About the author

Gregory L. Smith studied physiology and English at the University of Alberta, Canada, but escaped into medical school before earning his bachelor’s degree. After receiving his MD, he pursued a medical residency in family medicine in Montréal, Québec, where in his first year he won the Mervyn James Robson Award for Excellence in Internal Medicine.  During his Québec residency, he learned the medical vocabulary and all the French Canadian slang that he didn’t learn during his volunteer mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Paris, France.

He is now an old-style country doctor in rural Alberta with interests in internal medicine and psychiatry, providing prenatal-to-grave care.

A clinical preceptor for residents and medical students, he has been repeatedly honoured for excellence in clinical teaching.

He enjoys writing about his faith in Jesus Christ and its intersection with present-day concerns that keep others from embracing the good news of the gospel. He is a former associate editor of the FARMS Review at BYU’s Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Studies, and currently a member of the executive board of Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture. He’s also written extensively in the FAIR wiki, and currently acts as its managing editor.

With twelve years of classical piano training, he is a life-long audiophile and owns far too many MP3 files. He lives happily with his one indulgent wife, four children, and one cat.

Things I have written elsewhere

• “Polygamy, Prophets, and Prevarication: Frequently and Rarely Asked Questions about the Initiation, Practice, and Cessation of Plural Marriage in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” FAIR, 2004.
• “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Plural Marriage* (*but were afraid to ask),” FAIR Conference, 2009. Or watch on YouTube.
• “Spencer’s Visions of Glory [book review of John Pontius, Visions of Glory: One Man’s Astonishing Account of the Last Days],” FAIR, 2013.
• “Moroni’s Courage: Cultural Devastation, Radical Hope, and the Book of Mormon,” in Remembrance and Return: Essays in Honor of Louis C. Midgley, edited by Ted Vaggalis and Daniel C. Peterson (Orem, Utah and Salt Lake City, Utah: Interpreter Foundation and Eborn Books, 2019), 165-196.

Reviews of the anti-Mormon “Mormon Stories” podcast

News of the first review led the host of the podcast to appeal to friends to have the paper censored and forbidden from publication. The original was later made available:

• Gregory L. Smith, “Dubious ‘Mormon’ Stories,” is the review originally prepared for inclusion in the Mormon Studies Review in the spring of 2012.

Due to a great deal of misinformation that circulated, and in the interest of recording my own history and perspective on the subsequent events, I prepared this document:

• Gregory L. Smith, “The Return of the Unread Review.”

The only critique ever advanced against the first paper was done under a pseudonym. I reply to that critique here:

• Gregory L. Smith, “Rollo Review,” Sees Angels in the Architecture blog (12 March 2013).

Perhaps not insignificantly, the podcast host was ultimately excommunicated for apostasy. Some who read the review after his excommunication wrote me and asked why I had been so conservative and mild in the analysis….

Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture

• “Feet of Clay: Queer Theory and the Church of Jesus Christ [review of Taylor G. Petrey, Tabernacles of Clay: Sexuality and Gender in Modern Mormonism,” (Volume 43, 2021, 107-278).
• “Gossamer Thin: 2 Nephi’s “Flaxen Cord” and the Anti-Masonic Thesis,” (Volume 30, 2018, pp. 331-370).
• “What Is Mormon Transhumanism? And Is It Mormon?” (Volume 29, 2018, pp. 161-190)
• ““From the Sea East Even to the Sea West”: Thoughts on a Proposed Book of Mormon Chiasm Describing Geography in Alma 22:27 (Volume 19, 2016, pp. 355-382)
• “A Welcome Introduction [review of Brian C. Hales and Laura H. Hales, Joseph Smith’s Polygamy: Toward a Better Understanding],” (Volume 15, 2015, pp. 3-14).
• “Cracking the Book of Mormon’s ‘Secret Combinations’?” (Volume 13, 2014, pp. 63-109.
• Brian C. Hales and Gregory L. Smith, “A Response to Grant Palmer’s ‘Sexual Allegations against Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Polygamy in Nauvoo’,” (Volume 12, 2014, pp. 183-236). [https://tinyurl.com/JSWomanizer]

(A Two Part Review of Denver C. Snuffer Jr.’s Passing the Heavenly Gift)

• “Passing Up the Heavenly Gift (Part 1 of 2) (Volume 7, 2013, pp. 181-243)
• “Passing Up the Heavenly Gift (Part 2 of 2) (Volume 7, 2013, pp. 245-321)

• “Endless Forms Most Beautiful”: The uses and abuses of evolutionary biology in six works (Volume 6, 2013, pp. 105-163)

FARMS Review and Mormon Studies Review

• “Days of Miracle and Wonder”: The Faith of Sam Harris and the End of Religion (Volume 20 Issue 1)
  A review of “The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason” by Sam Harris
• George D. Smith’s Nauvoo Polygamy (Volume 20 Issue 2) pp. 37–123
  A review of “Nauvoo Polygamy:…but we called it celestial marriage” by George D. Smith
• Often in Error, Seldom in Doubt: Rod Meldrum and Book of Mormon DNA (Volume 22 Issue 1)
  A review of “Rediscovering the Book of Mormon Remnant through DNA” by Rod L. Meldrum
• Shattered Glass: The Traditions of Mormon Same-Sex Marriage Advocates Encounter Boyd K. Packer (Volume 23 Issue 1)

FairMormon

• “The Ancient Art of Misleading by Selective Citation,” FairMormon blog (29 April 2016).
• “What Should I Do If I Think I’ve Received Revelation Different from Apostles and Prophets?” FairMormon blog (11 January 2016).
• “What did President Kimball think about pressure regarding the pre-1978 priesthood ban?” FairMormon blog (12 January 2016).
• “Some Mistaken Claims Associated with the Church’s Policies Regarding Same-Sex Marriage,” FairMormon blog (19 November 2015).
• Book Review of John Pontius’ Visions of Glory FairMormon blog (31 May 2013).
• “Sally Hemmings and the Gods Themselves,” FairMormon blog (7 April 2012).
• “Book of Mormon Geography,” FairMormon blog (9 September 2008).
• “Advice from a Nobel Prize Winner,” FairMormon blog (6 July 2008).
• “Plural Marriage Ponderings: The People vs. Chauncey Higbee,” FairMormon blog (5 February 2008).
• “Plural Marriage Ponderings: An RLDS/CoC apologetic for Jacob 2:30,” FairMormon blog (4 February 2008).