The burgeoning of Mormonism is viewed both canonically and historically in the two assigned reading documents, “Joseph Smith---History” by Joseph Smith and “Mormonism: The Story of A New Religious Tradition” by Jan Shipps. The first, “Joseph Smith ---History” are excerpts from Smith’s autobiographical account as the prophet regarding the origins of Mormonism. This explains the rationale behind the Mormon faith by the creator of the sect, and allows us to consider the Mormon faith from the Latter Day Saints’ perspective. This shift from the general public’s paradigm allows bilateral analysis of the emergence of Mormonism, especially due to the negative media Mormonism receives over faith-based controversies. “History” provides a detailed account of Smith’s visions and ensuing persecution, which relates his experience with those of biblical prophets such as Paul, similarly harassed for their beliefs. The visions are described with formal prose closely imitating the Bible, while the imagery associated with divine beings also match traditional biblical descriptions. Such theological details strengthen the faith of LDS as the prose helps to legitimize their belief.
In “Mormonism”, the early history of the LDS is detailed through a more historical-documentary manner than “History”. In terms of bias, though the author Jan Shipps is a scholar in Mormon history, she is not a LDS which credits her work with more impartiality. Historically, “’inside’ and ‘outside’ perceptions of what was happening differed at practically every point in LDS history.” This means that both sides contribute significant bias to chronicles of major events, thus making it hard to distinguish the truth behind the words. To holistically approach the beginnings of Mormonism through the life of Joseph Smith, Shipps detailed and analyzed his family life and history to better understand the environment that raised a future prophet. Many of the facts revolving around Mormonism’s humble beginnings were unearthed and disparities between them and Mormon accounts of the story can be used to evaluate the merit behind the statements made by both.
The spiritual condition of America during Smith’s visions was highly volatile, even fanatically zealous. Smith introduced his new beliefs in the midst of the Second Great Awakening (1790 to 1840’s), and so was naturally greatly distrusted by the general public and prominent religious figures. In the battle of sects, Smith’s intention to purify Christian belief by introducing an entirely new sect doomed his nascent faith to slander and persecution. Although people were widely returning to church, it created tension between church leaders as each fought for popularity, influence and new converts. And as suggested by “Mormonism”, the progression of scientific enlightenment and Protestant Reformation did not lend much credibility to Smith’s visions, nor did its church hierarchy reminiscent of the public of oppressive medieval feudalism improve its cultural image.
In your opinion, what is the effect of early adversity on the Mormons? What disparities do you think are most significant between Smith’s “Histories” and Shipps’ book? Why do you think these disparities are significant? What do you think is the most important reason why Mormonism was so persecuted in the early days?
The poster maintains that comparing the historical facts and the Mormon narratives that surround the origins of Mormonism can help one to evaluate the merit of both viewpoints. The study of Mormonism certainly requires the learned ability to assess the given historical facts and the Mormon Church accounts. Both sources possess a unique spin and opinion on the events and details of Joseph Smith’s life. To discover the valuable truth or reality in each, both sources must be separated and examined with a careful, impartial eye.
ReplyDeleteThis comparative practice is essential when conducting any sort of research or investigation of history, especially when studying emotionally charged issues. Over time, fact and fiction often become entangled with each other. Bias is all too common in most sources. Even learned scholars can taint the overall picture of the events, people, places, etc. with their own experiences, ideas, and perceptions.
Shipps' book takes a broader approach to explaining the foundation of Mormonism. She looks at the effects of Smiths' family and his environment of the foundation. Smith's "Histories" is a very narrow explanation of the events. It is told with respect to only Smith's experiences and views. Furthermore Smith's account seems more dramatic. He often uses the word "persecution" and compares himself to St. Paul.
ReplyDeleteThe disparities are important because they show the differences between a first hand account and a modern account of an historical event. They show that a modern account is more likely to offer many different explanations for an event whereas a first hand account will offer a very narrow explanation.
The most important reason the Mormons were persecuted was probably their early practice of polygamy. Many current Christians were probably profoundly offended by this practice because it went against their beliefs. Other people, maybe not as religious, probably saw the practice as strange and dangerous. More often than not the Mormons were persecuted because people fear what they do not understand.
The early persecution worked to strengthen the Mormon community. They probably felt alienated and threatened by the wider community so they decided to further strengthen their relationships with other Mormons.
In “History” Joseph Smith presents his faith as providing a beacon of light to a dark world. Both the literal pillar of light in his first vision and the motif of enlightening the world to the truth about Christ lend a shining aura to Joseph Smith’s faith. According to Shipps, however, many other faiths viewed the start of Mormonism as the exact opposite, a darkness attempting to deceive the faithful. I completely agree that Smith’s introduction of a new sect of Christianity in a time of religious chaos condemned members of his faith to persecution.
ReplyDeleteThe two conflicting views display the beliefs of the small Mormon population in contrast to the larger Christian population. The Mormons responded to outside persecution by forming very tight-knit communities. This withdrawal led to other Christians further condemning the Mormon faith as being secretive and exclusive. I believe that the self-imposed isolation was the most important reason for outside persecution in the early days of Mormonism.
The spiritual environment where the Joseph Smith Jr. grew up was extremely volatile. Both of the readings support this. However one difference between the two passages was the turning point for persecuting Smith. Joseph Smith Jr. first mentioned his difficulties when he had a vision telling him not to become a member of any church. Joseph Smith Jr. asserts that he was excluded from some parts of society because of this. It is to be noted that this was before the birth of Mormonism. Ian Shipps’ book places more emphasis on Smith’s second vision than his first. Shipps appears to contend that Smith began to be excluded after the second vision, which truly was the beginning of Mormonism.
ReplyDeleteThe fundamental distinction between the two texts is based on their intrinsic relationship: Shipps’ scholarly analysis of the early events that lead to the development of the Church of Jesus Christ employs Smith’s testimony as a primary source. Joseph Smith presents his charismatic account of the supernatural events that lead him to reproduce the Book of Mormon and found the Church of Jesus Christ. In turn, Shipps contextualizes Joseph Smith and his reported experiences historically and personally. Shipps emphasizes the regional religious fervor of the Second Great Awakening and the particular religious ethos of Smith’s family that impacted Joseph and his faith. I believe that “disparities” inaccurately describes variances between the texts. The texts are not different perspectives of the same event and there are no examples of either author refuting the other. Smith’s narrative is official scripture of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and posits the formative events of a religious movement. The excerpt from Shipps’ book subjects Smith’s experiences to a critical examination based on psychological and societal factors.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, the most important reason why Mormons where persecuted are their differing views on Christianity and religion as a whole. People are very narrow minded and were especially during the time period that Mormonism was introduced. Although Mormonism is a sect of Christianity, their beliefs are very different from typical sects of Christianity in that they believe that humans possess the ability to become gods. Typical sects of Christianity believe that no human can be as high as God. Also, the fact that Mormons had no choice but to stay secluded from the rest of society due to their persecutions didn’t help their standing in society as they became more exclusive and seemed almost cult like. I believe that their secluding behavior and differing views on Christianity in such a time where people were not open is why they were persecuted.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Shipp takes on a different approach to introducing the history of Mormonism as she looks at the environment that Smith grew up in and events contributing to Smith’s life. In Smith’s history the take on Mormonism and his life is very close-minded, and the disparities are significant because Shipp offers an outside perspective on Smith’s life as opposed to his biased account of the events he experienced.