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Author: Heidi S. Swinton
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Nauvoo, the swamp. Nauvoo, the beautiful. Nauvoo, the troubled, the persecuted, the abandoned.
Nauvoo, the city built on the banks of the Mississippi River by Mormon pioneers in the early 1840s, was all that and more. But above all else, says Heidi Swinton, it was Nauvoo, the city of Joseph's temple.
"The real story of Nauvoo is the story of building a temple. Saints gathered to Nauvoo by divine command to build the temple. The economic structure of the town embraced the practice of tithing one day in 10 to temple labor . . . . Nauvoo was a Mormon town; and the centerpiece of Mormon worship — as taught by the Prophet Joseph Smith and elaborated by President Brigham Young — was clearly the temple."
The story of that remarkable building is told in "Sacred Stone: The Temple at Nauvoo," which is a companion piece to a documentary, "Sacred Stone: Temple on the Mississippi," by Lee Groberg, which will be shown on PBS this fall. The book was released to coincide with the open house and dedication of the rebuilt temple (footage of which will be included in the film).
Swinton does an excellent job of putting the Nauvoo temple in context — in world religious history, in Mormon history and in American history.
With the temple as a central focus, she discusses the events that unfolded in and around Nauvoo during the construction period — from the gathering of the saints, to the persecution, to the death of Joseph Smith and the forced evacuation of the city.
She details the methods and processes of construction. And in a series of well-placed sidebars contrasts that with modern construction.
Throughout, she quotes diaries and writings of Nauvoo citizens. From their words, you get a clear sense of what the building meant to the saints, how it was worth any sacrifice.
And she quotes a variety of historians — both LDS and non-LDS — to show how historical perspective has strengthened that meaning.
"It was both the project of building the temple and the experiences spiritually within it that was the glue of the community and that also took them across the plains," notes BYU professor emeritus Truman G. Madsen.
As Brigham Young said: "We completed the temple, used it a short time, and were done with it. On the 5th and 6th of February, 1846, we committed the building into the hands of the Lord, and left it."
The question most asked by historians of the period, says Swinton, is: Why would they finish the temple knowing they were going to leave it. Loren Horton, senior historian with the State Historical Society of Iowa, suggests: "The answer is in their religious faith. They needed the temple for what was going to be done for them in the temple."
"Sacred Stone" is written as a popular history, meant to be read quickly and enjoyed on many levels. Drawings, photographs, pull-out quotes are used liberally to enhance the text and please the eye.
In the end, it is a beautiful book, not only for that design, but also for the spirit it evokes. As you read, you get a deep appreciation for the Nauvoo Temple — both old and new. And you come to realize that its story is not the story of a building, as remarkable as that building was, but a story of faith, obedience and love. It is the story of a people's relationship with their God.
