CFM D&C 3-5 Laurel Thatcher Ulrich video : Revelation and Revolutions

 

Revelations (and Revolutions) in Context: Gospel Study with Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

February 2, 2025

Join Dr. Laurel Thatcher Ulrich in her masterful exploration of “Revelations (and Revolutions) in Context: How to read the Doctrine & Covenants” for the start of Dialogue Gospel Study 2025.

Laurel Ulrich is a retired history professor living in a suburb of Philadelphia.  Her 2017 book, A House Full of Females: Plural Marriage and Women’s Rights in Early Mormonism focused on the evolution of a women’s rights movement in early Mormonism. She edits the Relief Society Newsletter of the Philadelphia 4th Ward and manages a study group called “Story Swap.”

https://www.dialoguejournal.com/podcasts/revelations-and-revolutions-in-context-gospel-study-with-laurel-thatcher-ulrich/

'Perhaps the most intriguing line of evidence [for what was on the 116 pages] comes from […] an interview recorded by Fayette Lapham, […] with Joseph Smith’s father. Through careful analysis, one scholar [Don Bradley] has persuasively argued that [the 116 pages contained] a story about Lehi building a tabernacle in the wilderness in the old world, a wilderness journey by a group in the new world, guided by the Liahona, the discovery of an artifact that can be reasonably identified as [the  urim & thummim], an encounter with the Lord at a veil, and a report of when the Liahona stopped working. These remnants can help us answer questions about Book of Mormon passages that may otherwise seem odd or confusing. These surviving traces also show that ultimately the work of the Lord was prepared for, and was not frustrated, by this very disappointing loss (Scripture Central https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9xsZ0OSc48&t=3s ).”

“Section 3 was the first revelation to be written and published. It brings up one of the most controversial discussions that members of the church have had since it was organized, and it continues today – the concept of prophetic fallibility. Can prophets make mistakes? And, can they even make a mistake when they're acting as a prophet? This was a major error, the loss of an entire book of scripture. It is a firm reminder that Latter-Day Saints believe that prophets can make mistakes. Our scriptures do not try to hide this. And yet, God declares that He works with His prophets and through them to help prepare the world for the second coming (Adapted from Scott Woodward and Casey Griffiths, Scripture Central podcast, January 24, 2025).”

“Joseph, keeping tangible artifacts at the center of his story is one of the great difficulties facing critics or skeptics of the church because it’s so much easier to perpetuate a fraud if the fraud is all in your mind. He created a pretty big problem for himself if, in fact, there were no gold plates (Terryl Givens, cited in the movie Undaunted, 2022).”

“If Joseph had just said he saw God, people would say, ‘we understand. All sorts of people have seen God.’ He would be just thought of as a visionary […]. When he says he has plates, then he becomes a charlatan (Richard Bushman, cited in the movie Undaunted, 2022).”

Quotes collected by  Bill Fifield