Edward Whitley
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- August 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190221928
- eISBN:
- 9780190221959
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190221928.003.0018
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Literature, Church History
For years, scholars have identified elements of Hebraic poetry in the words of Book of Mormon prophets as evidence of the book’s ancient origins. This effort to make poetic forms proof of the book’s ...
More
For years, scholars have identified elements of Hebraic poetry in the words of Book of Mormon prophets as evidence of the book’s ancient origins. This effort to make poetic forms proof of the book’s truth claims finds a parallel in the hundreds of poems that have been written about The Book of Mormon, a topic to which scholars have paid little attention. This essay shows how the logic behind Book of Mormon poetry runs counter to Lawrence Buell’s formulation of “American literary scripturism,” which argues that “the erosion of the Bible’s privileged status acted as a literary stimulus” for American writers. But poetry about The Book of Mormon does not rise from the ashes of a discredited sacred text. Rather, Latter-day Saint poets treat the book as generative of poetic genres such as epic and elegy, genres that provide their own commentary on The Book of Mormon and its relationship to US nationalism, indigenous peoples, and the nature of history in the Americas.Less
For years, scholars have identified elements of Hebraic poetry in the words of Book of Mormon prophets as evidence of the book’s ancient origins. This effort to make poetic forms proof of the book’s truth claims finds a parallel in the hundreds of poems that have been written about The Book of Mormon, a topic to which scholars have paid little attention. This essay shows how the logic behind Book of Mormon poetry runs counter to Lawrence Buell’s formulation of “American literary scripturism,” which argues that “the erosion of the Bible’s privileged status acted as a literary stimulus” for American writers. But poetry about The Book of Mormon does not rise from the ashes of a discredited sacred text. Rather, Latter-day Saint poets treat the book as generative of poetic genres such as epic and elegy, genres that provide their own commentary on The Book of Mormon and its relationship to US nationalism, indigenous peoples, and the nature of history in the Americas.
Samuel Morris Brown
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199793570
- eISBN:
- 9780199932511
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199793570.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Church History
This chapter discusses Joseph Smith's early participation in treasure seeking but considers it from the perspective of grave robbery and negotiations with the dead over their physical artifacts. This ...
More
This chapter discusses Joseph Smith's early participation in treasure seeking but considers it from the perspective of grave robbery and negotiations with the dead over their physical artifacts. This approach to the problem makes clear the strength of the continuities between Smith's early treasure seeking and his later religious career. The Book of Mormon very clearly functions as a legacy or relic of America's dead, interred in an ancient mass grave at the Hill Cumorah in Western New York.Less
This chapter discusses Joseph Smith's early participation in treasure seeking but considers it from the perspective of grave robbery and negotiations with the dead over their physical artifacts. This approach to the problem makes clear the strength of the continuities between Smith's early treasure seeking and his later religious career. The Book of Mormon very clearly functions as a legacy or relic of America's dead, interred in an ancient mass grave at the Hill Cumorah in Western New York.
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- February 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190699093
- eISBN:
- 9780190699123
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190699093.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity, Religious Studies
This book includes key documents, along with annotation, related to the origin of the Book of Mormon, from Joseph Smith’s first mention of the gold plates to the book’s publication in 1830. Smith ...
More
This book includes key documents, along with annotation, related to the origin of the Book of Mormon, from Joseph Smith’s first mention of the gold plates to the book’s publication in 1830. Smith claimed that on the night of September 21–22, 1823, an angel, later identified as Moroni, appeared to him and informed him of an ancient record, inscribed on gold plates, buried in the nearby Hill Cumorah. Smith finally obtained the plates in 1827, and, assisted by Martin Harris, began translating in 1828. After Harris lost the first 116 pages of the manuscript, however, translation essentially ceased until 1829, when Oliver Cowdery arrived on the scene. The Book of Mormon, considered scripture by believers, was finally published in Palmyra, New York, in 1830. Key topics discussed in both introductions and endnotes include the question of whether Smith’s story of the angel actually originated as a treasure-seeking yarn, whether the gold plates actually existed, and whether the testimonies of the three witnesses and eight witnesses count as historical evidence.Less
This book includes key documents, along with annotation, related to the origin of the Book of Mormon, from Joseph Smith’s first mention of the gold plates to the book’s publication in 1830. Smith claimed that on the night of September 21–22, 1823, an angel, later identified as Moroni, appeared to him and informed him of an ancient record, inscribed on gold plates, buried in the nearby Hill Cumorah. Smith finally obtained the plates in 1827, and, assisted by Martin Harris, began translating in 1828. After Harris lost the first 116 pages of the manuscript, however, translation essentially ceased until 1829, when Oliver Cowdery arrived on the scene. The Book of Mormon, considered scripture by believers, was finally published in Palmyra, New York, in 1830. Key topics discussed in both introductions and endnotes include the question of whether Smith’s story of the angel actually originated as a treasure-seeking yarn, whether the gold plates actually existed, and whether the testimonies of the three witnesses and eight witnesses count as historical evidence.
Larry E. Morris
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- February 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190699093
- eISBN:
- 9780190699123
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190699093.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity, Religious Studies
Joseph Knight and Josiah Stowell visited the Smith family on September 20, 1827. Two days later, Joseph and his wife, Emma Smith, rode in a wagon to the Hill Cumorah, and Joseph obtained the gold ...
More
Joseph Knight and Josiah Stowell visited the Smith family on September 20, 1827. Two days later, Joseph and his wife, Emma Smith, rode in a wagon to the Hill Cumorah, and Joseph obtained the gold plates from the angel Moroni. William and Katharine Smith handled the plates but did not see them. According to Joseph, he also received other artifacts, including the Urim and Thummim, the Liahona, the brass plates, and the sword of Laban. Neighbor Lorenzo Saunders heard the story directly from Joseph Smith. Other neighbors ransacked Smith property searching for the plates. With the assistance of Martin Harris, Joseph and Emma arranged to move to Harmony, Pennsylvania.Less
Joseph Knight and Josiah Stowell visited the Smith family on September 20, 1827. Two days later, Joseph and his wife, Emma Smith, rode in a wagon to the Hill Cumorah, and Joseph obtained the gold plates from the angel Moroni. William and Katharine Smith handled the plates but did not see them. According to Joseph, he also received other artifacts, including the Urim and Thummim, the Liahona, the brass plates, and the sword of Laban. Neighbor Lorenzo Saunders heard the story directly from Joseph Smith. Other neighbors ransacked Smith property searching for the plates. With the assistance of Martin Harris, Joseph and Emma arranged to move to Harmony, Pennsylvania.
