Book of the Month

I just finished reading Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling by Richard Bushman. In listening to other members of my church talk about the book I was excited from the start. The reviews I had heard were either overwhelmingly positive or overwhelmingly negative. I was excited to find out what I would think of the book. My opinion is that it is an overwhelmingly positive book. I think that the book portrays Joseph Smith in a good light while not ignoring his flaws.

The overarching theme that I got from the book was that being Mormon during Joseph Smith’s time must have been like drinking from a fire hose. While you will most likely quench your thirst, you are also going to get wet. I think that because he was constantly introducing new doctrines and insights there was little time to focus on implementation. This was complicated by having essentially every member of the church at the time be a convert. There was no real history of being Mormon and very little practice at it. As I have thought about what Joseph Smith did, I have realized that very little doctrine has been added to the church since his death. At the same time there has been a lot of refinement in policies and processes which have made the doctrines introduced by Joseph Smith much easier to implement. What I see as a smooth running operation was not at the beginning.

Overall, I am very glad that I read the book. I think that it is important to study and understand history and as a Mormon, the history of Joseph Smith is very much a part of my history. This book I would buy (which thankfully my brother MEP took care of for my birthday!).