Polygamy or Adultery? Fanny Alger & Joseph Smith - John Turner Pt. 20 | Ep. 2078

Описание: Welcome to part 20 of our epic series on Dr. John G. Turner’s landmark biography, “Joseph Smith: The Rise and Fall of an American Prophet.”

Things are really heating up as we enter the mid-1830s in the life of Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter-day Saint movement. This episode dives into one of the most controversial and debated episodes in early Mormon history –Joseph’s relationship with Fanny Alger, a young woman employed in the Smith household in Kirtland, Ohio in 1836.

Was it adultery? Was it an early form of plural marriage? Or was it something else entirely –a “scrape”?

Join us for Part 1 of Chapter 18, where we unpack Turner’s detailed treatment of this scandal, explore how it fractured relationships within the early church (especially between Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery), and trace how it shaped the theology of polygamy that would later emerge in Nauvoo.

Please purchase the book here: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/97803...

To support this series please donate here: https://donorbox.org/josephsmith. One half of all donations will go to Dr. Turner for as long as he is participating in the series.

You can find the Joseph Smith Podcast dedicated feed on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/show/3vxj75p...

Show notes can be found on the Mormon Stories blog here: https://www.mormonstories.org/polygam...

Timecodes:
00:00:00 Introductions
00:02:55 How do you pronounce Fanny Alger’s name?
00:04:25 New headings to the Doctrine and Covenants
00:09:53 The Book of Mormon caveat on polygamy and linking it to the Bible
00:13:58 When Joseph Smith met Fanny and when the affair began
00:15:35 What do we know about Fanny Alger?
00:21:34 Had Joseph not received the keys for sealing in 1836?
00:24:12 How does this scandal erupt?
00:27:54 Why did it take two years for this all to come out?
00:29:16 Levi Hancock background on sealing Joseph to Fanny Alger
00:36:02 The nature of the relationship
00:40:09 “Dirty nasty filthy affair" vs “scrape”
00:45:49 Eliza R. Snow considered Fanny to be Joseph’s first wife
00:47:29 Was Joseph Smith trying to justify his feelings for Fanny?
00:51:55 Another possible interpretation
01:00:08 What happens to Fanny?
01:02:58 Fanny’s final testimony on the matter
01:07:12 Apostles hear rumors that Joseph has committed adultery
01:14:15 The reasons Kirtland collapsed
01:19:19 Why this breach between Joseph and Oliver becomes irreparable
01:21:44 How Joseph Smith got away with this?
01:26:24 One thing that doesn’t seem to have happened is that no one asked Emma
01:33:46 Does this make Joseph Smith a fraud?
01:45:25 Closing Remarks
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