Item Detail
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27120
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4
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0
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English
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A New "Mormon Moment"? : The Book of Mormon in Literary Studies
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Literature Compass
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November 2016
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13
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11
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John Wiley & Sons
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735–743
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Despite deep popular interest in Mormon culture, scholars have not given significant attention to the religion's central scripture. The Book of Mormon is relevant to literary studies at a moment when the turn to religion and debates over the secularization thesis have captured scholarly attention. Until recently, scholarship on The Book of Mormon was largely polemical and divided between apologists and skeptics. The rise of the new Mormon history beginning in the 1960s helped bring studies of Mormonism tentatively into the mainstream academy. Historians and scholars of religious studies have examined the reception of The Book of Mormon, the rise of the religion in early American culture, and the story of its founder, Joseph Smith. By studying the long-neglected internal workings of the text, literary critics have the opportunity to bring new scholarly techniques to bear on this highly influential American scripture. [Article's abstract]