Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling | 
 enlarge | Author: Richard Lyman Bushman
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: $18.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  87 reviews
Sales Rank: 13369
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 784
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.1
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 6.3 x 1.6
ISBN: 1400077532
Dewey Decimal Number: 200
EAN: 9781400077533
ASIN: 1400077532
Publication Date: March 13, 2007
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Product Description
Founder of the largest indigenous Christian church in American history, Joseph Smith published the 584-page Book of Mormon when he was twenty-three and went on to organize a church, found cities, and attract thousands of followers before his violent death at age thirty-eight. Richard Bushman, an esteemed cultural historian and a practicing Mormon, moves beyond the popular stereotype of Smith as a colorful fraud to explore his personality, his relationships with others, and how he received revelations.
An arresting narrative of the birth of the Mormon Church, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling also brilliantly evaluates the prophet’s bold contributions to Christian theology and his cultural place in the modern world.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 82 more reviews...
 Bushman doesn't cut it (but I'm sure he's a nice guy) May 11, 2008
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
Bushman is no doubt an historian with enormous credibility.
However, his book is for "Mormons in denial," or those folks who wanna feel like they're getting a scholarly scoop on this complex man-- who wanna feel like if this book sits on their shelf or even if they crack it and read it, that they've defended their faith.
If you wanna know the REAL story of Joseph Smith Jr, who he was, what he REALLY did especially in those crucial early years, you MUST read An Insider's View of Mormon Origins by Grant H. Palmer, and Michael Quinn's masterwork, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View.
 Shows both sides May 2, 2008
Excellent book. Tells the story of a human being, with all the foibles and weaknesses that entails, who was learning to lead people in religion.
 Environmental influences on perception-Neuroplaticity May 2, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I also am studying the Mormons. Should I venture to say - studying the way God has provided a candle accross a night football field.
Neuroplaticity - brain change from environment input. Brain grey/white thickness, hippocamus reshape/theta(memory - locations, scenes, color, smells, sounds), two stage memories ("visions"), pattern recognition (visions-imprint/representations)... Being a neural engineer putting probes in the ventral stream (cortex), getting image/time correlation through V1->V4. Lay speak- how does sight/sound get understood/retained?
My thinking is Joeseph was on a very fast track. A lot of large stuff (Palmyra canal/ambitious family, Harmony, Harris etc., etc.) No societal concerns(read rouge?) being in poverty,but with extensivly developed genetic brain (6 generations?). I think God, please excuse the familiarity, replaced the distant candel with a spotlight strapped to his head, and used him until Joeseph burned out. He lost Emma, sad. God appears to have provided 30 vision channels, thick copper wires to Joeseph, with vision dumps.
These concepts are overwhelming, even I hae a very hard time accepting this, and jumping off this cliff, letting God catch me in the responsibility net. 10 million mormons with priesthood responsibile for saving 5 billion Chinese, Hindus etc, I think I am quite comfy in my no responsibility 1 hour a week protesteant world. I can see why God cracked open the door to this lightning rod man... :)
 Comprehensive, but not convincing to this non-believer April 21, 2008
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
Having previously read Fawn Brodie's No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith, I read this one to get the believer's view. Bushman is at his best describing the evolution of Smith's thinking and revelations. Although the book is long, it is well written and authoritative. It gives a deeper understanding of Smith's religious philosophy than does Brodie's book.
To his credit, Bushman confronts many of the crucial controversies surrounding Smith. From my non-believer's perspective, however, the defenses of Smith are not remotely convincing. Some examples:
1. DNA analysis shows without question that the American Indians came from east Asia. This fact is in direct contradiction of the traditional LDS view that Native Americans are lost Israelites. Bushman argues that Smith may have been writing about a small tribe somewhere in New York, or about people outside North America altogether. Within a few pages, Bushman has forgotten about this controversy altogether, and happily describes the Book of Mormon as a history of the American Indians.
2. Smith made the huge mistake of reproducing parts of the hieroglyphics he claims to have interpreted as the "Book of Abraham." These documents have been translated by scholars and have nothing to do with Abraham. Bushman (pp. 291-2) puts forth the argument that Smith's translation may not have been a true translation, but instead may have been a divine revelation simply inspired by the presence of the scrolls. Bushman suggests the same for the Book of Mormon. This is a truly shocking stance for an LDS believer to take: if Smith's "translations" weren't translations, why should anyone believe that his revelations were divinely inspired? Ironically, Bushman's view here sounds much like Brodie's: Not anticipating that scholars would use the Rosetta stone to translate hieroglyphics, Smith imagined that bogus translations would not be found out.
3. Smith repeatedly lied about whether he and the Saints were practicing polygamy. Bushman's defense of Smith in this context reminds me of Bill Clinton's statements regarding Monica Lewinsky: Smith held a secret definition of the term "polygamy," and thus felt free to mislead (or lie) with impunity. The facts, as reported by both Brodie and Bushman, support the conclusion that Smith coerced women into his bed by arguing that their eternal salvation was at stake. The stain of Smith's lustful "revelation" regarding polygamy continues to haunt the LDS, which claims to recoil from earthly polygamy but argues that men (not women) get to have harems in heaven.
Despite these complaints, I recommend this book to non-believers who are patient enough to get through it. I feel that I have much greater insight into the LDS mindset than I did before.
Bushman Gives Joseph Smith the Benefit of the Doubt April 18, 2008
I bought this book because I wanted to know more about Joseph Smith. I wanted to know why Mormons enthusiastically attest to their faith in him as a prophet of God. I'd done a little internet research but was frustrated by all the "noise" i.e. expressions of feeling, positive or negative, rather than fact.
I learned of two books regarded seriously as historical: Bushman's Rough Stone Rolling and Fawn Brodie's No Man Know My History. Reviews say notwithstanding that both are good factual historical works both are biased: Fawn Brodie is apparently against Joseph Smith and Bushman is for Joseph Smith (Bushman is a Mormon). I haven't read Fawn Brodie's book yet and am still considering whether to or not.
In Rough Stone Rolling Bushman is open about his bias. Page after page Bushman puts a spin of events in Joseph Smith's life that, despite controversy, leaves the reader thinking Joseph Smith could really be a prophet of God anyway. For example Bushman explains how Joseph as an adolescent and young man used his "gift" to try to find buried treasure. Joseph is portrayed as having a desire for wealth (owing to his family's indigent circumstances), but that this irreverent desire had to be overcome before God would allow Joseph Smith to become a prophet.
In the end the reader is left to decide for themselves whether they believe Joseph Smith really did the work of God or not. I liked wondering whether it is true. I am glad I read this book. I believe I have gained a better understanding of the human condition. I recommend this book to anyone for or against Mormonism if they want more than just noise, i.e. if they want the truth.
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