31655

1

259

Dissertation

English

Blythe, Christopher James;Bills, Wayne R.

Vernacular Mormonism : The Development of Latter-Day Saint Apocalyptic (1830-1930)

Tallahassee, Florida

Florida State University

2015

Doctoral

"This study examines the development of apocalypticism in Mormon culture from the nineteenth century to the early twentieth century. Specifically, it argues that a major shift in apocalyptic thought in the twentieth century was essential for the Americanization of Mormons during the period of transition (1890-1930). The early Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints possessed a radical eschatology, emphasizing dualism and the imminence of the apocalypse. Following the murder of their prophet, Joseph Smith, Mormons came to see themselves as a distinctive people from other Euro-Americans, which they referred to as Gentiles. They expected the soon collapse of the American government as a result of their culpability in Smith's death, as well as other examples of persecution. Throughout the nineteenth century, the relationship between Mormonism and their fellow Americans was defined by this millenarian logic. It was only after Utah was received as a state in the Union that Mormons began to embrace a more moderate millenarian thought. In addition to historicizing the subject of apocalypticism in Mormonism, this study examines how the regulation of apocalyptic prophecy ultimately resulted in a new understanding of how lay Mormons should properly experience and narrate the experience of their faith. Throughout the nineteenth century, it was popular for Mormons to narrate visions, dreams, and prophecies, often including narratives of the apocalypse. During the period of transition, the Church hierarchy did not directly refute previous understandings of millenarian thought. Instead, they opposed popular vernacular prophecies, which continued to promote a nineteenth-century Mormon worldview. By regulating these prophecies and marginalizing those who shared them, Church leaders articulated new rules for the sharing of charismata." [Publisher]

Church practices, 20th century
Architecture, vernacular
Television
Public image
Broadcasting
Doctrinal history, apocalypticism

