Plural marriage

documented fact · historical event

Genesis 22 praises Abraham's willingness to kill Isaac, and D&C 132:36 cites it as a case where divine command overrode 'Thou shalt not kill.' Latter-day Saint leaders teach the 'Abrahamic test' as a model for members' sacrifice (Ballard, quoting Hugh B. Brown). According to Orson F. Whitney's 1888 biography, Joseph Smith required Heber C. Kimball to give his wife Vilate to Joseph; when Heber complied after three days of fasting, Joseph called it proof he would 'do the works of Abraham' and sealed the couple instead, and Kimball was then told to take a plural wife secretly. Believers read the test as faith-building; critics (Gustavson, philosophers since Kierkegaard) question whether obeying a command to do evil is a virtue, and note that the Kimball 'test' was a prophet's demand for a follower's wife.

Needs human verification

disputed · historical event

Whether the women and girls sealed to Joseph Smith gave free and informed consent is disputed; some later described pressure, religious promises, or family influence, while others defended the practice.

Needs human verification

documented fact · scripture

Doctrine and Covenants 132, recorded in July 1843 and first published in 1852, is the revelation on eternal and plural marriage and includes verses addressed to Emma Smith.

Needs human verification

documented fact · scripture

D&C 132 (dictated July 1843) builds exceptions into its own text: v. 36 cites Abraham's command to sacrifice Isaac despite 'Thou shalt not kill'; vv. 59-60 say a man holding the keys acting 'in my name' 'will not commit sin, and I will justify him'; vv. 61-62 say a man taking additional virgins with his first wife's consent 'cannot commit adultery'; vv. 64-65 say that if the wife does not 'receive this law' she 'shall be destroyed' and the husband is 'exempt from the law of Sarah.' The Church essay acknowledges Emma 'likely did not know about all of Joseph's sealings.' Joseph's earliest plural marriages predate the written revelation. FAIR argues the exemption applied only to Joseph's unique case.

Needs human verification

interpretation · not applicable

Several teachings or practices once presented with divine authority were later ended or reframed: plural marriage (D&C 132; the 1890 Manifesto and the 1904 Second Manifesto), the racial priesthood and temple restriction (1852 to 1978), Adam-God teachings (denounced in 1976), the temple oath of vengeance (removed in 1927) and penalties (removed in 1990), the Word of Wisdom (counsel that became a temple-recommend requirement in the 1920s and 1930s), and the 2015 policy on children of same-sex couples (described as revelation, reversed in 2019). Church leaders describe such changes as continuing revelation and adjustments of practice, with doctrine itself constant. Critics and many historians read the same record as doctrine changing under outside pressure and as evidence of prophetic fallibility.

Needs human verification

documented fact · historical event

Emma Smith knew of and consented to only some of Joseph Smith's plural marriages, accepted a few in 1843, then opposed the practice and later denied he had practiced it.

Needs human verification

documented fact · current teaching

Current sealing policy allows a man to be sealed to more than one wife (after a wife dies), while a living woman may be sealed to only one husband, which critics call eternal polygamy.

Needs human verification

disputed · historical event

An 1842 letter attributed to Joseph Smith and associated with his reported plural-marriage proposal to Nancy Rigdon states the exception principle outright: 'That which is wrong under one circumstance, may be, and often is, right under another. God said thou shalt not kill,—at another time he said thou shalt utterly destroy... Whatever God requires is right, no matter what it is.' Authorship is contested: John C. Bennett published it, William Smith denied Joseph wrote it, and Sidney Rigdon said Joseph denied it; the Joseph Smith Papers prints it as an appendix but notes Joseph 'both wrote and offered to write similar letters' to other prospective wives. It also appeared in History of the Church (vol. 5, p. 134). Philosophers call this view theological voluntarism, which faces the 'arbitrariness' objection.

Needs human verification

documented fact · historical event

Helen Mar Kimball was sealed to Joseph Smith in 1843 at about age fourteen, at the encouragement of her father Heber C. Kimball.

