FAIR conference number six: Brian Hales — Joseph Smith and Polyandry

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The complete title of this talk is “Joseph Smith’s Sexual Polyandry and the Emperor’s New Clothes: On Closer Inspection, What Do We Find?”

Brian C. Hales is a member of the Church and is the author of a book on Mormon Fundamentalism and several other books. He has presented at the Mormon History Association, Sunstone and elsewhere. He is an anesthesiologist at the David Hospital and Medical Center in Layton, Utah. He is writing a new two-volume treatise on Joseph Smith’s polygamy.

Hales’ presentation was excellent but this subject is very difficult to address in a blog post. Those interested in this subject are encouraged to read Hales’ books on the subject.

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About Geoff B.

Geoff B graduated from Stanford University (class of 1985) and worked in journalism for several years until about 1992, when he took up his second career in telecommunications sales. He has held many callings in the Church, but his favorite calling is father and husband. Geoff is active in martial arts and loves hiking and skiing. Geoff has five children and lives in Colorado.

5 thoughts on “FAIR conference number six: Brian Hales — Joseph Smith and Polyandry”

  1. It is easy to summarize Hales: the evidence strongly shows that Joseph Smith did not have sexual relations with any woman to whom he became married in a polyandrous relationship while the woman was married to another man. The evidence also shows that he did not have sexual relations with the two youngest of his plural wives, aged aprox.14. Whether he had sex with other plural wives is a matter of evidence with some having strong evidence (but open to question) and others have weak or no evidence for such sexual relationships at all. Plural marriage was not primarily about sex — it was about being sealed up to eternal life.

  3. Excellent points MMM. Brother Hales is pro-polygamy. He has family members who are modern day polygamists, and he believes the church will return to it in the future. I disagree.

    What we all need to realize is Joseph denied ever having a polygamist or polyandrous marriage. Also there are no descendants of Joseph, except thru Emma.

  4. I just ran into this and need to clarify. I am not “pro-polygamy.” My family member has left the polygamists (like ten years ago). I’m quite certain the Church will not return to polygamy prior to the millennium. Joseph’s denials of “polygamy” were not denials of “celestial marriage,” which included plural marriage.

    If anyone is interested in my response to Michael Quinn critique of my MHA presentation (a shorter version of my FAIR presentation), you can download this:

    http://josephsmithspolygamy.com/BCH_RESPONSE_to_%20Quinn.pdf

    Thanks,

    Brian Hales

  5. Brian, I have to apologize that I could not find a way to summarize your talk in about 10 minutes, which was all I had until the next talk. I was taking notes on my computer, and listening to all of the talks, and I just got a bit overwhelmed. I really enjoyed your presentation a lot.

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