Nonviolent Responses and Mormon Attitudes: Reasons and Realities

'A Banner is Unfurled' : Mormonism's Ensign Peak
A Brief History of the Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints (Commonly Called Mormons)
Adoptive Sealing Ritual in Mormonism
All Abraham's Children : Changing Mormon Conceptions of Race and Lineage
A Mormon Bibliography 1830-1930 : Books, Pamphlets, Periodicals, and Broadsides Relating to the First Century of Mormonism
A Mormon Bigfoot : David Patten's Cain and the Conception of Evil in LDS Folklore
A Mormon Chronicle : The Diaries of John D. Lee, 1848-1876
A Mormon Mother : An Autobiography of Annie Clark Tanner
An Address to All Believers in Christ. By a Witness to the Divine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon
An "American Mahomet" : Joseph Smith, Muhammad, and the Problem of Prophets in Antebellum America
An American Prophet's Record : The Diaries and Journals of Joseph Smith
"And I Saw the Hosts of the Dead, Both Small and Great" : Joseph F. Smith, World War I, and His Visions of the Dead
A Nessie in Mormon Country
An Intimate Chronicle : The Journals of William Clayton
A Peculiar People : Anti-Mormonism and the Making of Religion in Nineteenth-Century America
As a Thief in the Night : The Mormon Millennialist View
A Sermon in the Desert : Belief and Behavior in Early St. George, Utah
A Study of the Problem of a Personal Devil and its Relationship to Latter-day Saint Beliefs
"As Ugly as Evil" and "As Wicked as Hell" : Gadianton Robbers and the Legend Process among the Mormons
"A Uniformity So Complete" : Early Mormon Angelology
A Voice of Warning and Instruction to All People: Containing a Declaration of the Faith and Doctrine of the Church of the Latter-day Saints, Commonly Called Mormons.
Between Pulpit and Pew : The Supernatural World in Mormon History and Folklore
Blood of the Prophets : Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows
Brigham Young : American Moses
Brigham Young : Pioneer Prophet
By the Hand of Mormon : The American Scripture that Launched a New World Religion
Carthage Conspiracy : The Trial of the Accused Assassins of Joseph Smith
Civil War Saints
Collected Discourses Delivered by President Wilford Woodruff, his two Counselors, the Twelve Apostles and Others, Volumes 1-5, 1886-1898
Conflict in the Camps of Israel : The 1853 Cutlerite Schism
Conflict in the Quorum : Orson Pratt, Brigham Young, Joseph Smith
Cowboy Apostle : The diaries of Anthony W. Ivins, 1875-1932
Critical Analysis of Certain Apocryphal Reports in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as Related by Members of the Church
Crossroads in the West : The Intersections of the Donner Party and the Mormons
Danish Apostle : The Diaries of Anthon H. Lund, 1890-1921
Differing Visions : Dissenters in Mormon History
Does Beelzebub Have a Body? The Corporal Nature of Satan in Early Restoration Experience and Thought
Doing the Works of Abraham : Mormon Polygamy : Its Origin, Practice, and Demise
Early Mormonism and the Magic World View
Early Scenes in Church History
Edwin Rushton as the Source of the White Horse Prophecy
Equal Rites : The Book of Mormon, Masonry, Gender, and American Culture
Excavating Mormon Pasts : The New Historiography of the Last Half Century
Exhibiting Mormonism : The Latter-day Saints and the 1893 Chicago World's Fair
Exiles in a Land of Liberty : Mormons in America, 1830-1846
Exploring the Great Salt Lake : The Stansbury Expedition of 1849-50
Fate and the Persecutors of Joseph Smith : Transmutations of an American Myth
Forgotten Kingdom : The Mormon Theocracy in the American West, 1847-1896
From Historian to Dissident : The Book of John Whitmer
From Mission to Madness : Last Son of the Mormon Prophet
From Peoplehood to Church Membership : Mormonism's Trajectory since World War II
George Laub's Nauvoo Journal
Global Mormonism in the 21st Century
God and the People : Theodemocracy in Nineteenth-Century Mormonism
"God Has Made Us a Kingdom" : James Strang and the Midwest Mormons
“Have We Not Had a Prophet Among Us?” : Joseph Smith’s Civil War Prophecy
Hearken, O Ye People : The Historical Setting for Joseph Smith's Ohio Revelations
History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Period I : History of Joseph Smith, the Prophet, by Himself
