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| Paul Thomas Smith |
At the invitation of Dr. George O. Horton, Jr., Paul Thomas Smith served as a research specialist, director of seminary and institute libraries, and college curriculum writer under the direction of Gerald Lund, CES Central Office, Church Office Building, Salt Lake City.
During the time that Brother Smith was an institute instructor at LDS Business College, he developed an approved two-semester course entitled "Church History on Site." This course (which lasted for fourteen years) took students to significant Church history sites in Weber, Davis, Salt Lake, and Utah counties.
Paul Smith also served on a gospel doctrine writing committee, and a priesthood writing committee.
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| "Symbols in Stone" |
Paul Smith was a Church history instructor aboard the Norwegian tall ship Statsraad Lehmkuhl, the flagship of seven ships known as Sea Trek, commemorating the crossing of the Atlantic by thousands of LDS converts. He joined with such notables as Dr. Charles Peterson; his son Dr. John Peterson; Dr. Paul Peterson; Dr. Ronald Barney; Dr. Susan Easton Black; Dr. Bill Hartley; and the late Dr. Dean May.
Paul Thomas Smith is also a prolific writer and has written articles for the Ensign, New Era, LDS Living, and Meridian magazines as well as articles for the Encyclopedia of Mormonism and Utah History Encyclopedia. Paul Smith has also authored the books Prophetic Destiny: The Saints in the Rocky Mountains; This is the Christ, with Carl Bloch paintings; and co-authored the book Symbols in Stone, with Matthew B. Brown.
Upon retirement, Brother Smith was recommended to teach Church history at the BYU Joseph Smith Academy, Nauvoo, Illinois, by Dr. Kenneth Godfrey. The call was extended by Dr. Larry Dahl. He taught at the academy for three academic years.
Currently, Brother Smith is a service missionary for the Historic Sites Division, Church History Library and is researching those who taught school in Nauvoo during the LDS period. He is a certified docent at the Museum of Church History.
4 comments:
I just want to say I think the reaction of some to your video and to Brother Paul Smith's scholarly worthiness is a real sham. Keep holding your head up high and don't let the passive-aggressive detractors get to you.
Just as with Lamam and Lemual criticize Nephi and Lehi, their criticisms revealed more about themselves (Laman & Lemual) and their intentions than it did about those who they were criticizing.
Most of the critics made some good points and were willing to work with me. So, I'm grateful for that. There was essentially no critical/scholarly review of Phelps' account of the Last Dream, so I had very little to work with anyway.
Interestingly enough, Joseph Smith's accounts of the First Vision were written many years after the fact as well. Historical conundrums are the best.
Thank you for your support. It means a lot to me!
Hi Seth,
I think it's great to reply with grace, but also to recognize what the critics were saying was often more about themselves than any form of the truth. Bringing in random things Phelps said elsewhere or mentioning other faith-promoting rumors were red herrings designed to aggrandize themselves and distract from the issue. The issue is "we don't know" and you already said as such, but put a heavy emphasis on "I think it's true anyway."
You are correct in JS accounts of the first vision, as well as many of the reports of his other speeches. Not to mention the entire bible and the sayings of Jesus -- point me to one direct quote of Jesus that wasn't written decades later. Not to mention the entire BoM.
In this manner, they take on a similar role and tactic of many of not only the church's critics but religion's critics in general. In essence, they are presuming to point out the mote in another's eye while not willing to observe the beam in their own eye.
The standard of "proof" they insist on his impossible to find and ultimately we end up back where we started. We don't know if it's a true account anyway.
But how one responds to someone presenting the account reveals a lot about that person. Your response demonstrates a lot about your character... and even this reply demonstrates a lot about me... that I'm crotchety and get annoyed by critics so much that I become a critic of the critic...
I've said this elsewhere, but I love how you brought in what the story meant to you and why you wanted to share it. I wasn't sure what to think when I first saw it -- I wondered "Is this really true?" But in the end, what moved me the most was hearing what it meant TO YOU.
Thanks for the heart you put into your work. I also think you did a great job listening to the feedback and responding to it. I was very impressed by how you handled it. And I think it will only increase the influence you have as you move forward, both because of what you have learned and because of how you handled all of this.
Hats off to you.
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