Terryl C. Givens
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195167115
- eISBN:
- 9780199785599
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195167115.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Education is fundamental in Mormonism. Joseph Smith studied Hebrew, and established a School of the Prophets and the University of Nauvoo. Print culture was central to the Mormon church, and early ...
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Education is fundamental in Mormonism. Joseph Smith studied Hebrew, and established a School of the Prophets and the University of Nauvoo. Print culture was central to the Mormon church, and early leaders like Orson Pratt and Parley Pratt laid the foundations for an intellectual tradition. Early Mormon intellectual culture was capacious enough to accommodate Darwin and evolution, though that would change.Less
Education is fundamental in Mormonism. Joseph Smith studied Hebrew, and established a School of the Prophets and the University of Nauvoo. Print culture was central to the Mormon church, and early leaders like Orson Pratt and Parley Pratt laid the foundations for an intellectual tradition. Early Mormon intellectual culture was capacious enough to accommodate Darwin and evolution, though that would change.
Paul Gutjahr
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- August 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190221928
- eISBN:
- 9780190221959
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190221928.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Literature, Church History
First published in 1830, over the next half-century The Book of Mormon appeared in some dozen new editions. Perhaps the most important edition of the nineteenth century appeared in 1879 and was ...
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First published in 1830, over the next half-century The Book of Mormon appeared in some dozen new editions. Perhaps the most important edition of the nineteenth century appeared in 1879 and was edited by Orson Pratt. When this edition appeared, Pratt had served as a member of the original Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, a mission president in Britain, and was a member of Brigham Young’s “Vanguard Company” that crossed the Western plains to select a site for Mormon colonization. More important, he was one of early Mormonism’s premier educators and theologians. His edition bore all the marks of a lifetime of study, presenting the book in a highly systematized format and including footnotes that incorporated theological glosses on Mormon history, archaeology, and geology. This essay explores the origin of many of the textual changes found in the 1879 edition and the enduring influence of these changes.Less
First published in 1830, over the next half-century The Book of Mormon appeared in some dozen new editions. Perhaps the most important edition of the nineteenth century appeared in 1879 and was edited by Orson Pratt. When this edition appeared, Pratt had served as a member of the original Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, a mission president in Britain, and was a member of Brigham Young’s “Vanguard Company” that crossed the Western plains to select a site for Mormon colonization. More important, he was one of early Mormonism’s premier educators and theologians. His edition bore all the marks of a lifetime of study, presenting the book in a highly systematized format and including footnotes that incorporated theological glosses on Mormon history, archaeology, and geology. This essay explores the origin of many of the textual changes found in the 1879 edition and the enduring influence of these changes.
Philip L. Barlow
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199739035
- eISBN:
- 9780199345021
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199739035.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter asks how Mormon views of revelation developed in the second half of the nineteenth century by exploring the Bible's place in the contrasting thought of two men: Joseph Smith's successor, ...
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This chapter asks how Mormon views of revelation developed in the second half of the nineteenth century by exploring the Bible's place in the contrasting thought of two men: Joseph Smith's successor, Brigham Young, and Apostle Orson Pratt, the most prominent Mormon intellectual from the 1850s until his death in 1881. Young and Pratt shared a fundamental assumption of biblical harmony with Mormon views. Their emphases, however, differed. In the three and one-half decades between Smith's death and their own, Pratt worked hard to hold Mormon theology together with the traditional Bible, while Young subordinated the Holy Book even more than had Smith.Less
This chapter asks how Mormon views of revelation developed in the second half of the nineteenth century by exploring the Bible's place in the contrasting thought of two men: Joseph Smith's successor, Brigham Young, and Apostle Orson Pratt, the most prominent Mormon intellectual from the 1850s until his death in 1881. Young and Pratt shared a fundamental assumption of biblical harmony with Mormon views. Their emphases, however, differed. In the three and one-half decades between Smith's death and their own, Pratt worked hard to hold Mormon theology together with the traditional Bible, while Young subordinated the Holy Book even more than had Smith.
Steven C. Harper
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- August 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780199329472
- eISBN:
- 9780190063092
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199329472.003.0013
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
As the transcontinental railroad neared completion in 1869, the Protestant establishment of the United States seemed to be on a collision course with Latter-day Saint hegemony in Utah Territory. In ...
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As the transcontinental railroad neared completion in 1869, the Protestant establishment of the United States seemed to be on a collision course with Latter-day Saint hegemony in Utah Territory. In Salt Lake City, Episcopalians consecrated St. Mark’s Cathedral three blocks from the Salt Lake tabernacle less than a month before the dedication of First Presbyterian Church just a block beyond that. The government-backed Protestant establishment seemed to be closing in on the Mormon establishment. In that context church historian Orson Pratt continued to function as the major narrator, repeating again and again the story of Joseph Smith’s first vision in ways that consolidated as a usable past in the context of an embattled present.Less
As the transcontinental railroad neared completion in 1869, the Protestant establishment of the United States seemed to be on a collision course with Latter-day Saint hegemony in Utah Territory. In Salt Lake City, Episcopalians consecrated St. Mark’s Cathedral three blocks from the Salt Lake tabernacle less than a month before the dedication of First Presbyterian Church just a block beyond that. The government-backed Protestant establishment seemed to be closing in on the Mormon establishment. In that context church historian Orson Pratt continued to function as the major narrator, repeating again and again the story of Joseph Smith’s first vision in ways that consolidated as a usable past in the context of an embattled present.
Steven C. Harper
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- August 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780199329472
- eISBN:
- 9780190063092
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199329472.003.0011
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
The process of collective memory consolidation is effortful and slow and can involve a great deal of contest and negotiation. The memories that make it through this process are incredibly durable. ...
