Benjamin Winchester
Benjamin Winchester (August 6, 1817 – January 25, 1901) was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement. Winchester was the youngest adult member of Zion's Camp, an original member of the first Quorum of the Seventy, editor of the first independent Mormon periodical, the Gospel Reflector, president of a large branch of the church in Philadelphia, a zealous missionary who baptized thousands, a Rigdonite Apostle, and ultimately a dissenter who repudiated Mormonism altogether.
The Gospel Reflector was published in Philadelphia, twice a month, between January 1, 1841, and June 15, 1841. Winchester moved to Nauvoo, Illinois, in October 1841 where he worked at the Times and Seasons until January 1842.
Winchester also wrote pamphlets and two significant books on Latter Day Saint topics. His Synopsis of the Holy Scriptures, and Concordance, published in 1842, was the first categorization of Bible scriptures from a Mormon perspective and included a detailed analysis of the Christian apostasy. His History of the Priesthood, published in 1843, was the first book to focus on the topic of the Mormon priesthood.
The attorney Jonathan Neville argues in his book The Lost City of Jerusalem that Winchester wrote several anonymous and pseudonymous articles in the Times and Seasons that have been attributed to Joseph Smith.[1] These arguments were disputed in the journal Interpreter.[2]
References
- ↑ Neville, Jonathan (2015). The Lost City of Zarahemla. Salt Lake City, Utah: Digital Legend. ISBN 9781515337997.
- ↑ Roper, Matthew; Fields, Paul; Bassist, Larry (2016). "Zarahemla Revisited: Neville's Newest Novel". Interpreter. 17: 13–61. Retrieved 8 July 2016.
- Benjamin Winchester (ed.), The Gospel Reflector, reprint of the original 1841 Philadelphia edition by Richard Drew for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Strangite), 1993.
- Elizabeth Proctor Kiddle et alia (ed.), The Family of Auer Winchester Proctor, Provo, Utah: 1978.
- David J. Whittaker, Early Mormon Pamphleteering, BYU Studies, 2003.
- The Gospel Reflector (PDF scans), L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University.