Title: Believing history : Latter-day Saint essays /
Authors: Bushman, Richard L.; Neilson, Reid L., 1972-; Woodworth, Jed.
Publisher: Columbia University Press,
Year: 2004
Subjects: Smith, Joseph,; Book of Mormon Criticism, interpretation, etc.
Abstract: Joseph Smith cannot be dismissed as a colorful fraud, Bushman argues, nor seen only as a restorer of religious truth. Entangled in nineteenth-century Yankee culture -- including the skeptical Enlightenment -- Smith was nevertheless an original who cut his own path. And while there are multiple contexts from which to draw an understanding of Joseph Smith (including magic, seekers, the Second Great Awakening, communitarianism, restorationism, and more), Bushman suggests that Smith stood at the cusp of modernity and presented the possibility of belief in a time of growing skepticism. When examined carefully, the Book of Mormon is found to have intricate subplots and peculiar cultural twists. Bushman discusses the book's ambivalence toward republican government, explores the culture of the Lamanites (the enemies of the favored people), and traces the book's fascination with records, translation, and history. Yet Believing History also sheds light on the meaning of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon today. How do we situate Mormonism in American history? Is Mormonism relevant in the modern world? Believing History offers many surprises. Believers will learn that Joseph Smith is more than an icon, and non-believers will find that Mormonism cannot be summed up with a simple label. - Publisher.
Contents: pt. 1. Belief: Faithful history ; My belief ; Learning to believe ; The social dimensions of rationality -- pt. 2. The Book of Mormon and history: The Book of Mormon and the American Revolution ; The Book of Mormon in early Mormon history ; The Lamanite view of Book of Mormon history ; The recovery of the Book of Mormon ; The Book of Mormon and its critics -- pt. 3. Joseph Smith and culture: Joseph Smith and skepticism ; Joseph Smith in the current age ; Making space for the Mormons ; The visionary world of Joseph Smith ; Was Joseph Smith a gentleman? : the standard for refinement in Utah ; Joseph Smith as translator ; The "little, narrow prison" of language : the rhetoric of revelation ; A Joseph Smith for the twenty-first century.