Item Detail
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33182
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0
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56
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English
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Joseph Smith’s Education and Intellect as Described in Documentary Sources
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Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
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2023
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59
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Interpreter Foundation
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1-32
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"Although Joseph Smith has been credited with 'approximately seven full school years' of district schooling, further research supports that his education consisted of basic instruction in 'reading, writing and the ground rules of arithmetic' comprising 'less than two years of formal schooling.' The actual number of terms he experienced in common schools in upstate New York is probably less critical since the curricula in district schools did not then teach creative writing, composition, or extemporaneous speaking. If Joseph Smith learned how to compose and dictate a book, extracurricular activities would likely have been the training source. Six of those can be identified: (1) private Bible studies, (2) Hyrum Smith’s possible tutoring in 1813, (3) participation in local religious activities, (4) involvement with the local juvenile debate club, (5) occasional family storytelling gatherings, and (6) brief participation as an exhorter at Methodist meetings. Three of his teachers in Kirtland in 1834–1836 recalled his impressive learning ability, but none described him as an accomplished scholar. A review of all available documentation shows that no acquaintance at that time or later called him highly educated or as capable of authoring the Book of Mormon. Despite its current popularity, the theory that Joseph Smith possessed the skills needed to create the Book of Mormon in 1829 is contradicted by dozens of eyewitness accounts and supported only by minimal historical data." [Author]
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A Case for the Book of Mormon
A Critical Analysis of the Public Speaking of Joseph Smith, First President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
A Documentary History of the Book of Mormon
A Gentile Account of Life in Utah's Dixie, 1872-73
An American Book of Chronicles : Pseudo-Biblicism and the Cultural Origins of The Book of Mormon
An Imperfect Book : What the Book of Mormon Tells Us about Itself
An Insider's View of Mormon Origins
Approaching Antiquity : Joseph Smith and the Ancient World
Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith the Prophet, and His Progenitors for Many Generations
Book of Mormon Authorship Revisited : The Evidence for Ancient Origins
By the Hand of Mormon : The American Scripture that Launched a New World Religion
David Whitmer Interviews : A Restoration Witness
Dreams, Visions, and Visitations, The Genesis of Mormonism
Early Mormon Documents : Volume II
Early Mormon Documents : Volume III
Early Mormon Documents : Volume V
Early Mormonism and the Magic World View
Equal Rites : The Book of Mormon, Masonry, Gender, and American Culture
Evangelical America and Early Mormonism
Exiles in a Land of Liberty : Mormons in America, 1830-1846
History of the Pioneer Settlement of Phelps and Gorham's Purchase, and Morris' Reserve
Hyrum Smith : A Life of Integrity
James Gordon Bennett's 1831 Report on 'The Mormonites'
Joseph Smith and the Manchester (New York) Library
Joseph Smith as a Student of Hebrew
Joseph Smith : Rough Stone Rolling
Joseph Smith's Boyhood Operation : An 1813 Surgical Success
Joseph Smith's Plagiarism of the Bible in the Book of Mormon
Mormonism Unvailed : Or, a Faithful Account of That Singular Imposition and Delusion From Its Rise to the Present Time
Mormon Portraits or The Truth About the Mormon Leaders from 1830 to 1886
Mormon's Codex : An Ancient American Book
Naked Truths about Mormonism
Natural Born Seer : Joseph Smith, American Prophet, 1805-1830
Naturalistic Explanations of the Origin of the Book of Mormon : A Longitudinal Study
Opening the Heavens : Accounts of Divine Manifestations 1820-1844
Origin, Rise and Progress of Mormonism
Performing Revelation : Joseph Smith and the Creation of The Book of Mormon
Reassessing Joseph Smith Jr.'s Formal Education
Regional Studies in Latter-day Saint Church History : The New England States
The Autobiography of Parley Parker Pratt
The Changing World of Mormonism
The Joseph Smith Papers : Documents, Volume 1: July 1828-June 1831
The Joseph Smith Papers : Documents, Volume 5 : October 1835–January 1838
The Joseph Smith Papers : Journals, Volume 1 : 1832–1839
The Joseph Smith Papers : Revelations and Translations, Volume 3, Printer’s Manuscript of the Book of Mormon
The Life and Thought of Orson Pratt
The Lost 116 Pages : Reconstructing the Book of Mormon’s Missing Stories
The New England Common School Experience of Joseph Smith Jr., 1810-16
The Orson Pratt Journals
The Story of the Mormons : From the Date of Their Origin to the Year 1901
The William E. McLellin Papers, 1854-1880
"The Word of the Lord in the Original" : Joseph Smith's Study of Hebrew in Kirtland
Visions in a Seer Stone : Joseph Smith and the Making of the Book of Mormon
Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon? The Critics and Their Theories
William E. McLellin's Lost Manuscript
William Smith on Mormonism