Book of Abraham & "God Making" in Nauvoo - John Turner Pt. 28 | Ep. 2104
Mormon Stories Podcast
Dr. John Dehlin
4.5 ā¢ 5.7K Ratings
šļø 16 January 2026
ā±ļø 125 minutes
šļø Recording | iTunes | RSS
š§¾ļø Download transcript
Summary
Welcome to Part 28 of our John G. Turner series of the Joseph Smith Podcast! Today we continue our deep dive into the Egyptian Materials, the Book of Abraham, and how its theology shaped Mormonismās most distinctive doctrines āincluding premortal existence, exaltation, intelligences, and the idea of God becoming God.
This episode explores how Joseph Smith resumed work on the papyri in Nauvoo, publicly introduced the Book of Abraham, and used it as a vehicle for unfolding expansive cosmology and theology. We examine the papyri themselves, the facsimiles, translation claims, the catalyst theory, and why there is little evidence that key scrolls are missing.
More importantly, we trace how the Book of Abraham becomes the theological backbone for ideas that later crystalize in the King Follett Discourse, the Plan of Salvation, the War in Heaven, and the belief that humans can become Gods.
This is Part 2 of our discussion on the Egyptian Materials and their lasting influence on Mormon doctrine.
Please purchase the book ā hereā .
To support this series please donate ā hereā . One half of all donations will go to Dr. Turner for as long as he is participating in the series.
___________________
At Mormon Stories we explore, celebrate, and challenge Mormon culture through in-depth stories told by members and former members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as well as scholars, authors, LDS apologists, and other professionals. Ā
Our overall mission is to:Ā
1. Facilitate informed consent amongst LDS Church members, investigators, and non-members regarding Mormon history, doctrine, and theology
2. Support Mormons (and members of other high-demand religions) who are experiencing a religious faith crisis
3. Promote healing, growth and community for those who choose to leave the LDS Church or other high demand religions
š¤Help us continue to deliver quality content by becoming a donor today
One-time or recurring donations: https://donorbox.org/mormon-stories?default_interval=mĀ
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mormonstoriesĀ
Venmo: https://account.venmo.com/u/mormonstoriesĀ
Paypal: https://paypal.me/mormonstoriesĀ
Join this channel to get access to perks:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx6OgmoqJbOVRq-Lv1P7SzA/join
Our Platforms:
šMormon Stories Blog: https://www.mormonstories.org/episodesĀ
šļøPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/mormonstoriesĀ
ā³ļøSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4sDzk7dRjODTSEqzZKZJzk?si=148b0efc1ccc4404&nd=1Ā
šApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mormon-stories-lds/id312094772Ā
š¼ļøInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/mormstoriesĀ
š±TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mormonstoriespodcastĀ
š®Discord: https://discord.com/invite/kuX5p6yyjFĀ
Contact us:
š§ MormonStories@gmail.com
š¬PO Box 171085, Salt Lake City, UT 84117
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello, everyone, and welcome to another edition of the Joseph Smith podcast, brought to you by Mormon Stories podcast. |
| 0:06.5 | I'm Dr. John DeLynn, and I'm here with Dr. John Turner. Hi, Dr. John Turner. |
| 0:11.2 | Hi, Dr. John DeLan. |
| 0:12.8 | Glad to be back. |
| 0:14.2 | We're two Dr. Johns. |
| 0:15.8 | It's concerning. |
| 0:18.4 | Today we are on part 28 of our multi-part series on Joseph Smith, based on this wonderful book, Joseph Smith, The Rise and Fall of an American Prophet by the other Dr. John. |
| 0:32.9 | Today we are going to be covering part of chapter 24 of his book. |
| 0:39.0 | The chapter is called Upper Rooms 1842. |
| 0:42.9 | Last episode we talked about Joseph Smith's first year of polygamy, and we are going to take a brief pause on polygamy to cover part of this chapter, which covers Joseph's re-engagement with the Book of Abraham, the mummy and the scrolls, and what came out of that, which was a lot of interesting theological innovations around the pre-existence, premortal life, and what Mormons call the plan of |
| 1:13.0 | salvation. We even hear about Kolob, and this is where the emergence of Jesus as a |
| 1:21.1 | separate being, and Jesus as a God and multiple gods, and even the eventual teaching of theosis where humans can also |
| 1:30.3 | become gods. This is the time where that all starts coming together. And that's just part of |
| 1:37.6 | this chapter. The other part of this chapter, which we're going to cover in the next episode, |
| 1:42.5 | is the Masonic Lodge coming to Navu. |
| 1:46.2 | It's influence in Joseph Smith's creating the endowment. |
| 1:49.9 | But more importantly, next episode we're going to be talking about, as Joseph Smith continues |
| 1:57.2 | this practice of polygamy, him needing ways to keep it all secret. |
| 2:04.0 | And something that was scandalous to me that I think many of you may already know is the |
| 2:09.3 | question, you know, was a core purpose of the creation of the Relief Society or the |
| 2:15.3 | Mormon women's group was a core reason for that secrecy and damage control around polygamy, |
| 2:24.1 | and was the emergence of the endowment, the super sacred Mormon temple ceremony, also deeply rooted, not just in the theology that we're going to talk about |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Dr. John Dehlin, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Dr. John Dehlin and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright Ā© Tapesearch 2026.