Homeward to Zion : The Mormon Migration from Scandinavia
How Long O Lord? The Delay of the Parousia in Mormonism
I Knew the Prophets : An Analysis of the Letter of Benjamin F. Johnson to George F. Gibbs, Reporting Doctrinal Views of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young
Images of the New Jerusalem : Latter Day Saint Faction Interpretations of Independence, Missouri, 1830-1992
In Heaven as It Is on Earth : Joseph Smith and the Early Mormon Conquest of Death
In Sacred Loneliness : The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith
'It Seems Like Heaven Began on Earth' : Joseph Smith and the Constitution of the Kingdom of God
John Doyle Lee : Zealot, Pioneer Builder, Scapegoat
John T. Clark : The "One Mighty and Strong"
Joseph Bates Noble : Polygamy and the Temple Lot Case
Joseph, Brigham and the Twelve : A Succession of Continuity
Joseph Smith and the Masons
Joseph Smith and the Millenarian Time Table
Joseph Smith as a Student of Hebrew
Joseph Smith III : Pragmatic Prophet
Joseph Smith III's 1844 Blessing and the Mormons of Utah
Joseph (Smith) in Egypt : Babel, Hieroglyphs, and the Pure Language of Eden
Joseph Smith, Jesus, and Satanic Opposition : Atonement, Evil, and the Mormon Vision
Joseph Smith Jr. : Reappraisals After Two Centuries
Joseph Smith : Prophecy, Process, and Plenitude
Joseph Smith : Rough Stone Rolling
Joseph Smith's Introduction of Temple Ordinances and the 1844 Mormon Succession Question
Joseph Smiths Letter from Liberty Jail: A Study in Canonization
Joseph Smith's New York Reputation Reexamined
Joseph Smith's Quorum of the Anointed, 1842-1845
Joseph Smith : the First Mormon
Joseph Smith, W. W. Phelps, and the Poetic Paraphrase of 'The Vision'
Journal of Priddy Meeks
Junius and Joseph : Presidential Politics and the Assassination of the First Mormon Prophet
Key to the Science of Theology
Kingdom on the Mississippi Revisited
Lamanism, Lymanism, and Cornfields
Latter-Day Anguish and the Epic of Greater Mormonism
Latter-day Saint Prayer Circles
Life of David W. Patten, the First Apostolic Martyr
Life of Heber C. Kimball, an Apostle; the Father and Founder of the British Mission
Lost Legacy : The Mormon Office of Presiding Patriarch
Lucy's Book : A Critical Edition of Lucy Mack Smith's Family Memoir
Making Space on the Western Frontier : Mormons, Miners, and Southern Paiutes
Manuscript History of Brigham Young, 1801-1844
Massacre at Mountain Meadows : An American Tragedy
Men with a Mission : The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the British Isles 1837-1841
Messages of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Monogamy Underground : The Burial of Mormon Plural Marriage in the Graves of Joseph and Emma Smith
More Wives than One : Transformation of the Mormon Marriage System, 1840-1910
Mormon Enigma : Emma Hale Smith
Mormon Foreknowledge of the West
Mormonism and the American Experience
Mormonism in Transition : A History of the Latter-day Saints, 1890-1930
Mormonism : The Story of a New Religious Tradition
Mormonism Unvailed : Or, a Faithful Account of That Singular Imposition and Delusion From Its Rise to the Present Time
Mormonism Unveiled
Mormon Redress Petitions : Documents of the 1833-1838 Missouri Conflict
Mormons and the Bible : The Place of the Latter-day Saints in American Religion
Mormons and Their Historians
Mormons at the Missouri, 1846-52 : 'And Should We Die'
Mormons in Texas : The Ill-Fated Lyman Wight Colony, 1844-1858
Mormon Sisters : Women in Early Utah
Nauvoo : A Place of Peace, a People of Promise
Nauvoo : Kingdom on the Mississippi
Nauvoo Polygamy : "... But We Called it Celestial Marriage"
Nauvoo Stake, Priesthood Quorums, and the Church's First Wards
No Man Knows My History : The Life of Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet
Of Prophets and Pale Horses : Joseph Smith, Benjamin West, and the American Millenarian Tradition
"One Soul Shall Not Be Lost" : The War in Heaven in Mormon Thought
On the Potter's Wheel : The Diaries of Heber C. Kimball
On Zion's Mount : Mormons, Indians, and the American Landscape
Parley P. Pratt : The Apostle Paul of Mormonism
Platting the City Beautiful : A Historical and Archaeological Glimpse of Nauvoo Streets
Playing with Shadows : Voices of Dissent in the Mormon West
