Alonzo Gaskill and Richard Moore have created a revised and expanded edition of Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith (TPJS), first published by Joseph Fielding Smith in 1938. They intend to provide readers with the earliest-known manuscripts, make it easier to compare Joseph Smith quotes with the previous book, and further the legacy of the classic publication. The new edition published by Greg Kofford Books uses, but doesn’t exclusively rely on, scholarship produced by the Joseph Smith Papers Project. In this interview, Gaskill and Moore discuss their new book.
What inspired you to create this revised edition of The Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith?
We both loved the original Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith (TPJS) and had memorized many of the quotes attributed to the Prophet Joseph. However, with the Joseph Smith Papers project, that volume largely found itself on the “outs,” not trusted as it once was. We wanted the Prophet’s teachings to still be accessible—but as correct as possible. Hence, the 10-year project to create a new version of this once very popular text.
Richard Moore: The project was Alonzo Gaskill’s idea. He came to me after his student researchers had difficulty finding some original or earliest sources. I initially came on board as a researcher. Later, as we became aware of how large this project was becoming, he invited me to be a co-compiler. I was excited to be part of this. As strange as it might sound to most people, I actually enjoy research.
Alonzo Gaskill: Years ago, I had an experience with one of the leaders of the Community of Christ. The individual questioned the need for a compilation of Joseph Smith’s teachings, suggesting that Jesus’ teachings were all that mattered.
While I agree that Jesus’ teachers are crucial, even central, Joseph (as the prophet of the restoration) made significant contributions to our understanding of Christ and our approach to a relationship with Christ. So, when the original TPJS went out of print, I was reminded of that experience and really wanted an accurate version of this text to continue to exist so that the prophet remained “quotable,” accessible, and relevant.
How did the Joseph Smith Papers Project influence the book?
Alonzo initially assumed they would take on this project, but when he discussed this with Joseph Smith Papers (JSP) affiliates and discovered that they would not do it, he jumped on the decade-long project. We chatted with various affiliates during the project, but the book is not affiliated with the JSP project and doesn’t solely rely on their work.
Richard Moore: The Joseph Smith Papers were invaluable—an awesome work. I initially thought I would be using the JSP almost exclusively, but I soon discovered that many other sources were unavailable in the JSP. For example, journal entries or diaries of others, newspapers, letters, and documents in the Church History Library were not found in the JSP.
Alonzo Gaskill: I twice inquired of the Joseph Smith Papers folks to make sure I wasn’t stepping on their toes, but they assured me that this was not part of their planned work. So, that sent me down the road of compiling this.
What they achieved is incomprehensible. However, what we put together goes beyond what they did, in that (as Rich noted), not all of our sources are the ones they published. We do think, for those who see the importance of the JSP project, that our volume will put into one convenient source the most commonly cited teachings of Joseph Smith—which we hope will be helpful to scholars, teachers, and the average member of the Church.
What challenges did you face comparing the original manuscripts to earlier editions?
We had to read and reread, ensuring we got things correct. We had a few occasions (though not many) where our reading of an original document did not agree with other interpreters (including those at the Joseph Smith Papers). So, we methodically went through these books and records, reading and rereading, trying very hard to get things “right.” That was challenging, time-consuming, and painful—though necessary.
Richard Moore: It was painstaking to compare our document with the originals. I read the text for hours (including every punctuation and capital letter) while Alonzo followed along with what we had in our manuscript. It was not just a cut-and-paste thing.
Alonzo Gaskill: Rich essentially described this long and arduous project. Those who have worked with the Joseph Smith Papers site know that the documents posted there—particularly early on—were drafts.
However, even as I write this, some drafts on the website still do not reflect the exact content of the published volumes. Thus, if we did a cut-and-paste job, our volume would not match the original documents or the published volumes. And if researchers rely on what’s on the website without checking published volumes, they, too, may end up with some inaccuracies.
That’s not intended to be a criticism of the JSP project. It’s only an acknowledgement that, for those who do not have access to all of the hard copies of the volumes, there are still some lingering challenges with just going to the website and looking at the posted transcript without reading the original documents yourself.
