Joseph Smith, Jr.

Terryl L. Givens did graduate work at Cornell University in intellectual history and at UNC Chapel Hill, where he received his PhD in comparative literature. He holds the Jabez A. Bostwick Chair of English and is Professor of Literature and Religion at the University of Richmond, where he teaches courses in nineteenth-century studies and the Bible's influence on Western literature. His writing has been praised by the New York Times as"provocative reading," and his numerous books include When Souls Had Wings, a history of the idea of premortal life in Western thought, as well as The God Who Weeps (with Fiona Givens) and Wrestling the Angel.

• PART I: AMERICAN PROPHET ; 1. Introduction, Reid L. Neilson and Terryl L. Givens ; 2. Prophets in America circa 1830: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nat Turner, Joseph Smith, Richard H. Brodhead ; 3. Joseph Smith, American Culture, and the Origins of Mormonism, Klaus J. Hansen ; 4. I Love All Men Who Dive: Herman Melville and Joseph Smith, Richard Dilworth Rust ; 5. The Metaphysical Joseph Smith, Catherine L. Albanese ; 6. Joseph Smith vs. John C. Calhoun: The States Rights Dilemma and Early Mormon History, James B. Allen ; PART II: SACRED ENCOUNTERS ; 7. Joseph Smith and Creation of the Sacred, Richard Lyman Bushman ; 8. Joseph Smith: Prophecy, Process, and Plenitude, Terryl L. Givens ; 9. Visions, Revelations, and Courage in Joseph Smith, Douglas J. Davies ; 10. Seeking the Face of the Lord: Joseph Smith and the First Temple Tradition, Margaret Barker and Kevin Christensen ; PART III: PROPHETIC LEGACY ; 11. Tracking the Sincere Believer: Authentic Religion and the Enduring Legacy of Joseph Smith Jr., Laurie F. Maffly-Kipp ; 12. The Possibility of Joseph Smith: Some Evangelical Probings, Richard J. Mouw ; 13. The Prophethood of Joseph Smith, Wayne Hudson ; 14. Joseph Smith and Nineteenth-century Mormon Mappings of Asian Religions, Reid L. Neilson ; 15. Studying Joseph Smith Jr.: A Guide to the Sources, David J. Whittaker ; INDEX