Winter 2003
The Winter 2003 Issue delves into the psychological and mystical dimensions of Joseph Smith's prophetic leadership within early Mormonism. Lawrence Foster introduces the concept of prophetic charisma, exploring how it shaped Smith's influence and the development of charismatic leadership in the church. Len Oakes responds to Foster's analysis, discussing the implications of prophetic charisma and its effects on followers. Ronald V. Huggins examines the evolution of key figures in early Mormonism, tracing the transition from Captain Kidd's treasure ghost to the Angel Moroni, highlighting how these changing narratives reflect the broader cultural context of the time. And much more!
The issue of Charismatic Leadership—whether in religious, political, or other types of groups—has been the focus of widespread popular and scholarly attention. The word “charismatic” derives from the name of the Greek goddess Charis and…
As is Usual and to be expected, Lawrence Foster’s article is excellent. Let me simply share a few additional thoughts about how my understanding of the charismatic prophet’s regress and demise has changed since my…
One day in late March 1697, a ship named the Adventure Galley arrived at the Island of Mohilla, one of the Comoro Islands. Its fever-stricken crew careened the vessel for cleaning and then proceeded to…
Dialogue 36.4 (Winter 2004):109–128
JOSEPH SMITH GREW UP in a time and place where folk magic was an accepted part of the landscape. Before he was a prophet, he was a diviner, or more specifically, a scryer who used his peepstone to discover the location of buried treasure.
In a recent issue of Dialogue, Robert M. Price offers his perspective on the origin of the Book of Mormon and a recommendation for how Latter-day Saints should understand the significance of that book.[1] Dr.…
Dialogue 36.4 (Winter 2004):109–128
DID JOSEPH SMITH WRITE the Book of Mormon? To this over-familiar question the orthodox Latter-day Saint answer is a resounding “No” because the official belief is that a series of men with quasi-biblical names wrote the book over many centuries.
[1]During the past year, I have had the opportunity to read and review two significant books Robert Remini’s Joseph Smith (New York: Viking Press, 2003) and Will Bagley’s Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and…
Dialogue 36.4 (Winter 2004):129–167
Instead of lending support to an Israelite origin as posited by Mormon scripture, genetic data have confirmed already existing archaeological, cultural, linguistic, and biological data, pointing to migrations from Asia as “the primary source of American Indian origins
A culture’s level of scientific understanding significantly influences how its religious texts are interpreted. The interplay between scientific discovery and scriptural understanding has been controversial throughout history. For example, the Catholic church’s response to scholars…
One month after Sidney Rigdon’s conversion to Mormonism, he visited Joseph Smith in New York, occasioning the following revelation:
I say unto my servant Sidney, I have looked upon thee and thy works. I have heard thy prayers, and prepared thee for a greater work. Thou art blessed, for thou shalt do great things. Behold, thou wast sent forth, even as John, to prepare the way before me. . .and thou knewest it not. (Doctrine and Covenants, hereafter D&C, 35:3-5)
Julia Murdock Smith was one of the infant twins adopted by Joseph and Emma Smith. She was raised as the oldest child in the Smith household. In recent years, biographers have claimed Julia as primary…
Dialogue 36.4 (Winter 2003): 177–192
In this paper I will briefly discuss what I see as the six major differences between the two churches during the first century of their existence, and then I will look at eight new differences that have emerged over the past forty years or so. I make no claim that either is a complete list.
In his book Power and Innocence, Rollo May defines power as “the ability to cause or prevent change.” May identifies five kinds of power: exploitative, “the simplest and, humanly speaking, most destructive kind of power”; manipulative, which is “power over another person”; competitive, “power against another”; nutrient, “power for the other”; and integrative, “power with another person.”
One Saturday morning Jimmy wondered about himself as he lay in bed instead of watching cartoons on TV or shooting baskets through the hoop under the eaves. They didn’t have a garage, but they didn’t…
The flask lay under a loose plank on the back porch. To someone lifting the board there was only an empty space, but when Wayne knelt and reached to his elbow beneath the adjacent board,…
We had to get to Glendora, California, to comfort our daughter, whose husband had died, suddenly and unexpectedly, the previous Sunday morning. When we finished loading the car and turned the key, nothing happened. The…
I spent my 1970s boyhood in one of those remote subdivisions that had begun sprouting up along the foot of the Oquirrh Mountains in the westernmost part of the Salt Lake Valley. From just about…
My yellow 1946 house faces Provo’s peculiarly Mormon-Utah-style cemetary. Tall trees line small lanes which are set at precise right angles, a perfect grid made by Latter-day pioneer planners. The lanes come complete with miniature…
As is Usual and to be expected, Lawrence Foster’s article is excellent. Let me simply share a few additional thoughts about how my understanding of the charismatic prophet’s regress and demise has changed since my…
This slim volume is intended by its publisher to inaugurate a series of monographs devoted to the study of the infamous 1857 massacre of over 100 emigrants by misguided Mormons and their Indian allies in southern Utah. The massacre was initially treated…
In this biography of Joseph Smith by a non-Mormon historian, we have a short, readable, mostly chronological narrative that presents Joseph Smith and Mormonism as the products of a particular historical period. A professor emeritus…
Armand Mauss, professor emeritus of Sociology and Religious Studies at Washington State University, has produced the authoritative and definitive study of the evolution of Mormon conceptions of race and lineage. As a practicing Latter-day Saint,…