Needs human verification

disputed · historical event

In March 1842 the Articles of Faith affirmed being 'honest' and 'obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law,' while Joseph Smith was secretly marrying plural wives in a state that criminalized bigamy. On May 26, 1844 he publicly said: 'What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives, when I can only find one.' From the 1862 Morrill Act to the 1890 Manifesto and beyond, later Church presidents taught plural marriage as a higher law overriding federal statute. Faithful historians argue the denials were technically worded, protective against mob violence, and that unconstitutional laws were not binding; critics see a leadership-only exemption from honesty and law.

Needs human verification

documented fact · historical event

Federal pressure peaked just before the 1890 Manifesto. The Edmunds Act (1882) punished unlawful cohabitation and barred polygamists from voting; the Edmunds-Tucker Act (1887) dissolved the Church as a corporation, ordered its property forfeited, took the vote from Utah women and required anti-polygamy oaths; and in May 1890 the Supreme Court upheld the property seizure. Wilford Woodruffs own explanation, printed with Official Declaration 1, says he acted to avoid "the confiscation and loss of all the Temples" and the imprisonment of Church leaders, and that "the Lord showed me by vision and revelation" what would happen otherwise.

Needs human verification

documented fact · current teaching

The church's essay says members no longer practice plural marriage. Official Declaration 1 is the 1890 Manifesto associated with discontinuing new plural marriages. Monogamy is described in the essay as the standing law of marriage.

Needs human verification

documented fact · historical event

The church's plural-marriage essay says Joseph Smith was sealed to multiple women, including Helen Mar Kimball several months before her 15th birthday and women who were already married. It says a sealing to Louisa Beaman in April 1841 was the first plural marriage in Nauvoo in this account, and that the exact number of sealings is unknown because the record is thin.

Needs human verification

documented fact · historical event

Historians and the CES Letter report that some of the women sealed to Joseph Smith were already married to living husbands, a practice often called polyandry; Todd Compton counts at least thirty-three plural wives.

Needs human verification

documented fact · historical event

Polygamy was a federal crime in U.S. territories from the Morrill Act of 1862, and Reynolds v. United States (1879) upheld that law against a religious-freedom defense. The Church kept teaching and performing plural marriages for 28 years after 1862, until the 1890 Manifesto. Apostles kept authorizing some new plural marriages until Joseph F. Smiths 1904 Second Manifesto, about 42 years after 1862, and many existing plural families kept cohabiting for decades.

Needs human verification

disputed · historical event

Whether Joseph Smith's sealings to married women and to teenagers included sexual relations, and how they should be judged, remains disputed between critical and faithful historians.

Needs human verification

documented fact · past practice

Some apostles authorized and performed new plural marriages after the 1890 Manifesto, mostly in Mexico and Canada, until the 1904 Second Manifesto; the Church's own essay acknowledges this.

Needs human verification

documented fact · historical event

In 1842 and 1844 Joseph Smith and other Church leaders publicly denied practicing polygamy while he had privately married plural wives.

Needs human verification

documented fact · historical event

On September 27, 1886, Church President John Taylor wrote a revelation in which the Lord asks how he can revoke an everlasting covenant and says that those who would receive his glory must obey his law. It was never presented to or sustained by the Church. In 1933 the First Presidency publicly called it "pretended" and said the archives held no such revelation, yet a July 1933 memo by J. Reuben Clark shows the First Presidency had Taylors handwritten original. The Church History Library released it in June 2025 (MS 34928). Mormon fundamentalists cite it as authority for continuing plural marriage.

Needs human verification

disputed · historical event

Whether John Taylor spoke as a prophet in 1886 is disputed. The mainstream Church position since 1933 is that an unsustained private document has no binding force and that Wilford Woodruffs 1890 Manifesto was the operative revelation. Mormon fundamentalists hold that the 1886 text was a binding revelation and the Manifesto a political accommodation. Historians such as Hardy and Quinn note that top leaders kept privately authorizing new plural marriages until 1904, which complicates both readings.

