Most of the women were aged between 20 and 40 when Smith married them, the essay added. The youngest was Helen Mar Kimball, a daughter of two close friends, who he married "several months before her 15th birthday". It is likely Joseph Smith - who is considered a prophet - did not have sexual relations with all of his wives, as some were "sealed" to him only for the next life, according to the essay. The Utah-based Mormon religion, officially known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, boasts more than 15 million members worldwide.
Polygamy was widely practised by men in the church from the mid-to-late 19th Century, but the revelations about Joseph Smith have shocked followers. Emily Jensen, a blogger and editor in Farmington, Utah, told the New York Times that members had been saying on social media: "This is not the church I grew up with, this is not the Joseph Smith I love.
What do Mormons believe? While the practice of polygamy was dropped in , the concept remains in the afterlife. Plural marriage was introduced among the early Saints incrementally, and participants were asked to keep their actions confidential.
They did not discuss their experiences publicly or in writing until after the Latter-day Saints had moved to Utah and church leaders had publicly acknowledged the practice. Mormon polygamy emerged, the essay says, from Smith's study of the Old Testament in Most of those sealed for eternity to Smith were between ages 20 and 40, the essay notes. The article does not state how many plural wives scholars believe Smith had, but researcher Todd Compton pegged the number at about 33 and possibly more not including Alger, who separated early on from Smith.
Whatever the facts and figures may be, the history and context of polygamy are crucially important for every Latter-day Saint to study, says Mormon writer Lindsay Hansen Park, who has spent a year profiling LDS polygamist women for Feminist Mormon Housewives, an online blog. Park views the article as "mostly fair" and praises the Utah-based faith's effort to come to grips with a troubling element of its past.
That might be especially true in its description of the Mormon prophet's relationship with his first wife, Emma Smith. The article asserts that "Emma approved, at least for a time, of four of Joseph Smith's plural marriages in Nauvoo, and she accepted all four of those wives into her household.
She may have approved of other marriages as well. The piece "doesn't draw out how excruciating that relationship was or the amount of hypocrisy that was involved," says Richard Bushman, author of the acclaimed "Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling. If he revealed what was going on, he would have brought down fury from both Mormons and outsiders. Start Here. Struggling with your Mormonism?
Mormonism Crash Course Mormonism Glossary. Connect With Us. Our Resources. More Resources. Make a Donation. There are several possible explanations for this practice. Today such eternal bonds are achieved through the temple marriages of individuals who are also sealed to their own birth families, in this way linking families together. Another possibility is that, in an era when life spans were shorter than they are today, faithful women felt an urgency to be sealed by priesthood authority.
Several of these women were married either to non-Mormons or former Mormons, and more than one of the women later expressed unhappiness in their present marriages. Living in a time when divorce was difficult to obtain, these women may have believed a sealing to Joseph Smith would give them blessings they might not otherwise receive in the next life. The women who united with Joseph Smith in plural marriage risked reputation and self-respect in being associated with a principle so foreign to their culture and so easily misunderstood by others.
Plural marriage was difficult for all involved. Joseph and Emma loved and respected each other deeply. She may have approved of other marriages as well. In the summer of , Joseph Smith dictated the revelation on marriage, a lengthy and complex text containing both glorious promises and stern warnings, some directed at Emma.
The revelation on marriage required that a wife give her consent before her husband could enter into plural marriage. Years later in Utah, participants in Nauvoo plural marriage discussed their motives for entering into the practice.
Some Saints also saw plural marriage as a redemptive process of sacrifice and spiritual refinement. Kimball, agreed. I was satisfied. The decision to accept such a wrenching trial usually came only after earnest prayer and intense soul-searching. Kimball found comfort only after his wife Vilate had a visionary experience attesting to the rightness of plural marriage. Lucy Walker recalled her inner turmoil when Joseph Smith invited her to become his wife.
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