Search Results

The third foundational narrative that secured Joseph Smith’s religious authority surrounds the founding of his church, the Church of Christ. It marked Smith’s prophetic voice extending beyond his personal charisma into the institutional realm of an enduring religion. Scholars have observed that Mormonism is a kind of test case for Max Weber’s theory of the routinization of charisma since at Mormonism’s founding the religion was heavily tied to Joseph Smith’s prophetic power, and such movements do not often survive the death of their founders. Weber insists that charismatic authority can easily falter in its fragile state and that such leaders rarely form long-lasting organizations. Yet Mormonism did not fade after Smith’s death in 1844. In fact, Smith was obsessed with organization from the point that he merged his charismatic prophethood with the bureaucracy of church governance in a form of hierarchical democracy. A sustainable and manageable priesthood hierarchy was not possible until he grounded his tradition within an official church where ordinations could be performed and ordinances carried out with the legitimating force of the institution. The church would form its own ecclesiastical structure that was maintained through Smith’s prophetic voice and periodically reevaluated with changes in geography, demographics, and politics. The long-lasting priesthood order led to a new phase in Mormonism and religious authority in the antebellum United States. This chapter charts early Mormonism’s development into an institutional state, beginning with the 1829 charismatic revelations for the design of the church and ending with the 1830 establishment of the church and the official ordination of Joseph Smith as its prophet. The chapter traces the trajectory of how Smith’s voice maintained its singular value while securing an institutional status within a church, how he democratized his gifts through the priesthood while monopolizing his own prophetic authority.

In addition to baptism, a second foundational narrative that demonstrates Joseph Smith’s authority was the establishment of the Mormon apostleship. His translations and revelations called for major initiatives that required increasing amounts of commitment from his adherents, but with these major initiatives, the revelations also required a certain amount of malleability. Smith established certain forms of authority, such as priesthood and sacraments, through his revelations and then molded and reformed them through additional revelations to meet the evolving needs of his church. In doing this, Smith demonstrated his ability to control the narrative and shape his authority. As his theology developed and his lay ministry expanded, his prophetic leadership adapted. It was the malleability of his leadership that enabled the relationship between hierarchy and democracy to adjust and find stasis on the waves of change. To demonstrate this point, this chapter explores one of Smith’s most radical concepts of authority—namely, apostleship—in its nearly superfluous beginnings and its ultimate importance within Mormonism.

The documents in this chapter deal with the experience reported by Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris in June 1829. Both first-and secondhand accounts are included. The statement of Cowdery, Whitmer, and Harris, titled “The Testimony of Three Witnesses,” states that “we, through the grace of God have seen the plates which contain this record, and we also know they have been translated by the gift and power of God, for his voice hath declared it unto us. And we declare with words of soberness than an angel of God came down from heaven, and he brought and laid before our eyes, that we beheld and saw the plates, and the engravings thereon.”

Around June 1, 1829, David Whitmer arrived in Harmony, Pennsylvania, to move Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery to Fayette Township, New York, a journey of more than one hundred miles. With the help of David and his family, the translation was completed at the Whitmer farm by the end of June. Several individuals witnessed the translation, including David Whitmer and his sister, Elizabeth (future wife of Cowdery). During this same period, Jesse Smith wrote a hostile letter to Hyrum Smith—this is the first extant letter mentioning the Book of Mormon. This chapter also includes a contemporaneous letter from Oliver Cowdery to Hyrum Smith as well as Cowdery’s “Articles of the Church of Christ.”

The period from the autumn of 1828 to March 1829 was an interregnum of sorts because Joseph Smith was in Harmony, Pennsylvania, providing for his family, as shown by David Hale’s store ledger. Joseph “Could not translate But little Being poor and nobody to write for him But his wife and she Could not do much and take Care of her house and he Being poor and no means to live But work.” In another sense, however, this interregnum proved quite significant because Oliver Cowdery arrived on the scene. In September 1828 he likely knew nothing of any gold plates, but by the end of March 1829, he was well on his way to becoming the cofounder of Mormonism. When the rehabilitation of Martin Harris and the curiosity of newcomer David Whitmer are figured into the equation, this seven-month period looks anything but routine.