I am Ryan McKnight.

I'm Kara Santa Maria.

I am Christopher Smith.

Hi, I'm Andrew Torres.

This is Naked Mormonism.

The Serial Mormon History Podcast.

How does one talk about an issue that's been systematically suppressed for over a century and a half?

I'm not talking about something that's been overlooked or ignored. I mean actively suppressed.

Look, there's a difference here. When it comes to Joseph Smith being steeped in magic

and the occult, the evidence for it was regarded institutionally as unimportant, kind of like

Isaac Newton having an extensive collection of books on alchemy in his library when he died. And,

you know, it's just something that lacked emphasis. That's all that it led to.

It lacked emphasis. It lacked study. And it was just, it created a field of ignorance by church

historians with only a few exceptions like B.H. Roberts. To the average historian, Joseph Smith having

searstones or his magic Jupiter talisman on his person and his death were just quirks

of the man who was Joseph Smith. Those artifacts had no real impact on him as a prophet of God.

As evidence for Joe's magic worldview began to surface and to be noticed by historians in the

1960s and 70s, the institution shifted.

Artifacts the leadership of the church were ignorant of or regarded as unimportant or inconsequential began to take on a new life of their own. Scholars began presenting alternative models of

Mormon history beyond what Fawn Brody had included in her controversial World War II era book,

No Man Knows My History. Unable to answer

tough questions about Joe's magic roots, the institution shifted from ignorance and indifference

...