Political Deliverance : The Mormon Quest for Utah Statehood
Polygamy on the Pedernales : Lyman Wight's Mormon Villages in Antebellum Texas, 1845 to 1858
Polygamy, Patrimony, and Prophecy : The Mormon Colonization of Cardston
Power from on High : The Development of Mormon Priesthood
President Heber C. Kimball's Journal
Promises Made to the Fathers : Mormon Covenant Organization
Prophets and Prophecy in the Mormon Tradition(s)
Quest for Empire : The Political Kingdom of God and the Council of Fifty in Mormon History
Quest for Refuge : The Mormon Flight from American Pluralism
Raising the Dead : Mormons, Evangelicals, and Miracles in America
Rediscovering the Context of Joseph Smith's Treasure Seeking
Religion and Sexuality : The Shakers, the Mormons, and the Oneida Community
Religious Seekers and the Advent of Mormonism
Reminiscences of Joseph, the Prophet, and the Coming Forth of the Book of Mormon
Reminiscences of Latter-day Saints, Giving an Account of Much Individual Suffering Endured for Religious Conscience
Respectable Assassins : A Collective Biography and Socio-Economic Study of the Carthage Mob
Roots of Modern Mormonism
Sacred Borders : Continuing Revelation and Canonical Restraint in Early America
Saints of Sage and Saddle : Folklore among the Mormons
Salvation through a Tabernacle : Joseph Smith, Parley P. Pratt, and Early Mormon Theologies of Embodiment
Scattering of the Saints : Schism within Mormonism
Search for Sanctuary : Brigham Young and the White Mountain Expedition
Search for Sources for Wilford Woodruff's Idaho "Wagon Box Prophecy," 1884
"Shake Off the Dust of Thy Feet" : The Rise and Fall of Mormon Ritual Cursing
Shakers, Mormons, and Religious Worlds : Conflicting Visions, Contested Boundaries
Shifting Ground and the Third Transformation of Mormonism
Sidney Rigdon : A Portrait of Religious Excess
Sidney Rigdon : Post Nauvoo
Sisters in Spirit : Mormon Women in Historical and Cultural Perspective
Sojourner in the Promised Land : Forty years among the Mormons
Solemn Covenant : The Mormon Polygamous Passage
Some Themes of Counter-Subversion : An Analysis of Anti-Masonic, Anti-Catholic, and Anti-Mormon Literature
Spiritualism and Mormonism : Some Thoughts on Similarities and Differences
Still 'Side by Side'--The Final Burial of Joseph and Hyrum Smith
Still, the Small Voice Narrative, Personal Revelation, and the Mormon Folk Tradition
Studies of Mormon fissiparousness : conflict, dissent, and schism in the early church
Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith
Telling Stories about Mormons and Indians
Testimonies for the Truth
The 'Americanization' of Utah for Statehood
The Angel and the Beehive : The Mormon Struggle with Assimilation
The Autobiography of Parley Parker Pratt
The Bullion, Beck, and Champion Mining Company and the Redemption of Zion
The Canes of the Martyrdom
The Concept of a Rejected Gospel in Mormon History, Part 1
The Concept of a "Rejected Gospel" in Mormon History, Part 2
The Council of Fifty and Its Members, 1844 to 1945
The Curse of Cain and Other Stories : Blacks in Mormon Folklore
'The Death of a Mormon Dictator' : Letters of Massachusetts Mormons, 1843-1848
The Diaries of Charles Ora Card, The Canadian Years, 1886-1903
The Emergence of Brigham Young and the Twelve to Mormon Leadership, 1830-1841
The Essential James E. Talmage
The Essential Orson Pratt
The Fate of the Persecutors of the Prophet Joseph Smith
The Flag of the Kingdom of God
The Forms and the Power : The Development of Mormon Ritual Healing to 1847
"The Grand Fundamental Principles of Mormonism" : Joseph Smith's Unfinished Reformation
The Great and Dreadful Day : Mormon Folklore of the Apocalypse
"The Great World of the Spirits of the Dead" : Death, the Great War, and the 1918 Influenza Pandemic as Context for Doctrine and Covenants 138
The History of the Saints : Or, An Expose of Joe Smith and Mormonism
The Joseph/Hyrum Smith Funeral Sermon
The Joseph Smith Papers : Journals, Volume 1 : 1832–1839
The Joseph Smith Papers : Journals, Volume 2 : December 1841-April 1843
The Joseph Smith Papers : Revelations and Translations, Volume 1 : Manuscript Revelation Books
The Law of Adoption : One Phase of the Development of the Mormon Concept of Salvation, 1830-1900
