Book Review: Mormon Enigma - Emma Hale Smith

To whom it may concern:

I am an amateur LDS church historian. I think the seeds were planted in my at a rather young age. When I was about 9 or so, I read the Book of Mormon in its entirety. My decision to do this had to do with the fact that my mother was my sunday school teacher at the time, and she was bribing our class with a candy bar upon completion of each of the major books in the BofM (2 for Alma). Since the candy was at home, I could claim a bar immediately upon completion of each book. Also, there was another student in our class with whom I got into a friendly competition to see who could complete the whole thing first. The combination of immediate candy and healthy competition allowed me to read the whole thing. The upside: I won the competition. The downside: I retained very little of the information I had read in such a short time (it was literally only a couple of weeks).

By the time I completed my freshman year of college, I had read through the BofM an additional three times. I was quite acquainted with all of its stories and history. During that freshman year, I also took the first of three courses in Mormon church history. It covered basically the church chronology from Jos. Smith Jr.'s birth through his death. When other missionaries left for two years without knowing much about their church other than the basics taught in sunday school, I was already well-versed in both BofM history and early modern church history. This helped me feel like I had a very grounded testimony of our church, warts and all. To me, places like Kirtland OH, Jackson County MO, and Nauvoo IL weren't just a jumbled list of locations; they were important locations in the early history of my people.

It also prepared my testimony for some of the more difficult aspects of our faith. I wasn't shaken when confronted with stories about JS digging for gold during his youth (he did, mainly for the money he was offered), translating the BofM by looking into a smooth stone placed into a hat (he did), receiving a revelation to start a bank that ended up losing its investors all of their invested funds (yeah, that happened), or the polygamy question (JS married over a dozen women, many of whom were teenagers). All of these could be difficult things to hear out of the blue, but I wasn't shaken because I had learned of them all within their appropriate context in church history. When I hear about people leaving the church in their mid-life after discovering these things, I somewhat pity them for having built up the church into such a perfect straw-man in their minds, because their bubble was bound to eventually burst. To me, the gospel of Christ is perfect; the church will inevitably be flawed in various respects, especially as our population grows increasingly larger and more far-flung. Consider, for example, the plight of homosexual youth in our church. Our church simply has not come up with a good way to deal with this dilemma, meanwhile gay members are leaving the church in droves. It's not because they don't have a testimony of Christ's gospel -- it's just that the church basically offers them a Sophie's Choice of lifelong celibacy or eternal damnation for acting in accordance with their biological wiring. I'd probably make the same choice as many of them, were I to be placed in their situation.

I remember getting into an argument with one of my missionary companions after correcting him (politely) over a statistic regarding polygamy. He mentioned to an investigator that polygamy had never been practiced by more than 3% of the church at any time (who in their right mind discusses polygamy with an investigator! Oy vey). This was based on a number from a book written by Gordon Hinckley several years before becoming president of the church. It was also later proven to be incorrect, as historical records from Utah in the late 1800s show that the incidence of polygamy in the adult population was probably somewhere between 30-50%. Our missionary companionship was severely strained throughout the following weeks, but he was fortunately placed elsewhere during the next set of transfers. Sometimes knowing the full history doesn't win you friends with those whose faith is based on a simpler (albeit incorrect) belief.

As a missionary, I had a copy of the church history manual with me for much of the time, and I read through it at least twice. After returning to BYU post-mission, I enrolled in the second course of church history. It was a fascinating course, and I wrote a 10 page research paper on the Mountain Meadows Massacre. Long story short, the massacre was an evil deed committed by local leaders in southern Utah, acting independently of church leadership in Salt Lake City. But Brigham Young probably could have handled the situation much better, especially in the aftermath. As it stands, one man was basically "thrown under the bus" for the whole situation, and was eventually executed, while the others involved essentially were allowed to escape justice.

The church historian in me was basically set aside as I finished up my undergraduate studies and moved on to law school. Other interests and responsibilities occupied my time for several years. Recently, however, I have returned to my church history interests, as I moved into the work force and no longer have textbook after endless textbook to read each evening. I have found many sources to be very helpful in this pursuit, although I must first preface their disclosure by stating that their is a common bias in history: It tends to be written by the winners. Imagine what German textbooks would look like today if Hitler had succeeded (fortunately, he did not). Instead, WWII history is told from the point of view of the Allies. You would get a very interesting, enlightening, and markedly different history if you looked at the records of German peasants from that era, or even those of country folk from places like Poland or Belarus. But to get the most accurate picture of what really happened, you would probably want to investigate sources from as many different perspectives as possible. Reading the history from only the winners' perspective will not paint the whole picture.

