How did a non-Mormon who teaches in Virginia get interested in Mormon History? John Turner has written the newest biography of Joseph Smith. He is a professor of History at George Mason University and has written not only the pre-eminent biography of Brigham Young, but has a new biography called “Joseph Smith: The Rise & Fall of an American Prophet.” We’ll discuss both of these amazing biographies and why he chooses to write about these important Mormon figures. Check out our conversation…
Don’t miss our other conversations with John: https://gospeltangents.com/people/john-turner/
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Dive Deep into Joseph Smith and Brigham Young with Historian John Turner!
Are you a fan of Mormon history, science, and theology? Then you won’t want to miss the latest interview on Gospel Tangents, featuring renowned East Coast scholar Dr. John Turner. Rick sat down with Dr. Turner to discuss his brand-new book, “Joseph Smith: The Rise and Fall of an American Prophet,” which is set to release on Amazon on June 17th.
Meet the Historian: Dr. John Turner
Dr. John Turner is a professor at George Mason University in Northern Virginia. Turner’s academic journey is quite interesting:
- He completed his undergraduate degree in History and German at Middlebury College in Vermont.
- He then pursued his PhD in US History at the University of Notre Dame.
- Interestingly, he took a detour during his PhD to earn a Master of Divinity at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, an experience he found helpful for writing about religious experience and doctrine with more information and sensitivity.
Turner’s interest in Latter-day Saint history was sparked by meeting “extremely winsome and engaging personalities” like Patrick Mason and Matt Grow while at Notre Dame. He also realized that the Latter-day Saint story was a bit of local history for him, having grown up near Palmyra, New York, “where it all began.” Although his dissertation focused on American evangelicalism, he sought to learn new things for his second project and found the Joseph Smith and Brigham Young eras “so fascinating.”
Non-Mormon Scholar’s Perspective on Mormon History
Dr. Turner has authored multiple books on Mormonism, including “Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet“ and “The Mormon Jesus,” in addition to his new Joseph Smith biography. As a non-Mormon (he identifies as Trinitarian), Turner notes a key difference in his approach: he can express his conclusions and share his findings without worrying about “an ecclesiastical reaction” or “getting excommunicated,” which might be a concern for Latter-day Saint scholars. He is “pretty single-minded” when working on a book, focusing on one project at a time.
Inspiration Behind the Joseph Smith Biography
Turner found it “a really good time to take on a Jo Smith biography”11. His primary motivations for writing about Joseph Smith, especially after his Brigham Young book, were twofold12:
- Engaging Foundational Questions: Writing about Brigham Young allowed him to largely “take for granted” core beliefs and events, but with Joseph Smith, it was an “opportunity and a challenge to return to that… foundational time period” and “engage some hard questions”. These include questions about golden plates, divine messages, and Joseph’s motivations for plural marriage.
- Joseph Smith as a Biographical Subject: Turner describes Joseph Smith as a “great biographical subject” – a “mirthful, colorful man” who is “energetic and dynamic.” His public life, spanning essentially 15 years, was “packed” with events, demanding a “fast-paced story”.
Turner also lavishes praise on the Joseph Smith Papers project, calling it “fantastic” and an “enormously useful” resource that provided a “huge head start” due to its accurate transcriptions, images, and impeccable annotations.
Challenge of Brigham Young: A Volume of Sources
While Joseph Smith’s story was rich, the volume of sources for Brigham Young was “exponentially more”. Turner estimates “20 times the material” for Brigham Young in terms of sermons and “20 or 50 times the volume of material” for letters. This difference is largely due to Brigham Young’s much longer life as prophet (around 30 years compared to Joseph Smith’s 15) and advancements in record-keeping during his era. As record-keeping became more systematic, with greater efforts to transcribe meetings and discourses, and with Brigham Young’s additional roles as governor and superintendent of Indian affairs, “additional opportunities for the creation of records” arose.
Mountain Meadows Massacre: Unpacking Brigham Young’s Role
The conversation also touched on the Mountain Meadows Massacre, particularly in light of Barbara Brown and Rick Turley’s acclaimed book, “Vengeance is Mine“. Turner “wholeheartedly recommend[s]” their book.
On Brigham Young’s involvement, Turner addresses two key questions:
- Did Brigham Young order the massacre? Turner, like Brown and Turley, argues “a pretty clear no”. He points to evidence, such as Brigham Young’s letter sent to southern Utah instructing to “leave the immigrants alone,” as “exculpatory, exonerating”. However, he does assign “a fair amount of blame to Brigham for the circumstances that made the massacre possible,” stating that his “rhetoric and policies during August of 1857 created a situation” leading to the perpetration of the massacre. He also notes “greed” as an additional motivation, given the impoverished settlers and the wealthy wagon train.
- Did Brigham Young cover it up? Turner is “less sanguine” about Brigham Young’s response. He suggests Brigham Young “at times expressed… satisfaction or at least a lack of regret for the massacre” and was “not eager for either an ecclesiastical investigation or for criminal investigations”. His priority was to “protect his people from outside interference and possible destruction,” making him “certainly not eager for any alleged misdeeds in Utah to be investigated”.
Unsung Hero: LaJean Carruth
Dr. Turner highlights LaJean Carruth as a “real treasure” in the field of early Utah history. Carruth’s unique and invaluable skill is her ability to read Pitman shorthand. This skill allowed her to “decode” numerous sources for Turner’s Brigham Young biography, particularly documents from the “general church minutes” and George D. Watt’s shorthand notes of Brigham Young’s sermons. Carruth also performed extensive and difficult work on the John D. Lee trial transcripts, an experience she described as giving her PTSD. Turner affirms that while her praises are sung by many, they “can’t be sung enough”. He notes that Pitman shorthand was not a challenge with Joseph Smith-era documents.
Have you read any of Turner’s biographies? What do you think of them?
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Gospel Tangents
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Except for book reviews, no content may be reproduced without written permission
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