He was born to a farming family of nine children in Vermont in 1805 and moved to New York in 1817. Joseph Smith was a prophet called of God, endowed with God’s power to set up Christ’s church in the latter days. Who was Joseph Smith? And why is there still such interest in his life more than 175 years after his death? The answers to these questions can be found below in a vast collection of talks given by professors, philosophers, and prophets discussing the many facets of Joseph’s life and teachings.

His translation and publication of the Book of Mormon in 1830 has been a source of debate for centuries, and it has been a great blessing in the lives of millions of people. Though his life was short, he had a profound impact on Christianity. Joseph was martyred in 1844, when he was only 38 years old. In 1830, 10 years after this divine visit, Joseph Smith formally organized The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints under the direction of God the Father. They told him that none of the churches on the earth were Their Church and that Joseph would be the one to restore Their gospel in its fulness. While praying out loud for the first time, he experienced what is now known as the First Vision, when God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, appeared to the boy Joseph. This fervor led 14-year-old Joseph to question which of all the churches was true and which church God would have him join. Born in 1805 in Vermont, he moved as a young boy to Palmyra, New York, a place of great religious fervor at the time. Others honor, defend, and praise him as the modern prophet of their faith, the translator of the Book of Mormon, and a person sent by God to usher in the latter days. Today nearly 20 million internet references about the Prophet verify Moroni’s prophecy: Some claim that he was a liar, a false teacher, and an apostate. In 1823, 17-year-old Joseph Smith was visited by the angel Moroni, who declared that “ name should be had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues, or that it should be both good and evil spoken of among all people” ( JS-History 1:33).

Joseph Smith by Richard L. Bushman