Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling – Richard Lyman Bushman – 4 Stars

oseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling – Richard Lyman Bushman – 4 Stars

Title: Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling

Author: Richard Lyman Bushman

Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf

Year: Hardcover 2005, Paperback (Vintage Books) 2007

Rating:  4 Stars

Price and Purchasing Options: This book had great distribution, and you could find it occasionally at second hand options like Deseret Industries and eBay.  However, it was also published in softcover, and is still in production so you can buy an affordable new copy on Amazon.

Review: I love this book!  This is the most thorough and researched book on Joseph Smith on the market.  If you are looking for a comprehensive look at Joseph Smith this is the book you should have.

With that being said, it is not necessarily for everyone.  It takes Joseph from a historical perspective trying to put him back in the time that he lived in, rather than allow us to layer on him todays mores and concepts on top of him or out of his time.  This is the beauty of the book – and the research that Bushman does here. 

The book addresses everything about Joseph that you can imagine, and isn’t the easiest read for the common and everyday reader.  There are also times when you can take what Bushman interprets in a grey or unusual light. In fact, later Bushman would write, that he didn’t expect the book to be so openly accepted within the Mormon Community, and that if he had understood that he might have written a little more “faithfully” of Joseph. 

With that being said, I feel like it is a good place to say a few things about Joseph and what we as humans do to the poor guy. 

Sometimes I feel like we put too much on Joseph.  We use the title “Prophet” with such significance, rightfully so.  But what isn’t right is what we seek to apply or artificially push on such a title.  We take the elevated notions of what a prophet is in those moments, and apply them to his entire life in entirety.  We look at his body of work, and who he was at one stage of his life, and apply it to the entirety of his life; not giving him the privilege of progress, but expecting perfection.  We take our socially contrasted assumptions as to what a prophet is, and seek to apply it on the man Joseph, ultimately to eventually wonder why he doesn’t fit “our” mold of the title.

What we forget is a Prophet isn’t defined by us, it is defined by God.  Recorded early in the Doctrine and Covenants, when Oliver “wishes to know the truth of these things,”  the Lord responds with “Cast your mind upon the night that you cried unto me in your heart, that you might know the truth concerning these things?  Did I not speak peace to your mind concerning the matter?  What greater witness can you have than from God?” 

When we learn from the Holy Spirit that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of the Restoration, rather assume that means he is what we want him to be, we need to accept that he is a prophet, and use him to seek to learn what a prophet ultimately is.  Rather than project our assumptions on him, once we learn from a divine source, we need then use him as our guide post for that definition.  Flaws and all…

In this light, we can accept that Joseph wasn’t a brilliant mind when it came to some temporal endeavors; we can accept that he wasn’t told word for word what to do with every direction he was given.  Like we can accept that Moses and Nephi took a life, as we assume that their fruit justify their actions – we can look at the “darker” questions about Joseph and assume that they were given for a purpose and a cause.  We can see that he wasn’t the Savior, but that he was just trying his best to serve the Savior with the limited resources and guidance he had – like all of us.  Ultimately, this will help us better understand all prophets – past, present, and future.

I love this man – flaws and all… and this book – although not focused on flaws, if approached in the spirit of acceptance and understanding will give the reader and depth to the life of Joseph Smith and the restoration that hasn’t been offered in any other text I have read.

Suggestions:  Again, not for everyone, but if you are fairly comfortable with the key components of the history of the church, and would like some more in-depth discussion on the Prophet – this is a great book.  Pick up and new or used copy.  This really should be on every students bookshelf.

I hope you have enjoyed this review, and I encourage you to follow this blog as I update more reviews in the coming days, weeks, months, etc.  Please feel free to also follow my YouTube page – however, I enjoy writing more than being on camera!

Review #34

Tags: 4 Stars, Historical Biography, Joseph Smith (topic), Richard L Bushman, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling LDS Book Review, Ryan Daley