Books by Michael H MacKay
The Rise of the Latter-day Saints The Journals and Histories of Newel Knight
Newel Knight (1800–1847) was one of the very earliest Latter-day Saint converts and maintained ... more Newel Knight (1800–1847) was one of the very earliest Latter-day Saint converts and maintained a lifelong friendship and close association with Joseph Smith Jr. The journals of Newel Knight are part of a handful of essential manuscript sources that every historian of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints relies on to understand its early history. He was one of a few early converts to provide an eyewitness account of the founding events in Church history, including the rise and fall of the Church in Missouri, miraculous healings, legal battles, the construction and dedication of the Kirtland Temple, the first marriage performed by Joseph Smith Jr., the martyrdom, and the cold, difficult exodus from Illinois to Winter Quarters. Knight’s history has always been a difficult source to use because it was never published in one volume until now. This book brings together his various accounts into one place to tell the story of the rise of the Latter-day Saints
Business & Religion The Intersection of Faith and Finance
Historians have increasingly examined how economics and business have influenced religion and rel... more Historians have increasingly examined how economics and business have influenced religion and religious practices, and these examinations have provided better understandings of race, gender, and ethnicity within American religion. As one scholar has noted, looking at the intersection of economics and religion “allows historians in a given place and time to rethink what is going on in a broad sweep of the American religious experience.” The BYU Church History Symposium highlighted that the field of economics and finance have much to offer to Latter-day Saint history.
University of Utah Press, 2020
Prophetic Authority: Democratic Hierarchy and the Mormon Priesthood
University of Illinois Press, 2020
"This book is about how Joseph Smith established religious authority and a long-lasting, complex ... more "This book is about how Joseph Smith established religious authority and a long-lasting, complex priesthood structure. The thesis of this book enlivens and builds upon three scholars’ major ideas about religious authority and Mormonism in antebellum America. In an effort to move the conversation toward politics and its relationship to religion, Porterfield argued that populism constrained that relationship. Though it is true that Mormonism grew, as Hatch shows, from the populist appeal of a lay priesthood and communal living in early Mormonism, Flake demonstrates that the Mormon priesthood was hierarchical. Left just outside the focus of the work of Hatch, Porterfield, and Flake is the role of Joseph Smith defining Mormon authority—a role that has not been fully examined within this context.
Smith’s authority grew in opposition to both civic and political authority being garnered by evangelicals and as a countertrend to the populist religious movements of the Second Great Awakening. In fact, Smith’s prophetic voice and scripture formed a hierarchical priesthood structure that eventually empowered every male member of his church to become a prophet, priest, and king, while they answered to each leader above them within the same structure. Thus this book argues that Smith’s prophetic voice became the arbiter of authority. It had the ultimate power to create and guide, while it was used to form a strong lay priesthood order in a stable hierarchical democracy devoid of the kind of political authority that evangelicals fostered."
Joseph Smith's Seer Stones (Provo: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, and Deseret Book, August 2016).
This book traces the life and purpose of Joseph Smith’s seer stones from when they were found unt... more This book traces the life and purpose of Joseph Smith’s seer stones from when they were found until today as they rest in the LDS presidency’s vault in Salt Lake City. It was on Deseret Book’s best sellers list and has gone through several printings in just two years. It has been reviewed numerous times and considered to be balanced scholarship for an LDS audience.
• Professor Benjamin Park of Sam Houston State wrote, “The LDS community needs this book. It is a model of how responsible and faithful scholarship should be written. Let’s hope it gets the audience it deserves.”
• Dr. Christopher Cannon Jones, who reviewed it for Journal of Book of Mormon Studies wrote, “MacKay and Frederick not only provide the single best historical overview of the function and role of seer stones in early Mormon history, but also offer a provocative (if not necessarily wholly convincing) reading of the significance of seer stones to Mormon theology.”
• It was nominated for the Best Book Award at JWHA.
ocusing strictly on Fayette, New York, this book sorts through the foggy historical record and co... more ocusing strictly on Fayette, New York, this book sorts through the foggy historical record and complicated historiography about where the Church was established. Drawing upon scholarship about the concept of sacred space within religion, it argues that through a process of historical research and careful archival work, Fayette became a place of religious pilgrimage and a sacred part of the plan of salvation in the minds of Latter-day Saints.