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The process of collective memory consolidation is effortful and slow and can involve a great deal of contest and negotiation. The memories that make it through this process are incredibly durable. Orson Pratt was the foremost relater in the process of consolidating a collective Mormon memory of Joseph Smith’s first vision. Like Joseph Smith and everyone else, Pratt inescapably remembered in a sociocultural context that shaped what could consolidate.Less
The process of collective memory consolidation is effortful and slow and can involve a great deal of contest and negotiation. The memories that make it through this process are incredibly durable. Orson Pratt was the foremost relater in the process of consolidating a collective Mormon memory of Joseph Smith’s first vision. Like Joseph Smith and everyone else, Pratt inescapably remembered in a sociocultural context that shaped what could consolidate.
Steven C. Harper
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- August 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780199329472
- eISBN:
- 9780190063092
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199329472.003.0014
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
Many contingent choices determined whether and how Mormons would remember Smith’s vision. This chapter shows how as late as the late 1870s, after the death of Brigham Young, Latter-day Saints had ...
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Many contingent choices determined whether and how Mormons would remember Smith’s vision. This chapter shows how as late as the late 1870s, after the death of Brigham Young, Latter-day Saints had still not consolidated collective memory of Joseph Smith’s first vision. However, the 1880 canonization of a version of the 1838/39 account symbolized an institutional collective consolidation of the first vision. Orson Pratt, a long-time selector and relater of the vision, witnessed its consolidation before his death in 1881. Pratt was the saints’ foremost relater and repeater of Smith’s first vision, making their shared memory usable, a past for the present.Less
Many contingent choices determined whether and how Mormons would remember Smith’s vision. This chapter shows how as late as the late 1870s, after the death of Brigham Young, Latter-day Saints had still not consolidated collective memory of Joseph Smith’s first vision. However, the 1880 canonization of a version of the 1838/39 account symbolized an institutional collective consolidation of the first vision. Orson Pratt, a long-time selector and relater of the vision, witnessed its consolidation before his death in 1881. Pratt was the saints’ foremost relater and repeater of Smith’s first vision, making their shared memory usable, a past for the present.
Steven C. Harper
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- August 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780199329472
- eISBN:
- 9780190063092
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199329472.003.0012
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
Orson Pratt continued in the roles of selector and relater and repeater throughout his life. As far as the historical record shows, he wrote and spoke more on the topic of Smith’s first vision than ...
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Orson Pratt continued in the roles of selector and relater and repeater throughout his life. As far as the historical record shows, he wrote and spoke more on the topic of Smith’s first vision than any of his contemporaries. He shaped the saints’ collective memory of the vision. Pratt’s many recitals of the first vision were memorable, whereas others’, such as Tullidge’s poem, did not endure. Pratt enjoyed status and authority among the saints, but that alone hardly accounts for his success. His discursive choices brought Joseph Smith back to life and evoked his vision as reassurance that God still favored the Latter-day Saints. Because of his role in the church and his former personal relationship with Joseph Smith, Pratt was more able than others to reach people emotionally and thus memorably.Less
Orson Pratt continued in the roles of selector and relater and repeater throughout his life. As far as the historical record shows, he wrote and spoke more on the topic of Smith’s first vision than any of his contemporaries. He shaped the saints’ collective memory of the vision. Pratt’s many recitals of the first vision were memorable, whereas others’, such as Tullidge’s poem, did not endure. Pratt enjoyed status and authority among the saints, but that alone hardly accounts for his success. His discursive choices brought Joseph Smith back to life and evoked his vision as reassurance that God still favored the Latter-day Saints. Because of his role in the church and his former personal relationship with Joseph Smith, Pratt was more able than others to reach people emotionally and thus memorably.
Steven C. Harper
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- August 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780199329472
- eISBN:
- 9780190063092
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199329472.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
Transactive memories of Joseph Smith’s first vision—individual memories in communication and combination with each other—enter the historical record in the 1840s. The most significant and ...
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Transactive memories of Joseph Smith’s first vision—individual memories in communication and combination with each other—enter the historical record in the 1840s. The most significant and far-reaching of these memories is Orson Pratt’s “Interesting Account,” published in Scotland in 1840 after Smith confided his vision to Pratt in 1839. By sharing his memory, Smith ensured that published accounts of the 1840s consolidated via transaction. Individuals remembered and communicated memories, like Smith telling Pratt, who remembered and communicated via “Interesting Account.” That process placed memories in the saints’ buffer, available for selection, relation to other knowledge, and repetition until they became common knowledge. Otherwise, Smith’s memories would have died with him in 1844.Less
Transactive memories of Joseph Smith’s first vision—individual memories in communication and combination with each other—enter the historical record in the 1840s. The most significant and far-reaching of these memories is Orson Pratt’s “Interesting Account,” published in Scotland in 1840 after Smith confided his vision to Pratt in 1839. By sharing his memory, Smith ensured that published accounts of the 1840s consolidated via transaction. Individuals remembered and communicated memories, like Smith telling Pratt, who remembered and communicated via “Interesting Account.” That process placed memories in the saints’ buffer, available for selection, relation to other knowledge, and repetition until they became common knowledge. Otherwise, Smith’s memories would have died with him in 1844.
Stephen H. Webb
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199316816
- eISBN:
- 9780199369249
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199316816.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
Mormonism has a theologically unique view of the nature of matter. This chapter analyses the work of Orson Pratt and how the Mormon view of matter compares to contemporary options.
Mormonism has a theologically unique view of the nature of matter. This chapter analyses the work of Orson Pratt and how the Mormon view of matter compares to contemporary options.
