Latest from Mormon Land: What we learned about Joseph Smith this year

The Mormon Land newsletter is The Salt Lake Tribune’s weekly highlight reel of developments in and about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Support us on Patreon and get the full newsletter, exclusive access to all Tribune religion content and podcast transcripts.

New insights on the church founder

This Saturday will mark the 218th anniversary of Joseph Smith’s birth.

So this figures to be a good week to remind readers and listeners of these significant stories and podcasts we produced this year about the church founder:

• New forensic research supplied fresh evidence that the much-publicized daguerreotype that came to light in 2021 really is the only known photo of the first Latter-day Saint prophet.

• Our “Mormon Land” podcast with a leading Latter-day Saint historian reaffirmed that the faith’s former priesthood/temple ban on Black members didn’t start with Joseph but rather has its roots in the sometimes-blunt and bigoted views of his immediate successor, Brigham Young.

• A rekindled debate emerged among Latter-day Saint researchers about how Smith brought about the Book of Mormon: Did he translate the faith’s foundational scripture primarily by using a “seer stone” or a “Urim and Thummim”? Our podcast tackled that topic as well.

• A respected historian, who has written about the Mountain Meadows Massacre (multiple times), Dallin Oaks, Brigham Young and Latter-day Saint women, received a tough new assignment: Write a fresh, church-commissioned biography of Joseph Smith.

• To celebrate our 300th podcast, we staged a live show and a lively discussion about Joseph, the gold plates, women’s rights and much more with Richard Bushman, the patriarch of Mormon historians, and his wife, scholar Claudia Bushman. We also published key excerpts from the evening.

• With the help of a noted historian, a special podcast revisited Joseph’s final days and hours along with the aftermath of his slaying at an Illinois jail in Carthage.

• We provided a peek at the contrasting views of Joseph’s wives about polygamy.

A Bible, a Bible … why we need more Bibles

Joseph Smith’s eighth Article of Faith famously states that Latter-day Saints “believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly.” And English-speaking members generally rely on the centuries-old King James Version.

That hardly means that other translations of the Good Book are bad. And members might do well to familiarize themselves with other versions.

“The major and profoundly foundational reason that English-speaking Latter-day Saints may wish to consult a modern translation is that our Christian sisters and brothers rarely use the KJV translation,” Thomas Wayment, a classics professor at Brigham Young University and the author of “The New Testament: A Translation for Latter-day Saints,” argues in a recent “From the Desk” interview with Chad Nielsen. “...Our continued advocacy for the KJV limits our effectiveness and ability to connect with other Christians who are also deeply committed to the Bible.”

Besides, Wayment notes, most Latter-day Saints do not read from the King James Version anyway — since the church doesn’t use it in non-English speaking areas.

The latest ‘Mormon Land’ podcast: A man of service

In this season of giving, a biographer remembers the life and legacy of legendary educator Lowell Bennion, one of the church’s greatest humanitarians, who once said of the service he rendered, “I used to teach religion; now I practice it.”

Listen to the podcast.

From The Tribune

• The church has stopped sharing county-by-county Utah membership breakdowns with the state, saying it wants to “focus” on global statistics.

• In 2021, Latter-day Saint leaders publicized a $2 million donation to the First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City. Within weeks, though, the museum returned the money without a word from the church.

• The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square’s 2023 Christmas concert features stars from Broadway’s “Aladdin” and television’s “Downton Abbey.”

• A former bishop says he sees real value in having women’s leaders sit on the stand during Sunday services.

• Members have launched a last-ditch push to preserve the Space Age look of the Provo Temple.