Needs human verification

Approaching Mormon Doctrine

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints · Church Newsroom · 2007-05-04

The Church says not every statement by a Church leader, past or present, is doctrine; a single statement by one leader is often personal opinion, and doctrine is found in scripture, official declarations, and consistent teaching by the First Presidency and Twelve. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Articles of Faith 1:12-13

Joseph Smith (1842 Wentworth letter) · The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints · 1842

Article 12 affirms "obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law"; Article 13 affirms "being honest." Written March 1842, the same period Joseph Smith was secretly marrying plural wives.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Becoming True Millennials

Russell M. Nelson · Worldwide Devotional for Young Adults · 2016-01-10

Event date discussed: 2016-01-10

In a January 2016 devotional, then-Elder Nelson said the November 2015 handbook policy on children of same-sex couples came after the First Presidency and Twelve sought the Lord's will and that President Monson declared the mind of the Lord, describing it as revelation. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Come, Join with Us

Dieter F. Uchtdorf · General Conference · 2013-10

Event date discussed: 2013-10

President Uchtdorf said that members and leaders have at times simply made mistakes and said or done things not in harmony with the Church's values, and invited those who left or doubt to come back. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Discourse, 26 May 1844

The Joseph Smith Papers (Church Historian's Press) · 1844-05-26

Event date discussed: 1844-05-26

In a Nauvoo sermon on 26 May 1844, as reported by Thomas Bullock, Joseph Smith answered dissenters' accusations of adultery and plural wives, denying the charges publicly at a time when historians document that he had married multiple plural wives. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Doctrine and Covenants 132

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Event date discussed: 1843-07-12

The 1843 revelation on eternal marriage and plural marriage, including verses addressed to Emma Smith. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Emma Hale Smith (Church History Topics)

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

This Church History topic summarizes Emma Smith's life, her role in the early Church and the Relief Society, and her painful and changing response to plural marriage. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Emma Smith and Others, Statement, October 1, 1842 (First Fifty Years of Relief Society 1.6)

Jill Mulvay Derr, Carol Cornwall Madsen, Kate Holbrook, and Matthew J. Grow, eds. · Church Historian's Press · 2016

Event date discussed: 1842-10-01

This documentary edition reproduces the October 1842 certificate signed by Emma Smith and eighteen other Relief Society women denying any marriage system beyond the Doctrine and Covenants, and its introduction explains the dilemma for women who knew of Joseph Smith's private plural marriages. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Fanny Alger (Church History Topics)

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Event date discussed: 1830s

This Church History topic says Fanny Alger lived in the Smith household in Kirtland in the 1830s, that later accounts describe her as an early plural wife of Joseph Smith, and that the surviving evidence about the relationship is limited. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

First Presidency Shares Messages From General Conference Leadership Session

Dallin H. Oaks (for the First Presidency) · Church Newsroom · 2019-04-04

Event date discussed: 2019-04-04

The 2019 reversal: children of LGBT parents may be baptized without First Presidency approval, and same-gender marriage is no longer treated as apostasy for discipline, though the Church still considers it a serious transgression. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

General Handbook, 32.11-32.14: Membership Council Decisions, Appeals, Records, and Resignation

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints · 2026-10

Sections 32.11 to 32.14 describe membership council outcomes: remaining in good standing, personal counseling, formal membership restrictions (no temple, priesthood, sacrament, or callings, but attendance encouraged), or withdrawal of membership, which is required for murder and plural marriage. A member may appeal within 30 days to the stake president or, for a stake council, to the First Presidency. Members who ask to resign are told resignation revokes all ordinances; they submit a signed request through the bishop or a notarized request to headquarters. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

General Handbook, 32.6: Severity of the Sin and Church Policy (when membership councils are required)

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints · 2026-10

Section 32.6 lists sins for which a bishop or stake president must hold a membership council: murder, rape, a sexual assault conviction, child or youth abuse, abuse of a spouse or other adult, predatory behavior, incest, child pornography, plural marriage, serious sin while holding a prominent Church position, and most felony convictions. It then lists situations where a council may be necessary, where the stake president consults the Area Presidency, and where one is not normally needed. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

General Handbook, 38.4 (Sealing Policies)

