Brought to Light officially released

My latest book, Brought to Light, will be officially released this week at an event in Provo (sorry, the venue is full). The book is already on Amazon here and will be on Kindle tomorrow.

This book is intended primarily for readers interested in Church history. It doesn't address Book of Mormon geography, except indirectly. Instead, it looks at authorship of articles in the Times and Seasons that have long been attributed to Joseph Smith. Among other things, I propose that not only did Joseph not write these articles, but he specifically repudiated one of them when he addressed the Relief Society on April 28, 1842. This could have an impact on our understanding of the role of women in the Church. In his address that day, Joseph explained that there was nothing wrong with women blessing the sick by the laying on of hands. I propose a specific reason why he gave that instruction, which may invite a re-evaluation of that topic.

People have asked why I'm writing more Church history. Here's the background. My first Church history book, The Lost City of Zarahemla (2015), proposes that Benjamin Winchester wrote the anonymous articles in the September and October 1842 Times and Seasons that linked the Book of Mormon to Central America. Although I had sought input from some LDS scholars prior to publication, and they accepted advance copies of the book with the understanding that they'd give me such input and address questions to me, instead they refused to work with me and instead published three long attack articles in the citation cartel's online journal, The Interpreter. Fair enough. Although I thought their approach was inefficient and unprofessional, I did appreciate the input and I incorporated their suggestions in the Second Edition of Lost City. (I continue to revise that book as I come across new information.)

My research for Lost City had generated a lot of material that I couldn't fit in that book, so I set it aside and wrote Letter VII and Moroni's America. In the meantime, I received a lot of interest in the Church history aspects of Lost City. People who read Lost City wanted to know more. I organized my notes and research materials and started writing Brought to Light. But that manuscript, too, ballooned beyond reasonableness. (It's astonishing how much material there is, thanks to the Joseph Smith Papers and other digitized records.) Plus, my publisher said people don't want long books. So I took out about half of Brought to Light and put it in yet another book. (This one will be released in about two weeks. It is titled The Editors: Joseph, William, and Don Carlos Smith.)

Brought to Light now focuses primarily on Benjamin Winchester's influence on the Times and Seasons. Scholars have long overlooked his book titled A Synopsis of the Holy Scriptures and Concordance. I knew about this book when I wrote Lost City, but I didn't pay much attention to it because I thought it was just a compilation of scriptures, organized by topic, along with an analysis of the history of the Christian Church. But then I took a closer look and discovered several surprising things.

For example, in Brought to Light I propose that Winchester was the primary author of the article titled "Try the Spirits," published in the Times and Seasons on April 1, 1842. This article has been important for many reasons. The citation cartel has cited it as proof that Joseph wrote the unattributed articles in the Times and Seasons (including the Central American ones). Excerpts from "Try the Spirits" have been included in Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, and innumerable other books and articles, all on the assumption that Joseph Smith wrote the article.

There are other unattributed articles in the Times and Seasons that I propose Winchester wrote, which I explain in the book. I found the material quite interesting and I hope you do, too.

Here's the table of contents:

TABLE OF FIGURES II

PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION V

CHURCH HISTORY TIMELINE—1805-1846 IX

CHURCH HISTORY TIMELINE—BENJAMIN WINCHESTER XI

CHAPTER 1: GHOSTS IN THE PRINT SHOP 1

CHAPTER 2: SYNOPSIS AND CONCORDANCE 13

CHAPTER 3: TRY THE SPIRITS 37

CHAPTER 4:  BAPTISM FOR THE DEAD 81

CHAPTER 5:  BAPTISM-SEPT. 1842 97

CHAPTER 6:  BAPTISM-SEPT. 1843 99

CHAPTER 7:  ADDITIONAL UNATTRIBUTED WRITINGS 113

CHAPTER 8:  ARTICLES ON THE JEWS 135

CHAPTER 9: W.W. PHELPS 149

CHAPTER 10: JOSIAH PRIEST 157

CHAPTER 11: MUMMIES IN KENTUCKY – MAY 2, 1842 181

CHAPTER 12: AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES – JUNE 1, 1842 203

CHAPTER 13: TRAITS OF MOSAIC HISTORY – JUNE 15, 1842 206

CHAPTER 14: AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES – JULY 15, 1842 213

CHAPTER 15: CONCLUSION 217

APPENDIX 1: THE MISTAKE IN CHURCH HISTORY 223

APPENDIX 2: WINCHESTER’S REFLECTIONS 233

APPENDIX 3: SPELLING ISSUES: SAVIOR VS. SAVIOUR 237

APPENDIX 4: WILFORD WOODRUFF’S SABBATH DAY ARTICLE 245

APPENDIX 5: “TRY THE SPIRITS” 255

APPENDIX 6: “BAPTISM FOR THE DEAD” 265

APPENDIX 7: “BAPTISM” 271

APPENDIX 8: “INSTRUCTIONS TO RELIEF SOCIETY” 281

APPENDIX 9: BENJAMIN WINCHESTER AND THE TIMES AND SEASONS 285

APPENDIX 10: TEXT COMPARISON FIGURES 289

INDEX 365

BTW, I've stopped giving advance copies to the citation cartel. They never provide input directly to me. Instead, they wait until after publication and then write foolish attack articles in the Interpreter. But in a way, that just gives me more fodder for the blogs.

:)