Articles by

J. Stapley

Ordination Frequency in 1853 Utah & England

By March 19, 2021


The most recent issue of The Journal of Mormon History (January 2021) includes “’I Dug the Graves’: Isaac Lewis Manning, Joseph Smith, and Racial Connections in Two Latter Day Saint Traditions,” an article by Paul Reeve. One important contribution of this article is information about rates at which adult men in the Latter-day Saint tradition were ordained to priesthood offices up to the early Utah period. Come to find out, in branches of the church, very few men were ordained, and in 1850s Utah ordination was far from universal. Thus the fact that a black man like Isaac Manning doesn’t appear to have been ordained can’t really be evidence for or against any particular race-based approach to ordination. Most Latter-day Saint men during this period appear to have not been ordained.

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Searching for sources in digitized archives

By December 9, 2020


First off, I think that it is extremely important to grind through primary sources. You really can’t replace the experience of slowly reading a minute book or a journal cover to cover. There are insights, questions, and observations that will not arise in any other way. That being said, technology allows for research that would not otherwise be possible. Here I’m going to review the state of one particular art, in the form of a case study.

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Review: MacKay’s Prophetic Authority

By July 9, 2020


I’ve known Michael MacKay for a while now. Sometimes our research interests have followed adjacent lanes. He is smart, and willing to approach topics that have challenged some of our best thinkers, and he has done so in innovative ways. His work is always notable. Mike’s recently published Prophetic Authority, more than any his previous work, hits on topics that have captivated me—Latter-day Saint constructs of authority, priesthood, and ecclesiology. As one would expect with the best work on any topics, I found myself sometimes disagreeing emphatically, then, and more often, concurring with its insightful and piercing presentation.

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White temple clothes and not asking obvious questions

By June 3, 2020


My mom has been reading Saints, volume 2. And as we are wont, she called me with a fun fact. She had read that Wilford Woodruff was the first person to wear white clothing to officiate in at the temple [n1]. I responded that indeed, not only that but it was a suit made of deer skin. My mom was somewhat incredulous.

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Liturgical Texts: Female Ritual Healing

By April 28, 2020


It is April 28th. On this day in 1842, Joseph Smith attended the meeting of the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo and delivered a powerful sermon that included a revelation that women were to lay hands on the sick, anoint with oil, and bless. It just so happens that I was talking to a close friend about this a couple of days ago, and I realized that I had never written up a bit of material on the topic.

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The historiography of adoptive sealing practice

By January 18, 2020


In Nauvoo, Joseph Smith revealed a new temple liturgy and cosmology that incorporated the idea of sealing people together into a durable and eternal network of heaven. There were a lot of loose ends in the practical reality of sealing practice when he was killed. The Quorum of the Twelve instituted the practice of “adoption” (also sometimes referred to as the “law of adoption”)—sealing men and women to people other than their biological parents—when the temple opened for use by the Saints. This practice endured until 1894, when the church president Wilford Woodruff received a revelation mostly ending the practice. [n1]

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George F. Richards’ journals

By October 31, 2019


The Church Historian’s Press has released a new George F. Richards (GFR) digital history project that includes transcripts of his journals. This appears similar to the George Q. Cannon diaries CHP project. Currently the website holds transcripts of the first two volumes of GFR’s journals, spanning August 1880 to March 1892. GFR’s journals have been on a short list of documents that I have been interested in for a long time, and I am consequently very excited.

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A Quick Note: Historicizing the Role of Bishoprics

By October 7, 2019


The history of Bishops and their responsibilities throughout the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has yet to be written. Historicizing the shifts in responsibility at the October 2019 General Conference of the church can consequently be challenging. I’d like to focus here on one key facet of the new ecclesiology: the role of Bishoprics with young men of the church.

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A note on the history of back-to-school blessings

By August 20, 2019


I am a practicing Latter-day Saint. I grew up practicing. One of the things that I remember from my childhood in the 1980s is when my father layed his hands on the heads of my siblings and I and blessed us at the beginning of the school year. I recently blessed my oldest child before he left for the first year of college and will bless his younger siblings in a couple of weeks. Today a friend asked me when this practice started.

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GQC Journal: Sealings and Adoptions

By July 9, 2018


In 1894 Wilford Woodruff stood in general conference and announced a revelation that had a larger influence on Mormon cosmology than the Manifesto. Even though most Mormons today are unaware of it, this revelation was the bedrock of twentieth century sealing and genealogical practice. I’ve written about these developments in an article on adoptive sealing rituals and in my recent volume on Mormon liturgy.

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