Latter-day Saint Perspectives

The Interview:  As Joseph Smith reported his visions and revelations designed to restore the New Testament church, another preacher living nearby sought the same goals, but through very different means. Despite the fact that both were Restorationists, each viewed the other as in error. RoseAnn Benson, author of Alexander Campbell and Joseph Smith: 19th-Century Restorationsists explains the similarities and contrasts between Joseph Smith and Alexander Campbell. Joseph reported an open heaven with divine communications and angelic visitations restoring knowledge and priesthood powers. Campbell claims the heavens were closed and only through a strict reading of the New Testament could Christ's church be reestablished in the nineteenth-century. Shortly after the Book of Mormon was printed, critics raised their denunciations, but among them, it appears Alexander Campbell was the first to actually read the volume and write a book review, titling it “Delusions.” Calling Joseph Smith “as ignorant and impudent a kn