Joseph Smith, Jr vs Ethan Smith

[isaac.madsen]

Ethan Smith has long been swept under the rug as a possible connection in the early Mormon religion. However, a recent discovery will become vastly important to Mormons in the future. We have long known of Ethan Smith’s View of the Hebrews, but how many on this forum (or anywhere else for that matter) have ever heard of anything else written by the pastor?

In fact, most people know very little about Ethan Smith beyond the fact that he wrote View of the Hebrews. The purpose of this thread will be to further explore Ethan Smith’s life, the books he wrote, and his possible connections to Joseph Smith, Jr. and the Book of Mormon.

To begin with, I will point you to a book that is (unfortunately) virtually unknown to modern society. This book is called A Treatise on the Character of Jesus Christ, and on the Trinity in Unity of the Godhead; with Quotations From the Primitive Fathers, by Ethan Smith, A. M. (pastor of a church in Hopkinton, NH).

Sadly, I cannot point you to a full copy of this book, as no known original full copy exists but the one locked in a vault belonging to a friend of mine. However, I am privileged enough to have handled that original copy and may vouch for its authenticity from what little I know about old books. However, I do hold in my hands at this moment a photocopy of the original, which I intend to convert into PDF format so it can be more widely available.

Until that happens, the subject of this conversation shall mostly be limited to the history of Ethan Smith and his possible connections to Joseph Smith’s family.

 

[isaac.madsen]

I begin by forwarding you to Wikipedia, where you will find a short biography of Ethan Smith, mentioning the fact that “Ethan Smith lived in Poultney, Vermont, the same town as Oliver Cowdery, who later assisted Joseph Smith in translating the Book of Mormon, and Ethan Smith also pastored the Congregational church that Cowdery’s family attended from 1821 to 1826 while he was writing View of the Hebrews” (quoted November 21, 2007; emphasis added).

Undoubtedly, Pastor Smith’s views were well-known in his community. With such a close connection to Oliver Cowdery before Oliver met Joseph, there is no doubt in my mind that Oliver had a significant influence in the writing of the Book of Mormon. Therefore, whether by a firsthand connection or not, Ethan Smith seems to have a significant connection to Mormonism right from the start.

 

[Rightlydivide]

Cowdery did not meet Smith until about 1830. He had already talked to people about the Golden plates. Lots of people have looked into this. The sources of the Book of Mormon cannot be proved or disproved. You are better off talking about problems with the Book of Mormon, the character of Smith himself, and the development between the Book of Mormon and later LDS doctrine. Just my two cents.

 

[Hellisreal]

The mormons have a man made religion. Joseph, or Ethan- no matter.
Both men.

 

[isaac.madsen]

Actually, Ethan was a mainstream Christian. Early Mormonism could be described as such by many as well. Early Mormons believed in the Trinity, as outlined by the original Book of Mormon which has strong links to Ethan Smith’s Treatise on the Character of Jesus Christ, which I mentioned earlier. I’ve started a Wikimedia publication of the book, so if anyone is interested in the book, that may be the best place to start.

 

[BrianH]

Actually, Ethan was a mainstream Christian. Early Mormonism could be described as such by many as well. Early Mormons believed in the Trinity, as outlined by the original Book of Mormon which has strong links to Ethan Smith’s Treatise on the Character of Jesus Christ, which I mentioned earlier. I’ve started a Wikimedia publication of the book, so if anyone is interested in the book, that may be the best place to start.

Good point. Outside of the sketchy history, the BOM is pretty standard theology.
BH

 

[isaac.madsen]

Here is the link: A Treatise on the Character of Jesus Christ.

 

[Rbt_Southwell]

Good point. Outside of the sketchy history, the BOM is pretty standard theology.

BH

:whacky:

“standard theology” for whom???

and for what???

Maybe the pantheists known as Mormons, but certainly not any Christian group.

Holy Guacamole!

Robert

 

[BrianH]

:whacky:

“standard theology” for whom???

and for what???

Maybe the pantheists known as Mormons, but certainly not any Christian group.

Holy Guacamole!

Robert

You have not read the book and are completely wrong.
The BOM does not contain the odd doctrines of the LDS albeit it does have the incorrect history.
The BOM is very standard in terms of its theology because most of it comes straight from the Bible which Smith used.
That is why groups like Temple Lot and others that only use the BOM for the most part are not that different in theology.
Your laughing in ignorance.
The weird stuff comes from the Doctrines and Covenants and so forth, not the BOM

 

[PaulDupre]

Cowdery did not meet Smith until about 1830. He had already talked to people about the Golden plates. Lots of people have looked into this. The sources of the Book of Mormon cannot be proved or disproved. You are better off talking about problems with the Book of Mormon, the character of Smith himself, and the development between the Book of Mormon and later LDS doctrine. Just my two cents.

Joseph and Oliver were cousins. It is possible that they met sometime before 1830.

Paul

 

[isaac.madsen]

Cowdery did not meet Smith until about 1830. He had already talked to people about the Golden plates. Lots of people have looked into this. The sources of the Book of Mormon cannot be proved or disproved. You are better off talking about problems with the Book of Mormon, the character of Smith himself, and the development between the Book of Mormon and later LDS doctrine. Just my two cents.

I certainly understand that Joseph Smith, Jr. talked about the golden plates and so on before 1830. His own mother said that he told stories about the Nephites and Lamanites at the dinner table as a young child. This only helps my theory. Just because Smith and Cowdery began collaborating on the book in 1830 doesn’t necessarily mean they had no meetings previous to that point.

I understand that potential sources of the book would take a great deal of research to prove with tools and methods that are possibly not available to us at this point (and possibly become less available as time goes on). This is exactly the reason for this thread: to focus on the points that often get left behind, primarily when it comes to Ethan Smith and how he may or may not have effected Joseph Smith, Jr. My primary object of that focus is Ethan’s book, A Treatise on the Character of Jesus Christ (sometimes called Character of Christ or CJC for short).