Initiation of the practice of plural marriage

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Initiation of the practice of plural marriage

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• Question: When did Joseph Smith receive the revelation on plural marriage?
• Question: Did Joseph Smith actually teach and practice polygamy?
• Question: When and how did plural marriage begin in the Church?

Question: When did Joseph Smith receive the revelation on plural marriage?

Jump to details:

• Question: When did Joseph Smith receive the revelation on plural marriage?
• Joseph's first introduction to the concept of plural came during the 1829 translation of the Book of Mormon
• Evidence points to a 1831 date for the revelation to Joseph regarding plural marriage
• Joseph was probably teaching the idea of plural marriage to a limited circle by the end of 1831

Question: Did Joseph Smith actually teach and practice polygamy?

Jump to details:

• Question: Did Joseph Smith actually teach and practice polygamy?

Question: When and how did plural marriage begin in the Church?

Jump to details:

• Question: When and how did plural marriage begin in the Church?
• Of the little we do know, much comes from later reminiscences
• The first specifically-LDS encounter with plural marriage was the 1829 Book of Mormon
• There are no contemporaneous records which tell us when Joseph first taught plural marriage, or when he first had a revelation endorsing it
• Evidence also points to an 1831 date for receipt of the revelation on plural marriage
• Joseph's First Mention of the Doctrine in 1831

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Source(s) of the criticism:

Critical sources

George D. Smith, Nauvoo Polygamy: "...but we called it celestial marriage" (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2008), 1. ( Index of claims , (Detailed book review))

Notes