This seems to be a unique, or at least rather rare, decpiction in Mormon visual culture. I don’t recall seeing any other illustrations out there like it–though that of course doesn’t mean there aren’t any (as Ardis has already demonstrated). Anybody know of any others? I recall seeing an exhibit in the Museum of Church History and Art a few years ago, with artwork and folk art by Church members from around the world. Seems like some of them were published in the Ensign awhile back, but I don’t recall if any depicted anything like the building of the New Jerusalem…. (or 3 Ne 20:16, for that matter)

One page, consisting of two illustrations, grabbed my particular attention.  The caption attending the images–what they are supposed to illustrate–is taken from 2 Nephi 26:19, which reads: “Then those who have dwindled in unbelief [the descendants of the Lamanites] shall be smitten by the hand of the Gentiles.” The caption is sandwiched between two images. On top is a depiction of mounted Spanish conquistadors with drawn swords charging toward two unarmed, darker-skinnned cowering figures in headdresses and (what the illustrator imagines to be) some sort of Aztecian garb. Below that is an image that carries us forward a few hundred years and a bit north in our story of conquest. The setting looks like something from the American West–Arizona or southern Utah. A cowboy is foregrounded, presumably a sheriff (though we can’t see his star, since he is facing away from the viewer). His hand is on his gun at his hip and his gaze is off toward the horizon where, receding from view, a Pueblo Indian family fades into the distance. In the foreground, just to the right of the cowboy’s gun sling, is a wooden sign posted to a barbed wire fence, which reads: “U.S. GOVERNMENT  INDIAN RESERVATION  KEEP OUT”

Since I have sort of been working on a paper on how the Book of Mormon has been imagined and displayed in Mormon visual culture, I was excited to get back to the BYU library (spent most of the past summer in Utah) and get a scan of the image. Rather then look it up on the catalogue, I went right to the section of the HBLL where the Book of Mormon editions are. Rather than the 1967 edition I expected to find, however, I found a much newer and flashier edition published in 2002 by Heritage Media. I began flipping through and found the image I was looking for–but I would hesitate to call it the same image. The colors were a bit muted, the dimesions of the image shrunk, and the caption had been moved to the bottom of the page. But what really stuck out at me–or didn’t stick out at me–was the sign. The wording on the sign was gone, as though it had been air-brused or sand-blasted (or photo-shopped) away!

But if the words are gone, the image is still there, and the message, if not clear, is stark. If, as some have suggested, the Book of Mormon can indeed be read as a postcolonial narrative, these Book of Mormon illustrators–and these publishers of Book of Mormon illustrations–haven’t gotten the message….

So to end with a few questions that might, hopefully, generate some discussion: Do we have a postcolonial Mormon visual culture? Is it possible? And, if so, what would it look like?

A while ago I came across a few references to the use of a “peep stone” that surprised me for several reasons. The date was later than I would have expected: 1856. And the peeper was younger than I expected: about 14 or 15. And the object of peeping was rather unusual.

The references come from a few letters written to Joseph F. Smith during his first mission to the Hawaiian Islands, one from his younger sister, Martha Ann Smith, and two from Martha’s close friend  Jane Fisher (who may have, as other letters seem to suggest, had romantic feelings toward her friend’s older brother). JFS was 15 at the time he left on this mission, in 1854. The first reference is in a letter from Martha Ann. On July 18, 1856, she wrote, “Ma[r]y Jane has been looking is [sic] the peap stone for you and she seen you[.]” The Mary Jane referred to was JFS’s cousin Mary Jane Thompson.

The other references are from letters by Jane Fisher, also referring to Mary Jane Thompson’s use of a peep stone. Referring to the same event Martha Ann wrote of, Jane wrote:  “Mary Jane saw you only last Friday, Martha will tell you how” (Jane Fisher to JFS, Great Salt Lake City, July 20, 1856). Jane again wrote to Joseph F. Smith, again mentioning the peepstone, on May 11, 1857: “I think you have stayed long enough, away, and if you do not come home soon, more than mary, Jane, will take a look in the peepstone. I should like to see you, in little grass House.”

So in the days before webcams, there were other media for communication–something faster than mail, and even more virtual than photography: a peep stone.

