Brigham declared, “by giving them here a little and there a little.
Thus He increases their wisdom, and he that receives a little and is thankful for that
shall receive more and more and more.”
I grew up in Utah, was born and raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and there are Mormon pioneers among my ancestors on my Mom’s side of the family. During my childhood and early teen years, I felt as if I couldn’t go half an hour without hearing about the pioneers. My belief in Jesus Christ and in the Church itself never wavered (in fact, the result of every question I’ve ever asked has been a confirmation of my beliefs), but I couldn’t always see the connection between Church history and what I was experiencing. I often found the constant discussion of Church history and the pioneers to often be too much. Even as I got older, matured, and came to understand history (in general) better and its strong connection to our current lives, I warmed up to Church history slowly. I still don’t know that I’m all the way there as there are other aspects of history that interest me more, but I am certainly no longer antagonistic toward it.
Saints: The Standard of Truth (ISBN: 978-1-62972-492-8) is the first volume of a multi-volume history published by the Church itself. It basically covers the time period that corresponds to Joseph Smith’s life. It presents information about the Smith family, Joseph’s early years, his growing interest in religion as a teenager, the First Vision, the long path to Joseph acquiring the golden plates, the translation and publication of the Book of Mormon, and the founding of the Church. As the story goes along, the cast of characters grows rapidly to include the others who played key roles in the restoration of God’s Church on the earth, such as Joseph’s wife, Emma, Martin Harris, Oliver Cowdery, the Whitmer family, and others. Once the Church is founded, the book traces the history of the Church, focusing a little bit less on Joseph Smith, although never really getting away from him since he was so incredibly central to the story. One reads about the Church’s westward progression through Kirtland, Ohio, onto Missouri, and then to Nauvoo. Along the way, stories famous to anyone who has been in the Church long, such as two sisters rescuing the pages of what would become the Doctrine and Covenants or the early Saints praying for the ice on the river to break so their boat could get through, are presented. There were also a few lesser-known stories. The book ends with Brigham Young being called as the second president of the Church and his vision of moving the members of the Church even farther West in a quest for safety and freedom.I honestly did not know what to expect from the book. I had a feeling it would be too fluffy and not serious enough (the 7-volume Church history that is common in many homes of members of the Church long had a prominent place in my parents’ home, and has always come across as a serious work to me). There were times when I felt that, but I also thought there were serious moments and some of the sometimes contentious and controversial aspects of Church history (polygamy, the Kirtland Safety Society, for example) and Joseph Smith’s story (treasure hunting being one example) were explored in what I thought was an open and candid manner. I was appreciative of the inclusion of some stories that I was not familiar with. I thought the writing was quite fair, never disparaging those who did not join the Church, those that fell away, or even those who fought against it. Overall, I thought it was a decent read. One of my bigger complaints is about the physical book itself. It’s huge. There’s tons of whitespace on each page that doesn’t need to be there, the font is too big, and the spacing is too much. This book is simply inconvenient to hold and read, but doesn’t need to be since it could honestly be half the size and half the thickness.
 | This work, including all text, photographs, and other original work, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives 3.0 License and is copyrighted © MMXIV John Pruess. |
In 2008, my question was answered, and the Church published Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith for use in priesthood and Relief Society meetings throughout 2008 and 2009. Following the standard format, the book contains some historical information on Joseph Smith and then two years' worth of lessons (47 chapters in this case). Each one is about one or another aspect of the gospel. For the most part, the content of the chapters is taken directly from Joseph Smith's writings or sermons. As a result of the nature of the time he lived in, a healthy amount of the material from his sermons is according to a scribe or someone who heard the message first-hand and then wrote it on their own. All of the content has been carefully checked and corroborated by Church historians and editors before being approved by the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. There is no room for doubt that one is reading the words of the prophet that opened this dispensation. The words, or the things we are all supposed to learn and come to know as true, explain just why this period of time on Earth, with the fully restored true church, is so special. From the Book of Mormon to the nature of God and from true priesthood authority to faith and from the organization of the Church to the reality of a living prophet, Joseph Smith laid out the teachings of God as he worked to restore the fullness of the gospel, and now we can read about it.