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints · 2024

General Handbook section 38.4 sets sealing policies, including that a living man whose wife has died may be sealed to another wife, that a deceased woman may be sealed by proxy to every man she married in life, and that a living woman may be sealed to only one husband at a time. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Gospel Topics Essay: Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Event date discussed: 1841

This Gospel Topics essay says monogamy is the church's standing law of marriage and that Joseph Smith introduced plural marriage and was sealed to multiple women. It describes a sealing to Louisa Beaman in April 1841 as the first plural marriage in Nauvoo in this account. It says the youngest person sealed to him was Helen Mar Kimball, several months before her 15th birthday, and that he was also sealed to women who were already married. It says the exact number is unknown, the contemporary record is thin, and later reminiscences are not always reliable. It says Wilford Woodruff's 1890 Manifesto led to the end of the practice and that members no longer practice plural marriage. Summary, not a quotation. 1841 is one event the essay discusses, not the essay's publication date.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Gospel Topics Essay: Race and the Priesthood

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints · 2016

Event date discussed: 1978

The Gospel Topics essay Race and the Priesthood says that from the mid-1800s until 1978 the church did not ordain men of black African descent to the priesthood or allow black men or women to participate in temple endowment or sealing ordinances. It describes the June 1978 revelation, announced on June 8 and canonized as Official Declaration 2. It says the church today disavows theories that black skin is a sign of divine disfavor or curse, that mixed-race marriage is a sin, or that any race is inferior. Summary, not a quotation. The 1978 date is the policy change, not the essay's publication date.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Helen Mar Kimball Whitney (Church History Topics)

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Event date discussed: 1843

This Church History topic says Helen Mar Kimball was sealed to Joseph Smith in 1843 at about fourteen, at the encouragement of her father Heber C. Kimball, and later defended plural marriage while describing her own difficulty with it. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

John Taylor revelation, 1886 September 27 (MS 34928)

John Taylor · Church History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints · 2025

Event date discussed: 1886-09-27

Catalog record and images of President John Taylors handwritten 1886 revelation, written while he was in hiding from federal marshals, in which the Lord asks how he can revoke an everlasting covenant and says those who would receive his glory must obey his law. The item also holds a 1909 typescript and a July 1933 provenance memo by J. Reuben Clark showing the First Presidency then had the original. It was never presented to or sustained by the Church. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Joseph Smith and Plural Marriage (Church History Topics)

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

This Church History topic summarizes how Joseph Smith introduced plural marriage to a small circle in Nauvoo, notes that he was sealed to many women, and points to the Gospel Topics essay for more detail. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Nauvoo Expositor (Church History Topics)

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Event date discussed: 1844-06

This Church History topic says dissenters published the single issue of the Nauvoo Expositor in June 1844 attacking Joseph Smith, including over plural marriage, and that the Nauvoo city council declared the press a nuisance and had it destroyed, events that led to Joseph Smith's arrest and death at Carthage. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Official Declaration 1

Wilford Woodruff · The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Event date discussed: 1890

Official Declaration 1 is the 1890 Manifesto issued under President Wilford Woodruff and printed with the Doctrine and Covenants. It is the canonical statement associated with discontinuing new plural marriages. 1890 is the year of the Manifesto, not a modern web publication date. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Official Declaration 2

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints · 1978-09-30

Event date discussed: 1978-06-08

Official Declaration 2 is the canonized statement in the Doctrine and Covenants that records the end of the racial restriction on priesthood ordination and temple ordinances. The announcement associated with the revelation was June 8, 1978. The declaration itself is dated September 30, 1978, when it was presented in general conference. Those are different dates. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Our Own Liahona

Spencer W. Kimball · General Conference · 1976-10

Event date discussed: 1976-10

President Kimball denounced the Adam-God theory, which he said was alleged to have been taught by some general authorities of earlier generations, and warned members against it. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

The Doctrine of Christ

D. Todd Christofferson · General Conference · 2012-04

Event date discussed: 2012-04

Elder Christofferson teaches that doctrine comes by revelation to the united First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve and that not every statement by a Church leader, past or present, necessarily constitutes doctrine. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

The Law of Sacrifice (Liahona, March 2002)

M. Russell Ballard · The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints · 2002-03

Apostle teaches the law of sacrifice exists "to test and prove us," quotes Hugh B. Brown on Abraham, and warns "If being a member of this Church becomes too easy, testimonies will become shallow."

