19th century literature and worldviews, Book of Mormon and masonry

[_Sethbag]

I'm in the middle of the Mormon Expression podcast with George Miller talking about freemasonry, and something struck me. If George is right, and the book "Antiquities of Freemasonry" really did inspire a lot of things in early Mormonism and the Book of Mormon, then that would imply that Joseph Smith believed that what was written in that book was actually true.

So the question is, did George Oliver (author of "Antiquities of Freemasonry") believe that what he wrote was authentic history (ie: it really happened)? If so, did he write based on prior sources, or did he invent the stories himself?

Was it common in the early 19th century to regard what was written in books as necessarily true? In our day we usually have a pretty good idea when an author is intending to write fiction, and when they are intending to write authentic true stories. Was this divide not as clearly seen by folks of Joseph Smith's socioeconomic and educational class?

I think it's clear that Joseph took things he'd read very seriously, and incorporated all kinds of things he read in other books into his theology. Some critics might say Joseph was cynically using this stuff to dupe others while knowing it wasn't true himself. I'm not so sure. With Joseph's "magical" thinking, it's entirely possibly he both believed this stuff, and also used it to further his own agenda (pious fraud).

Anyhow, does anyone know if George Oliver was repackaging material he got from other sources? Did he pass the book off as fiction, or let people believe it was fact?

by the way, Amazon has Antiquities of Freemasonry available through Amazon Prime. My copy arrives on Monday.

[_asbestosman]

Good question Sethbag. I don't know the answer. However, it occurs to me that people took Dante's Divine Comedy to be an accurate description of Hell. I just think of it as classic epic poetry.

Along those lines, I was also wondering whether John Milton's epic poem, Paradise Lost may have influenced Joseph Smith. I say that in part because of things like the war in heaven and the mention of Raphael in the D&C (although that comes from the apocrypha). The Book of Enoch influenced Milton's poem. Names in the Book of Moses are apparently similar too to those in the Book of Enoch. The Tree of Life also comes into play in the Book of Enoch (Knowledge in Milton), but of course this is found in Genesis as well--so the connection may not be important at all.

[_MCB]

Fascinating stuff. I think the influence of Enoch was direct, but I will check and see what I think of an indirect link from Paradise Lost

[_Sethbag]

George Miller said in the podcast (still haven't listened to the second half yet, will finish it today) that Enoch played prominently in the Antiquities of Freemasonry. I'm really anxious to get my copy to read it for myself.

Obviously I don't believe that Joseph Smith was telling the truth in his "revelations" and scriptures that he produced. This is the fraud part of the equation. However, I have thought for several years now that he really was a religious, or at least superstitious man, who lived, intellectually, in a kind of magical universe filled with spirits, angels, and an ancient history like the stories in the Bible, in Antiquities of Freemasonry (assuming George Miller is on to something), like the "magic" proposed in the books referred to in Quinn's "Magical Worldview" book, etc. Pendants, talismans, daggers with symbols on them, sacrificing a goat or dog or whatever to appease spirits, etc. These things were all part of Joseph's worldview. What is a man thinking who believes in magic aprons, a la freemasonry, and Jupiter talismans, and daggers with symbols on them?

I understand that Freemasons nowadays regard all the teachings and rituals as purely symbolic, not as recountings of things that really happened. It seems likely that Joseph Smith believed it, literally.

This takes me back to George Oliver. He wrote "Antiquities of Freemasonry". Did he believe these stories were literal history? Did he invent the stories, or just document stories he inherited from prior authors or passed-down histories? Did he intend for people to take his stories literally, or was he just writing fiction, like the backstories written about video game characters or fan fiction backstories for the Star Wars characters?

[_Sethbag]

It's like all of these "magical" beliefs Joseph read or was taught or exposed to were like individual building blocks, and Joseph took them, mixed and matched them, invented some new ones, and fashioned and arranged them into his own religious edifice. Is it possible he could just make stuff up, like the story of the translation of the Book of Abraham from the Egyptian papyri, and still believe that what he was saying was true? I think it's entirely possible.

Joseph may well have believed in these stories and principles, ie: the ends, and the stories and revelations and scriptures he invented were merely the means of delivering the ends. It's possible that the truth value of the means was simply irrelevent in Joseph's worldview - the ends were everything. The fact that Joseph simultaneously built up his own empire and glorified himself, and became relatively wealthy off the labors of his followers is just something that human beings do, and naturally flowed from Joseph's efforts like water runs downhill. Joseph certainly wouldn't have been the first, nor the last person to build up a religious movement with patently invented beliefs, and yet believe them himself.

[_MCB]

What about the possibility that Joseph Smith, who was repeatedly denied Masonic membership because of his character and poverty, despite a family heritage of Masonic membership and activity, developed the Book of Mormon according to Masonic beliefs, in order to become a Mason. And that membership was still denied him until the Nauvoo period?

[_Sethbag]

MCB, in this idea of yours do you think that Joseph Smith believed the masonic stories as literally true? Or were the ways in which Mormon teachings mimicked the masonic stories merely fan fiction?

[_Fence Sitter]

What about the possibility that Joseph Smith, who was repeatedly denied Masonic membership because of his character and poverty, despite a family heritage of Masonic membership and activity, developed the Book of Mormon according to Masonic beliefs, in order to become a Mason. And that membership was still denied him until the Nauvoo period?

I thought Hyrum was a member of the Palmyra lodge No.112 and if so why deny Joseph and not Hyrum? Can you point me to more about Joseph being denied membership?

Thanks

[_Fence Sitter]

MCB, in this idea of yours do you think that Joseph Smith believed the masonic stories as literally true? Or were the ways in which Mormon teachings mimicked the masonic stories merely fan fiction?

After listening to his podcasts I asked George Miller almost that exact same question. Here is his response.

Fence Sitter wrote:
The one question that kept running through my head in all of it was why would Joseph Smith Jr go to such great lengths to incorporate/expand on all the Masonic stuff if he thought himself a fraud? Do you believe he actually believed in both the Masonic legends and his own prophetic calling?

That is a great question!!! It is my considered opinion that Joseph, like most Masons of his day, believed in the completely literal nature of the Masonic legends. It was not until the late 1900s that Masonic historians began doing serious historical into their origins and it became clear that Masonic history was inaccurate. To answer the first half of the question, my research strongly suggests that Joseph Smith actually believed the Masonic myths and that he was trying to restore what he believed was ancient Masonry.

In the process of researching Joseph Smith, I also did a substantial amount of research on the Smith family's magical beliefs. I actually read the main magical texts that the Smiths were likely reading. I then began to look into sociological literature about the nature and practices of believers in ritual magic. Additionally, I looked into scholastic literature about the biological nature of religious experience and the effects of religious ritual. After studying that, I returned to Joseph Smith's accounts and assessed his description of his own religious experience. Based on this research, it is my own personal opinion that Joseph Smith likely experienced the visions and revelation that he described. To answer the second half of your question, it is my academic opinion that Joseph Smith believed his own personal religious experiences and thus truly believed in his own prophetic calling.

It is up to each individual person to decide whether he believes this religious experience was given to Joseph from God, from biology, or if there is no real difference. That is my own take on things, take it for what it is worth, the opinion of another human being.

[_Bret Ripley]

The George Miller podcasts were excellent. I can't wait for him to publish.

for what it's worth, the text of Oliver's "The Antiquities of Freemasonry" is available for free at GoogleBooks: http://snurl.com/215dmsl