Joseph Smith was born to poor tenant farmers in Vermont. At age 38, he was shot by a mob, in a jail, in a small town in Illinois. In between, he faced so much adversity that his story is almost the stuff of myth. Around age 7, Joseph endured a painful leg surgery that required him to use crutches for several years. At 14, he was rejected and ridiculed when he reported on his First Vision to a minister. When Joseph was 17, his older brother Alvin died one of four brothers who predeceased him. At 20, Joseph was criminally prosecuted for using a seer stone the first of many times the law was used to harass him. When he was 22, his and Emma’s firstborn child died the first of six children that they buried. At 25, he undertook the first of three migrations that forced him to start again with little. At 26, he was attacked and beaten. At 32, he was sentenced to death. Though he survived that peril, he languished in jail while his family and thousands of followers were driven out of their
How an accidental historian won over critics and shed light on two of Mormonismâs darkest hours
(Leah Hogsten | Tribune file photo) Richard Turley holds one of Joseph Smith s personal documents during a news conference to announce a release in the Joseph Smith Papers project in 2013. Turley recently retired. | Updated: March 4, 2021, 3:33 p.m.
It was 1986, a dark time for Mormon historians.
Just months earlier, infamous document collector Mark Hofmann had forged his way into the market for historical pieces relating to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints â even fooling church President Spencer W. Kimball and future President Gordon B. Hinckley, with his supposedly fabulous finds â and then killing two innocent members to cover his double-dealing and deceit.
2020′s ups and downs
(File photo courtesy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)
Latter-day Saints in the Democratic Republic of Congo celebrate their temple in the capital of Kinshasa.
The plus side includes:
• The announcement of 14 new Latter-day Saint temples, including the first such edifices in the United Arab Emirates (also the first in the Middle East), mainland China, Kiribati and Vanuatu. Utah, meanwhile, will be gaining a 24th and 25th temple, in Syracuse and Lindon. Church President Russell M. Nelson has announced 49 temples since taking the faith’s helm in January 2018.
• Major advances in the translation of scriptures and other materials, including plans in 2021 to publish churchwide magazines for adults (the Liahona), teens (For the Strength of Youth) and younger children (the Friend) in scores of languages.
âMormon Landâ: Historian Richard Bushman explores faith, doubt, the gold plates, prophetic fallibility and feminism
Author of Joseph Smith biography also talks about how he came to believe and how the LDS Church can be a force for good in the world.
(Rick Egan | Tribune file photo) Mormon historian Richard Bushman speaks at Benchmark Books in South Salt Lake in 2018.
  | Jan. 7, 2021, 3:23 p.m.
In a wide-ranging interview published in Sundayâs Salt Lake Tribune, revered Mormon historian Richard Bushman, author of the acclaimed Joseph Smith biography âRough Stone Rolling,â talked at length about his childhood in Oregon, his mission in New England and his education at Harvard, where he wrestled with his faith in God.