Portal:Religion/Selected biography/28

Joseph Smith, Jr. (December 23, 1805 – June 27, 1844) was an American religious leader who founded the Latter Day Saint movement, a restorationist movement giving rise to Mormonism. Smith's followers declared him to be the first latter-day prophet, whose mission was to restore original Christianity, said to have been lost after a Great Apostasy. This restoration included publication of the Book of Mormon and other new scripture in addition to the Bible, and the establishment of the Church of Christ. As a leader of his religion, he was also an important political and military leader in the American West. Although Smith's early Christian restorationist teachings were similar in many ways to other movements of his time, Smith was and remains a controversial and polarizing figure, both because of his collection of religious and social innovations, and as a result of his large and devoted following, which has continued to grow to the present day.