Joseph Smith's First Year of Polygamy in Nauvoo - John Turner Pt. 27 | Ep. 2102
Mormon Stories Podcast
Secrecy, obedience, and coercion
Turner characterizes Joseph's polygamy as secretive, framed as divine command, and morally fraught.
Welcome to episode 27 of the Joseph Smith Podcast with Dr. John G. Turner!
In this episode, we take a deep dive into Joseph Smith’s early practice of polygamy in Nauvoo, tracing how it began, how it expanded so rapidly, and what it reveals about power, belief, and risk.
We examine the first plural marriages, the people Joseph trusted to introduce the practice, and the recurring patterns that emerge as polygamy spreads among church leadership. Along the way, we ask difficult questions about revelation, consent, secrecy, scripture, and whether Joseph believed his actions were divinely required –or something else entirely.
This discussion also situates polygamy within the broader political and social pressures Joseph faced in the early 1840s, including legal threats, growing opposition, and his increasing confidence and recklessness as Nauvoo flourished. Ultimately, we explore whether Joseph’s polygamy can be understood as sincere belief, institutional experimentation, abuse of authority, or some combination of all three.
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