As it turns out, Freedom from Religion is a beer shop. (Amazing what a little google search turns up.) The place is run by one Julian Hatch, a distant relative of Senator Orrin Hatch, who at one time ran against him on behalf of the Green Party of Utah. He appears to be a bit of a rabble-rouser, delivering atheist sermons in place of prayers at public meetings, mouthing profanities at his opponents during county meetings and then pressing charges them when they want to brawl (though apparently that ruse didn’t work out in his favor and he had to take some of his signs down).

Of course, that ungenerous portrait is not how Hatch sees himself. He seems to view himself as a martyr to the atheist cause, struggling to “save myself from the tyranny of the Mormon religious powers in the state courts of southern Utah.” That tyranny, as Hatch represents it, takes the form not only of coerced sign removal but also in the anti-environmentalist and racist attitudes of the Mormon ranchers he grew up with and is rebelling against. Now, I agree that Hatch has put his thumb on the pulse of a troubling monster–racism and environmental destruction are problems that ought to be addressed–but I still can’t help but feel that perhaps he has latched onto these ungainly vestiges a bit opportunistically. He wants to rant and his backward neighbors gives him something to rant about. Meanwhile, he is antagonizing rather than reforming the beast.

Casting stones seems a rather foolhardy remedy when removal of motes and beams are more in order.

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[1] The central feature of the collage was a “2ØØ2” bumper sticker, protesting the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City—an obviously futile attempt, but, as per the increased lift prices that resulted, one I can sympathize with, even though I sort of enjoyed the Games.

So, the reference: In JFS’s journal he lists the following items among a catalogue of his possessions that were destroyed in a fire during his first mission to Hawaii: “a deguarian likeness of my Father uncle Joseph and Brigham young, a presant and priceless to me” (JFS diary, entry of June 26, 1856; call # MS 1325, box 1, fd. 3, Church History Library; also available in the Selected Collections DVD set, Volume 1, DVD 26). So, this could be evidence that an image is floating around out there somewhere! Scavengers beware! Eborn could print a second edition!

I’ve pasted below some of my favorite snippets (Jane Fisher’s is my personal fave) from JFS’s letter correspondence, available on the Selected Collections from the Archives of the Church CD-ROM, volume 1, DVD 28.

George W. Gee, May 5, 1857

we have had a refermation here this winter an the people are a going to do better here after the most of of them some area a doing it and some are a going to the states for instance T S Willians he was cut of fom the curch last fall and he has gon back to he states this spring but his oldest gurl did run a way from him the nite before and he did rip and swere a bout it but he has gon and left hur here she was married to david Cimball by unckle lius  we \ aint had any theaters this winter here but this spring we have had some few times have had a surcoss and I have went 2 and seen it

Jane Fisher, Great Salt Lake City, May 11, 1857

I forgot to tell you that, we had reform<(ed> repented of our “sins, been rebaptised into the Church. and in “lieu of “danceing we pray and intsted of going to “theater, we attend metings. “and I can asure you that, <we> feel a great deal better, and injoy the spirit of, the lord much more. however our “leaders, say when we get “right, we shall have balls and then we will dance. right.

Charles E. Griffin, GSLC, S. H. Ward, April 4, 1857

We have had a good time here this winter, tho’ we have had no dancing. I have not been to a dance nor heard of one for a long time. …I have not got another Wife yet, but I could not say that I shall not-when I can finde one to get. I have made two trips North this winter – one to Box elder and one to Ogden but still I can’t say that I have made out yet. I suppose you have heard that John has got another. I saw Merrich when I was “up north”-he has got Two Wives-

William Jasper Harris, February 3, 1857

there is great excitment among the young folks here about getting married but still more among the old ones there is from twenty to forty a getting married evry day there is a great many old men that <think> they will be cut off from the church and be damned if they dont get another wife I believe that Gim is a going to take a ribe I dont know but I shall have to have you bring me some of them native girls well I dont that I have much more to write the folks are a reforming and waking up from their sleep and begining to live a new life and these poor deviles are getting in a hurry and leaving and them that cant take the hint will take you know what

William W. Cluff, Maui, June 25, 1857

 Joseph <would> you believe me if I tell you that I have now got Seven Sister in-Laws mour now than I had when I left home! …I expect we <will> have to take some of the Hawaiian sisters unless we can find some in California, for it will be make hewe loa to go with the intention of geting any in the valleys!

