The Words of Joseph Smith: The Contemporary Accounts of the Nauvoo Discourses of the Prophet Joseph

Overview

The Words of Joseph Smith: The Contemporary Accounts of the Nauvoo Discourses of the Prophet Joseph (1980), edited by Andrew F. Ehat and Lyndon W. Cook, assembles verbatim and near-verbatim reports of sermons and conversations attributed to Joseph Smith during the Nauvoo period. The collection reproduces multiple contemporary transcripts and reminiscences, allowing readers to see variant wording, differing emphases, and the ways Smith's words circulated among companions and reporters. The editors provide a chronological arrangement that situates each account within its reported date and setting.
Presentation emphasizes fidelity to original sources rather than harmonization. Each discourse is accompanied by source citation and textual notes that track differences among reporters, so readers can judge how certain phrases or doctrinal formulations emerged and stabilized over time.

Sources and editorial method

The volume draws on a wide array of contemporaneous materials: stenographic notes, eyewitness entries, diary excerpts, newspaper reports, and later recollections that are clearly labeled and compared. Ehat and Cook reproduce the primary texts side by side or in annotated sequence when possible, and they indicate levels of reliability and probable date ranges. Short editorial introductions and explanatory apparatus clarify provenance without imposing interpretive overlays.
This method highlights how oral delivery, memory, and the practices of early Mormon record-keeping affected the transmission of teaching. The editors' commitment to presenting textual variants invites readers into the work of historical reconstruction rather than offering a single, smoothed narrative.

Major themes and teachings

The Nauvoo discourses collected here reflect a period of intense theological development. Recurring themes include the nature and restoration of priesthood authority, revelations about the structure and purpose of temple rites, expansive cosmologies concerning the divine potential of humanity, and practical counsel on community building and the gathering of Israel. Eschatological visions and discussions of prophetic authority are also prominent, as Smith addressed both doctrinal abstractions and the social-religious challenges facing the Saints.
Language ranges from the legalistic and administrative to the poetic and visionary, revealing a leader who alternated between organizational direction and expansive theological speculation. Variants among accounts often illuminate how certain phrases, later canonicalized in church discourse, were first articulated, debated, and transmitted.

Usefulness for scholars and lay readers

The compilation is particularly valuable for historians of American religion and Latter-day Saint studies because it foregrounds primary testimony with minimal editorial reinterpretation. Scholars can trace the development of specific doctrines, compare eyewitness perspectives, and assess how the Nauvoo context shaped rhetorical choices. For Latter-day Saints and interested lay readers, the volume offers a textured encounter with Joseph Smith's voice, showing both his immediate pastoral concerns and his role as a theological innovator.
By preserving editorial transparency, the book supports careful source criticism while remaining accessible: annotations are detailed enough for scholarly work but organized so that a motivated reader can follow the main arguments and motifs without specialized training.

Historical context and legacy

Set against the political, social, and religious tensions of Nauvoo in the early 1840s, these discourses illuminate why Smith's teachings took on particular urgency and direction at that moment. The collection helps explain subsequent institutional developments, temple-building, ritual elaboration, and the shaping of leadership succession debates, that marked the immediate post-Nauvoo era. It also provides a basis for later editorial projects and for modern conversations about text, memory, and authority within the Latter-day Saint tradition.
The Words of Joseph Smith remains a foundational resource for anyone seeking to understand the content and transmission of Joseph Smith's Nauvoo-era teachings, offering both raw materials for scholarly analysis and a vivid portrait of prophetic speech in a formative period.