Item Detail
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27522
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1
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0
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English
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Singular Phenomena : The Evolving Mormon Interpretation of Unidentified Flying Objects
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Between Pulpit and Pew : The Supernatural World in Mormon History and Folklore
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Logan, UT
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Utah State University Press
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97-124
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Michael Schott Van Wagenen illustrates the interplay between doctrine and the supernatural world that is crucial to understanding Mormon folklore. Van Wagenen places the unknown objects that Latter-day Saints witnessed soaring through the night skies within the context of what he calls "the critical juncture between the Nauvoo period and the Mormon exodus to the Rocky Mountains." Mormons of this era interpreted these "singular phenomena" as signs of Jesus Christ's imminent Second Coming. In the aftermath of the Millerites' failed predictions of Christ's return, Latter-day Saints began exploring more rational explanations for these heavenly mysteries. In the mid-twentieth century, however, a number of well-documented encounters with "Unidentified Flying Objects" in the western states helped shape popular Mormon beliefs about such encounters and opened up the possibilities that human life existed throughout God's expansive universe. [Editors' summary]