Early Mormonism and the Magic World View [Paperback]

This book is a landmark in the history of Mormon origins. The amount of research which Dr Quinn has put into this is remarkable. Not only are insights into the early LDS church fascinating but the evidence is presented with invaluable and reliable references. As Quinn later demonstrates in the two volumes of Mormon Hierarchy he really knows his subject in a huge amount of depth and detail. This book is essential not only for the student of early Mormonism but also anyone interested in the role of folk magic and the esoteric in nineteenth century America.

The most important thing to say about D. Michael Quinn's treatment of LDS origins and folk magic is that it is the essential work on the subject. Anyone honestly interested in Mormonism has to read this book: there is no substitute. What Quinn has accomplished with his scholarship is absolutely unparalleled in the field. The modern student really cannot understand the LDS movement without studying Quinn's book.

It is also vital to recognize what Quinn has sacrificed for the sake of truth in this treatment. Many Mormons are excommunicated--but usually they are doctrinally disaffected. Quinn is a believing Mormon whose scholarship cost him his fellowship with the LDS Church. This may not reflect well on the church, but it certainly says a lot for Quinn.

Having given these truths appropriate primacy, I turn critical. Quinn has done something amazing in this book--but he could have done it much better. Indeed, as I read and reread it, I was astounded by how such an insightful investigator and thorough scholar could also be such a bonehead. And I still don't understand it to this day.

In this context, I must take pains to protest that Quinn's faults are not those preached by his enemies in the LDS polemical establishment. Almost always, when he is involved in a dispute with one of these, he is in the right. His command of information involving Mormon origins is truly breathtaking, and his critics are generally reduced to redesigning the rules of evidence in every case in order to discredit him. Quinn rightly resents these tactics--which leads him into one of the superficial faults of this edition of the book. He is constantly addressing, in annoying asides, the critiques of these disreputable opponents: it interrupts the course of his argument and renders his tone unbearably peevish. He should give these characters the attention they richly deserve--that is, none. Those unreflective Mormons who can be swayed by their arguments will never be swayed by the force of his, and the rest of his readers won't even be aware of the determined nescience these creatures so shamefully represent.

What really hurts is that Quinn can be so damn dumb about details. The earliest interpretation he can attribute to the IHS that appears on some magical documents--and on the vestments of Catholic priests--is the "In hoc signo" of Constantine. But any Catholic schoolboy knows that IHS can also represent iota-eta-sigma, the first three letters of Jesus' name in Greek. Quinn refers to scholar Ioan Petru Culianu as a "she"--but "Ioan Petru" is "John Peter" in Romanian. These details--largely irrelevant to Quinn's principal argument--multiply so insistently that the literate reader draws back and is almost ready to dismiss the book as a whole.

Similarly, Quinn's style is frequently painful. One particularly repulsive habit is conveying substantive information about a figure after a demonstrative adjective. "This Mormon polemicist.... This German immigrant...." This native speaker of the English language wonders if Quinn just learned it a year before writing the book.

Finally, Quinn's analysis of the relationship between Joseph Smith's magical sources and the distinctive features of LDS theology is the shallowest part of the book--where it really should be the most profound. The reader is essentially left to provide this analysis for himself.

I complain because I was hoping for a more perfect book--a more exalted treatment, if you will. But of all books available, this is the best. Quinn deserves our sincere gratitude for what he has done. He has not so much revolutionized our comprehension of the Restored Gospel as restored it to its original condition.

D. Michael Quinn's book "Early Mormonism and the Magic World View" is a classic in the field of critical studies of the Mormons. Quinn was expelled from the Mormon Church, in part because of this book, but still considers himself a "DNA Mormon". He has also written controversial books on the Mormon hierarchy and Mormon homosexuality, plus a shorter piece on modern Mormon polygamists.

In this book, Quinn argues that the Mormon prophet Joseph Smith was deeply steeped in a magical and occult worldview, and that this influenced early Mormon theology. The thesis is well argued. For instance, Quinn proves conclusively that many books on occult and magical subjects were available in Upstate New York or Joseph Smith's home town Palmyra. While this doesn't necessarily prove that Joseph Smith read the actual books, any parallels between Mormon theology and the contents of such books are at least circumstantial evidence for Quinn's thesis. Quinn also points out that Joseph Smith had astrological gadgets among his personal effects, that he owned several seer stones, and that there are similarities between Smith's story about how he found the Book of Mormon and local legends about magic treasures.

[SEER STONES]

According to folk superstition, seer stones were a powerful tool used to find hidden treasure, but they could also be used to induce religious visions. The seer stones were said to open up a channel of communication to the spirit world. If the seer posed questions to the spirits, they sometimes responded by letters or symbols magically appearing in the seer stone. "Urim and Thummim", with the help of which Joseph Smith supposedly translated the Book of Mormon, are reminiscent of seer stones. According to David Whitmer (one of the Three Witnesses to the supposed authenticity of the Book of Mormon), Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon by looking into a seer stone, where he saw both the Reformed Egyptian hieroglyphs and the English translation.

