Joseph Smith going to 'pagan' sources for inspiration.

[_karl61]

I'm rereading Dan Vogel's essay on Joseph Smith and the Masons in the book American Apocrypha . The thoughts are complex but he makes it very simple to understand. He writes well. One thought I had today, and I saw this (I think in another book) was why Joseph Smith would go to pagan sources for inspiration - Maybe some would say he is an opportunist on steroids. He wrote "anti-mason Bible" and wrote about the great whore - the great and abomniable church and Vogel shows how Joseph was really writing about the masons. But in the 1840's Joseph goes to the great whore, copies the ceremony and puts it in his religion.

Another writer (I can't remember who) wrote that it is absurd to think that the God of the old testament would use a pagan (Egyptian) funeral text as a catalyst to write scripture.

Maybe if Orson Hyde brought a stone from the old temple back from Jerusalem (and traded it to get his wife back) and Joseph used that stone to get the revelation then that would be a better catalyst but not a document from a people who were reportedly anti-Israel to the extreme.

[_Trinity]

I'm currently re-reading Quinn's Early Mormonism and Magic World View. I believe he does an excellent job as well in explaining the environment Joseph was raised in that encouraged his use of magic/occult activities. Joseph Smith Sr, for instance, is well documented for his dabbles with divinations and enchantments and much of the Smith family was steeped in that magic world view thinking.

[_karl61]

I'm currently re-reading Quinn's Early Mormonism and Magic World View. I believe he does an excellent job as well in explaining the environment Joseph was raised in that encouraged his use of magic/occult activities. Joseph Smith Sr, for instance, is well documented for his dabbles with divinations and enchantments and much of the Smith family was steeped in that magic world view thinking.

I might recommend American Apochrypha edited by Dan Vogel and Brent Metcalfe for your next book. Every Essay in the book is like a comet going through temple square.

[_LifeOnaPlate]

Every Essay in the book is like a comet going through temple square.

And not scathing a square-inch of it.

[_karl61]

Every Essay in the book is like a comet going through temple square.

And not scathing a square-inch of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAP2KLk920w

are you sure?