That being said, I have been careful not to delve into sources that merely exist to criticize the church or its doctrines. Just as I would not read a U.S. history book that attempts to explain how evil our nation is, nor would I read a history of my church that only wants to paint us as evil and misguided people. I have chosen sources that are meant to complement or offer a different perspective from that of the materials from my church which I have already explored in depth. My future reading list includes Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling by Richard Bushman, as well as a psychological textbook on religion called Stages of Faith, by James Fowler (I'm a stage 4!). Additionally, I am an avid listener to several Mormon-themed podcasts, notably Mormon Stories, Mormon Matters, and Mormon Expression. But the source that I want to discuss today is the fascinating book Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith, by Linda King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery, first published in 1984.

Although the life of Joseph Smith Jr. receives much attention from LDS scholars and church members alike, the story of his wife, Emma Smith, rarely receives much attention in the modern church. She plays a prominent role in church history during her marriage to Joseph, even becoming the first president of the Relief Society of the church, but is essentially forgotten once Joseph is murdered and the Quorum of the 12 decide to move the church to the Utah Territory. A part of me had always wondered what became of her after the westward migration, since all I knew was that she had stayed behind in Illinois.

Perhaps a good synopsis of this book should start with her marriage to Joseph. Emma, a well-educated woman, was truly a perfect complement to Joseph. What he lacked in shrewdness and education, Emma more than made up for. While he was the charismatic and visionary face of the church, she was a very practical and thoughtful woman who could more than hold her own. She was intensely spiritual and well-versed in the Bible. While Joseph struggled with the ways and means of organizing and leading a church, Emma struggled with the ways and means of running her household and caring for her family, in addition to her growing responsibilities within the church with regards to the Relief Society. Lastly, she stood right beside Joseph as he endured some of the harshest trials that anyone could be put through.

Her history also helps paint a picture of Joseph as a flawed individual, somewhat removed from the highly-revered status that he retains within traditional church accounts. Through examination of her personal records, as well as those of her husband, sons, and close associates, we learn that Joseph had a temper, was somewhat naive (especially with regard to the law), and was often a poor judge of character. Unlike the leaders of the modern LDS church, who have been prepared for their offices through years of church service, Joseph was basically thrust into the role of prophet without any formal training. He was bound to make many errors along the way, and no one was closer than Emma to observe this.

We also learn the back story behind several doctrines unique to the LDS church. For example, the Word of Wisdom came about after Emma got tired of the smoky mess that became of the room where early church leaders would meet, as she was the one who generally cleaned up after them. After several complaints to her husband, Joseph received a revelation that basically advised the membership against drinking most forms of alcohol or partaking of tobacco. Some of the men complained that the women weren't being asked to give up anything, and so it was decided that coffee and tea were also to be given up (because they were favorites of the women), just to be fair. This revelation was never presented as a binding standard of worthiness, as evidenced by anecdotes of Joseph drinking from time to time with associates, or his approval of Orrin Porter Rockwell's construction of a tavern across the street from Joseph's house in Nauvoo. (*For an interesting read on the history of the Word of Wisdom, look here.)

Polygamy also factored heavily into early church history, and Emma perhaps played the key role in the development (if you can call it that) of the doctrine. To put it bluntly, Emma never agreed with the idea of polygamy. She considered it evil, and never believed that its practice had been divinely revealed to her husband. Although Joseph secretly married several wives, Emma never fully agreed to the arrangement, and refused to give a public approval of the doctrine. This is likely why polygamy was never openly practiced within the church during Joseph's lifetime, although opponents of the church were fully aware of what was going on. Several difficult facts also became apparent through this ordeal. Joseph's plural marriages generally consisted of little more than him telling certain women that God had appointed them to be his wives and that their salvation depended upon it. Joseph would sleep with them from time to time, yet have them stay with their relatives rather than living in some type of polygamous compound with him and Emma.