The Life of John Taylor, Third President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Making of a Mormon Myth : The 1844 Transfiguration of Brigham Young
The Martyrs
The Memoirs of Joseph Smith III (1832-1914)
The Millenarian World of Early Mormonism
The Mormon Church and the Spanish-American War : An End to Selective Pacifism
The Mormon Corridor : Utah and Idaho
The Mormon Culture of Salvation : Force, Grace, and Glory
The Mormon Experience : A History of the Latter-day Saints
The Mormon Hierarchy : Extensions of Power
The Mormon Hierarchy : Origins of Power
The Mormon Menace : Violence and Anti-Mormonism in the Postbellum South
The Mormon Question : Polygamy and Constitutional Conflict in Nineteenth-Century America
The Mormons
The Mormons and the Ghost Dance
The Mormons, or Latter-day Saints, in the Valley of the Great Salt Lake
The Mormon Succession Crisis of 1844
The Move South
The Nauvoo Endowment Companies, 1845-1846 : A Documentary History
The Nauvoo Temple : 'A Monument of the Saints'
The Old Fox : Alpheus Cutler
The Paradox of Mormon Folklore
The Politics of American Religious Identity : The Seating of Senator Reed Smoot, Mormon Apostle
The Refiner's Fire : The Making of Mormon Cosmology, 1644-1844
The Rise of Mormonism : 1816-1844
The Ritualization of Mormon History and Other Essays
The Rocky Mountain Saints : A Full and Complete History of the Mormons
The Sacred Shout
The Saintly Scoundrel : The life and times of Dr. John Cook Bennett
The Texas Republic and the Mormon Kingdom of God
'The Tongue of Angels' : Glossolalia among Mormonism's Founders
The Translator and the Ghostwriter : Joseph Smith and W. W. Phelps
The Viper on the Hearth : Mormons, Myths, and the Construction of Heresy
The Voice of One Crying in the Wilderness : Sidney Rigdon, Religious Reformer, 1793-1876
The Whore of Babylon and the Abomination of Abominations : Nineteenth-Century Catholic and Mormon Mutual Perceptions and Religious Identity
The Words of Joseph Smith : The Contemporary Accounts of the Nauvoo Discourses of the Prophet Joseph
The Writing of Joseph Smith's History
'They Might Have Known That He Was Not a Fallen Prophet' : The Nauvoo Journal of Joseph Fielding
The Zelph Story
Things in Heaven and Earth : The Life and Times of Wilford Woodruff, a Mormon Prophet
"To Lie in Yonder Tomb" : The Tomb and Burial of Joseph Smith
"To Set in Order the House of God" : The Search for the Elusive "One Mighty and Strong"
Transformation of the Mormon Culture Region
Transformations of Power : Mormon Women's Visionary Narratives
Translating Time : The Nature and Function of Joseph Smith's Narrative Cannon
Tullidge's Histories. Volume II
Twelve Mormon Homes Visited in Succession on a Journey Through Utah to Arizona
Utah and the Mormons : The History, Government, Doctrines, Customs, and Prospects of the Latter-day Saints
Victims : The LDS Church and the Mark Hofmann Case
Wayward Saints : The Godbeites and Brigham Young
"We Know No North, No South, No East, No West" : Mormon Interpretations of the Civil War, 1861-1865
"We Latter-day Saints are Methodists" : The Influence of Methodism on Early Mormon Religiosity
We'll Find the Place : The Mormon Exodus 1846-1848
“What Means This Carnage?” : The Civil War in Mormon Thought
What's True in Mormon History? : The Contribution of Folklore to Mormon Studies
Widtsoe 'Prophecy' Makes the Mormon Folklore Circuit
Wilford Woodruff, Fourth President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints : History of His Life and Labors As Recorded in His Daily Journals
Wilford Woodruff's Journals
Wilford Woodruff's Vision of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence
William Phelps's Paracletes, An Early Witness to Smith's Divine Anthropology
William Smith's Patriarchal Blessings and Contested Authority in the Post-Martyrdom Church
Women, Family, and Utopia : Communal Experiments of the Shakers, the Oneida Community, and the Mormons
“Would to God, Brethren, I Could Tell You Who I Am” : Nineteenth Century Mormonisms and the Apotheosis of Joseph Smith
"You Have No Right to Do Such a Thing" : An Insider Study of Entitlement of Spirit Child Narratives in Mormon Communities
Zion in the Courts : A Legal History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830-1900