Item Detail
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32098
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2
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0
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English
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As a Lion among the Sheep : Indigenous Americans and the National Apocalypse in Early Mormon Thought
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Framing the Apocalypse : Visions of the End-of-Times
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Oxford
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Inter-disciplinary Press
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37-66
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"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (hereafter LDS : popularly, the Mormon church) began as a classic, Anglo-American millenarian movement that promised its faithful adherents spiritual and material rewards in a renewed America. The novel framework of this promised national redemption was first sketched in the church’s founding scriptural text, the Book of Mormon; a purported record of several ancient American civilizations descended from Biblical peoples, especially Israelites. Early Mormons believed that contemporary indigenous Americans (‘Indians’) were remnants of these Israelites and, as such, heirs to Book of Mormon promises of latter-day redemption. These promises included a provision that the remnants of Jacob (or Israel) would execute ‘vengeance and fury’ on unrepentant Anglo-American ‘Gentiles’ as a lion ‘among the flocks of sheep’ who ‘teareth in pieces.’ This narrative was interpreted variously over the course of the nineteenth century in the LDS community. Joseph Smith was sensitive to the possibility of negative publicity around the doctrine of Indian vengeance on non-believing Gentiles, while other church representatives popularised the teaching. In Utah, Mormons in conflict with the nation viewed Paiute and other western peoples as the ‘battle axe’ of the Lord who would protect the Saints and exact vengeance on the wicked. The Mormon-led Mountain Meadows massacre also referenced the idea of end-time Mormon and American Indian alliances. These teachings emerged again briefly in public discourses at the end of the nineteenth century during a new period of LDS-federal government conflict. The Indian apocalypse was de-emphasised in Mormon preaching after the Wounded Knee massacre and as prophecies of immanent millennial judgements on America faded within an increasingly global LDS community." [Chapter Summary]