Item Detail
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22822
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8
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0
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English
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"Rely Upon the Things Which are Written" : Text, Context, and the Creation of Mormon Revelatory Records
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Milwaukee, WI
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University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
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97
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Master's thesis
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"Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon Church, claimed to receive revelation from God. His followers believed in his prophetic role and acted upon the divine commandments Smith provided. While the content of these religious texts can reveal aspects of Smith's religiosity, the context of the texts' creation can reveal aspects of Smith's record-keeping mentality. Initially Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church) failed to create records, an understandable oversight, due to the oral culture surrounding him. Yet as he began his record-keeping endeavor, Smith limited himself to one type of record, namely divine texts or scripture. Mormonism's oral culture is seen not only in the reminiscences of oral transactions, but in the later 'bridge' documents containing a shadow of that oral culture. This thesis will explore the types of documents that reveal this larger oral culture and attempt to dissect this scriptural record keeping, setting the proper context of their creation, and outlining their limitations. This thesis will place Mormon record-keeping within the larger American religious experiences as well. Nineteenth century America was not only a heavily religious environment, but an oral culture where transactions and experiences were often documented via word of mouth. The study of non-Mormon religious record-keeping practices, or the lack thereof, results in a better understanding of the unique and one-sided records of early Mormonism, and vice versa. In addition, this thesis will show that the scripture Smith produced further prompted other record-keeping endeavors and also reflected the attitude of these sacred record-keeping efforts. The thesis concludes with a detailed study of the actual way commandments were received, shared, regulated, and presented to the world through the end of 1831. This thesis, while narrative in its approach, methodologically analyzes records kept by Smith and other early leaders of the Mormon Church, helping historians and archivists better understand the limitations and expectations of the scriptural records kept or not kept by the early nineteenth century church. Not only are original records analyzed, but a wide spectrum of reminiscent accounts, including those by Smith himself, are incorporated." [Author's abstract]
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Americanist Approaches to the Book of Mormon
"Archives of the Better World": The Nineteenth-Century Historian's Office and Mormonism's Archival Flexibility
Contextualizing Revelations: Changing Attitudes towards Sacred Texts in the Church of Christ, 1829–1831
Early Mormon Priesthood Revelations : Text, Impact, and Evolution
Producing Ancient Scripture: Joseph Smith's Translation Projects in the Development of Mormon Christianity
The Oxford Handbook of Mormonism
The Power of Godliness : Mormon Liturgy and Cosmology
“To Read the Round of Eternity” : Speech, Text, and Scripture in The Book of Mormon