This morning while scrolling through Yahoo’s newsfeed I came across the article “What Jesus Really Said About Heaven and Hell,” a blurb from Bart Ehrman’s new book Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife. In the burb, Ehrman argues that the the popular notion notion among Christians of heaven and hell is wrong because Jesus and the Jews didn’t teach it. Instead, Ehrman argues, Jesus taught that the wicked would be totally destroyed while the righteous would be resurrected and live on earth. But Jesus and the Jews did not believe in a soul that that could live apart from the body. That was a Greek idea.
I leave aside the legitimacy of Ehrman’s argument–not surprisingly, a whole lot of people took exception in the comments–and I’ll only note that Ehrman’s idea was argued by a number of Anabaptist and other radicals in the early modern period (called psychopannychism, mortalism, or soul sleep, see N. T. Burns, Christian Mortalism from Tyldale to Milton [1972]). It’s currently taught by Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Brian Q. Cannon and Clyde A. Milner II, eds., Reconstruction and Mormon America (University of Oklahoma Press, 2019).
In his 2002 presidential address for the Western History Association, Elliot West argued that American historians needed to think more broadly and holistically when considering race in the nineteenth century. The conflict between North and South over slavery that led to the Civil War was not the only problem surrounding race that vexed D.C. politicians. He writes:
At the moment we took the most dramatic step in our history toward racial justice, freeing one nonwhite people from slavery, we were gathering up skulls of another, and doing it on the premise that this nation was composed of starkly defined races that learned men could tabulate into an obvious hierarchy from best to worst. (1)
Six years later, West explained this further by arguing for what he called a “Greater Reconstruction” that spanned from the annexation of Texas in 1845 to the United States defeat of the Nez Percein 1877. (2) During this period, the United States government tried to assert power over two separate and simultaneous processes: successionist claims of the South over the institution of slavery and westward expansion in spite of the host of sovereign people occupying those lands. Greater Reconstruction thus implies both the expansion of federal power and the ways it strove to incorporate and exclude racial and religious others from citizenship. West argues that Reconstruction is best understood under a broader frame that incorporates federal actions in the West as well as the South.
Mormon Reconstruction takes West’s claims and tests them against the historical experiences of Mormons in the West during the nineteenth century. In doing so, this slate of well-accomplished scholars – in both Mormon history and Western history – tests Reconstruction in the West more generally to see how the idea of Greater Reconstruction works on the Mormon case. The essays in the edited collection come from the contributions and discussion from a 2017 seminar held at the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University.
The most compelling chapters of the bookare the ones that explicitly define (and problematize) the relationship between Mormonism and Reconstruction. Patrick Mason, for example, questions whether the term Reconstruction can be applied to a religious culture still in construction. Rachel St John builds on Mason’s critique of Mormon (re)construction and argues that the term loses its meaning when used to expansively cover both the South and the West. Reconstruction in the South occurred in the aftermath of the Civil War and the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments. It was a rebuilding effort for a nation fractured over slavery. In the West, however, the federal government was still working to establish its authority. The federal government was still building its presence in the West as it was Reconstructing its presence in the South.
Elliot West and Rachel St John offer divergent methods. West urges historians to consider Reconstruction as a national project that took different forms in the West and the South; only then, he says, can we understand the contradictory relationships the state created as its power grew over the course of the nineteenth century. St John, by contrast, wants historians to get specific about what Reconstruction is. Does Greater Reconstruction entail a particular kind of state building and population control? Have we stretched Reconstruction’s time period so far that its boundaries no longer have a distinct meaning? Answering these questions, St John argues, shows that the connections between the history of the West and the South become “both too historically specific and insufficiently broad to encompass the diverse and far-reaching processes of state formation, nation building, colonization, and subordination of racial and minority groups that shaped North America in the nineteenth century.” (188)
If specificity is the goal, applying Mormon history to the already nebulous term of Greater Reconstruction creates another problem. What period of nineteenth century Mormon history merits the term Reconstruction? Authors of the volume seem undecided on this question. Angela Pulley Hudson engages with the idea of Mormon expulsion in the 1830s and 40s as potentially part of the Reconstruction experience. The majority of the authors focus on the Utah War in the late 1850s as the main period of Mormon Reconstruction. Meanwhile, I was surprised to find little explicit discussion of the 1880s when the federal government cracked down on the enforcing laws criminalizing polygamy (a period that legal historian Sarah Barringer Gordon called “Second Reconstruction”). (3) This multiplicity of moments in Mormon history (spanning fifty years) represents a whole array of interactions with the federal government. During these fifty years both the federal government and Mormonism as a movement changed and grew immensely. What does it mean then to speak collectively about a Mormon Reconstruction that references all these different moments?
