Review
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Title: Joseph Smith’s Unpublished Revelations
Editors: Stephen O. Smoot and Brian C. Passantino
Publisher: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University in Cooperation with Deseret Book Company
Genre: History/Theology
Year Published: 2024
Pages: 183
ISBN-10: 1950304566
ISBN-13: 978-1-9503-0456-1
Price: $24.99
Reviewed by Mark Tensmeyer for the Association for Mormon Letters
There is something unquestionably fascinating and alluring about scripture that never made it into the canon. What Christian wouldn’t want to read the epistle Paul wrote to the saints in Corinth before 1 Corinthians or the hypothesized Q source used by Matthew and Luke to write their Gospels? For Latter-day Saints, who wouldn’t want to read the lost 116 pages of the Book of Mormon? Though not nearly as dramatic, Joseph Smith’s Unpublished Revelations offers the reader some exposure to scripture that could have been. It is a possible Latter-day Saint deuterocanonical collection.
Predictably, most of these revelations are short statements highly specific to an individual or business matter. These include a November 8, 1835 revelation that simply states that W.W. Phelps and John Whitmer were “under condemnation before the Lord for their iniquities” (p. 78). Another example is an April 28, 1834 revelation directing the United Firm to keep a $3,000 reserve fund. (p. 62-63). Smoot and Passantino’s commentaries effectively provide the context, to the extent that any are known, that gives meaning to these revelations.
Some may be disappointed that there is nothing especially earth-shattering in these revelations. There are, however, a few substantive revelations that could have had a place in the canon. These include the March 1832 revelation on the duties of bishops that discusses the relationship between the bishops and the First Presidency, and the bishop’s duties in administering the Bishop’s Storehouse (p. 52-54). There is a January 12, 1838 revelation giving further instructions on the Common Council of the Church discussed in D&C 107:82-84 where a special disciplinary council can remove a member of the First Presidency. The revelation specifies that a majority of the other stakes have to decide to remove the Presidency before the Presidency is removed from office (p. 100-104). Most Church members are familiar with the vision of the Celestial Kingdom reported in D&C 137, but are not aware and would interested to see that the full account, included in this volume, also discusses the Quorum of the Twelve, seeing them preach, and seeing them in the Celestial Kingdom. Familiar to historians, but likely not to lay members is the July 27, 1842 revelation instructing Newell K. Whitney on how to perform the sealing ceremony for Joseph Smith and his daughter Sarah Ann Whitney (p. 126). The final revelations in Joseph Smith’s life were about the Council of Fifty, the council set up to organize the political Kingdom of God. Church members will find great interest in these revelations on the governance of the Kingdom of God.
Thanks to the Joseph Smith Papers Project, all of Joseph Smith’s revelations are printed in the various volumes and are on the website. As the editors readily acknowledge, this book offers no information that is not already freely available to those who know where to find it. At the very least, this is a convenient resource for people with a casual interest in Church history that are interested in finding some theological insights. Even as someone who has followed the Joseph Smith Papers Project thoroughly, I found great value in having all the uncanonized revelations in one place. Smoot and Passantino are effective editors and their introductions go above and beyond those in the Joseph Smith Papers Project. This is a well-researched and edited book that has, to my knowledge, not left out any revelations and has included pertinent non-Joseph Smith revelations (such as Oliver Cowdery’s 1829 version of the Articles and Covenants) and revelations of disputed authenticity (such as the 1831 revelation on marriages to Lamanite women recalled by W.W. Phelps in 1861).
I would love to see Stephen O. Smoot and Brian C. Passantino take this same idea and apply this same rigor to a collection of Joseph Smith’s doctrinal teachings as an update to Andrew F. Ehat and Lyndon Cook’s well-done, but now outdated Words of Joseph Smith. That would be a much larger undertaking, but it is much needed and would have even greater utility.