Item Detail
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27971
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4
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0
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English
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The Political Kingdom as a Source of Conflict
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Mormonism and American Culture
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New York, NY
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Harper & Row
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112-26
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The Mormons saw themselves as heirs to the ancient covenants of Abraham, believing that God had set aside for them a portion of the great West as an everlasting inheritance. They believed that only divinely inspired political leaders could justly govern the society they were destined to establish. They fastened upon the imagery of Daniel, chapter 7 to proclaim in 1844 that the time to establish the Kingdom of God upon the earth had come. In essence, the Kingdom of God was anti-pluralistic, combining social, economic, and political power under the leadership of a modern-day prophet who served as mayor, judge, realtor, political boss, and military chief. It was for this reason that many Americans considered the Kingdom singularly anti-American. Klaus Hansen, now at Queens University, Ontario, explores the effect that the political aspects of the Kingdom had in stirring antipathy toward the Mormons from New York to Utah. [Editors' summary]