Thy Mind, O Man: An Interpretive Biography of Joseph Smith as an Adult Learner

Using primary source documents for data collection, such as personal journals, histories, letters, sacred writings and sermons that contain the original thought of Joseph Smith, this study employed the interpretive biographical tradition advanced by Denzin (1989, 2001), which assumes the existence of turning points in a person's life that provide a pivotal meaning structure for later activities in that person's life. For Joseph Smith, his structure of meaning was anchored in manifestations of heavenly beings while in his youth that framed his epistemology for later learning endeavors.