I'm Gerrit Dirkmaat,
I'm one of the chapter authors of the book, "The Council of Fifty: What the Records Reveal about Mormon History."
The Council of Fifty was an organization formed by Joseph Smith just shortly before he was murdered. And
its purpose was
several fold, but one of them was to help bring about the political
kingdom of God on earth at the same time that the church was trying to bring about the religious kingdom of God on earth.
The Joseph Smith papers recently published the entire record of the Council of Fifty from Nauvoo. It's a massive book
with all kinds of interesting things in it,
but it's just so much that it's hard for the average person to be able to digest.
What this book does is it takes the important themes that come out of this new record and it helps
people understand what's important about the council. What do I learn from this book about the council?
How do I understand better Mormon history, or Joseph Smith, or the move west by these individual chapters that are in the book?
I think the average member of the church who doesn't have time to read all the things that are in the minutes,
they'll get a better understanding of
why the church left Nauvoo when it did, how they left,
what worries they had as they were leaving, the real fears
they had for their families and for the the continuation of the church admits all this persecution.
Even for those who are just looking for, "I'd like to know a little bit more about what Joseph might have said or
what Brigham might have thought," that's also in this book: ways to understand these these founders of the faith
In a better light, and I think in a way that can help us
Individually have more compassion upon other people,
be more willing to to show mercy instead of judgment.
