Ok, it's official. Bushman biog of Joseph Smith is the BOTB
 

BOTB = book of the bi-month.

By going to by the byline above and clicking on "books" and then clicking through the picture of the book ("rough stone rolling") you generate funds that will one day expand the functionality of this site.....

What do you mean by "magical aspects?"

Joseph had a younger brother named Gob that was an aspiring magician. Sort of an odd fellow. And his magic wasn't very good.

How does it compare to ...
 

... Quinn's "Mormonism and the Magic World View"? Maybe I ought to just crack open my copy that is just sitting on my shelf and read it. Time always seems to be of the essence these days for me, sadly.

LMAO
 

at the Gob reference. Which one of you is Hermano?

Re: LMAO
 

No Hermano here, they call me Annyong.

Just put in the order from Amazon tonight.

I'm 20 pages into the book. First impression: good writing, going to be a fairly quick read.

he also had a brother who lost his hand to a seal
 

Re: he also had a brother who lost his hand to a seal
 

Lost his hand to a seal? As in an ocean dwelling mammal?

Great Book
 

I am about 3/4 done with this book and it is a great insight into the Prophet's life and the experiences that created the Man. I am not a big church historian, although I do enjoy it, so much of the things wrote about in this book were new to me, but increased my understanding of Joseph Smith immensely. So many of us revere him as almost a God on earth, when in reality, he was just a man who became a great man, but not before a learning curve. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would definately recommend it.

Re: And Next???
 

FYI: Goatnapper is Arrington's grandson. His cousin is a neighbor of mine.. what a phenomenal family lineage.

I don't know why, but I am having a hard time getting through this one. It feels very slow moving to me. I have learned a lot, though, about Joseph Smith. The book is very informational, just a bit tedious.

Has Bushman been the BOTBM long enough now?

I'm looking into getting a new church book and am open to any recommendations.

Bushman's job is to tell the truth, as best he can. If he did that, then he shouldn't feel bad about anything.

If one tells the truth and undermines in the process something one finds valuable, I can understand why he might have some regrets.

if you are scared of the truth, you shouldn't be in the business of history.

perhaps he regrets every having chosen Mormon history. I don't blame him.

But I have little sympathy if he wishes he had produced apologia.

Here's a challenge as you are still young: do something correct that still injures somebody.

A police officer may have to kill a citizen to execute his duty, but he will still feel badly about the death of the decedent.

A historian may write a necessary history, cause, inadvertently, some to lose their way, and still feel badly about that result.

We didn't exactly hear the speech, so we don't know how it was phrased. I have done many things which were necessary but still caused me sadness.

Hmmm... So this is third hand at this point? Color me skeptical.

Count me as a skeptic too.

I heard him speak about his book first person. He most certainly did not say anything about regrets (and this was only about 4 months ago).

Sure he wouldn't, but in the telling and retelling of the discussion, the facts and original intent can get shifted around. As a matter of principle I take all such comments (retelling of second-hand conversations) with a grain of salt. No offense.

"You seminary teachers and some of you institute and BYU men will be teaching the history of the Church this school year. This is an unparalleled opportunity in the lives of your students to increase their faith and testimony of the divinity of this work. Your objective should be that they will see the hand of the Lord in every hour and every moment of the Church from its beginning till now... Church history can be so interesting and so inspiring as to be a very powerful tool indeed for building faith. If not properly written or properly taught, it may be a faith destroyer... There is a temptation for the writer or the teacher of Church history to want to tell everything, whether it is worthy or faith promoting or not... Some things that are true are not very useful... That historian or scholar who delights in pointing out the weaknesses and frailties of present or past leaders destroys faith. A destroyer of faith — particularly one within the Church, and more particularly one who is employed specifically to build faith — places himself in great spiritual jeopardy. He is serving the wrong master, and unless he repents, he will not be among the faithful in the eternities. ... Do not spread disease germs!" - Boyd K. Packer

"It is one thing to depreciate a person who exercises corporate power or even government power. It is quite another thing to criticize or depreciate a person for the performance of an office to which he or she has been called of God. It does not matter that the criticism is true. As Elder George F. Richards, President of the Council of the Twelve, said in a conference address in April 1947, 'when we say anything bad about the leaders of the Church, whether true or false, we tend to impair their influence and their usefulness and are thus working against the Lord and his cause.' ... The Holy Ghost will not guide or confirm criticism of the Lord's anointed, or of Church leaders, local or general. This reality should be part of the spiritual evaluation that LDS readers and viewers apply to those things written about our history and those who made it." - Dallin H. Oaks

You clearly haven't spent much time around here shaft.

Ummmm, ok.

If the quote isn't from BRM, we don't take it seriously.

Interesting quite from Packer. I also thought it was interesting that Bushman sought a blessing from Elder Packer prior to writing RSR.

Bushman records, “I sought a blessing from Elder Packer before getting started, and insofar as I was worthy, I think the blessing was fufilled.”

http://www.timesandseasons.org/?p=3662

Bushman also notes that Elder Holland sent him a letter praising the book.

He recently published a very-limited edition diary of his promotional tour of RSR. It looks like a terrific read, but it's not yet widely available. Dennis Lythgoe had a good review of the diary last Sunday.

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,650220569,00.html

Hey Aaron,

When are you going to stop the cutting and pasting and actually use some of your own thoughts/words? I am genuinely curious.

Thanks in advance.

Agreed.

Meaningful diagolue would go much further than posting marginally relevant quotes without proper context or referencing.

Yeah no kidding. We have a world famous anti-Mormon in our midst. Tell us about yourself AShaf.

Meaningful dialogue? What does that have to do with discussing religion?

Good point.

In that case, at least spit out some serious venom against the church instead of this weak sauce CES stuff.

I agree also. This here and there isn't very productive.

C'mon Aaron, share with us what you believe and why you believe it. You've obviously made great sacrifices to be where you are and spend a lot of time in your missionary efforts.

But I don't want any of this "Joe Smith married women who were already married" or "Joe Smith was a money digger" or "Brigham Young was a racist." If you review the religion threads you'll see we've discussed this all ad nauseum.

I may be mistaken, but I think you're the first real "Evangelical" to grace us with his/her presence, so I'm curious about your view of The Gospel as taught by The Savior. What do you believe constitutes Christianity and why do you believe that?

Don't shy away from the opportunity.