Few things are as central to Latter-day Saint culture as “giving talks.” From a Primary child’s first testimony behind the pulpit to eight hours of general conference, public speaking plays a vital role in the Church. In honor of this unique legacy, Wayfare is pleased to announce a new collaborative series devoted to highlighting important and historic speeches given by Latter-day Saints in a wide variety of venues.
These online exclusives feature excerpts drawn from a landmark forthcoming book titled Latter-day Eloquence: Two Centuries of Mormon Oratory, which will be published by the University of Illinois Press this coming June. Every second Thursday for the next six months, we’ll give you a sneak peak into one of the anthology’s fifty-five total chapters. Each chapter includes an introduction to the speech written by a qualified scholar followed by an excerpted transcript of the speech itself. We hope this sampling of speeches will help you appreciate the rich power, diversity, and eloquence of the Latter-day Saint oratorical tradition and inspire you in your own efforts to “proclaim peace” (D&C 98:16) and “speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15).
This week, the editors of Latter-day Eloquence offer their own brief introduction to the volume and the series, followed by our first essay—an analysis of Joseph Smith’s famous and controversial classic, “The King Follett Sermon.”
To receive each new post in the Oratory series, first subscribe to Wayfare and then click here to manage your subscription and select “Oratory.”