Yeah, I heard about that. Very funny.
Swanson suggests that Joseph Smith learned of his holy ancestry through divine revelation and shared his secret with a handful of Mormon leaders. Swanson also believes Smith’s famous “no man knows my history” quote was a veiled reference to his sacred lineage.
Swanson admits he can’t prove the LDS Church’s first president was descended from Christ. He also concedes that if Jesus indeed fathered children, millions of his descendants could be alive today. Swanson says he came to his conclusion by weaving together circumstantial threads from history and hopes to correct errors in a future edition.
“I’m inching towards the truth. I haven’t found the truth. I have no hard evidence,” says the art historian and scholar. “I wish I could say I had some secret evidence that no one else has.”