The Kirtland Bank Scandal & Joseph Smith - w/ John Turner Pt. 21 | Ep. 2081
Mormon Stories Podcast
Dr. John Dehlin
4.6 ā¢ 5.2K Ratings
šļø 7 November 2025
ā±ļø 162 minutes
šļø Recording | iTunes | RSS
š§¾ļø Download transcript
Summary
We are back today with part 21 of our Joseph Smith Podcast series with Dr. John Turner, discussing his new book Joseph Smith: The Rise and Fall of an American Prophet.
In this episode, we explore one of the most fascinating and consequential moments in early Latter-day Saint history āthe Kirtland Bank Scandal. Chapter 18 titled āFolliesā (1836-1837), captures a turbulent period when Joseph SMith and the Saints in Kirtland, Ohio, faced financial ruin, internal dissent, and the unraveling of faith and community.
We trace how the ambitious completion of the Kirtland Temple left the Saints deep in debt and how Joseph Smithās attempt to solve these financial woes through the creation of the Kirtland Safety Society Bank (or āantiā Bank) spiraled into one of the earliest crises of the Restoration. Against the backdrop of President ANdrew Jacksonās anti-bank crusade and the Panic of 1837, the Saintsā experiment with banking, prophecy, and faith would test their loyalty, their leadership, and their limits.
The story unfolds through dramatic events: Joseph and Sidney hiding from sheriffs, treasure-digging expeditions to Salem in search of divine relief from debt, and the chaotic collapse of confidence in the unchartered āanti-bank.ā We discuss how this episode intertwined religious revelation and financial desperation ā and how it triggered what became the largest apostasy in early church history.
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
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another edition of Mormon Stories podcast and the Joseph Smith podcast. |
| 0:06.6 | I am your host for today, John DeLinn. It's November 3rd, 2025. And today, we are in part 21 of our series with Dr. John Turner on this groundbreaking, very important book, Joseph Smith, The Rise and Fall of |
| 0:23.6 | an American Prophet, again by John G. Turner. We want to thank our donors for making all this possible. |
| 0:29.8 | Please like and subscribe to this channel, wherever you listen to it. That helps us with the |
| 0:35.8 | algorithms. And we have back with us today, |
| 0:38.5 | John Turner. Hey, John. Welcome back. Hi, John Dillon. Great to be back with you. Excited for |
| 0:45.5 | today's conversation. Grateful to everyone who has supported this podcast and who have been |
| 0:52.4 | listening, commenting, reading. |
| 0:55.3 | Any of those are always super welcome. |
| 0:59.4 | Any quick news or announcements or anything before we jump in? |
| 1:06.0 | Well, we could call this the financial advice episode of the Joseph Smith podcast. |
| 1:15.4 | I'll just say I have a comment in the introduction to my book, which caught some people's attention, which was, I wouldn't trust him with my money, my wife, or my daughter. |
| 1:28.0 | We'll talk about the latter two in upcoming weeks, |
| 1:32.2 | and today we're essentially talking about Joseph Smith's leadership, |
| 1:39.7 | specifically his financial leadership of the church, |
| 1:43.6 | and really an enormous financial debacle |
| 1:49.5 | that for a good number of church members called Joseph's leadership into question. |
| 1:57.6 | Yes, we are here today to talk about the Curtland Bank scandal. |
| 2:04.0 | We're in chapter 18 of John Turner's book entitled Follies, 1836, 1837. |
| 2:12.2 | Last week we covered Fannie Alger or Fannie Alger for most, I think it was just an extramarital affair. Sometimes |
| 2:20.9 | Mormon apologists try to refer to that as Justice for Polygamous marriage. Today, we're going |
| 2:27.0 | to talk about the Curlin Bank scandal. And I'm going to begin a little bit non-traditionally, |
... |
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