King Follett Fallout

One of the many interesting things about the King Follett Discourse (KFD) was its nearly immediate (public) effect on church priorities. An early production of a text for the KFD appeared in the church serial of Nauvoo, Times and Seasons. In November, the text was reprinted in Liverpool, England in Latter-Day Saints’ Millennial Star. An editorial appeared in the same issue of the Star which I think is remarkable for both its quotation of the early KFD text and its takeaway from that text.

KFD5: The June 16, 1844 Discourse

Sometimes called the “Sermon in the Grove,” this speech is the last of the Sunday sermons of JS.
I really don’t have too much to say about this right now except that the manuscript evidence is fascinating. Of course you’re reading a text geek here. The manuscript development up to publication in the Deseret News is just downright cool. The variants after that are interesting to me, but the fun part so far is in 1844 and 1855-6. I think that this will result in some changes in the way we see this discourse and its content as a Church (ok, that’s probably over-stepping things, but it is fun stuff). Anyway, it’s a very interesting text and I promise to display some of this as I get things more settled with the gene-critical stuff. Over at BCC I’m going to put up some of the genetic text for KFD2 (King Follett sermon to you) or KFD1, sometime after things die down over there.

Joseph Smith’s Dispensational Transition: Elias to Elijah to Messiah

[A prerequisite to understanding this post is a solid reading of its base text here.]

In Joseph Smith’s “first” King Follett discourse (March 10, 1844) he codifies a bit of Mormonism that had been fluttering around its edges from the beginning: the transition from beginning the movement to fleshing it out. There are many ways this plays out between 1820 and 1844. As Pete Crawley astutely observed:

Joseph Smith and the Taxonomy of Intelligence(s), part 4. Text and Context for the King Follett Discourse

You should be righteous, and read parts one, two and three, first. You will at least need to read part three.

The two most important reporters of KFD2 were Thomas Bullock and William Clayton. In the construction of a critical text for KFD2, one important piece of information that the manuscripts of Bullock and Clayton give are their failure points. That is, the points where they failed to tell us what was said. In the other extant reports, this information can often only be inferred by reference to other texts. Bullock and Clayton show us their failures by adding a “-” a dash at certain points. Bullock in particular apparently tried to keep up with the speaker, but when he fell far enough behind, he left a – and then continued with what was currently being said. Some dashes of course may mean other things. For example, a pause by the speaker from fatigue. When the early editors of the Joseph Smith speeches worked them over, they often treated the dashes as commas or periods, or simply ignored them.

Urim, Joseph Smith, Book of Abraham, King Follett, part 4.

Howard Coray’s letter to his daughter is in part one of consolation, trying, as fathers do, to help her come to grips with the trials of her faith.

Joseph Smith’s Polyglot New Testament

When Joseph Smith lived in Nauvoo, Ill. he had acquired a polyglot NT. One can narrow down which one it was by the languages it contained. Hebrew, Greek, German, Latin. I’m not sure where he got it, but it might have been from Alex Neibaur. I’ve done a little searching for this NT, but have not found it. It’s not in the LDS archives, the CoC archives or the usual major libraries – unless of course it’s uncatalogued. So it may be in private hands, if it still exists at all. Joseph made reference to it in the King Follett sermon, which of course makes it relevant to this blog. So. Anyone out there know where this NT is? If you don’t want to reply by comment, you can email me at boap at boap dot org.