Joseph Fisher, Great Salt Lake City, February 24, 1857

I can inform you that we are all well at present & I fell thankful to our hevenly Father for it  I feel thankful all the day long for the milde chastiseing he has give unto us without pouring out his Jugements upon us he has merely called on us to to reform & repent of our sins renew our covanents & must keep his commandments, or be cut off for this is the last pruning & all the bitter branches must be cut off in order to save the tree & we feel glad that we can say that the majority ha<d>ve joind in with the reformation. the Athorities has sent out mitionarays throughout the valies of the mountains to call on all to repent & the report is that the fire is increasing Dayly  they allso call on all <good> men to get three or four wives whitch business takes mighty well for the last six weeks Brighams office has been crouded Dayly with mariages so that he had to send away 15 or 20 coupel one evening untill the next morning  I have been round a little but I find girls very scarce  John took another last thirsday  James was maried week before  Jane & 2 or 3 girls in the city are single yet not because they havent had offers \ but I think they must be waiting for some of the young misionari<e>s to return So I think you boys had better look out or you will come up misson unless you bring them with you …sutch a racing & runing after girls you never saw for it <is> considered the cheapest way to make saints to marry & make them at home than to emigrate them from furin countries for they will be born under the law & will be abel to keep the law & make perfect saints … you boys had better wrtie & secure some of the girls

Joseph Fielding, GSLC, Jan 6, 1857

Bro Br<i>gham as he said drove with with A slack Line, he was very mindful, and knew well the Weakness of mortal Man but of late, often we have had so long experience he has taken A firm stand, testifying against the Evils that are in our Midst and calling upon us all without exception, to repent, to make Confession and Restitution to all whom we have wronged or offended, whether God or Man, and then to be baptized for the Remission of our Sins, this has caused great searching of hearts, has brought to Light things that were not known or thought of, from which we see plainly that if our Enemies had come upon in this State we could no more have stood then Israel of old could in the Days of Joshua and we know not how soon we may have the Tryal, for the Devil is not dead nor asleep-hence there is little talked of here at present nor for some time past but Reformation  every one is asured that he cannot attain much of the Spirit until he has this humbld himself and reformed his Moral Course if Conduct  A new baptismal Font has been built near the Endowment House for the use of all the Saints that are found worthy, many have been cut off from the Church, and many removed from their Office, others will will not Comply with the Call to repent. and make Restitution and of course will be severed from the Body, you know it has long been talked of A Line being drawn, but we never knew before how it would be drawn; it is understood that our old Enimies are designing Evil against the Saints, and if so we may expect to see Traitors enough to join them, but they are all in the Hands of him that rules in the Heaven, and inasmuch as we humble ourselves and put away the Evil of our doings there is no fear but the Lord will sustain us-You will I suppose have heard of the Death of Brother J M Grant, which took Place on  the 1^st of Dec, his Death seems to have been caused by his own exertions in the Cause of Reformation, he has been very valiant for the Truth, and has left behind him the Name and honor of A faithful Servant of God, I am not yet aware who is to take his Place when it was clearly seen how far we as A People were coming short of the Requirements of the Gospel, and after so long experi-peri ence, and the actual Transgression also, the Sacrement was withheld, in fact it is truly A solemn time, Business is dull, Cash is scarse, and we are having A hard Winter, the bringing in of the emigrating Saints has been attended with great Expence and and Loss owing to the lateness of their starting but after all the Lord is with us, many Missionaries have come home from almost all Parts of the World, who are now appointed to preach as Missionaries in the various Wards and and Settlements of the Saints, they have returned home with good Reports almost universally in those Places w<h>ere the Gospel has been rejected, A faithful Testimony has been bourn so that the People are left without excuse

   Nelson begins his discussion of “occultism in general” by addressing some of the “very old ‘sciences,’ (if I may abuse this long-suffering word a little more in my dire extremity  for a generalazation)” that modern Americans knew simply as “superstition,” namely, witchcraft, necromancy, astrology, and alchemy. Labeling the first two as “black magic” and comparing them to the secret combinations of the Book of Mormon, Nelson warns that “Latter-day Saints have no business meddling with this part of occultism.” Regarding the latter two, he identifies astrology and alchemy as relatively harmless but not necessarily fruitful. In light of current scientific knowledge, he determined that they are basically a waste of time. Hypnotism, the next object of his occultic wanderings, he did warn against however, as it entailed a surrender of agency. Far from harmless, this occultist reality brought the subject under the hypnotists will as a “psychical puppet” powerless to resist the commission of any crime or favor of the hypnotist’s bidding. It is thus not worthy of a Latter-day Saint’s attention other than to loathe it.[1]

