Todd Compton

Todd Merlin Compton (born 1952) is an American historian in the fields of Mormon history and Classics.

Biographical background

Compton is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsSmith, Julie M. "An Interview with Todd Compton". http://www.timesandseasons.org/?p=2826. Accessed 1 November 2007.] who lived for a number of years in Santa Monica, California. He has served an LDS mission to Ireland. [*cite journal|first=Todd|last=Compton|title=Counter-Hierarchical Revelation|journal=Sunstone Magazine|volume=15|issue=2|date=June 1991|pages=34–41|format=PDF|url=https://www.sunstonemagazine.com/pdf/082-34-41.pdf] He studied violin with Richard Nibley and has played electric violin with singer-songwriter Mark Davis. In 1982 he completed a master's degree from Brigham Young University. He later received a Ph.D. from UCLA in Classics (concentrating on Greek and Indo-European mythology) which he taught for a year at USC. He also taught at UCLA and Cal State Northridge.cite web|title=Interview with Todd Compton--Part 1|publisher=The Apostate Mormon Show|date=Sept 4, 2002|url=http://www.byebyedogma.com/Compton/part01.html|accessdate=2008-07-14] He has been an independent researcher since 1993, drawing a regular income by working as an ADS specialist for a law office.

Compton began his serious work in Mormon history as a Visiting Fellow at the Huntington Library studying the journals of Eliza R. Snow. He found that his Classics background helped his Mormon history work by teaching him respect for these primary documents. While researching, and trying to note people identified in Snow's journals, Compton found that he needed a good list of Joseph Smith's plural wives. Not finding one, he began researching his own list, which eventually grew into his 1997 book, "".

Publications

Compton's notable works include "", which was awarded the Best Book Award from both the John Whitmer Historical Association and the Mormon History Association.cite web|title=In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith (publisher's site)|url=http://www.signaturebooks.com/insacred.htm|publisher=Signature Books|accessdate=2008-07-14] The Mormon History Association also awarded him the 2002 Best Documentary Award for his and Charles Hatch's book "A Widow’s Tale, The 1884-1886 Diary of Helen Mar Kimball Whitney", and the 1996 Award of Excellence for his article "A Trajectory of Plurality: An Overview of Joseph Smith's Thirty Three Plural Wives". [cite web|title=MHA Awards|publisher=Mormon History Association|year=2006|url=http://www.mhahome.org/awards/07_Awards.pdf|accessdate=2008-07-14|format=PDF]

Compton has contributed to publications by the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS), including articles in "FARMS Review of Books" and "Journal of Book of Mormon Studies" and as an editor of the 1987 edition of Hugh Nibley's "Mormonism and Early Christianity". [cite web|title=Todd M. Compton|work=Authors|publisher=Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies|url=http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/viewauthor.php?authorID=91|accessdate=2008-07-14] He has also been published in "The Encyclopedia of Mormonism", "Women and Authority: Re-emerging Mormon Feminism", "American Journal of Philology", "", "Sunstone Magazine", "Classical Quarterly", and the "Journal of Popular Culture".

From 1993–1998, Compton served on the Editorial Board for the periodical "". [cite journal|title=Editorial Board|pages=Inside Front Cover b|journal=|volume=26|issue=1|date=Spring 1993|url=http://content.lib.utah.edu/u?/dialogue,22645|accessdate=2008-07-29] [cite journal|title=Editorial Board|pages=Inside Front Cover|journal=|volume=31|issue=4|date=Winter 1998|url=http://content.lib.utah.edu/u?/dialogue,8059|accessdate=2008-07-29] Starting in 2004, Compton returned to work at "Dialogue", this time as the editorial staff's History Editor, a position which he still holds. [cite journal|title=Editor|pages=Inside Front Cover|journal=|volume=37|issue=1|date=Spring 2004|url=http://content.lib.utah.edu/u?/dialogue,33352|accessdate=2008-07-29] [cite web|title=Editorial Staff|work=|publisher=Dialogue Foundation|url=http://www.dialoguejournal.com/staff/|accessdate=2008-07-29] Compton has also served on the Board of Editors for the "Journal of Mormon History" since 2000. [cite journal|title=Board of Editors|journal=Journal of Mormon History|volume=26|issue=1|date=Spring 2000|pages=iii|url=http://content.lib.utah.edu/u?/jmh,13256|accessdate=2008-07-29] [cite web|title=Staff of the Journal of Mormon History|work=Journal of Mormon History|publisher=Mormon History Association|url=http://www.mhahome.org/pubs/|accessdate=2008-07-29]

Compton is presently working on a biography of Indian missionary Jacob Hamblin.

