{"id":46295,"date":"2018-02-20T21:14:25","date_gmt":"2018-02-21T04:14:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=46295"},"modified":"2018-02-21T09:11:46","modified_gmt":"2018-02-21T16:11:46","slug":"joseph-smith-one-sophisticated-writers-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/02\/joseph-smith-one-sophisticated-writers-history.html","title":{"rendered":"Was Joseph Smith one of the most sophisticated writers in history?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"On<\/a>
At the Joseph Smith Family farm near Palmyra, New York
(LDS Media Library)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rough notes from a book in progress:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Orson Pratt, who knew Joseph very well from their first acquaintance to the Prophet\u2019s death in 1844, described Joseph Smith\u2019s educational level as follows:<\/span><\/p>\n

Cultivating the earth for livelihood was an occupation, in which he employed the most of his time.\u00a0 His advantages for acquiring literary knowledge, were exceedingly small; hence, his education was limited to a slight acquaintance, with two or three of the common branches of learning.\u00a0 He could read without much difficulty, and write a very imperfect hand; and had a very limited understanding of the ground rules of arithmetic.\u00a0 These were his highest and only attainments; while the rest of those branches, so universally taught in the common schools, throughout the United States, were entirely unknown to him.<\/strong>[1]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

David Whitmer, who also knew him well, remarked in a 1885 interview with the Chicago Tribune<\/em> that Joseph Smith was \u201cilliterate and but little versed in Biblical lore.\u201d[2]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a religious and straightforward man,\u201d said Whitmer. \u201cHe had to be; for he was illiterate and he could do nothing of himself. He had to trust in God.\u201d[3]<\/a> \u201cJoseph Smith,\u201d Whitmer told the non-Mormon M. J. Hubble in 1886, \u201cwas a man of limited education and could hardly write legibly.\u201d[4]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

In 1829, Joseph Smith could not dictate a coherent, clean letter, nor write a well-constructed English sentence, let alone hundreds of pages of them.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Orson Pratt, \u201cAn Interesting Account of Several Remarkable Visions\u201d (1840), in Backman, 170.\u00a0 The relevant passage in Hyde, \u201cEin Ruf aus der W\u00fcste,\u201d is mutatis mutandis<\/em> essentially identical to Orson Pratt\u2019s [is it? See Backman, p173]; Hyde\u2019s account is, at this point and others, presumably dependent upon Pratt\u2019s earlier publication.\u00a0 Still, since Hyde himself knew Joseph Smith extremely well, it can plausibly be considered independent testimony.<\/span><\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Cook, David Whitmer Interviews<\/em>, 174. [Check.]\u00a0 Orson Hyde, for example, remarked that \u201cNature had gifted him with a strong, discerning mind\u201d (Hyde, \u201cEin Ruf aus der W\u00fcste\u201d, do own translation).<\/span><\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Cook, David Whitmer Interviews<\/em>, 86. Compare the observation of Nathan Tanner Jr., recorded at Cook, David Whitmer Interviews<\/em>, 193.<\/span><\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Cook, David Whitmer Interviews<\/em>, 210.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been several years since we\u2019ve had a president of the Church who\u2019s been able to be so actively out among the people:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAdvice From the Prophet of the Church to Millennials Living in a Hectic World:\u00a0President Nelson and his wife, Wendy, speak at fireside in Las Vegas\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Nelson to Tour Europe, Africa and Asia in April\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I like it. \u00a0I hope that he can keep this pace up for a very long time.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

There are new \u201cKnoWhys\u201d up on the Interpreter Foundation:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

http:\/\/interpreterfoundation.org\/category\/gospel-doctrine-knowhys\/old-testament-knowhys\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

We hope that teachers and students in Gospel Doctrine classes will enjoy and profit from these \u2014 and wouldn\u2019t mind too terribly much if others did, as well.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWatch: New Statistical Book of Mormon Evidence!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

A powerful new video, just slightly more than three minutes long:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIs It Possible that a Single Author Wrote the Book of Mormon?\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 Rough notes from a book in progress: \u00a0 Orson Pratt, who knew Joseph very well from their first acquaintance to the Prophet\u2019s death in 1844, described Joseph Smith\u2019s educational level as follows: Cultivating the earth for livelihood was an occupation, in which he employed the most of his time.\u00a0 His advantages for acquiring […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[56,383,380,55],"class_list":["post-46295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-book-of-mormon","tag-book-of-mormon-authorship","tag-joseph-smith","tag-mormonism"],"yoast_head":"\nWas Joseph Smith one of the most sophisticated writers in history?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    Rough notes from a book in progress:   Orson Pratt, who knew Joseph very well 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