Review
Title: Raising the Standard of Truth: Exploring the History and Teachings of the Early Restoration
Editor: Scott C. Esplin
Publisher: BYU Religious Studies Center in cooperation with Deseret Book
Genre: History
Year Published: 2020
Number of Pages: 458
Binding: Hardback
ISBN 13: 978-1-9503-0401-1
Price: 29.99
Reviewed for the Association of Mormon Letters by Mark Tensmeyer
Raising the Standard of Truth: Exploring the History and Teachings of the Early Restoration consists of twenty-four essays related to various topics of Restoration history, all written from a faithful perspective while maintaining academic standards. Each of these essays have been published previously and most, if not all, can be found on the BYU Studies website.
In the introduction, editor Scott C. Esplin states the purpose of this book is to provide, in an accessible place, the most requested papers from BYU Religious Studies Center. Esplin promises that these papers represent the “first-rate, foundational products” that Jeffery R. Holland charged the Center with producing when it was founded in 1975 (p. viii). He further explains the purpose of this book is to follow M. Russell Ballard’s instructions to CES educators to “inoculate your students by providing faithful, thoughtful, and accurate interpretation of gospel doctrine, the scriptures, our history” when it comes to sensitive topics of Church history and to make “extraordinary efforts to provide accurate context and understanding of the teachings of the Restoration.”[1]
The purpose of Raising the Standard of Truth is best understood in that context. I recommend this book most as an introduction for Church members who are interested in more academic and in-depth treatments of Church history than what they find in devotional material but still want to approach historical topics, including controversial topics, from a faithful perspective.
That these essays have been previously published presents some disadvantages. For instance, “The Lost 116 Pages Story: What We Do Know, What We Don’t Know, and What We Might Know” by J. B. Haws was published before Don Bradley’s groundbreaking book The 116 Pages. Bradley’s book makes Haws’ essay practically obsolete. Bradley uncovered many more sources and did a much more in-depth analysis.
Many of Raising the Standard of Truth’s essays work as an introduction for faithful Latter-day Saints who are not familiar with more thorough works on these topics. “Eternal Marriage and Plural Marriage” by Andrew H. Hedges feels like a summary of Brian and Laura Hales’s Joseph Smith’s Polygamy: Toward a Better Understanding as it addresses the controversial aspects of Joseph Smith’s polygamy in much the same way but does so in a brief, conclusory manner. While this essay does not add to the field of study, it does serve as an accessible introduction to the topic.
The same could be said of many of the essays including “Firsthand Witness Accounts of the Translation Process” by Gerrit J. Dirkmaat and Michael Hubbard MacKay, “A Multiplicity of Witnesses: Women and the Translation Process” by Amy Easton-Flake and Rachel Cope, “‘Line upon Line’: Joseph Smith’s Growing Understanding of the Eternal Family” by R. Devan Jensen, Michael A. Goodman and Barbara Morgan Gardner, “Joseph Smith and the Kirtland Temple” by Steven C. Harper and “Hefted and Handled: Tangible Interactions with Book of Mormon Objects” by Anthony Sweat. Most Church members have been introduced to these topics by non-scholarly, devotional works that give little regard to a source’s reliability and context. These essays effectively introduce these topics using academic standards.
Steven Harper’s “‘That They Might Come to Understanding’: Revelation as Process” does exactly the kind of inoculation the book’s introduction promises. Many Church members, especially young Church members, have the perception that Joseph Smith’s revelations come directly from God with no variation or contribution from the human intermediary. The Book of Mormon is, after all, the most correct book. Critics of Mormonism do not miss the obvious opportunity to challenge this rather uninformed notion by citing the many instances where the wording of the Book of Mormon and Joseph’s revelations has changed. Harper’s essay introduces the concept of revelation being both human and divine was something that Joseph Smith himself actively taught and with that understanding, revised and edited his revelations throughout his life. Harper frames the concept in faithful terms that dispels the over-simplistic understanding of revelation rather than in the critical manner this subject has most often taken.
In contrast to Harper’s paper on revelation, Ronald O. Barney’s “The Restoration of the Priesthoods” is much more of devotional history than it is a scholarly or even apologetic treatment of the accounts of priesthood authority and keys conferred on to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery at the hands of angelic messengers. Barney recounts the familiar stories of the restoration of the Aaronic priesthood by John the Baptist, the Melchizedek priesthood by Peter, James, and John, and the conferral of keys including the sealing keys at the Kirtland temple. Barney includes lesser-known accounts, particularly those given by Oliver Cowdery in his later years. Barney ends with a discussion addressing the issues with the late disclosures of these events by stating that the New Testament often instructs recipients of such events to keep them sacred and secret for a time. The paper does not address the issue of priesthood not entering the Mormon lexicon until 1831 and the statements in the minutes of the June 1831 conference that that was the first time the “high priesthood” had been conferred. In fairness to Barney, this essay was probably not intended to be a comprehensive treatment of the topic.
