that marriages or sealings are not valid unless recorded. This is evident from D&C 128:6-9 and 129:1-9:
- That in all your recordings it may be recorded in heaven; whatsoever you bind on earth, may be bound in heaven; whatsoever you loose on earth, may be loosed in heaven...And again, let all the records be had in order...saith the Lord of Hosts.
- You may think this order of things to be very particular; but let me tell you that it is only to answer the will of God...the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works; consequently, the books...refer to the records which are kept on the earth...whatsoever you record on earth shall be recorded in heaven, and whatsoever you do not record on earth shall not be recorded in heaven; for out of the books shall your dead be judged, according to their own works, whether they themselves have attended to the ordinances in their own propria persona, or by the means of their own agents, according to the ordinance which God has prepared for their salvation from before the foundation of the world, according to the records which they have kept concerning their dead. It may seem to some to be a very bold doctrine that we talk of—a power which records or binds on earth and binds in heaven. Nevertheless, in all ages of the world, whenever the Lord has given a dispensation of the priesthood to any man by actual revelation, or any set of men, this power has always been given. Hence, whatsoever those men did in authority, in the name of the Lord, and did it truly and faithfully, and kept a proper and faithful record of the same, it became a law on earth and in heaven, and could not be annulled, according to the decrees of the great Jehovah.
If this is the case, then any marriage (or sealing) ordinances performed in behalf of Smith are not recognized by the Church and not binding.
[edit] Notes
- Current LDS Scripture Doctrine and Covenants Section 132. Retrieved on [[November 25, 2006]].
- ^ Doctrine and Covenants 132:61-63
[edit] See also
- Mormon plural marriage
- Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought --on-line archive of journal includes prominent scholarly articles examining polygamy.
[edit] References
- Current LDS Scripture Doctrine and Covenants Section 132. Retrieved on [[November 25, 2006]].
- Wives of Joseph Smith. Retrieved on [[August 1, 2006]].
- Was it normal to marry 14 year-old girls in Joseph Smith's time?. Rethinking Mormonism. Retrieved on [[August 1, 2006]].
- Compton, Todd (1996). "A Trajectory of Plurality: An Overview of Joseph Smith's Thirty-three Plural Wives". Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 29 (Summer): 1-38.
- Compton, Todd (1996). In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith. Salt Lake City: Signature Books.
- Foster, Lawrence (1981). Religion and Sexuality: The Shakers, the Mormons, and the Oneida Community. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Howlett, David J. (2004). "Remembering Polygamy: the RLDS Church and the Late Twentieth-Century American Spiritual Transformations". The John Whitmer Historical Association Journal 24: 149-172.. Discusses the twentieth-century RLDS struggle to remember polygamy in the context of general American religious controversies in the same era.
- Launius, Roger D. (1988). 'Joseph Smith III: Pragmatic Prophet'. University of Illinois Press. Provides an excellent discussion of Joseph Smith III's attempts to understand polygamy's origins and his father's role or lack thereof.
- Launius, Roger D. (1990). Father Figure: Joseph Smith III and the Creation of the Reorganized Church. Herald Pub House 1990. ISBN 0-8309-0576-6.
[edit] Detractors
- Price, Richard. Joseph Smith: Innocent of Polygamy. Restoration Bookstore. Price Publishing Company. Retrieved on [[August 1, 2006]].
- Price, Richard. Joseph Smith Fought Polygamy. Restoration Bookstore. Price Publishing Company. Retrieved on [[August 1, 2006]].
- Fry, Evan. Joseph Smith, Jr., Did Not Teach nor Practice Polygamy. HopeOfZion.com. Retrieved on [[September 13, 2006]].
- Smith, Elbert A.. Differences That Persist between the RLDS and LDS Churches, Chapter 3 (PDF). CenterPlace.org. Retrieved on [[November 8, 2006]].
[edit] External links
Remembering the Wives of Joseph Smith. Retrieved on [[August 1, 2006]]. biographies with references
