Joseph Smith's First Year of Polygamy in Nauvoo - John Turner Pt. 27 | Ep. 2102
Mormon Stories Podcast
Dr. John Dehlin
4.6 ā¢ 5.2K Ratings
šļø 9 January 2026
ā±ļø 173 minutes
šļø Recording | iTunes | RSS
š§¾ļø Download transcript
Summary
Welcome to episode 27 of the Joseph Smith Podcast with Dr. John G. Turner!Ā
In this episode, we take a deep dive into Joseph Smithās early practice of polygamy in Nauvoo, tracing how it began, how it expanded so rapidly, and what it reveals about power, belief, and risk.
We examine the first plural marriages, the people Joseph trusted to introduce the practice, and the recurring patterns that emerge as polygamy spreads among church leadership. Along the way, we ask difficult questions about revelation, consent, secrecy, scripture, and whether Joseph believed his actions were divinely required āor something else entirely.
This discussion also situates polygamy within the broader political and social pressures Joseph faced in the early 1840s, including legal threats, growing opposition, and his increasing confidence and recklessness as Nauvoo flourished. Ultimately, we explore whether Josephās polygamy can be understood as sincere belief, institutional experimentation, abuse of authority, or some combination of all three.
If you find this series valuable, consider liking, subscribing, and sharing. More episodes in this series are coming next!
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.
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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, sponsored by Mormon Stories. |
| 0:05.6 | I am John DeLinn. |
| 0:07.3 | Happy New Year. |
| 0:08.3 | It's January 6th, 2026. |
| 0:11.6 | And today we are here to review again. |
| 0:15.8 | This is episode 27 in our series on Joseph Smith. |
| 0:21.6 | We're covering Joseph Smith, the rise and fall of an American prophet by Dr. John |
| 0:26.2 | G. Turner. |
| 0:27.6 | Today's episode is all about Joseph Smith's first year of polygamy in Navu. |
| 0:34.6 | It's chapter 23 in Dr. Turner's book. The chapter is called ceilings, |
| 0:41.4 | and it covers the 1841 to 1842 time period. And it's all about Joseph Smith's first 12 |
| 0:49.8 | or so polygamous marriages. It's a heavy topic. |
| 0:57.9 | And we have John Turner back for a new year. |
| 1:00.3 | Happy New Year, John Turner. |
| 1:01.9 | Thanks, John. |
| 1:03.4 | Happy New Year to you. |
| 1:06.6 | Happy new year to everybody listening. |
| 1:08.5 | I am thrilled to be back. And you're right. |
| 1:09.5 | This is a thorny and often emotional and charged and still controversial topic. |
| 1:16.8 | I think we know a lot more about Joseph's practice of polygamy than we did, say, even 20, 30 years ago. |
| 1:27.0 | There's still a lot we don't know. I'm excited to talk it through |
| 1:30.9 | with you. Yeah, well, everyone needs to hold on to your hat because if you haven't been gripped |
... |
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