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

The Manifesto and the End of Plural Marriage (Gospel Topics Essay)

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints · The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints · 2014

The Church's essay says a smaller number of new plural marriages were performed after the 1890 Manifesto, mostly in Mexico and Canada, until the 1904 Second Manifesto made new ones grounds for excommunication. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Times and Seasons, 1 October 1842

The Joseph Smith Papers (Church Historian's Press) · 1842-10-01

Event date discussed: 1842-10-01

The 1 October 1842 Times and Seasons printed the 1835 statement on marriage (one man, one wife) and certificates signed by Church men and by Relief Society women saying they knew of no marriage system in the Church other than the one in the Doctrine and Covenants, in answer to John C. Bennett's charges. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

A House Full of Females: Plural Marriage and Women's Rights in Early Mormonism, 1835-1870

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich · Alfred A. Knopf · 2017

A Pulitzer Prize-winning historian uses diaries and letters of early Latter-day Saint women to show how plural marriage was experienced, including both deep religious commitment and painful pressure, and how these women also became politically active. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

A Private Revelation (review of W. V. Smith, Textual Studies of the D&C: The Plural Marriage Revelation), Dialogue 51:4

Gary James Bergera · Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought · 2018

Summarizes W. V. Smith: D&C 132 was a private text to persuade Emma, justifying a practice already under way.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith

Todd Compton · Signature Books · 1997

Compton gives biographies of the women he counts as Joseph Smith's plural wives, at least thirty-three, including women already married to other men and young teenagers, and describes how the arrangements affected their lives. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling

Richard Lyman Bushman · Alfred A. Knopf · 2005

Richard Lyman Bushman's Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 2005. It is a full scholarly biography by a Latter-day Saint historian. It is academic history, not an official church statement, and it is not a view from nowhere. This library does not store excerpts or statistics from the book. The linked page is an Internet Archive catalog record, not a substitute for reading the book. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Academic biography by a believing historian.

Late Corporation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints v. United States, 136 U.S. 1 (1890)

Supreme Court of the United States · Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School · 1890

Event date discussed: 1890-05-19

The Court upheld the Edmunds-Tucker Acts repeal of the Churchs corporate charter and the forfeiture of its property to the federal government, reasoning that Congress could suppress polygamy in the territories and that the property could be redirected. The opinion recites the Morrill (1862), Edmunds (1882) and Edmunds-Tucker (1887) Acts. Decided about four months before the Manifesto. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

LDS Church Authority and New Plural Marriages, 1890-1904

D. Michael Quinn · Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought · 1985

Quinn documents that some apostles authorized and performed new plural marriages after the 1890 Manifesto, especially in Mexico and Canada, until the 1904 Second Manifesto, and that this was hidden from the public. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

LDS Church finally releases an 1886 John Taylor polygamy revelation

The Salt Lake Tribune · The Salt Lake Tribune · 2025-06-17

Event date discussed: 2025-06-14

Reports that the Church History Library put the long-rumored 1886 John Taylor revelation online, notes that Mormon fundamentalists have cited it for decades to justify continuing plural marriage, and contrasts the release with a 1933 First Presidency statement that called it pretended and said no such revelation was in the archives, while Clarks 1933 memo shows leaders had it. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Independent journalism. Reports events, allegations, and responses; not peer-reviewed scholarship and not a court finding.

