Item Detail
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9865
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2
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0
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English
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By No Means Men of Weak Minds : The Gullible Bumpkin Thesis and the First Mormons
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Nauvoo Journal
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Fall 1995
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7
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39-48
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This article looks at the theories held by scholars such as Mario DePillis, Whitney Cross, and David Brion Davis, that the earliest converts were either low-class, 'socially disinheirited,' prone to extream fanaticism, or simply confused. The author uses demographic studies to show that Mormon converts spanned all types of socio-economic classes and were at very different levels of spirituality and intellectualism. He argues that generalizations cannot be made about the early converts.