Blood Atonement and the Origin of Plural Marriage: A Discussion

This volume presents a meticulous record of a heated early‑20th‑century exchange between a senior leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter‑day Saints and the second counselor of the Reorganized Church. Prompted by a newspaper interview that distorted LDS teachings on blood atonement and plural marriage, the two men engage in a public‑letter debate, laying out their positions point by point. The pamphlet reproduces the full text of four communications—an interview, an open letter, a personal reply, and a subsequent rejoinder—allowing listeners to hear the arguments as they unfolded.

Beyond the letters, the work supplies supplementary affidavits and notes that highlight passages deliberately omitted by one side, exposing how selective editing shaped the controversy. Readers gain a vivid sense of the era’s doctrinal disputes, the careful rhetoric employed by both parties, and the broader struggle to define religious identity. The collection offers a window into the lived reality of early Mormon‑American dialogue without venturing beyond the initial stage of the conflict.