Under
the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer, 2003, Excerpts
By the mid-1840s,
when Nauvoo was in full flower, Joseph received 133 divine commandments that
were weighty enough to be recorded for eternity in The Doctrine and Covenants;
reflecting a significant evolution in Mormon theology.
Joseph had been
considering polygamy, and its place in the cosmological order, at least since
the church was founded, but he was reluctant to broach this delicate subject
with his Saints, lest they recoil in shock. By the time the Mormons were
established in Nauvoo, he thought they might finally be ready to “receive the
principle,” and he seems to have published The Peace Maker as a trial balloon.
Unfortunately, the feeler did not produce the desired response. The Peace Maker
created an uproar, prompting Joseph to claim, disingenuously, that it had been
published “without my knowledge.”
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