Saints: The Standard of Truth

Key Takeaways

Kyle, in 2018 in Books: I’m a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. This year, they released a volume of history on the church from the time it was founded to the death of Joseph Smith. Regardless of how you feel about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I have a lot of respect for their desire to collect and chronicle history. The church has worked very hard to save massive amounts of records and history and make it available through a number of projects. This is just the latest in that effort.

Volume 1 of the Church’s four-volume narrative history, covering April 1815 to February 1846 — Joseph Smith’s boyhood through the exodus from Nauvoo. Kyle read it in 2018 and wrote it up in 2018 in Books, Part II.

Connections

• Saints — No Unhallowed Hand and Saints — Boldly, Nobly, and Independent — the two sequels; The Standard of Truth is Volume 1 (1815–1846), covering Joseph Smith’s life from birth through the founding of the Church: the First Vision, translation of the Book of Mormon, Priesthood restoration, and the Nauvoo period ending with Joseph’s martyrdom.
• Restoration / Mormonism — the foundational History of the Church narrative told from primary sources; this volume established the four-book series template that the Church would use for the full story through the twentieth century.
• Kyle’s review: 2018 in Books — originally published on Medium as 2018 in Books, Part II.