The Mormon Jesus; and They Knew They Were Pilgrims.
Turner applied the “Page 99 Test” to his new book, Joseph Smith: The Rise and Fall of an American Prophet, and shared the following:
There’s a great deal on this page! The top of page 99 is a photograph of Julia Murdock Smith, who was adopted by Joseph and Emma Smith in 1832. I narrate the poignant story on the prior page. Her mother, Julia Murdock, died shortly after giving birth to twins. The same day, Emma Smith also gave birth to twins who lived at most for a few hours. The recently widowed John Murdock, meanwhile, faced the prospect of arranging care for two newborn infants and three other children. Joseph Smith sent word to John Murdock that he and Emma would raise the twins. It was a good solution but not an easy one. Emma Smith requested that John Murdock never reveal himself to the twins as their father.Visit John G. Turner's website.
The text on page 99 discusses the fact that the Book of Mormon didn’t sell well upon its publication. That left Martin Harris, Joseph Smith’s chief benefactor, “cleaned out financially.” Did Joseph Smith take Martin Harris for a ride? “I never lost one cent,” Harris later stated. “Mr. Smith paid me all that I advanced, and more too.” He probably meant that he reaped spiritual benefits for his financial sacrifice.
The final paragraph introduces Joseph Smith’s leadership at a June 1831 church conference. I quote an early church member to the effect that Joseph was “not naturally talented for a speaker” but was “filled with the power of the Holy Ghost.” In the remainder of this section I discuss Smith’s introduction of the “high priesthood” and a series of exorcisms.
Does page 99 reflect the book as a whole?
Yes! A reader would get a good sense of my book. For starters this is a fast-paced biography in keeping with the manner of Joseph Smith’s meteoric life. Smith always juggled multiple interests: family, business, preaching, and writing projects.
This page also introduces two key thematic threads that run throughout the biography. So many debates about Joseph Smith boil down to one key question: was he a sincere prophet, or a fraud? Smith claimed that he received – from an angel – a set of golden plates containing a record written by the ancient peoples of the Americas. This became the basis for the Book of Mormon, translated “by the gift and power of God.” I contend in my book that Smith didn’t have golden plates. Indeed, he pretended to have them and convinced a number of key individuals – including Martin Harris – that they were real. Does that make Smith a fraud? I resist that reductionistic interpretation. Smith presided over miraculous healings, helped his followers have visions of their own, created a series of utopian communities, and introduced rituals that still possess sacred significance for millions of people around the world. Figures like Martin Harris are important pieces in this story. Harris invested and lost a great deal of money in Smith’s Book of Mormon project. Even when he later clashed with Smith he never accused the Mormon prophet of having defrauded him.
The June 1831 conference also gives readers a sense of the religious atmosphere that is an important theme of the book. One attendee claimed to “see God and Jesus Christ at his right hand.” Another man’s countenance grew dark and his hands clenched. Smith laid his hands on that man’s head and ordered Satan to depart. The man’s muscles relaxed. Several other men then required Smith’s prophetic exorcism.
The biography maintains this fast-paced narrative throughout, and it accelerates toward the end as Smith is sealed in marriage to more than thirty women, struggles against anti-Mormon political opposition and internal dissent, and is finally murdered by a Hancock County, Illinois, mob in June 1844.
The Page 99 Test: They Knew They Were Pilgrims.
--Marshal Zeringue
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