The Joseph Smith Revelations: Text and Commentary

from the publisher:
Revelation is so central to Mormonism that one might presume that the study of original texts is an exhausted field. The remarkable truth is that little has yet been done in this area. An analysis of the earliest manuscripts and first printed versions (often in newspapers) helps establish the original setting and often the intention of the revelations, many of which have been greatly changed by later textual modifications. By knowing more of the history of the early church, Marquardt hopes to reveal new and important vistas concerning both early Mormonism and the concept of revelation itself.

This book arranges in chronological order the revelations that Joseph Smith identified as having come from God. Marquardt highlights the most significant alterations-those which best help to explain how people understood these revelatory pronouncements at the time they were first given and how that understanding changed. Where available and relevant, Marquardt provides complete transcriptions, retaining the personal style and spelling of the original scribes.

H. Michael Marquardt is a postal employee and past labor union official in Salt Lake City. Among his several historical monographs are The Book of Abraham Revisited, The Strange Marriages of Sarah Ann Whitney, and Joseph Smith’s Diaries. He is the author of The Joseph Smith Revelations: Text and Commentary and co-author of Inventing Mormonism: Tradition and the Historical Record. His essays have appeared in the Journal of Pastoral Practice, Restoration, and Sunstone. He and his family reside in Sandy, Utah.