The Daily DeseretBillions Shall Know Brother Joseph Again: Sixteen Essays on the Joseph Smith Papers
This page is our own summary. The original belongs to BYU Religious Studies Center; please read it there.
A 2026 RSC volume gathers essays on what the Joseph Smith Papers project has changed about the study of early Latter-day Saint history, from Nauvoo tithing to antislavery views.
The BYU Religious Studies Center has published Billions Shall Know Brother Joseph Again: The Joseph Smith Papers and Latter-day Saint History in 2026. It is edited by J. Chase Kirkham, Brent M. Rogers and Matthew S. McBride. The RSC page includes a description and the full table of contents, but says the book is not yet available to read online, so this summary is based on that page alone.
The purpose
According to the RSC, sixteen historians, scholars and project contributors assess what The Joseph Smith Papers has accomplished, how it reshapes narratives of early Latter-day Saint history and how it matters across academic disciplines. The publisher calls it more than a celebration and describes it as a springboard for further study.
Themes
The contents are organized around themes of significance and potential, and the topics are varied.
- Significance of the project. The table of contents includes a history of the Joseph Smith Papers project by President Dallin H. Oaks, and reflections by Laurie Maffly-Kipp and Richard Lyman Bushman. It also lists a piece by Adam Jortner, described as a non-Latter-day Saint's reflection on the Papers, seer stones and religious history.
- Specific historical questions. Essays examine Joseph Smith's political philosophy, his antislavery views, the early Church's relationships with Indigenous peoples, and Emma Smith's legal conflict over his estate. Another looks at Sylvester Smith's experiences in the Camp of Israel.
- Potential for future research. Titles cover the Nauvoo Temple and tithing, the temple and priesthood, the lost 116 pages and the Garden of Eden, scenes of scriptural production, and the challenge of telling Joseph Smith's legal stories.
Why it is notable
The mix of authors stands out. Church leaders, Latter-day Saint historians and outside scholars appear together, which could make the volume useful to readers wanting both devotional and academic perspectives on the Church's founder. We have not read the chapters, so we cannot say how the authors handle contested topics. Readers should consult the essays themselves for that.
The book is listed at $27.99. For the official description and chapter list, use the RSC link above.
How we wrote this: we read the source page linked above and summarized it in our own words, quoting at most a short line with attribution. We have not added facts from outside that source. If anything here differs from the original, the original is correct.