Joseph Smith owned several seer stones, and according to some testimonies, he found the place where the Book of Mormon supposedly was hidden with the aid of such stones. Martin Harris, another one of the Three Witnesses, said in 1859: "Joseph had a stone which was dug from the well of Mason Chase, twenty-four feet from the surface. In this stone he could see many things to my knowledge. It was by means of this stone he first discovered these plates". The Mormon Hosea Stout said in 1856: "President Young exhibited the Seer's stone with which The Prophet Joseph discovered the plates of the Book of Mormon, to the Regents this evening." Thus, Joseph Smith's successor Brigham Young didn't think the seer stone was particularly embarrassing. For their part, David Whitmer and Martin Harris claimed that Joseph Smith had translated the Book of Mormon with a seer stone. He placed the stone in a black hat and hence saw the translation! A similar method was used by treasure hunters, including Smith before his conversion, to "locate" hidden riches. The Mormon Fredrick Kesler confirmed in 1899 that Urim and Thummim was actually a single seer stone. The Mormon president Lorenzo Snow showed it to him: "I handeled it with my own hands. I felt as though I see & was handling a very Sacred thing. I trust & feel that it will work in his hands as it did in the Prophet Joseph Smith's hands". Snow showed the seer stone to several other people as well.

[ASTROLOGY]

Jospeh Smith's family owned several magical parchments. One of them was called "Holiness to the Lord". The name Raphael is prominent at this parchment. The angel Raphael is connected to the planet Mercury. The year 1823 is ruled by Mercury, and so is September 21. The hour immediately before midnight is likewise ruled by Mercury. Interestingly, it was on the night of September 21, 1823 that Joseph Smith supposedly met the angel Moroni. Joseph Smith's personal planet was Jupiter, he owned a Jupiter amulet, and a cane whose handle was in the form of a snake. The snake was associated with Jupiter. In a revelation from February 1834, Smith uses the pen name Baurak Ale, a reference to the angel Baraqiel. This angel supposedly ruled Jupiter (Smith's planet), the Jewish tribe of Ephraim (which Smith claimed to be descended from), the month of February (when the revelation was given) and the sign of Pisces (also February). Moreover, Baraqiel is the angel who taught humanity the craft of astrology!

[OTHER MAGICAL PARALLELS]

The Book of Mormon was supposedly written in "Reformed Egyptian". Egypt was considered to be the cradle of esoteric knowledge. Joseph Smith claimed to be a literal descendant to the Biblical patriarch Joseph, who lived in Egypt and (surprise) used seer stones to divine the will of God. Joseph had an Egyptian wife, which would make his sons Manasseh and Ephraim half-Egyptians. The Nephites in the Book of Mormon are descended from Manasseh, making them part-Egyptian as well. Joseph Smith himself claimed descent from Josephs other son, Ephraim. Add to this the Book of Abraham, a "translation" of an Egyptian papyrus which somehow had come into Joseph Smith's possession.

Joseph Smith was obsessed with another Biblical character as well, Enoch. He used "Enoch" as a pen name and Enoch plays a prominent part in the Book of Moses, another text "revealed" to Smith by God. Enoch is an important character within Jewish mysticism, and Smith was personally acquainted with a Jewish kabbalist. The Book of Enoch, a Jewish apocryphon, features our old friend Baraqiel. (However, Baraqiel is described as a *fallen* angel, suggesting that Joseph Smith never read any translations of the actual Book of Enoch.)

[CONCLUSION]

Naturally, not all pieces of evidence in "Early Mormonism and the Magical World View" are equally compelling. For instance, it's easy to find connections between astrology and virtually any action taken by Joseph Smith, due to the elastic nature of astrological speculations. It's also easy to find parallels between names in the Book of Mormon and occult expressions, provided you play around a bit. D. Michael Quinn proposes that "Moroni" and "Mormon" might refer to anything from Moors to a ghost named Mormo, or perhaps the supernatural salamanders Moron and Imaron, or was it the servant of Osiris, Maron? Here, it's not entirely clear whether he takes his own ideas completely seriously.

Still, the overall similarities between Mormonism and occultism or magic are so compelling, that one must consider Joseph Smith to have been influenced by such ideas. It's also a well known fact that he later joined the Freemasons and copied some of their rituals, or that he discussed extensively with a Jewish kabbalist. A few of the magical connections lived on even after his death, as when church presidents Brigham Young and Lorenzo Snow bravely showed off Joseph Smith's seer stone.

Perhaps we could say that Joseph Smith was a dark side Mormon?