Letter to Nancy Rigdon ("Happiness letter"), circa mid-April 1842 (JSP Appendix)

attributed to Joseph Smith (authorship contested) · The Joseph Smith Papers · 1842

"That which is wrong under one circumstance, may be, and often is, right under another... Whatever God requires is right, no matter what it is." Published by John C. Bennett as Josephs proposal letter to Nancy Rigdon; JSP prints it in an appendix with authorship caveats.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Life of Heber C. Kimball, ch. 46

Orson F. Whitney · Juvenile Instructor Office · 1888

Faithful account: Joseph requires Heber to surrender his wife Vilate; after three days of fasting Heber complies, and Joseph calls it a test of whether he would "do the works of Abraham." Heber is then told to take a plural wife secretly.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith (2nd ed.)

Linda King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery · University of Illinois Press · 1994

A prize-winning biography of Emma Smith that documents how she learned of only some of Joseph Smith's plural marriages, accepted a few in 1843, and then opposed the practice, and how she later denied that he had practiced it. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Remembering the Edmunds-Tucker Act

Utah Division of State Archives and Records Service · Utah Division of Archives · 2019-03-14

Event date discussed: 1887-03-03

A state archives post on the 1887 Edmunds-Tucker Act: it disincorporated the Church and the Perpetual Emigrating Fund, provided for seizure of Church property over $50,000, abolished womens suffrage in Utah Territory, required anti-polygamy test oaths for voters and officials, and strengthened prosecution of polygamy and unlawful cohabitation. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Reynolds v. United States, 98 U.S. 145 (1879)

Supreme Court of the United States · Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School · 1879

Event date discussed: 1879-01-06

In the test case of George Reynolds, secretary to Brigham Young, the Court upheld his conviction for bigamy under the 1862 Morrill Act, holding that religious belief does not exempt a person from a criminal law against plural marriage: the First Amendment protects belief but not practices the law forbids. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Solemn Covenant: The Mormon Polygamous Passage

B. Carmon Hardy · University of Illinois Press · 1992

A history of how Latter-day Saints defended and then gave up plural marriage, from the 1880s raids through the 1890 Manifesto, the new plural marriages that senior leaders authorized afterward, the Smoot hearings, the 1904 Second Manifesto and the slow end of the practice. Includes an appendix listing post-Manifesto plural marriages. Summary of the books published scope, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Søren Kierkegaard (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

John Lippitt & C. Stephen Evans · Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy · living entry

Covers Fear and Trembling and the "teleological suspension of the ethical" in Abrahams binding of Isaac.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Tabernacles of Clay: Sexuality and Gender in Modern Mormonism

Taylor G. Petrey · University of North Carolina Press · 2020

A historian traces how Church teachings on gender, sex differences, and homosexuality changed after World War II, arguing that ideas presented as eternal were often revised over time. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

The Binding of Isaac (Bible Odyssey)

Society of Biblical Literature · Bible Odyssey · n.d.

Academic overview of Genesis 22 and Jewish and Christian treatments of its ethics.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

The Development of the Mormon Temple Endowment Ceremony

David John Buerger · Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought · 1987

A history of the endowment from Kirtland and Nauvoo to the 1980s. Buerger traces the Masonic background of Nauvoo-era elements, the oath of vengeance and its exposure in the Smoot hearings, and the 1919 to 1927 revision committee under Heber J. Grant that removed it and softened other wording. He describes elements only at a historical level. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

The Joseph Smith Papers

Church Historian's Press

The Joseph Smith Papers is a documentary editing project that publishes Joseph Smith's papers, journals, revelations, and related records. It is the place to read specific primary documents. This library entry is the project home, not a transcription of any one document, and it is not an argument for or against the church. Use a specific document page before citing a narrow factual claim. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Primary-document project published by the Church Historian's Press. Not a view-from-nowhere commentary.