What this book does best is model how historians of different backgrounds can come together disagree on a concept in a productive way. The diversity of the chapters give us a sense of the spirited debate that Brian Q. Cannon and Clyde A. Milner II fostered during their symposium. The idea of Reconstruction and Mormonism’s place inside it is never taken for granted in this book but something that authors can discuss, expand upon, and question.
(2) Elliott West, The Last Indian War the Nez Perce Story, Pivotal Moments in American History (Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press, 2009).
(3) Sarah Barringer Gordon, The Mormon Question: Polygamy and Constitutional Conflict in Nineteenth-Century America (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2002) 144. The lack of discussion of the 1880s is a lost opportunity for the authors of this book, for a few reasons. Firstly, Mormons explicitly saw the conflict between them and the federal government through the lens of Reconstruction politics. They referred to federal agents as carpetbaggers and created political ties with Southern politicians based on a shared sympathy from this experience. Additionally, the raids of the 1880s (and 1890s) represent an opportunity to broaden the Mormon element of Reconstruction beyond just Utah. The mass imprisonment of Mormon men occurred not just in Utah but also in Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, and Wyoming.
From friend-of-JI Katherine Pollock. Thanks, Katherine!
About:Restoration Studies is an annual publication combined with the Fall/Winter John Whitmer Historical Association (JWHA) Journal. Restoration Studies focuses on theology, religious, and cultural studies in Latter Day Saint Movements.
It is April 28th. On this day in 1842, Joseph Smith attended the meeting of the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo and delivered a powerful sermon that included a revelation that women were to lay hands on the sick, anoint with oil, and bless. It just so happens that I was talking to a close friend about this a couple of days ago, and I realized that I had never written up a bit of material on the topic.
Lot Smith: Mormon Pioneer and American Frontiersmanwritten by Carmen R. Smith and Talana Hooper covers the life of Lot Smith and his large family including eight wives and over fifty children. The book’s subtitle Mormon Pioneer and American Frontiersman are fitting umbrella terms that acknowledge many of Lot Smith’s roles on the Mormon Colonial Frontier. This is a comprehensive examination of Smith’s life from his involvement in Utah frontier wars to his lifelong defense of and dedication to the Mormon church and leadership. Smith exhibited a devotion to the church that propelled his military action. Known as a hero in the church during the Utah War of 1857 where he engaged in risky acts like burning the supply wagon of federal soldiers, he also served in the Union Army during the Civil War protecting and rebuilding the US telegraph lines and mail lines to guarantee open communication between Utah and the Northern US.
We sincerely hope that you and your loved ones are safe and healthy, and that you have found things that bring you joy in these uncertain times. Creating a meaningful goal can be one of the best ways to invigorate life and look ahead with hope. And we have a boost to help you get there.
MWHIT is thrilled to offer two research grants annually to forward work in Mormon women’s history, one for a student and one for an independent scholar. In reviewing academic articles and books about Mormon history from 2019, we noted a serious lack of contribution from women authors. This year we would like to focus these funds to help women scholars submit their work for publication. Whether these funds are devoted to childcare to allow blocks of time to finish writing, travel for a final research trip, editing assistance to help dissolve anxiety–use these funds for whatever that last hurdle is that has been stopping you from sending your work to academic journals and presses for publication. The work of women scholars desperately needs to be shared, and that means YOU or someone you know! Forward this email to a friend who may also be interested. The deadline to apply for an MWHIT research grant is Friday, May 1, 2020.
Click here for details on the Student Grant and here for details on the Independent Scholar grant.
Thank you to all who have supported our bazaars and other fundraising efforts to bring this goal to fruition!
In 2011 and 2014, our own Ben P. set out a theoretical Mormon history “canon” or “comprehensive exams list.” Here’s what he wrote in 2014: “It is designed as a template for a grad student’s theoretical comprehensive exam list (though I should again emphasize that I’d think it’d be a stupid idea for a grad student to dedicate a portion of a comprehensive exam merely to Mormonism). Thus, books need to cover a broad swath of topics, chronologies, and approaches in order to be inclusive, but they should also match a particular level of quality.”