Several members also left the church at this time, largely over disagreement with the practice of polygamy. Many people who knew what Joseph was doing simply stopped believing in his as a prophet. Another extremely difficult nugget to swallow is that, prior to the revelation regarding polygamy, Emma recorded that she had caught her husband in bed with a woman who had been boarding with them for a time, although it is not exactly clear if she was specifically referring to sexual relations between the two. During the last year of his life, Emma also recorded that Joseph told her that the revelation regarding polygamy had been a false revelation. A similar claim was made by a handful of other sources. However, many prominent men in the church had already started taking on plural wives, and so perhaps a snowball effect is what kept the doctrine alive as the membership later moved to Utah. An honest read of the materials does leave doubts as to whether the doctrine had ever been divinely inspired.

A few months prior to Joseph's death, several sources, including Emma, recorded that Joseph blessed his 11 year old son, Joseph III, that he would eventually inherit the role of prophet and leader of the church. Unfortunately, Joseph was killed shortly thereafter, and his young son was in no way equipped to be a prophet. In the aftermath of the martyrdom, Emma was left with the very difficult task of grieving, caring for her family, and looking after the vast expanse of properties and debts that her husband had acquired during the last decade of his life. This was coupled with the increasing threats of mob violence from groups all across Illinois. Brigham Young basically declared that the property held by Joseph Smith was technically church property, while Emma claimed that much of it belonged to her family. If Brigham was to take the property, Emma would be on the hook for the debts, but would have nothing to show for it. Financially speaking, she would be destitute. Fortunately, she was able to secure some of the property and eventually pay off many of her husband's debts, although it would take her years to do so. Brigham Young, knowing that Emma vehemently opposed plural marriage, used the situation to attempt to leverage Emma into publicly supporting the 12 and polygamy. If she were to move to Utah and support the church, she would be financially taken care of and her boys would eventually be given leadership positions within the church. If not, she would essentially be cut off from all of their help. Because of her strong disbelief in polygamy, she chose the latter option. From that point on, Brigham basically villified her to the general body of the church out in Utah, and claimed that she had brainwashed her sons into falling away from true church doctrines.

Emma remained in Nauvoo, and eventually the mob situation settle enough so that she could go on living. Several thousand church members had stayed in the east, many of whom had been opposed to polygamy and Brigham's leadership of the church. Emma eventually married a man named Lewis Bidamon, who was not a religious man, although he held many traits in common with Joseph. He also treated Emma and her children very well, and was in many respects the only father that some of her children ever knew.

Once Joseph III entered his 20s, he was approached by some of the members in the east who wanted him to lead their church, as they believed that Brigham Young had lead the main church body astray. Joseph declined the offer, as he understood the difficulties that his father had endured as a prophet. However, after the death of one of his young children a few years later, Joseph declared that he had received divine guidance that he should follow in his father's footsteps and guide the church in the east. This was the beginning of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. At this time, the only real difference between this church and the Utah church concerned the practice of polygamy, which the Reorganized church completely opposed. The Reorganized church sent several missionaries out to Utah at various times, and thousands of people were converted to their branch of the faith over the ensuing decades. Joseph led the church until his death in 1914, at which point one of his sons took his place. Emma joined the Reorganized church, and for the remainder of her life fully supported her son as its leader.

I absolutely love the perspective that this book gave on early church history. It was also refreshing to learn of the origins of the RLDS church (now known as the Community of Christ), something that is never discussed at all in the modern LDS church. Emma Smith was a fascinating woman, and endured more in her life than perhaps any other woman in the church during that era. For almost a century, she was villified by the LDS church for basically not following Brigham Young to Utah and supporting polygamy. Perhaps hers is the last laugh, as the church eventually had to abandon polygamy in order to avoid the persecution that it elicited from the U.S. government (although it would be much more accurate to say that the government was really afraid of the complete blending of religion and politics in the Utah Territory, and polygamy was just the pretext for arresting church officials). Fortunately, her legacy has been largely restored in modern LDS circles, thanks in no small part to this wonderful book.

If any of you have questions about Emma Smith or this book, I'd be glad to answer them for you. Also, I highly recommend obtaining a copy of this book, which can be done fairly cheap if you buy used on Amazon.