DiscussMormonism.com

MG,

You really should take a look at Rick Grunder's fascinating research on the Rochester Arcade, which Joseph Smith visited right around the time he dictated this section of the Book of Mormon:

http://www.withoutend.org/great-spacious-building/

Sure thing, Sock!

https://www.academia.edu/20126260/Playi ... ormon_Ohio

Lindsay Hansen Park and Gina Colvin interviewed me for the Color of Heaven podcast series a few days ago. We discussed an article I recently published, as well as some of the broad themes and findings of my dissertation research. Here's the link if anyone's interested:

http://feministmormonhousewivespodcast. ... nite-zeal/

I used to think this, but ya know.... genius is a little strong. Manipulative appears more accurate to me. There are lots of manipulators out there, but how many of them are as successful as Smith was? Your typical deadbeat bigamist has two, maybe three wives. Smith had forty. I mean, holy hell. No...

Smith was a genius, but even geniuses screw up, and Smith screwed up a lot. His screwups lost him a lot of his closest followers, including half the Quorum of the Twelve. Fortunately for him, most people are pretty blind to their leaders' faults.

Philo Sofee wrote:That is flippin genius! Seriously. This may be the most interesting speculation in existence and worth a very careful serious look.

Thanks, Kerry.

Hi Chris, I respect the fact that you are a well known researcher on things Mormon. My question to you...after,well, if you don't mind... reading this article first: m ...is, do you think that this whole 'prop' business is enough to explain everything going on with the plates before Joseph purporte...

In my opinion the different eyewitness accounts are pretty easy to reconcile if you just allow that Joseph had more than one prop. I suspect he used at least four props: sand, a piece of greenish tile/rock, an empty box, and a fabricated glass or tin mockup. If anyone wonders why he would use multip...

He and his warriors performed a similar procession, forming a semi circle while walking up to the fort singing, at Fort Utah in 1850 after a meeting with BY, which was later reinvented by Edward Tullidge as an attempted attack by Walkara the War Cheif on the fort which was thwarted by another Ute c...

Yep, that's the one!