Religion is supposed to be about peace, but often it is about war. Some of the worst religious wars include Islamic Jihad, Christian Crusades, and Joshua’s Unholy War. I wish Mormons didn’t have anything to be ashamed of, but I’ve been reading The Mountain Meadows Massacre by Juanita Brooks.
One of the things I didn’t realize about this shameful episode is the Utah War. It wasn’t much of a war, but it was one of the leading causes of this tragedy. In 1857, President Buchanon sent 5000 troops to Utah to put down a supposed rebellion in Utah. Exaggerated reports of rebellion had come to Washington, DC. The US had just finished the Mexican-American War in 1848, and Civil War rhetoric would boil over into war just 4 years later.
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This is the 3rd post reviewing By the Hand of Mormon, by Terryl Givens. I’ve taken a bit on an interest in wordprint studies. Givens explains wordprint studies on page 156.
Computational stylistics is based on the premise that all authors exhibit subtle, quantifiable stylistic traits that are equivalent to a literary fingerprint, or wordprint. The method has been used to investigate other instances of disputed authorship, from Plato to Shakespeare to the Federalist papers. Read more…
It’s time to get back to Terryl Givens book, By the Hand of Mormon. While acknowledging archaeological data isn’t as strong as other aspects of the Book of Mormon, Givens seems to feel Mormon academics have made some impressive contributions. Givens starts with Hugh Nibley on page 118:
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Mormon historian Newell Bringhurst recently published a new essay discussing the infamous Mountain Meadows Massacre. For those of you unfamiliar with him, he has written extensively on topics of Mormon history. Some of his books are found here, and here is a short bio on him.
Here’s a brief background concerning the disaster. The Fancher and Baker families were moving from Arkansas to California. As they traveled through Utah, nearly all the men, women, and children were killed by Mormons–around 120 in all died. Initially, the Mormons tried to blame it on the Indians, but as the evidence has come out, it appears the Mormons are primarily (some say entirely) responsible for the deaths. It is the darkest chapter in Mormon history. In his latest essay, Bringhurst discusses the most prominent books (both positive and negative) dealing with the Mountain Meadows Massacre: Read more…
I’ve been enjoying Terryl Givens book, By the Hand of Mormon. He has a positive view of Mormon scholarship, and goes into detail of both literary and archaeological scholarship. Wikipedia has some interesting information on Givens:
His second book, By the Hand of Mormon, is seen as his most important contribution to Mormon studies to date because it is the first academic survey of the significance of the Book of Mormon to believer and skeptic alike to be published by a major academic press (Oxford University Press). In it, Givens argues that the Book of Mormon has been important primarily for its existence and extra-textual historical claims rather than for its contents. Givens also makes a case for what he calls “dialogic revelation” as a novel contribution of the Book of Mormon. In current projects, he seems to be moving in the direction of broader engagement with religious themes across time and the western religious and philosophical traditions.
Critical response
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Mormon Matters has put together “the best of the bloggernacle” awards, which have been dubbed “the Niblets”. I guess it is a sort of fans’ choice awards. So, be sure to go there and vote! If you don’t vote for me (I have 2 nominations there), be sure to vote for the Faithful Dissident, Irrestible Disgrace, Clean Cut and The Fire Still Burning! And if you have your own blog, be sure to let others know about the vote! Oh, and please let me know who I forgot to stump for.
After Christmas, we decided to finally upgrade our television, and got a new 55 inch HD LCD. It’s pretty nice. As part of the package, we are able to download Netflix directly to the television. The first Netflix movie I watched on my new television was Ken Burns’ America: The Shakers (1985). I picked it because I remembered that there was a mission to the Shakers in D&C 49.
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The LDS Film Festival begins Jan 20. I admit to being an aspiring film maker. I have great designs to one day do a documentary on some church related topic. I’ve been to the festival for the past 3 years, and I hope to be able to go this weekend. The schedule can be found here. Here’s some movies I would like to see, if I had unlimited time:
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There has been much press about volumes 1 and 2 of The Joseph Smith Papers Project. My wife even spoiled me with a copy of volume 2 this past Christmas. It contains the actual hand-written revelations of Joseph, along with a typed copy to help the reader understand some of the hard to read handwriting.
Well, Signature Books has just released something similar for Brigham Young. This article from the Salt Lake Tribune talks about the release of The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young , a five-volume work. For a mere $500, you can own every version of every speech known to exist. Richard Van Wagoner, author of Sidney Rigdon: A Portrait in Religious Excess (I did a 6 part review starting here) has compiled these speeches over the last 15 years. The Tribune article has some interesting quotes from Van Wagoner.
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I just finished the book by Sarah Baringer Gordon, The Mormon Question. It was a very different book from the previous book I read, More Wives than One, by Kathryn Daynes. Gordon has degrees in both Law and Religion. She looked at Constitutional theory and the arguments before the Supreme Court and Congress as the government made many attempts to shut down polygamy.
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The book for my book club is by Sarah Baringer Gordon, The Mormon Question. It’s bee n a really hard book to find at the library (nearly impossible), so I got a late start on it. It takes a very different approach to the polygamy question. Ms Gordon has a law degree, and so she talks about the legal arguments concerning the separation of church and state. I’ve learned a lot about the evolution of legal thought and the Constitution. There hasn’t been a strict separation, especially during the 1800’s. The Mormons helped define that line.
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I’ve been reading some of the interesting changes in temple ceremonies (specifically the Endowment ceremony) in the book, The Mysteries of Godliness: A History of Mormon Temple Worship, by David John Buerger. (I talked about this in my previous post as well.) The temple is a place where we are constantly reminded that if we must communicate, we should whisper so that the Spirit of God will be there. However, it wasn’t always that way. Buerger records that following some initiatory ceremonies, and weddings, dancing was actually done in the Kirtland Temple. I wish such practices continued today.
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My book club just read this book, The Mysteries of Godliness: A History of Mormon Temple Worship, by David John Buerger. I have to say that while the book is interesting, I had some real discomfort while reading the book. As an active Mormon, we have promised not to talk about the sacred ceremonies outside of the temple. So, I will honor that promise. On the other hand, it was fascinating to learn some of the changes over the years, and I felt a greater understanding of temple ceremonies.
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