Published works

*cite book
first = Hugh W. | last = Nibley
authorlink = Hugh Nibley
coauthors = Todd Compton; Stephen D. Ricks
title = Mormonism and Early Christianity
year = 1987
publisher = Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies
location = Salt Lake City
isbn = 0875791271
*cite book
first = Todd | last = Compton
title = By Study and Also by Faith, Volume 1: Essays in Honor of Hugh W. Nibley on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday
editor = John M. Lundquist, Stephen D. Ricks
chapter = The Handclasp and Embrace as Tokens of Recognition
publisher = Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies]
location = Salt Lake City
year = 1990
pages = 611–42
isbn = 0875793398
*cite journal
author = ——
title = Counter-Hierarchical Revelation
journal = Sunstone Magazine
volume = 15
issue = 2
date = June 1991
pages = 34–41
format = PDF
url = https://www.sunstonemagazine.com/pdf/082-34-41.pdf
*cite journal
author = ——
title = Fanny Alger Smith Custer, Mormonism's First Plural Wife?
journal = Journal of Mormon History
volume = 22
issue = 1
date = Spring 1996
pages = 172–205
url = http://content.lib.utah.edu/u?/jmh,18163
*cite journal
author = ——
title = A Trajectory of Plurality: An Overview of Joseph Smith's Thirty-three Plural Wives
journal =
volume = 29
issue = 2
date = Summer 1996
pages = 1–38
url = http://content.lib.utah.edu/u?/dialogue,11268
*cite journal
author = ——
title = Christian Scholarship and the Book of Mormon
journal = Sunstone Magazine
volume = 20
issue = 3
date = September 1996
pages = 74–81
format = PDF
url = https://www.sunstonemagazine.com/pdf/103-74-81.pdf
*cite journal
author = ——
title = Heaven and Hell: The Parable of the Loving Father and the Judgmental Son
journal =
volume = 29
issue = 4
date = Winter 1996
pages = 31–44
url = http://content.lib.utah.edu/u?/dialogue,11061
*cite book
author = ——
title = In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith
publisher = Signature Books
year = 1997
location = Salt Lake City
isbn = 1-56085-085-X
*cite journal
author = ——
title = Thoughts of the Possibility of an Open Temple
journal = Sunstone Magazine
volume = 23
issue = 1
date = March 1999
pages = 42–9
format = PDF
url = https://www.sunstonemagazine.com/pdf/113-41-49.pdf
*cite journal
author = ——
title = "Remember Me in My Affliction": Louisa Beaman Young and Eliza R. Snow Letters, 1849
journal = Journal of Mormon History
volume = 25
issue = 2
date = Fall 1999
pages = 46–69
url = http://content.lib.utah.edu/u?/jmh,11476
*cite journal
author = ——
title = Was Jesus a Feminist?
journal =
volume = 32
issue = 4
date = Winter 1999
pages = 1–17
url = http://content.lib.utah.edu/u?/dialogue,7853
*cite paper
author = ——
title = The Spiritual Roots of the Democratic Party: Why I Am a Mormon Democrat
publisher = Sunstone Symposium
date = Summer 2001
url = http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Oracle/7207/demosp.html
*cite journal
author = ——
title = John Willard Young, Brigham Young, and the Development of Presidential Succession in the LDS Church
journal =
volume = 35
issue = 4
date = Winter 2002
pages = 111–34
url = http://content.lib.utah.edu/u?/dialogue,28022
*cite book
author = ——
coauthors = Hatch, Charles M.
title = A Widow’s Tale: The 1884-1896 Diary of Helen Mar Whitney
publisher = Utah State University Press
year = 2003
location = Logan, Utah
isbn = 0-87421-557-9
*cite journal
author = ——
title = "Kingdom of Priests": Priesthood, Temple, and Women in the Old Testament and in the Restoration
journal =
volume = 36
issue = 3
date = Fall 2003
pages = 41–59
url = http://content.lib.utah.edu/u?/dialogue,29103
*cite book
author = ——
title = Victim of The Muses: Poet as Scapegoat, Warrior and Hero in Greco-Roman and Indo-European Myth and History
publisher = Center for Hellenic Studies, Trustees for Harvard University
year = 2006
location = Washington, D.C.
isbn = 0-674-01958-X
*cite book
author = ——
title = In Search of a Canon: Movie Polls Through the Years
publisher = Magos Press
year = 2007
location = Mountain View, California
url = http://www.geocities.com/athens/oracle/7207/pollsTOC.htm
*cite journal
author = ——
title = Civilizing the Ragged Edge: The Wives of Jacob Hamblin
journal = Journal of Mormon History
date = Summer 2007
volume = 33
issue = 2
pages = 155–98
*cite journal
author = ——
title = A Playwright with a Passion for Unvarnished Depictions: An Interview with Tom Rogers
journal =
volume = 41
issue = 1
date = Spring 2008
pages = 67–90

References

External links

* [http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Oracle/7207/ Todd Compton's Home Page]
*Audio of interview by John Dehlin for "Mormon Stories" podcast: [http://mormonstories.org/?p=65 Part 1] , [http://mormonstories.org/?p=66 Part 2 and Part 3]