The first volumes of the comprehensive compilation of Smith's writings is scheduled for 2005.

Smith was born Dec. 23, 1805, in Sharon, Vt. He led the church until his murder on June 27, 1844. During his life, he translated the Book of Mormon, which is now available in 104 languages and was chosen in 2003 as one of the "20 Books That Changed America" by Book Magazine.

Smith also founded the city of Nauvoo, Ill., which rivaled Chicago in population and where he was elected mayor in 1842. At the time of his death, he was a candidate for president of the United States.

Smith founded a university, edited two newspapers, ran several businesses and established the church based on directions he said he was given during visitations from God, Jesus Christ and other angelic ministers.

Now, more than half the church's members live outside the United States and church materials are available in 175 languages, an indication of growing ethnic diversity in the still expanding faith.

"Joseph Smith is a towering religious figure," Welch said in a prepared statement. "Perhaps for that very reason he draws a lot of lightning but also channels extraordinary power. The conference is not aimed at proselytizing or propaganda. Anyone who would be interested in knowing how informed scholars approach the study of Joseph Smith, just as they might study Buddha, Moses, Mohammed, St. Francis or any other major religious leader, will find the outcome of this conference informative, up-to-date, interesting and reliable."

Religion experts from Baylor, BYU, Columbia, Pepperdine and other major universities are scheduled to present at the symposium. Elder Dallin H. Oaks, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, will be a featured speaker. Elder Oaks served as a Utah Supreme Court justice and president of BYU prior to full-time church service.

Interest in Smith appears to be rising, but is accompanied by a cultural backlash against religion, said Bushman, the Gouverneur Morris Professor of History emeritus at Columbia University and chair chairman of the executive committee of BYU's Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History.

"Two things are happening at once," he said, as interest in prophets is sparked by scholars like Richard Brodhead, the president of Duke University and author of a book on prophecy.

"He is bringing to light the prophetic tradition in its many forms," Bushman said. "There is an increasing interest in it and I think there will be more attention to Joseph Smith. At the same time, there is also a sort of Krakauer effect, with a revival of the old stereotype of religious fanatics by people really filled with animosity at religious fanaticism of all kinds. We see it in attacks on the religious right.

"I think there will be a lot of fallout. I think it will be two-sided, both from those who have interest and are empathetic and those who have interest and are critical."

---

E-mail: twalch@desnews.com