     From these Nelson progresses to an “occultism” that was recognized by its practitioners not as an occult art at all but as a bona fide religion: Christian Science. Nelson justifies his classification by identifying the Christian Science doctrine that the only reality is spirit and that “all things corporeal [Christian scientists might say material], including our bodies, are base illusions” as an occult doctrine. In describing Christian Science scripture–the writings of Mary Baker Eddy–Nelson waxes satirical and sarcastic in the extreme. “Volubility spouts unrestrained,” he writes. “Alas, alas, it is as if she had written with her tongue instead of her hand–and what a tongue for disjointed movement!” With jabs that make Mark Twain’s treatment of the Book of Mormon seem itself chloroform, Nelson ridicules Eddy’s “hopelessly garrulous books” as a jumble of hopeless incomprehensibility: “Every paragraph might serve for a beginning just as it might equally serve for an end,” he writes. “Indeed, the pages might be cut loose, stirred up with a pitchfork, then bound together again as they should happen to come, and Mrs. Eddy’s thoughts not suffer seriously thereby.”[2]

If he was perhaps a bit uncharitable in assessing Eddy’s prose, Nelson pulled out all stops when it came to lambasting her doctrines, particularly the idea that mind is the only reality and all material simply illusion. “A cannon ball–an illusion in motion–carries off a soldier’s leg,” Nelson writes in mock scenario. “He loses this useful illusion, not because the cannon ball is anything or the leg anything, but because he changes his mind.” “Now, how long think you,” Nelson queries, “can a man escape the asylum and yet persist in trying to apperceive thoughts like these?”[3]

Lambasting aside, Nelson does recognize some truths in Christian Science, i.e., the idea that mind controls matter, as well as some beneficent praxis, namely, the art of faith healing. But, as Nelson points out regarding the former, “this is by no means a new revelation” but is simply a central theme of all revealed scripture. And as for the latter, they simply reap the rewards of processes they do not understand–processes Latter-day Saints are capable of both performing and understanding. Eddy, therefore, has nothing to offer Latter-day Saints, in Nelson’s estimation, but some delusions to mix with the truths they already have. In short, Christian Science is but a few golden (but by no means novel) truths jumbled together with a lot of meaningless “thistledown.” Christian Scientists can perform a few good functions, sure, but nothing Mormons can’t already do anyhow without all the unnecessary fluff. Thus, Latter-day Saints, who can go directly to the source–the pure fountain–ought to have no interest in drinking from the stream “after it has reached the gutters and sloughs.” “Beware!” Nelson warns his young readers, “Whoever drinks from the Devil’s cup will get wigglers.”[4]

Latter-day Saints were thus wont to view Metaphysical religions in a manner very similar to that with which they tended to view most other religions: as institutions containing partial truths mixed in among many falsehoods and corruptions. Any recognition of truth in such traditions was also typically qualified by a recognition of the limitations and falsehoods that attend it. Occasionally, though cautiously, Latter-day Saints would refer to these truths in order to utilize them. In a letter to her missionary son, Brigham Young’s daughter Susa Young Gates borrowed from Christian Science and New Thought to instruct her son in a way to overcome his homesickness: “The modern Christian Science, called now the ‘New Thought,’ has for its sole religious structure the exercise of the will in bringing about peaceful conditions of both mind and body. They teach you to say, ‘I am love, I am peace, I am health,’ until the actual condition, more or less, surrounds you.” After utilizing this doctrine for a practical end, however, Young Gates was careful to also point out the flaws inherent in the New Thought, lest, perhaps, her son be led astray unwittingly: “They have one end of a great truth; but the other end rests in the mists of spiritualism and mysticism, and the soul who follows this ignis fatuus will find itself some day wandering alone and desolate crying peace, peace, when there is no peace.” Young Gates is generous enough, however, to recognize a shared truth at the core of each religion:  “the central truth, that of faith, hope and trust, that abides.”[5] As Young Gates’s letter indicates, Latter-day Saints typically (and not altogether inaccurately) conflated the related Christian Science and its disowned offspring, New Thought.

to be continued… next up: spiritualism, a class issue.