The Mormon Church on Trial: Transcripts of the Reed Smoot Hearings

Michael Harold Paulos, ed. · Signature Books · 2008

Event date discussed: 1904

An edited abridgment of the 1904 to 1906 U.S. Senate hearings on whether apostle Reed Smoot could be seated. Witnesses, including Church President Joseph F. Smith, testified about post-Manifesto plural marriages and cohabitation, Church influence in politics, and the temple endowment, including the oath of vengeance. Summary of the books published scope, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

The Word of Wisdom: From Principle to Requirement

Thomas G. Alexander · Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought · 1981

Alexander traces how the Word of Wisdom moved from advice to a requirement for temple attendance in the early twentieth century, noting leaders' changing emphasis on details. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Theological Voluntarism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Mark Murphy · Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy · living entry

Neutral overview of divine-command theory, the Euthyphro/arbitrariness objection, and modified defenses.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Defining Adultery under Illinois and Nauvoo Law

M. Scott Bradshaw · BYU Studies (in Sustaining the Law: Joseph Smith's Legal Encounters, ed. Gordon A. Madsen, Jeffrey N. Walker, and John W. Welch) · 2014

Chapter 17 of Sustaining the Law argues that Illinois law punished only open adultery or fornication, that Joseph Smith's confidential plural marriages did not meet that legal element, and that he would likely have been acquitted of the 1844 indictment involving Maria Lawrence. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

FAIR overview of the CES Letter

FAIR · FAIR

FAIR, at fairlatterdaysaints.org, publishes a faithful-apologetic overview of the CES Letter and further responses to its arguments. FAIR describes the letter as Jeremy Runnells's doubts about church history and doctrine. FAIR is not The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and is not an official church statement. Its replies can be useful as faithful counter-argument and still have to be checked against primary documents. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Faithful-apologetic. Not an official church statement.

Joseph Smith hiding plural marriages from his first wife, Emma (FAIR Answers)

FAIR · FAIR · n.d.

FAIR reads D&C 132:64-65 ("law of Sarah" exemption) as applying only to the one man holding the keys; calls it "a stern doctrine."

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Faithful apologetics. Written to defend religious truth claims. Not an official Church source.

Joseph Smith's Polygamy (website)

Brian C. Hales · Joseph Smith's Polygamy

Brian Hales's site summarizes his research on Joseph Smith's plural marriages, including sealings to married women and young brides, and argues many lacked evidence of sexual relations or were for eternity only. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

The killing of Laban in the Book of Mormon (FAIR Answers)

FAIR · FAIR · n.d.

FAIR defense of Nephi: cultural distance, Labans capital crimes, Nephis reluctance, and divine command.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Faithful apologetics. Written to defend religious truth claims. Not an official Church source.

CES Letter

Jeremy Runnells · cesletter.org · 2013

The CES Letter, by Jeremy Runnells, is a public critical document, first circulated as a letter to a Church Educational System director. It gathers objections about the Book of Abraham, the Book of Mormon, First Vision accounts, plural marriage, the priesthood and temple restriction, and other topics. It is critical advocacy, not a primary historical edition and not a church publication. Claims in it should be checked against the underlying documents, including the Joseph Smith Papers and the church's own essays. This library does not copy the letter. The 2013 date is the commonly cited origin year and still needs confirmation. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Critical advocacy. Not a primary source.

CES Letter: Other Concerns (Honesty and Finances)

Jeremy Runnells · CES Letter

This section accuses the Church of whitewashing its history and of secrecy about money. It cites City Creek Center, an interview where Gordon B. Hinckley downplayed teachings, counsel to pay tithing before other needs, discipline of members who publish questions such as the September Six, and the Strengthening Church Members Committee. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Critical advocacy. Argues against Church truth claims. Not peer-reviewed and not an official Church source.

CES Letter: Polygamy and Polyandry

Jeremy Runnells · CES Letter

The polygamy section argues that Joseph Smith married at least 34 women, including teenagers and about 11 women who were already married to living men (polyandry), often in secret and sometimes without Emma Smith's knowledge, and it objects to apologetic explanations for these marriages. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Critical advocacy. Argues against Church truth claims. Not peer-reviewed and not an official Church source.

CES Letter: Prophets

Jeremy Runnells · CES Letter

The prophets section argues that past Church presidents taught things later rejected, citing Brigham Young's Adam-God teaching, blood atonement sermons, polygamy, and the priesthood and temple ban, and it points to leaders buying forged documents from Mark Hofmann as evidence that they lacked special discernment. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Critical advocacy. Argues against Church truth claims. Not peer-reviewed and not an official Church source.

