The Words of Joseph Smith: The Contemporary Accounts of the Nauvoo Debates of the Prophet Joseph

by Andrew F. Ehat, Lyndon W. Cook (Editor)

The Contemporary Accounts of the Nauvoo Discourses of the Prophet Joseph

Genres: Religion, Lds, History, Church

447 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1980

Reviews

[Drew]

This sits on my bookshelf alongside my scriptures and Lectures on Faith. This is one of the most important books written about Mormonism and includes copious footnotes.

The PDF version has some previously unpublished materials well worth the effort to hunt down, especially George Laub's King Follet sermon notes.

If you're a believer in the divine mission of Joseph Smith, this should be in your library.

[James]

Fantastic book. I am so glad that my friend Greg recommended it. By reading these speeches of Joseph Smith you realize what a powerful orator he was and how close he was to God. I gained many new insights into the gospel of Jesus Christ by studying these words, and I learned much about Joseph Smith's character. My testimony of the Savior and of the Lord's chosen prophet Joseph was strengthened.

[Anita]

I hated this book. I like Joseph Smith and the history of the latter day saints. This is every word the prophet every spoke. I'm random order, spelling and grammatical errors. I know I'm those days this was the best they could do. But I'm sure thankful for the conference issue of the ensign rather than someone's handwritten notes.

[Christian Larsen]

This is the single most important history concerning Joseph Smith ever written. Contained in this volume are every existing account of Joseph's Nauvoo discourses gleaned from diaries, minutes, newspaper accounts, etc... The footnotes are reason enough to read this and provide historical insights that cannot be found anywhere else. This is not as accessible a volume as others because it is written as a documentary history, so quote is followed by quote with no narrative connecting them, so I would recommend first reading narrative histories before this, particularly on Joseph Smith like Bushman's "Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling," and on Nauvoo like Flander's "Nauvoo: Kingdom on the Mississippi" or Leonard's "Nauvoo: A Place of Peace, A People of Promise."

[James Miller]

A very interesting book. I somehow acquired a photocopy of it during my stay in Utah. As far as I know, it was originally published by some BYU professors, then the church quickly bought the copyright and never allowed it to be published again. It was just TOO interesting. They cut out all of the controversial stuff, what I like to think of as Joseph's opinions of doctrine, and then reprinted the more traditional teachings as "The Teachings of Joseph Smith".

Anyone interested in reading this should have the prerequisites of a temple recommend, and having read the complete standard works, Jesus the Christ, and should have a VERY good knowledge of church history.

[Stephen Cranney]

A little disappointing. Not because of the editorial job or the words themselves, it's just a little hard to get inspired from hastily scribbled notes: "Joseph...lectured on the plan of salvation..[illegible]" (and on for 300 pages). Occasionally some good finds, but most of the items of interest here are already repeated elsewhere in Sunday School manuals and such. It's not like the Journals of Discourses where you occasionally find interesting nuggets that nobody seems to be aware of. People interested in JS's views are just going to have to deal with the fact that JS's sermons were not recorded nearly as well as those of his successors.

[Tyler]

This is a really good book. There is a lot of crossover between this book and the Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith compiled by Joseph Fielding Smith, but this book has some things which are not in the other work. This book is focused on the primary sources and when there are multiple accounts of the same discourse it includes them all. I particularly appreciated the footnotes which clarified some of the more obscure passages, particularly as they relate to the sealing power and other temple-related subjects. This book was a valuable addition to my study of the teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith.

[Jacob J]

An indispensable resource providing all the original accounts of the sermons of Joseph Smith in the Nauvoo era. Unlike the classic Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith in which lots of the entries were probably not written by Joseph Smith himself, this book provides only reliable sources and without amalgamation. The only problem is that this book keeps going out of print and the price shoots into the hundreds of dollars for a copy until the next printing. Luckily I got one early.

[Dustin]

A classic. A read must for any student of Joseph Smith. The contemporary primary sources from Joseph's Nauvoo sermons. I had just finished reading Teachings (which contain amalgamated versions of many of these sermons) and I was surprised at how much more I was able to learn by going to the sources. The notes are well done and give incredibly valuable context, a feature very much lacking in Teachings.

[James Carroll]

This is by far the best collection of what Joseph Smith actually taught published so far. If I had to give up all my religious books but the standard works and one other book, this is the one I would choose.

Joseph's main focus in Nauvoo was the temple, so if you have ever been curious about the meaning of the Temple, this is also the book for you.

[Matt]

If Joseph Smith Papers is cool, this book is uber-cool. I only wish someone would do the same for his pre-Nauvoo discourses.

[Michael]

The ebook version (for the Kindle at least) should lose a star due to character set conversion issues; but this is a six star book, so it still gets five. :)

[Viliami]

I am forever indebted to Andrew Ehat. Just used this book today for background on Celestial marriage and exaltation.

[Michelle Gross]

Some parts are good. The Lucy Mack Smith history is a bit on the disjointed side.

[Cory Jensen]

A must read.

[Jeff Crosby]

Primary documents.