The Interpreter Foundation and Redbrick Filmworks continues to release a new episode of their not-for-profit series of mini-documentaries titled Becoming Brigham each Monday.
Over the past few weeks, they have released the following episodes:
- Episode 9: “Did Brigham really have the Gift of Tongues when he first met Joseph Smith?“ Sometimes humble settings and ordinary people set the stage for extraordinary spiritual experiences. While discussing Brigham Young’s surprising interactions with the prophet Joseph Smith, the hosts explore the historic Newell K. Whitney store. This original 1830s building became far more than a community store. It served as the Church’s headquarters, Joseph and Emma’s home, and the setting for the School of the Prophets.
- Episode 10: “Do spiritual gifts, such as those experienced by Brigham Young, change across generations?“ This episode contrasts historical manifestations (speaking and singing in unknown languages) with modern Latter-day Saint experiences, especially missionaries seeking the gift to learn and teach in foreign languages. The hosts dive into Doctrine and Covenants 46, where Joseph Smith taught that spiritual gifts should be sought earnestly but used for the right reasons.
- Episode 11: “Was Brigham Young excluded from Joseph Smith’s inner circle?“ This episode dives deeper into Brigham Young’s dramatic first meeting with the Prophet Joseph Smith, highlighting a surprising detail: Brigham was not invited to stay in Kirtland even after his powerful spiritual experience with Joseph Smith. Our hosts discuss Joseph’s inner circle and Brigham’s remarkable humility, obedience, and his lifelong, deeply personal devotion to Joseph Smith.
Watch these episodes below:
Watch all the episodes on the Becoming Brigham YouTube channel. If you want to be notified when new episodes are published, just click Subscribe on the Becoming Brigham YouTube channel.
The episodes are hosted by Camrey Bagley Fox (who portrayed Emma Smith in the Interpreter Foundation’s films Witnesses and Six Days in August), John Wilson (who played Brigham Young in Six Days in August), and Daniel C. Peterson (president of the Interpreter Foundation and retired BYU professor of Islamic studies and Arabic). Each episode features footage shot on location in New York, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, and Utah, as well as extensive interviews with Latter-day Saint historians who are experts on the subjects being discussed. The series is rooted in scholarship. The list of contributors includes historians trusted by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Why this docuseries? Many people are aware of Brigham Young as a pivotal figure in American religious and frontier history, but Brigham is also often misunderstood, seen as a larger-than-life caricature rather than as a man. Who actually was Brigham as a man, a father, a husband, and a prophet? The video web series Becoming Brigham debunks fictions and provides surprising new insights into the real Brigham Young. Learn more in the article “Becoming Brigham: The Video Series Premieres.”