Jared J.

This is the May 2024 Kindle edition. Latter-day Saints, along with their friends and their critics, face plenty of challenges in today's world. In this book, we consider new perspectives on Church history, doctrines, and practices that will surprise and delight you. The dozens of reframes in this book will enhance understanding and goodwill among everyone interested in the Restoration—believers, critics, and curious bystanders alike—by shifting consciousness toward unity. By “Restoration” I refer to the specific Restoration movement started by Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, based ...

Founder of the largest indigenous Christian church in American history, Joseph Smith published the 584-page Book of Mormon when he was 23 and went on to organize a church, found cities, and attract thousands of followers before his violent death at age 38. Richard Bushman, an esteemed cultural historian and a practicing Mormon, moves beyond the popular stereotype of Smith as a colorful fraud to explore his personality, his relationships with others, and how he received revelations.