Eternal polygamy? How LDS temple sealing practices became a raw deal for women.

Jana Riess · The Salt Lake Tribune · 2024-05-18

A Salt Lake Tribune column by Jana Riess criticizes sealing policies that let men be sealed to more than one wife while living women can be sealed to only one husband, describing the pain this causes some women. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Opinion column by a columnist who writes critically about some Church policies. Not a news report.

MormonThink: Mormon Polygamy, Polyandry and Underage Brides

MormonThink · MormonThink

This page collects sources on Joseph Smith's plural marriages, including marriages to already married women and to teenagers, the secrecy around the practice, and Emma Smith's opposition, alongside apologetic responses. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Critical website. Presents critic and apologist views but is written to raise problems with Church claims. Not peer-reviewed.

MormonThink: Mormon Prophets after Joseph Smith

MormonThink · MormonThink

This page reviews teachings by later Church presidents that were later dropped or disavowed and asks how members should weigh prophetic statements. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Critical website. Presents critic and apologist views but is written to raise problems with Church claims. Not peer-reviewed.

Nauvoo Expositor, 7 June 1844

The Joseph Smith Papers (Church Historian's Press) · 1844-06-07

Event date discussed: 1844-06-07

The only issue of the Nauvoo Expositor, published by Church dissenters, accuses Joseph Smith of teaching plural marriage in secret and of abusing political power in Nauvoo. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

A dissenters' newspaper written to expose and oppose Joseph Smith. A primary document of their accusations.

Nauvoo Polygamy: "...but we called it celestial marriage"

George D. Smith · Signature Books · 2008

Documents Nauvoo polygamy practiced while publicly denied, and its spread from Joseph to the inner leadership circle.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Critical advocacy or scholarship arguing against the faithful reading.

No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith

Fawn M. Brodie · Alfred A. Knopf · 1945

Brodie's biography presents Joseph Smith as a gifted storyteller who came to believe in his own role, explains the Book of Mormon as a product of his environment, and gave early detailed treatment of his plural marriages. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

One Nation Under Gods: A History of the Mormon Church

Richard Abanes · Four Walls Eight Windows · 2002

Abanes, an evangelical writer on new religions, presents a critical narrative history of the Church covering its origins, polygamy, violence in Missouri and Utah, Mountain Meadows, and later public relations efforts. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Critical advocacy from an evangelical author. Not peer-reviewed.

Scriptural Horror and the Divine Will (Dialogue 21:1, 70-83)

Mark S. Gustavson · Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought · 1988

Rejects divine-command ethics; argues a good God would not command Nephis killing of Laban or Abrahams sacrifice of Isaac.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Critical advocacy or scholarship arguing against the faithful reading.

The Changing World of Mormonism

Jerald and Sandra Tanner · Utah Lighthouse Ministry (online edition) · 1980

A condensed version of Mormonism: Shadow or Reality? that argues Church history, scripture, and doctrine have been changed over time, with documents the Tanners reproduced. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Critical advocacy from an evangelical Christian ministry. Argues against Church truth claims. Not peer-reviewed.

The Human Faces of God: What Scripture Reveals When It Gets God Wrong

Thom Stark · Wipf & Stock · 2011

Argues child sacrifice, conquest, and commanded killing in the Bible are human projections; rejects inerrancy-based defenses.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Critical advocacy or scholarship arguing against the faithful reading.

Year of Polygamy (podcast)

Lindsay Hansen Park · Year of Polygamy

Lindsay Hansen Park's podcast on the history of Mormon plural marriage, from Joseph Smith's wives to Utah polygamy and modern fundamentalist groups, with a focus on women's experiences. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Independent podcast critical of how plural marriage is taught.

A Woman's View: Helen Mar Whitney's Reminiscences of Early Church History

Jeni Broberg Holzapfel and Richard Neitzel Holzapfel, eds. · Religious Studies Center, BYU · 1997

A collection of Helen Mar Kimball Whitney's later reminiscences, including her account of being asked to enter a sealing to Joseph Smith as a teenager and her description of it as a sealing she understood to be for eternity. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification