The Rutinization of Charisma

The more carefully one studies Joseph Smith’s First Vision and the context of his world at that time, the more interesting the questions become. For example, if Joseph Smith saw God the Father and Jesus Christ in a vision, does that mean he didn’t actually see them in reality? And what are we to make of the fact that other people around the time of Joseph Smith’s vision also claimed to have had visions of God (many of whom were Methodists)? And how might the form of these Methodist conversion narratives at the time have impacted how Joseph Smith recorded his vision? Furthermore, what is the interplay between Joseph Smith’s memory of his First Vision and the various contexts in which he recalled it and recorded it? In this episode we sit down with Dr. Steven C. Harper, one of the world’s foremost scholars on Joseph Smith’s First Vision, to discuss these and other great questions.