The first of Steven C. Harper’s many contributions to this volume, “A Seeker’s Guide to the Historical Accounts of Joseph Smith’s First Vision” is perhaps the essay that most directly attempts to address critical arguments about a controversial aspect of Church history. Harper argues that the reality of the First Vision ought to be approached with the “hermeneutic of trust”, meaning that Joseph’s account ought to be believed as he was the only witness. The hermeneutic of trust is a popular concept in religious studies and apologetics. Evaluation of it is a discussion much beyond this review but Harper properly applies the concept to the First Vision. Harper uses this argument to respond to the challenges of Fawn Brodie and Wesley Walters. Harper chooses Brodie and Walters as representative of the methods of criticizing the historicity of the First Vision but going up against more developed, contemporary critics against the First Vision would have better shown the strength of Harper’s argument.
Carver’s second essay “The Probation of a Teenage Seer: Joseph Smith’s Early Experiences with Moroni” tracks Joseph Smith’s path into accepting his role as a translator and prophet focusing largely on the conflict between his inner struggle between the desire for wealth and his desire to do the will of the Lord. The essay is surprisingly forthcoming about the extent of the Smith family’s involvement in folk magic and occult means of finding treasure. Carver humanizes Joseph Smith while still portraying him as the prophet Church members are familiar with.
W. Paul Reeve’s “Race, the Priesthood, and Temples” and Alexander L. Baugh’s “‘For Their Salvation Is Necessary and Essential to Our Salvation’: Joseph Smith and the Practice of Baptism and Confirmation for the Dead” especially stand out as excellent essay length expositions on their respective topics of Nauvoo baptism for the dead and the racial priesthood and temple ban. Baugh wrote on a little-known incident of baptism for the dead in Kirtland by Almon Babbitt and theorized that Joseph’s disapproval of this unauthorized move on Babbitt’s part as part of the impetus for the restriction of the practice to Nauvoo. Reeve’s essay is a thorough, though succinct walkthrough of the history of implementation and end of the priesthood and temple ordinances. Reeve then wrote from his perspective as a believing Latter-day Saint to persuade the reader to disavow the justifications of the priesthood ban and accept that it was never commanded by God. His argument is that the ban has not always in place, there is no revelation instituting the ban in the first place, and that incidents in ecclesiastical history and the words of many early and recent Church presidents suggest that it is possible that God would allow Church leaders to do something like the ban though He did not command it.
“‘A Covenant and a Deed Which Cannot Be Broken’: The Continuing Saga of Consecration” by Casey Paul Griffiths and “‘Her Borders Must Be Enlarged’: Evolving Conceptions of Zion” by Taunalyn Rutherford are similar essays in that they discuss how important concepts of the early Church, consecration and building Zion, have remained in principle but have changed in application. These are helpful essays to any Church member who reads the Doctrine and Covenants and wonders how those concepts exist in the Church today.
Jennifer C. Lane’s “Redemption’s Grand Design for Both the Living and the Dead” almost reads like a devotional scripture study in that Lane goes through biblical and Restoration scriptural references about how redemption is not simply to return to a place but to a state of being like God. Lane brings it back to history by showing how early Church members saw the process and it puts the post-1834 revelations in that context. This essay is a great example of how understanding theology, as understood by the people being studied, is vital to understanding history.
There is a great deal in this book for the seasoned historians not interested in applying academic history to devotional messages. “Hyrum Smith’s Liberty Jail Letters” by Craig K. Manscill and Kenneth L. Alford compares Hyrum’s letters to the later written letters to Edward Partridge from which Doctrine and Covenants sections 121, 122, and 123 are taken. The authors theorize that the topics in the Partridge letters were frequent topics of discussion between the jail mates and Joseph rephrased these concepts in the voice of the Lord. A fascinating example of revelation by process.
Also of interest to the seasoned historian is “Enemies Within: Robert Foster, the Higbees, and the Martyrdom of Joseph Smith” by Andrew H. Hedges that explores the history of the lesser-known contributors to The Expositor. The last three essays “‘This Shall Be Our Covenant’: Brigham Young and D&C 136” by Chad M. Orton, “Administration in the ‘DO’ John Taylor’s Administration from Hiding in the Underground” by Eric Perkins and Mary Jane Woodger, and “‘And I Saw the Hosts of the Dead, Both Small and Great’: Joseph F. Smith, World War I, and His Visions of the Dead” by Richard E. Bennett are likewise excellent essays on little known topics of Church history.
Finally, “Thoughts on Reclaiming the History of Relief Society” by Rachel Cope makes an important contribution to Mormon studies by examining the efforts of Eliza R. Snow and Emmeline B. Wells to record and publish the history of the Relief Society. Despite these efforts, the early history of the Relief Society and its contributions to the Church largely fell into obscurity. President Julie B. Beck led the most recent effort to reclaim the history of the Relief Society but this history has yet to work itself into talks, lessons, and common Church vernacular and will likely fall into obscurity again until it does.
In all, this book provides succinct introductions to important topics in Church history for members who are interested in more thorough and academic histories than what they have likely experienced so far. I’m planning on recommending it to young adults that I know. I would encourage readers to dive deeper into the topics of the First Vision, the witnesses, and the priesthood restoration accounts. There is plenty in here for the experienced historian well in that there are little studied incidents in Church history addressed here.
[1] https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2016/12/by-study-and-by-faith?lang=eng