Editing Mormonism and polygamy (section)

==Origin==
{{Main|Origin of Latter Day Saint polygamy}}

Historian Richard van Wagoner reports that Smith developed an interest in polygamy after studying parts of the Old Testament in which prophets had more than one wife.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Van Wagoner |first=Richard S. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/681161668 |title=Mormon polygamy: A History |date=1989 |publisher=Signature Books |isbn=978-1-56085-303-9 |edition=2nd |oclc=681161668}}</ref>{{rp|3}} In the 1830s or early 1840s,{{efn|In the words of historian Benjamin Park, "the precise origins of the practice remain murky".<ref>{{harvnb|Park|2020|p=63}}.</ref> According to historian Don Bradley, Joseph Smith's first polygamous marriage was likely in 1833.<ref>{{harvnb|Bradley|2010|pp=14–58}}.</ref> According to Park, Smith initiated Mormon polygamy in the 1840s.<ref>{{harvnb|Park|2020|p=62}}</ref>}} [[Latter Day Saint movement]] founder [[Joseph Smith]] secretly initiated a practice of religious polygamy among select members of the [[Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints)|Church of Christ]] he founded.<ref>{{harvnb|Hendrix-Komoto|2022|pp=65–66}}.</ref> In Nauvoo, Illinois, Smith introduced ecclesiastical leaders to the practice of polygamy, and he married several plural wives.<ref>{{harvnb|Park|2020||pp=104–107}}.</ref> On July 12, 1843, Smith dictated and had recorded what he said was a revelation from God describing the theology and purpose of polygamy, relating it to biblical portrayals of polygamous marriage by Old Testament patriarchs such as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.<ref>{{harvnb|Park|2020|p=153}}</ref> When he dictated the document, Smith said he already "knew the revelation perfectly from beginning to end".<ref>{{Harvtxt|Hardy|2007|p=60}}.</ref>

At the time, the practice was kept secret from most people, both adherents and not.<ref>{{Harvnb|Bushman|2005|p=491}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Hendrix-Komoto|2022|p=66}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Dowland |first=Seth |date=September 26, 2017 |editor-last=Barton |editor-first=John |chapter=Gender, Marriage, and Sexual Purity in American Religious History |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.432 |title=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion|doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.432 |isbn=978-0-19-934037-8 }}</ref> The church publicly denounced polygamy, and only some membership knew about the teachings and practiced polygamy.<ref name=":4">{{Harvnb|Bushman|2005|p=491}}; {{Harvnb|Park|2020|p=67}}; {{Harvnb|Hendrix-Komoto|2022|p=66}}.</ref> The number of members aware of polygamy grew until the church started openly practicing polygamy in early 1852, eight years after Smith's death.<ref name=":3" />{{rp|4}}<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Linford |first=Orma |title=The Mormons and the Law: The Polygamy Cases |publisher=The University of Wisconsin |year=1965}}</ref>{{rp|53–54}} According to some historians and then-contemporary accounts, by this time, polygamy was openly taught and practiced.<ref name=":2" />{{rp|185}} The doctrine authorizing polygamy was canonized and first published in the 1876 version of the church's [[Doctrine and Covenants]].<ref>{{harvnb|Bringhurst|2010|p=60}}.</ref>

=== Types of polygamous marriages ===
There were two types of polygamous marriages in the LDS Church: eternity-only and time-and-eternity. Eternity-only polygamous marriages applied only in the afterlife and time-and-eternity marriages applied both in mortal life and in the afterlife.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hales |first=Brian C. |date=2017 |title='He Had No Other Wife but Me': Emma Hale Smith and Mormon Polygamy |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26316890 |journal=The John Whitmer Historical Association Journal |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=5 |jstor=26316890 |issn=0739-7852}}</ref> Smith had sexual relations with some of his wives; others, he had no sexual relations with.<ref>{{Harvnb|Van Wagoner|1989|p=72n3}}; {{Harvnb|Park|2020|pages=67, 104–106}}.</ref>

=== Polyandry ===
Other types of polygamous marriages in the early LDS Church were [[Polyandry|polyandrous]] (literally "many men") in contrast to [[Polygyny|polygynous]] marriages. In polyandrous marriages one woman was married to more than one living husband at the same time. Examples of prominent Mormon women who at some point practiced polyandry included [[Zina D. H. Young]],<ref name=MormonPolyandry>{{Cite journal |last=Van Wagoner |first=Richard S. |date=1985-10-01 |title=Mormon Polyandry in Nauvoo |url=https://www.dialoguejournal.com/articles/mormon-polyandry-in-nauvoo/#pdf-wrap |journal=[[Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought|Dialogue]]|publisher=[[University of Illinois Press]] |volume=18 |issue=3 |doi=10.2307/45227986 |issn=0012-2157}}</ref>{{rp|p=78}} [[Patty Bartlett Sessions]],<ref name=Trajectory/>{{rp|p=2,23}}<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Nalley|first=James|title=Bethel’s Patty Bartlett Sessions: The Mother of Mormon Midwifery |url=https://issuu.com/discovermainemagazine/docs/2022_western_lakes_and_mountains/s/21465762 |magazine=Discover Maine|publisher=CreMark|location=Portland, Maine|date=2022|page=15}}</ref> [[Sarah M. Cleveland]],<ref name=Trajectory>{{Cite journal |last=Compton |first=Todd |date=1996-07-01 |title=A Trajectory of Plurality: An Overview of Joseph Smith’s Thirty-three Plural Wives |url=https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V29N02_21.pdf |journal=[[Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought|Dialogue]] |publisher=[[University of Illinois Press]]|volume=29 |issue=2 |pages=1–38 |doi=10.2307/45226184 |issn=0012-2157}}</ref>{{rp|p=22}} and [[Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner]].<ref name=Trajectory/>{{rp|p=19}} Prominent men who were in polyandrous marriages included presidents Joseph Smith<ref name=Trajectory/>{{rp|p=2}} and Brigham Young,<ref name=MormonPolyandry/>{{rp|p=79}} as well as the apostles [[Heber C. Kimball]]<ref name=Expanding/>{{rp|p=132}} and [[Orson Hyde]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hyde |url=https://mormonstudies.as.virginia.edu/family/hyde/ |access-date=2025-02-20 |publisher=[[University of Virginia]]}}</ref> Smith married 14 women who were currently married to their living husband.{{refn|<ref name=Trajectory/>{{rp|pp=2—3}}<ref name=Expanding>{{Cite journal |last=Hales |first=Brian C. |date=2024-04-01 |title=Joseph Smith's 'Polyandry': Expanding the Narrative |url=https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/jmh/article/50/2/105/386867/Joseph-Smith-s-Polyandry-Expanding-the-Narrative |journal=[[Journal of Mormon History]] |volume=50 |issue=2 |doi=10.5406/24736031.50.2.06 |url-access=subscription|issn=0094-7342}}</ref>{{rp|p=105}}<ref name=SmithsPolygamy>{{Cite book |last=Hales |first=Brian C. |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Joseph_Smith_s_Polygamy_Volume_1_History/OTVjEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 |title=Joseph Smith’s Polygamy, Volume 1: History |date=2013-02-26 |publisher=Greg Kofford Books|isbn=9781589586857}}</ref>{{rp|p=443}}}}