Bruce Jorgensen is looking for submissions for this year’s Mormon Letters session at RMMLA-a great opportunity to present at a conference, especially for anyone doing stuff in Mormon literature or film. I’ve posted Jorgensen’s CFP and submission details below:

For about three decades, since shortly after its organization, AML has had a “conjoint” or (now) “affiliated” session at the annual Convention of the Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association. This year, as of the program deadline for the RMMLA Convention, no program for the AML session had been filed. With permission from the RMMLA Secretariat, I’m attempting a rescue mission with this rather belated call for papers.

If I can put a session together by the 1 August 2008 deadline for the final print version of the program, we’re on; if not, we’re still a permanent affiliate, and we can try again for next year.

I’m open to proposals on any topic, writer, or literary work within the broadest definition of Mormon literature (including film). With the recent success of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series, fantasy by Mormon writers might be an obviously apt topic; but it’s only one among many possibilities, and I’d be quite content with a miscellaneous session. For presentation, papers should be about 15 minutes long (7 to 8 double-spaced pages). Inquiries or proposals (even sketchy ones) can be emailed to me at bruce_jorgensen@byu.edu . This year’s RMMLA Convention meets 9-11 October 2008 in Reno, and the preliminary program, now posted at rmmla.org, lists the AML session Saturday morning (11 October) from 8:30 to 10:00 a.m. I’m presenting in and chairing another session at RMMLA, so I’m not eligible to present in or chair the AML affiliated session. But if I get enough proposals (3 good ones will do) to set up a program, I will likely just ask one of the presenters to chair the session. Presenters whose proposals are accepted will need to pay RMMLA dues of $35 for their names and paper titles to appear on the program. Forms for dues, for the Convention pre-registration fee ($85), and other information about the Convention are available online at http://rmmla.wsu.edu/conferences/default.asp

B. W. Jorgensen, Assoc. Prof. of English, 4038 JFSB, BYUProvo, UT 84602.

      Eventually Mormons had more to say about Theosophy than simple remarks about Blavatsky’s footwear. By 1893, according to Juvenile Instructor columnist Jacob Spori, some Saints were apparently even being “led away by erroneous doctrines…falsely called ‘Theosophy.’” Concern over this waywardness was one of the themes of the Saints’ semi-annual conference that year. Summing up those warnings for young readers, Spori pinpointed what he, and apparently church leaders, identified as the main fallacies and deceptions of the movement: “When somebody comes up and denies the resurrection, doubts the atonement, professes to have revelations by spirits that give doctrines contrary to those in Church books, performs, perhaps, healings and other miracles through his gifts, and then calls all this ‘theosophy’ then, be sure, my dear young friends, that this is not theosophy but theo-sophistry, and a very dangerous deception.”[3]. As the description suggests, what the Saints were calling “false theosophies” or “theo-sophistries” included most metaphysical religions of the time, including spiritualism, Christian Science, and New Thought, as well as the doctrines promoted by the Theosophical Society.

            Following in the same vein as Spori and greatly expanding on his efforts to steer Mormon children aright in negotiating between true and bogus theosophies, in 1895 Brigham Young University professor N. L. Nelson wrote a series of articles for the Mormon youth periodical The Contributor titled “Theosophy and Mormonism.”[4]. This six-part series was much more than an exposé of the Theosophical Society, however, and covered a wide array of associated movements ranging from occultism in general to Christian Science to hypnotism to spiritualism, weighing each against the revealed doctrines of Mormon scripture. Nelson’s aim in writing the article was to present these movements to young readers in such away that they may steer clear of the ensnarement or deception that curiosity regarding the dark arts or indoctrination at the hands of a metaphysician might bring to pass. Perhaps the fullest treatment on the issue of Mormon perceptions of these movements, these articles are also of course in many ways more idiosyncratic than representative of the Mormon view. They demonstrate, however, the concern one mature Mormon thinker felt for young Latter-day Saints who might come into contact with these strains of thought or who might be confronted with the possibility of participation in one of the several societies associated with the metaphysical movement.

To be continued…

(next up: witchcraft, necromancy, astrology, alchemy, hypnotism, and Christian Science-oh my!)

[3] Jacob Spori, “True and False Theosophy,” Juvenile Instructor 28, issue 21 (1893): 672.

[4] N. L. Nelson, “Theosophy and Mormonism,” Contributor 16, no. 7 (May 1895): 425-31; 16, no. 8 (June 1895): 482-91; 16, no. 9 (July 1895): 562-68; 16, no. 10 (August 1895), 617-25; 16, no. 11 (September 1895): 698-705; 16, no. 12 (October 1895): 729-39.