With all of this indoor time and time to finish long-thought-of-but-not-written blog posts, I decided to try my hand at it. While Ben stuck to naming 25 books to orient one to the field, I went to 42 and wrote a list for those studying American history. I plan to write one for religious studies, but we will see what time I have to do that in future months.
IMPORTANT: This reflects my own interests and biases. It is not definitive. If I didn’t include your book or your cousin’s best friend’s bowling coach’s book that doesn’t mean that I don’t like it. These are introductory books that set the table for future study in American history. Other titles may appear on other lists.
The William A. Wilson Folklore Archive at Brigham Young University’s L. Tom Perry Special Collections is collecting the stories of Latter-day Saint missionaries who have served during the COVID-19 pandemic. If you or someone you know may be interested in sharing their story, please contact the curator, Christine Blythe at Christine_blythe [at] byu [dot] edu. The interviews will become a part of a broader collection of Latter-day Saint experiences with COVID-19. Please help us document this unique era in world and Latter-day Saint history.
This post was written by Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Auckland and an historian with Church History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. An affordable paperback edition of her China and the True Jesus will be released next month.
On Sunday, 29 March, Russell M. Nelson, president of the 16-million-member Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, released a video from Salt Lake City calling on church members everywhere to join in a fast “to pray for relief from the physical, emotional, and economic effects of this global pandemic.”
Some 71 years before, on 6 April 1949, members of the True Jesus Church around the world responded to the call of their leader, Wei Yisa to fast and “pray for peace.” Communist forces were advancing on the city of Nanjing, where the church headquarters was located. Shortages were severe and prices were skyrocketing.
On March 20, 2020, the First Presidency and the Quorum of Twelve Apostles announced that “substantial numbers of missionaries will likely need to be returned to their home nations to continue their service.”
The mass return of missionaries to Utah made headlines on March 22 hundreds of friends and family members piled into the Salt Lake Airport to greet their returning loved ones despite directions to maintain social distancing protocols. This was certainly an unfortunate incident but there is another conversation occurring in relation to the returning missionaries that has nothing to do with their controversial homecomings (which fortunately seem to have become more creative than dangerous since the 22nd.) Latter-day Saints have long believed that one of the major events preceding the Second Coming will be when missionaries are “called home.” My purpose in writing this post is to provide background for a conversation many Latter-day Saints are having and many scholars have been asked to weigh in on.
Steve Fleming on Study and Faith, 5:: “The burden of proof is on the claim of there BEING Nephites. From a scholarly point of view, the burden of proof is on the…”
Eric on Study and Faith, 5:: “But that's not what I was saying about the nature of evidence of an unknown civilization. I am talking about linguistics, not ruins. …”
Steve Fleming on Study and Faith, 5:: “Large civilizations leave behind evidence of their existence. For instance, I just read that scholars estimate the kingdom of Judah to have been around 110,000…”
Eric on Study and Faith, 5:: “I have always understood the key to issues with Nephite archeology to be language. Besides the fact that there is vastly more to Mesoamerican…”
Steven Borup on In Memoriam: James B.: “Bro Allen was the lead coordinator in 1980 for the BYU Washington, DC Seminar and added valuable insights into American history as we also toured…”
David G. on In Memoriam: James B.: “Jim was a legend who impacted so many through his scholarship and kind mentoring. He'll be missed.”
Recent Comments
Steve Fleming on Study and Faith, 5:: “The burden of proof is on the claim of there BEING Nephites. From a scholarly point of view, the burden of proof is on the…”
Eric on Study and Faith, 5:: “But that's not what I was saying about the nature of evidence of an unknown civilization. I am talking about linguistics, not ruins. …”
Steve Fleming on Study and Faith, 5:: “Large civilizations leave behind evidence of their existence. For instance, I just read that scholars estimate the kingdom of Judah to have been around 110,000…”
Eric on Study and Faith, 5:: “I have always understood the key to issues with Nephite archeology to be language. Besides the fact that there is vastly more to Mesoamerican…”
Steven Borup on In Memoriam: James B.: “Bro Allen was the lead coordinator in 1980 for the BYU Washington, DC Seminar and added valuable insights into American history as we also toured…”
David G. on In Memoriam: James B.: “Jim was a legend who impacted so many through his scholarship and kind mentoring. He'll be missed.”