Why did you retain the original pagination from the 1938 edition?
Because the same pagination was used in all subsequent versions, we wanted users to be able to quickly locate any quote they were trying to look up.
Richard Moore: I was surprised to discover that the same pagination from the 1938 first edition of TPJS was used throughout its publication history. That was a bonus for us. We didn’t have to note different editions.
Alonzo Gaskill: We wanted readers familiar with the old version of TPJS to find the updated quotes quickly in the new volume. Retaining that old pagination makes it very easy to locate what you’re looking for in our version of Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith.
How does this new edition address earlier inaccuracies or misconceptions?
We’ve corrected those, identifying quotes “attributed” to Joseph that turned out to be the words of another person (but attributed to him). We’ve also provided the original words that, in some cases, Joseph Fielding Smith expanded into a quote (drawing on only a few words).
So, our version of TPJS makes clear what was actually recorded of Joseph’s teachings and what is not actually Joseph Smith but someone else’s words (in the original TPJS).
Richard Moore: We discovered that some of the statements found in TPJS were edited and expanded by early Church historians after they arrived in Utah. Perhaps they were there when Joseph Smith spoke and remembered some of what he said, even though the handwritten notes from that occasion were sparse.
Or maybe they felt they knew Joseph well enough to expand the notes into sentences they believed he would have said.
Truth is, there are no recordings of Joseph speaking, only notes taken by scribes and other observers. In many cases, we do not know.
Alonzo Gaskill: Historian Dean C. Jessee pointed out that how the original History of the Church (and, as a consequence, the TPJS) was compiled was not unusual or considered inappropriate in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
However, today we would be uncomfortable with what was once a common approach. For example, today, we simply wouldn’t be comfortable taking a second-hand account of something Joseph Smith was heard saying and turning it into a first-person statement attributed to the Prophet.
What Joseph Fielding Smith (and others) did was acceptable in their era. We’re not faulting them for how they compiled these things. We simply live in a different time and specificity, accuracy, and provenance are important today in ways they were not in the 19th century. We tried to find the earliest or original sources and put them in our revised and expanded edition, unedited.
What criteria did you use to select the content included in the revised TPJS?
We sought to use the earliest sources. Often, early (but not the earliest) sources had been fleshed out after the Prophet’s martyrdom. However, we tried to use the earliest source so that additions or changes were not included in the volume.
Richard Moore: We used the earliest and most valid sources we could find.
Alonzo Gaskill: Sometimes, we found sources that were slightly later and more fleshed out. However, we felt we had to be consistent and seek out the earliest sources just to ensure that we were avoiding doing the same thing that was done in the original TPJS.
Why is it significant that Joseph Smith’s sermons were reconstructed from notes rather than verbatim records?
Joseph Smith was largely an extemporaneous speaker, so “verbatim” texts of his sermons don’t exist. Likewise, Joseph often authorized others to write and publish things under his name. Thus, explaining the source and nature of the various quotes attributed to Joseph for well over 100 years became important.
There was often only one notetaker.
In his early sermons, there was often only one notetaker. In his later sermons (like during the Nauvoo era), you would usually have several people taking notes, making those discourses easier to flesh out.
Richard Moore: I recently read where someone claimed they had the actual, verbatim words of the King Follett Discourse. The published sermon we have comes from four different sources. There is no exact version.
In fact, a person can read the King Follett Discourse in about 15 or 20 minutes. Yet, Joseph Smith reportedly spoke for more than two hours. The people who made an amalgamated version did a great job, but we must recognize that it is incomplete—and probably not representative of Joseph’s exact words.
Alonzo Gaskill: Much like the compilation of the New Testament, those living in the days of Jesus or Joseph Smith did not initially see the importance of getting down word-for-word what Christ or His Prophet had said.
In both cases, it was mainly in retrospect that believers sensed “Hey, maybe we should compile this.” It is an understandable mistake.
It seems that “members” in the first century and the 19th century assumed much of what they were hearing or leaning wouldn’t be needed long-term because Jesus would be coming back so quickly (or so they believed). As we pointed out above, by Nauvoo, the Saints started being a bit more careful in writing down as much as they could of what Joseph said.
