![]() ![]() He enjoyed playing with his children, talking to friends or spending an evening at home with his family. Sometimes he had to wrestle with questions that God didn’t immediately answer.īut he also loved life. He felt pain when hearing about persecutions of those who belonged to the church. He was concerned when Emma or his children were sick. He was personally hurt when friends turned against him. He suffered through the pain of losing loved ones to death - including several of his children, his father and several brothers. He sometimes had disagreements with his family and friends. Godfrey: The biggest insight that has come to me is that Joseph was a human being who had to navigate the human experience just like you and I do. If Joseph was a fraud, his advising people and organizations to keep careful records was an odd move. ![]() Of course, Joseph relies mostly on scribes and clerks to create records, but the volume of records and the underlying organization is quite impressive. As Robin Jensen says in his essay in “Know Brother Joseph ,” we take it for granted that records were kept, but this was the result of deliberate planning and effort and was not necessarily a natural thing for Joseph and some of the other Saints who were less educated. One vista that has opened is how serious Joseph was about creating and keeping records, particularly from the early 1830s to the end of his life. Eric Smith: There are a million things I have learned about Joseph and his history by being part of the project (and a million more to learn still). What is one thing you have learned about the prophet that you didn’t know before? These interviews has been edited for length and clarity.ĭeseret News: As part of the Joseph Smith Papers project, each of you has spent years reading Joseph’s letters, journals, revelations, legal and financial documents. The Deseret News interviewed the book’s three editors - Smith, Godfrey and Grow - to discuss what they have learned by studying Joseph Smith’s life. “It also allowed us to include many, many voices and analyses of Joseph in this relatively short book.” ![]() As we explain in the intro, ‘Writing concisely, in a format intended for a broader audience, leads hopefully to a focused and accessible approach,’” Grow wrote in an email to the Deseret News. “One of the great things about ‘Know Brother Joseph ’ is that we asked the authors to write brief essays, using only about 1,500 words. What the new Joseph Smith Papers volume shows about the Prophet’s character and the early days of Nauvoo. ![]()
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