Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Was Joseph Smith's theology influenced by the writings of Thomas Dick?

Fawn Brodie (No Man Knows my History) and a few other critics have claimed that Joseph Smith derived elements of his theology from the writings of Thomas Dick (e.g., The Philosophy of a future state). Ted Jones wrote a very good M.A. dissertation on the alleged relationship between Joseph Smith's theology and the writings of Thomas Dick:

Ted Jones, The Theology of Tomas Dick and Its Possible Relationship to that of Joseph Smith (M.A. Thesis, BYU Provo, 1969)

Needless to say, when one engages in a careful, scholarly analysis of Joseph Smith’s theology and the writings of Thomas Dick, the resounding answer is “no.” As the author concludes on p. 96 of the dissertation:


If Joseph Smith had recently been reading Thomas Dick, Mrs. Fawn Brodie had not. The former rejected theological concepts embraced by Dick; the latter mis-represented Dick's theology.