Joseph Smith The Poet

[karl61]

Suppose Joseph Smith had an IQ of 160, could get thoughts from books and then write something similar but clearly on another level. Does this make him a prophet if he can write beautiful passages due to hard study, passages but not scripture. I read something recently that said around the time of the BOA coming to be Oliver Cowdrey said that Joseph had been reading Josephus and his thoughts about Abraham.

[LifeOnaPlate]

Suppose Joseph Smith had an IQ of 160, could get thoughts from books and then write something similar but clearly on another level. Does this make him a prophet if he can write beautiful passages due to hard study, passages but not scripture. I read something recently that said around the time of the BOA coming to be Oliver Cowdrey said that Joseph had been reading Josephus and his thoughts about Abraham.

Even if he was reading Josephus (and I am not aware of a source saying he had, until June 27, 1844, read from it) it would not account for the parallels found in the BoA and newly discovered apocryphal works on Abraham.

[Bill “Papa” Lee]

Suppose Joseph Smith had an IQ of 160, could get thoughts from books and then write something similar but clearly on another level. Does this make him a prophet if he can write beautiful passages due to hard study, passages but not scripture. I read something recently that said around the time of the BOA coming to be Oliver Cowdrey said that Joseph had been reading Josephus and his thoughts about Abraham.

Maybe someone should write a paper about the evolution of JS...from dreamer...to fool...to fruad...to false prophet...to Genius. How many more classifications are we going to come with to explain him. How about this one. He was a Prophet.

Pa pa

[karl61]

California Kid's thougts:

" That Abraham taught astronomy and arithmetic to the Egyptians is a detail available from the first few pages of Josephus' Antiquities, which Oliver Cowdery was reading and Hyrum Smith had a copy of at the time that the BoA translation was being conducted. In fact, in the Messenger and Advocate Cowdery thrice quoted Josephus to illustrate the meaning of vignettes on the Book of the Dead owned by Ta-Shert Min. So JS and his scribes were clearly working on the papyri in conjunction with a study of Josephus. "

[consiglieri]

Maybe someone should write a paper about the evolution of JS...from dreamer...to fool...to fruad...to false prophet...to Genius. How many more classifications are we going to come with to explain him. How about this one. He was a Prophet.

Pa pa

Daniel C. Peterson has been there and done that, and presented on the subject at a FAIR conference not too many years ago.

All the Best!

--Consiglieri

[LifeOnaPlate]

Maybe someone should write a paper about the evolution of JS...from dreamer...to fool...to fruad...to false prophet...to Genius. How many more classifications are we going to come with to explain him. How about this one. He was a Prophet.

Pa pa

Nibley did too. The Myth Makers, and other works.

[Bill “Papa” Lee]

Daniel C. Peterson has been there and done that, and presented on the subject at a FAIR conference not too many years ago.

All the Best!

--Consiglieri

Can you tell me where to find it...what it is entitled?

Pa Pa

[consiglieri]

Happy to oblige, Oh My Pa Pa.

The following link should take you there.

It is titled "The Protean Joseph Smith," and is a ripping good read.

http://www.fairlds.org/FAIR_Conferences/20...seph_Smith.html

All the Best!

--Consiglieri