• This book won the Harvey B. and Susan Easton Black Outstanding Publication award for 2016.
• In the foreword, Reid L. Neilson wrote, “Like Joshua of old who was commanded by the Lord to place a dozen stones from the Jordan River as a reminder to the children of Israel that God had blessed his chosen people anciently, Mormon historians like MacKay stand as witnesses that Jehovah is still with his covenant Saints. As disciple-scholars they prod us to do more to learn, by faith and study.”
• Professor Daniel H. Olsen, who reviewed this book for Mormon Historical Studies, wrote, “I found this book to be rigorous in its scholarship and, in agreeance with Richard Bushman, found MacKay's findings and arguments plausible and persuasive
From Darkness Unto Light: Joseph Smith and The Translation and Publication of the Book of Mormon (Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University and Deseret Book, 2015)
This book examines Joseph Smith’s life from when he received the gold plates from Moroni until he... more This book examines Joseph Smith’s life from when he received the gold plates from Moroni until he published the Book of Mormon in April 1830. It focuses on Joseph Smith’s translation and publication of the Book of Mormon with careful attention to archival and documentary resources. Its narrative reveals numerous new findings, including new witnesses of the gold plates, why Martin Harris went to Charles Anthon, the details of the translation, and how Joseph Smith approached to publish the Book of Mormon.
• Richard Bushman declared, “They get down to what historians consider to be the bedrock of historical construction…Readers of the book will find enlightenment on each page…[and] it represents the breadth of new knowledge soon to be available to the Church members.”
• Steven L. Olsen, former director of the Church History Department in Salt Lake City, wrote in BYU Studies Quarterly, “this book is an important addition to Mormon historical scholarship.”
• It was nominated for the Best Book Award at John Whitmer Historical Association.
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Joseph Smith Papers, Documents Vol. 1, 1828-1831 (Church Historians Press, 2013)
Document Specialist, Joseph Smith Papers Project, Histories Volume 1
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Books by Michael H MacKay
Smith’s authority grew in opposition to both civic and political authority being garnered by evangelicals and as a countertrend to the populist religious movements of the Second Great Awakening. In fact, Smith’s prophetic voice and scripture formed a hierarchical priesthood structure that eventually empowered every male member of his church to become a prophet, priest, and king, while they answered to each leader above them within the same structure. Thus this book argues that Smith’s prophetic voice became the arbiter of authority. It had the ultimate power to create and guide, while it was used to form a strong lay priesthood order in a stable hierarchical democracy devoid of the kind of political authority that evangelicals fostered."
• Professor Benjamin Park of Sam Houston State wrote, “The LDS community needs this book. It is a model of how responsible and faithful scholarship should be written. Let’s hope it gets the audience it deserves.”
• Dr. Christopher Cannon Jones, who reviewed it for Journal of Book of Mormon Studies wrote, “MacKay and Frederick not only provide the single best historical overview of the function and role of seer stones in early Mormon history, but also offer a provocative (if not necessarily wholly convincing) reading of the significance of seer stones to Mormon theology.”
• It was nominated for the Best Book Award at JWHA.
• This book won the Harvey B. and Susan Easton Black Outstanding Publication award for 2016.
• In the foreword, Reid L. Neilson wrote, “Like Joshua of old who was commanded by the Lord to place a dozen stones from the Jordan River as a reminder to the children of Israel that God had blessed his chosen people anciently, Mormon historians like MacKay stand as witnesses that Jehovah is still with his covenant Saints. As disciple-scholars they prod us to do more to learn, by faith and study.”
• Professor Daniel H. Olsen, who reviewed this book for Mormon Historical Studies, wrote, “I found this book to be rigorous in its scholarship and, in agreeance with Richard Bushman, found MacKay's findings and arguments plausible and persuasive
• Richard Bushman declared, “They get down to what historians consider to be the bedrock of historical construction…Readers of the book will find enlightenment on each page…[and] it represents the breadth of new knowledge soon to be available to the Church members.”
• Steven L. Olsen, former director of the Church History Department in Salt Lake City, wrote in BYU Studies Quarterly, “this book is an important addition to Mormon historical scholarship.”
• It was nominated for the Best Book Award at John Whitmer Historical Association.
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