Item Detail
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31437
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0
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4
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English
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Methodism as Context for Joseph Smith’s First Vision
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BYU Studies
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2020
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59
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2
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Provo, UT
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Brigham Young University Press
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149-165
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"Joseph Smith and his family had considerable contact with Methodism in Vermont and New York. Methodists of this place and time, including Fanny Newell, James P. Horton, Billy Hibbard, and Jarena Lee, experienced and shared their visions and inspired impressions. Methodist leaders such as Freeborn Garrettson saw God’s spirit in such events, but others worked to steer Methodists toward more respectability, less zeal, and more education about religion. The Methodist turn toward middle-class respectability of the early nineteenth century preceded a similar shift in Mormonism by about sixty years. Whether the transition from enthusiasm to refinement has been a positive development is beyond the scope of this article, but what is clear is that the tension in Methodist groups provided a backdrop for Joseph Smith’s visions." [Publisher]