However, his earliest remarks sometimes didn’t get recorded at all, or only one scribe recorded them. “Hindsight is 20/20,” as they always say.
How do you hope the revised TPJS impacts the study of Latter-day Saint history and doctrine?
The Joseph Smith Papers project was of incalculable value to historians, authorities, speakers, teachers, and members. However, the volumes are expensive and not readily accessible in hardcopy. Additionally, as valuable as the website is, finding specific quotes on the site can be very challenging. (Indeed, sometimes the transcripts posted on the website are not 100% accurate, which poses its own challenges.)
This will help those who want to quote him accurately.
Thus, we have made available the “best of” Joseph’s teachings in a single volume—many of which (though not all) are in the JSP volumes. This will help those who want to quote him accurately but do not have ready access to all the volumes.
Richard Moore: There has been some criticism that we were simply redoing what the Joseph Smith Papers project was doing, only on a much smaller scale. There is no possible way we could match what the JSP people have done, nor were we trying to do that. Our goal was to focus on the book Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith because it was such an important volume for many years.
So many of us are very familiar with the statements from that book. We wanted to keep it useful for those who grew up with it and add to it where they could find the original sources, whether in JSP, Wilford Woodruff’s Journals, Times and Seasons, Church History Library, etc. We were trying to make things easier for the average person to find.
There was no spirit of competition with the Joseph Smith Papers Project.
Alonzo Gaskill: There was no spirit of competition with the JSP project or its compliers. We weren’t trying to steal their thunder, usurp their place, or ride on their coattails. We expected they would do this—and we both felt this was an important project that should be done.
When they said they would not be doing it, we felt the pull to get it done (for the reasons mentioned above). At one point—quite a way into the project—I asked them if they wanted our work to add to their list of publications. (I was happy to let them take what we had done and use it if they had changed their mind about doing this volume.) They were gracious and allowed us to keep working on this ourselves.
Our only goal was to make this information available to people in the most accessible format we could—and we didn’t care who did that, so long as it was done.
What surprising insights did you gain while compiling the revised and expanded TPJS?
Primarily, just that many quotes traditionally attributed to Joseph Smith were either summarizations (by Joseph Fielding Smith or others) of what he taught or statements of other people, but changed to appear to be the words of the Prophet himself.
Richard Moore: I gained a greater appreciation for the efforts of Joseph Fielding Smith, who, in the 1930s, compiled the original TPJS without modern technology. I also became aware that, in many cases, we do not have the exact wording of the Prophet Joseph, and in some cases, we are not sure that these are his words at all.
We just don’t know for sure.
Case in point, he was the editor of the Times and Seasons for a time. There were editorials in the Times and Seasons that were included in TPJS. Joseph was the editor. These were editorials.
But did he write them? Maybe he did. But perhaps the editorials were written by others and approved by Joseph. We just don’t know for sure.
I’ve reached the point where, when I quote the Prophet from a source that I am unsure of, I will simply use the phrase “a statement attributed to Joseph Smith.”
Alonzo Gaskill: Like Rich, when I saw all the documents Joseph Fielding Smith plowed through with no digital catalog, transcription, or computer to aid him, I was in awe at what this man accomplished. He knew the documents in ways no living historian has to or like does. He had a remarkable mind, and a knowledge of the various statements attributed to the Prophet—and his original compilation is under-appreciated by those who don’t know about the process he went through to create it.
What kind of balance does the book strive for?
The fact that we have just returned to the earliest sources assures that there is historical accuracy. The reality that we have left the structure of the original TPJS has enabled us to retain the the devotional and instructional value of the words.
Richard Moore: I remember a religion professor, who, when I was a university student, said that Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith was the fifth standard work. I recall being disappointed when it was taken out of print and it was suggested that people writing books and articles not cite it anymore.
After studying it for the past ten years, I understand the hesitancy to quote it when we have better sources. However, Joseph Smith’s teachings, as accurate as we can make them, have not lost their importance and value to me.
