Wesley P. Walters

Wesley Preston Walters (20 January 1926 - 9 November 1990) was a pastor of the United Presbyterian Church in Marissa, Illinois.[1][2] He is notable for his historical research critical of the Latter Day Saint Movement, specifically Joseph Smith's First Vision account. Historian Richard Bushman, who often differed with Walters' views, said that Walters, "performed a very positive service to the cause of Mormon History because he was a delver. He went deep into the heart of the archives. [He] made us realize that we can't assume anything. Everything had to be demonstrated and proved."[3]

Biography

Walters converted to Christianity and Presbyterianism as a teenager in Baltimore, after being impressed by the preaching of Donald Barnhouse.[4][5] As a teenager in Baltimore, he convinced two of his friends against converting to Mormonism.[4] By 1960, Walters was married to his wife Helen, had four children and was the pastor of the United Presbyterian congregation in Marissa, Illinois.[4] He was asked to write an article about Mormonism in the periodical Christianity Today, but felt inadequate, so the leaders of his church funded his research by sending him to the Salt Lake City, Utah to study.[4] This set him on the path of research and writing that would define the rest of his life, researching and publishing work critical of the Latter Day Saint movement.[4]

Walters continued as a pastor for 30 years in Marissa until his death in 1990 after undergoing gall bladder surgery.[6]

Critical works

In 1967, Walters published a pamphlet, "New Light on Mormon Origins from Palmyra Revival" that challenged the canonical history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It asserted that contrary to Smith's claim, there was no revival where Smith grew up in Palmyra, New York prior his first vision, and that the setting for his story better fit a revival from 1823-1824.[7] Walters pamphlet created a stir, and provoked a strong response from scholars at Brigham Young University (BYU). By spring of 1968 BYU Professor Truman G. Madsen organized around three dozen scholars to respond to Walters, and wrote to the First Presidency of the LDS Church that the "first vision has come under severe historical attack."[8] Walters thesis and the subsequent response has framed the modern historical debate.[9]

In 1971 he discovered a key document of evidence for the 1826 trial of Joseph Smith in the basement of a sheriff's office in Norwich, New York.[10] Prior to this discovery, the reality of the 1826 trial had been questioned by some Latter-day Saint scholars.[11]

Publications
  • The Challenge of the Cults co-authored chapter, Jan 1, 1961
  • New light on Mormon Origins from Palmyra Revival Bulletin of the Evangelical Theological Society 10, no.4 (1967), republished in Dialogue 4 no.1 (1969)
  • Joseph Smith among the Egyptians Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society Volume 16 No.1, Winter 1973
  • Joseph Smith's Bainbridge, N.y., Court Trials and from Occult to Cult with Joseph Smith, Jr. 1977 reprint of two articles printed in 1974 and 1977
  • The human origins of the Book of Mormon - 1979
  • An Examination of B. H. Roberts' Secret Manuscript Paperback – Utah Lighthouse Ministry 1979
  • Jehovah's Witnesses (IVP Booklets) Pamphlet with M. Kurt Goedelman – January 12, 1983
  • The Use of The Old Testament In The Book of Mormon Utah Lighthouse Ministry – 1990
  • Is Mormonism Christian?: A Look at the Teachings of the Mormon Religion with Harry L. Ropp and Charles Arthur Crane College Pr Pub Co – November 1, 1995
  • Inventing Mormonism: Tradition and the Historical Record with H. Michael Marquardt – Signature Books October 15, 1998

References
  1. Wesley Preston Walters Manuscript Collection - Index, www.pcahistory.org/mo/walters/index.html.
  2. Harper, Steven Craig. Joseph Smiths First Vision: a Guide to the Historical Accounts. Deseret Book, 2012. e-book location 1061 of 1932
  3. Harper, Steven Craig. Joseph Smiths First Vision: a Guide to the Historical Accounts. Deseret Book, 2012. e-book location 1067 of 1932
  4. Walters, Helen "Wesley Walters, Sleuth for the Truth," 2, unpublished manuscript in Presbyterian Church of America Historical Archives, St. Louis, Missouri. As relayed in, Harper, Steven C. First Vision: Memory and Mormon Origins. Oxford University Press, 2019.
  5. Barnhouse, Margaret N. That Man Barnhouse (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1983)
  6. "Mormon Critic Dies" Sunstone Magazine December 1990, page 62. online at: https://www.sunstonemagazine.com/pdf/080-59-65.pdf
  7. Walters, Wesley P. New Light on Mormon Origins from Palmyra Revival Bulletin of the Evangelical Theological Society 10, no. 4 1967:pg 227-244
  8. Harper, Steven C. First Vision: Memory and Mormon Origins. Oxford University Press, 2019. page 220
  9. Exploring the First Vision, ed. Samuel Alonzo Dodge and Steven C. Harper (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, 2012), 1–40
  10. Hill, Marvin S. (1972) "Joseph Smith and the 1826 Trial: New Evidence and New Difficulties," BYU Studies Quarterly: Vol. 12 : Iss. 2 , Article 7. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol12/iss2/7
  11. Hugh Nibley wrote in 1961, "If this court record is authentic, it is the most damning evidence in existence against Joseph Smith." Nibley, Hugh. The Myth Makers Bookcraft in Salt Lake City, Utah 1961.
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