Lawrence Foster, Author at Dialogue Journal

Why the Prophet is a Puzzle: The Challenges of Using Psychological Perspectives to Understand the Character and Motivation of Joseph Smith, Jr.

Dialogue 53.2 (Summer 2020): 1–35
This article will explore how one of the most open-ended psychological interpretations of Smith’s prophetic leadership and motivation might contribute to better understanding the trajectory of this extraordinarily talented and conflicted individual whose life has so deeply impacted the religious movement he founded and, increasingly, the larger world.

A Little-Known Defense of Polygamy from the Mormon Press in 1842

Articles/Essays – Volume 09, No. 4

Dialogue 9.4 (Winter 1974): 21–34
Foster points out that in 1842 an unpublished pamphlet was written called “The Peace Maker” that expressed its support for polygamy. It is the first-known defense of polygamy before 1852.

Three Communities — Two Views | Louis J. Kern, An Ordered Love: Sex Roles and Sexuality in Victorian Utopias — the Shakers, the Mormons, and the Oneida Community

Articles/Essays – Volume 14, No. 4

This study seeks to look analytically at the reorganization of sex roles and sexual expression in three of the most controversial religious movements of nineteenth-century America—the Shakers, who practiced celibacy; the Mormons, who introduced a…

A Personal Odyssey: My Encounter with Mormon History

Articles/Essays – Volume 16, No. 3

For nearly a decade, the greater part of my waking hours has been spent in the study of Mormon history. In writing a dissertation at the University of Chicago and then a book dealing in…

Career Apostates: Reflections on the Works of Jerald and Sandra Tanner

Articles/Essays – Volume 17, No. 2

For more than two decades, Jerald and Sandra Tanner have devoted I their lives to exposing and trying to destroy Mormonism. They have succeeded in upsetting Mormons of various persuasions, largely because of their abrasive…

The Psychology of Religious Genius: Joseph Smith and the Origins of New Religious Movements

Articles/Essays – Volume 26, No. 4

Dialogue 26.4 (Winter 1993): 1–22
The analysis that follos is an admittedly speculative personal reflection on elements that need to be kept in mind in understanding the psychological dynamics of Joseph Smith’s creativity.

New Paradigms for Understanding Mormonism and Mormon History

Articles/Essays – Volume 29, No. 3

Within historically-oriented religious faiths, such as those deriving from Judaism, Christianity, or Islam, any effort to develop new paradigms for understanding their historical development, especially in their formative stages, is inextricably intertwined with efforts to…

Sex and Prophetic Power: A Comparison of John Humphrey Noyes, Founder of the Oneida Community, with Joseph Smith, Jr., the Mormon Prophet

Articles/Essays – Volume 31, No. 4

The extraordinarily yet often highly conflicted connection between religious and sexual impulses and expression has long been noted by scholars.[1] Dynamically expansive new religious movements, in particular, often experience sharp polarities between efforts to control,…

Plural Marriage, Singular Lives | Todd Compton, In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith

Articles/Essays – Volume 33, No. 1

Joseph Smith’s polygamous relationships have been a topic of great interest and controversy among Mormons and non-Mormons alike. The reactions of the women whom Joseph Smith took as plural wives and the way in which…

The Psychology of Prophetic Charisma: New Approaches to Understanding Joseph Smith and the Development of Charismatic Leadership

Articles/Essays – Volume 36, No. 4

The issue of Charismatic Leadership—whether in religious, political, or other types of groups—has been the focus of widespread popular and scholarly attention. The word “charismatic” derives from the name of the Greek goddess Charis and…