Alonzo Gaskill: I’m not sure I’ve ever looked at the TPJS as devotional in nature. Theological? Doctrinal? Yes! Absolutely! Devotional? Not so much.
Though I have read the book dozens of times, I’ve always considered the volume more of a reference tool for teachers, speakers, and Church authorities. So much of our foundational theology is traceable back to Joseph Smith. And much of that early theological foundation is described and expounded upon in the TPJS. We’ve sought to preserve that, update it (so that it is accurately presented), and convey it in a way that is familiar and accessible to any reader interested in what Joseph Smith taught.
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About the Interview Participants
Richard G. Moore is a co-author of The Revised & Expanded Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith: Compared with the Earliest Known Manuscripts. He holds a PhD in Education from the University of the Pacific, and taught in the Church Educational System for nearly four decades.
Alonzo L. Gaskill is a co-author of the revised TPJS. He holds a PhD in Biblical Studies from Trinity Theological Seminary and teaches in the Department of Church History and Doctrine at BYU. He is the author of several related books, chapters, and articles, including Joseph, Moroni, and the “Priesthood Garment”: A Latter-day Restoration of “Covenantal Clothing”, Miracles of the Book of Mormon, and Doctrine and Covenants 129:8 and the Reality of Satan’s Physicality.
Further Reading
- Quotes by Joseph Smith
- Quotes From the Council of Fifty Minutes
- What Did Joseph Smith Teach About Christ?
- What’s in Joseph Smith’s Uncanonized Revelations?
- John Turner’s Reflections on the Prophet Joseph
Revised and Expanded TPJS Resources
- The Revised and Expanded Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith Compared with the Earliest Known Manuscripts (Greg Kofford Books)
- Sources for TPJS by Joseph Fielding Smith (JSP)
- Episode 891: The Revised and Expanded Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith (The Cultural Hall Podcast)
- New Books in Mormon Studies 2024 (Juvenile Instructor)
- First Presidency Commissions New Biography of the Prophet Joseph Smith (Church Newsroom)
Excerpt From the Introduction of the Revised TPJS
With the invaluable flow of information coming forth today through The Joseph Smith Papers Project, the classic Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith may be losing its place in the Latter-day Saint library. Knowing that many of the quotations therein attributed to the Prophet are but post-martyrdom summaries of the notes of those who heard him speak, scholars and members alike have become a bit reticent to be dogmatic about the content of the summary quotations in that once-treasured volume.
Indeed, in a recent policy announced by the Religious Studies Center at Brigham Young University, authors were counseled, “Avoid quoting from this book in Church publications because the scholarship is no longer current. For example, some of the statements attributed to Joseph Smith in the book were not actually made by him.”
Teachings has been a mainstay source for Latter-day Saints for nearly eighty years, and many Latter-day Saint scholars and laymen alike have much of that traditional text committed to memory. But advancements in scholarship require us to say “goodbye” to that old friend, even if the passing of this classic has brought a measure of sadness to those of us who loved it. Therefore, in attempt to preserve one of the standard texts in Mormon literature, we offer this updated version: a parallel-column revised edition of The Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith.
Placing Joseph Fielding Smith’s compilation in a side-by-side comparison with the original sources will enable readers to readily look up well-known and much-loved statements traditionally attributed to the Prophet, while providing readers with the original, more cryptic summaries of his sermons—as given by those who heard him deliver them. In this way, it is our hope that The Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith will not be shelved as a forgotten classic, but will instead remain one of the most important works of Latter-day Saint literature.
Alonzo Gaskill and Richard Moore, The Revised & Expanded Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith Compared with the Earliest-Known Manuscripts, pages xvi-xvii.
2 replies on “Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith: Revised and Expanded Edition”
With the extensive work of Joseph Smith Papers Project, where does this work fit? I purposefully went directly to comments to get some guidance. Thank you
Michael, The intended reader is primarily someone who loved the original TPJS, but wanted an edition that went back to the unedited sources. The parallel column format of this book allows such a reader to view the classic text next to the sources, as found in both the Joseph Smith Papers and elsewhere.