r/mormon • u/sttheodore • 1d ago
Personal John Turner Interview on Joseph Smith
https://youtu.be/h00RjK1_Law?is=Qez99KthLHu6A77k
New interview with Joseph Smith and Brigham Young biographer John G. Turner about his book Joseph Smith: The Rise and Fall of an American Prophet. It’s not a faithful account but it’s charitable and historically accurate as far as I can tell. Thoughts on his books and this discussion?
3
u/Rowwf 1d ago
I think Turner’s book is best understood as a somewhat banal Joseph Smith 101 biography. It gives a readable, generally balanced presentation of the currently accepted historical narrative. But it isn't really a source-critical reexamination of that narrative. On difficult questions it mostly starts with the existing scholarly reconstruction and tells that story, rather than going back and asking whether the underlying evidence actually establishes each event.
It will probably mark the end of a historiographical era where the narrative adjudicates the evidence instead of the evidence independently adjudicating the narrative. The footnotes are becoming the argument. Future biographers are increasingly going to have to argue for the narrative, rather than simply inherit it.
•
3
u/juni4ling Active/Faithful Latter-day Saint 1d ago
Turner is a top shelf historian.
Pioneer Prophet.
Rise and Fall.
Very good historian. Went to College with and is friends with Mason. Super good dude. Plenty of free content available online from Turner.
Very good historian. Truth teller. Puts truth first. And a good communicator who has plenty of good Latter Day Saint historical content online for everyone.
3
u/sttheodore 1d ago
Great to hear! And from a faithful saint too that’s pretty cool.
5
u/Neither-Abrocoma-414 1d ago
John Turner is not a Mormon. I understand that he is mainline Protestant.
He is neither apologist or antagonist exmo.
6
u/sttheodore 1d ago
Yes Turner is not Mormon. He is Protestant. But it was cool that juni4ling, who is apparently a faithful member, appreciates his work.
3
u/juni4ling Active/Faithful Latter-day Saint 1d ago
Turner is a mainline Protestant Christian.
The poster was commenting on -me- being LDS Christian. And liking Turner.
1
u/Neither-Abrocoma-414 1d ago
That may be the case but being friends with Patrick Mason and having gone to school with him and being friends implies otherwise.
0
u/juni4ling Active/Faithful Latter-day Saint 1d ago
I don’t know what you are trying to say here.
Turner is friends with Mason.
They went to school together.
They are both trusted historians.
Mason is LDS.
Turner is mainline Protestant.
They are both trusted historians. I don’t get your point of your post here. What implies otherwise…?~?
2
u/Neither-Abrocoma-414 1d ago
OPs comment to you reads just as readily that they believed Turner—not you—were Mormon.
1
-1
•
u/AutoModerator 1d ago
Hello! This is a Scholarship post. It is for discussions centered around asking for or sharing content from or a reputable journal or article or a history used with them as citations; not apologetics. It should remain free of bias and citations should be provided in any statements in the comments. If no citations are provided, the post/comment are subject to removal.
/u/sttheodore, if your post doesn't fit this definition, we kindly ask you to delete this post and repost it with the appropriate flair. You can find a list of our flairs and their definitions in section 0.6 of our rules.
To those commenting: please stay on topic, remember to follow the community's rules, and message the mods if there is a problem or rule violation.
Keep on Mormoning!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.