Early Mormonism and the Magic World View

The story of Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of Mormonism, is absolutely incredible. As far as books on the life of Smith are concerned, probably no volume has stirred more overall controversy than D. Michael Quinn's 1987 first-edition book entitled Early Mormonism and the Magic World View. Quinn is a former professor at LDS Church-owned Brigham Young University who was excommunicated in 1993 for apostasy based on his historical writings. His second edition was published in 1998.Instead of trying to deny Joseph Smith's penchant for occultic activities, Quinn-who says he "remains a DNA Mormon"-concluded that Smith's background truly did involve divining rods, seer stones, a hat to shield his eyes in order to see hidden treasures, amulets, incantations, and rituals to summon spirits. Smith was a magician first class, Quinn believes, but he holds that Mormonism's founder was also a man of God who used his magical tools to communicate with the Almighty God of this universe.To read this book will require plenty of time and careful patience. Early Mormonism is not a book to be rushed through. After all, Quinn is famous for his copious endnotes. The book has 685 pages, and 257 of those pages-close to 40 percent of the book!-are endnotes. (A little more than half of the book is text.) You can't ignore them, though, because he strategically places very important information there. It is also a good idea to consider his sources. Although he lists no bibliography, the endnotes contain the bibliographic information, and if I would guess, I would say that he utilized more than a thousand resources. Unless you look the individual endnote up, you will not know where the reference came from because he usually gives no hint within the text itself.Quinn admits that what he writes in his book is not what readers might find in a brochure given out at an LDS temple open house. "Instead, they will discover that the LDS prophet certainly participated extensively in some pursuits of folk magic and apparently in others.... I have found that the `official version' of early Mormon history is sometimes incomplete in its presentation and evaluation of evidence. Therefore, official LDS history is inaccurate in certain respects. ...LDS apologists often do not inform their readers that pro-Mormon sources corroborate the statements made by anti-Mormons" (p. xxxviii).Quinn is not happy with attempts by LDS Church revisionists to deny Smith's foray into the occult and folk magic realm around him. While this is the apparent attitude church members have now, it wasn't always like this, he says. The attitude change began in the 1880s, he says, when the last of those in the Mormon leadership who had been familiar with Smith and the occultic practices died. "Their successors had more in common with denominational Christianity than with the folk religion of many first-generation Mormons," Quinn writes. "It is astonishing how some LDS apologists can misread (or misrepresent) all the above evidence for the magic use of seer stones and divining rods..." (p. 59). After noting that BYU biblical professor Stephen E. Robinson denied that these things had anything to do with magic but rather were influenced by the Bible, Quinn is very strong. "This is self-parody by an LDS polemicist," he writes in part (p. 60).No matter what your opinion of Quinn is-whether he offends you because he was excommunicated by the Mormon Church, that he is an avowed homosexual, or that he writes historical books that are not what you might call "faith promoting"-he is not a slouch.Not that I always agree with Quinn. For instance, I don't agree with his idea that the Bible encourages necromancy, magic, dealing with occultic materials, and the like. But when it comes to the facts about how Smith himself was involved in magic, Quinn's historical points are well documented and leave little to debate.I appreciate that Quinn seems to be very honest, wanting to know just what the facts are all about. To do any different is to be a revisionist, and that is just not honest, as Quinn makes this a big point in his criticism of Mormon apologists, especially those who work at LDS-owned FARMS. I give the book a 5-star recommendation, as long as the reader promises to read carefully, slowly, and with a critical mind.

This book was a masterpiece. Not flawless, but I give it an AAA for effort. Many Latter-day Saints have been embarassed about, or have minimized, or have explained away, Joseph's involvement in folk religion and what has been called magic. But there is a tension throughout medieval history between the church state and folk religion, and the accusation against magic has repeatedly been the tool of the establishment to crush little people and dismiss their religious experiences. At the same time, if magic is the word that describes a belief and practice involving supernatural interventions, then religion often does, in fact, involve magic. But it's not called magic when it involves a practice undertaken or approved by official priests. Otherwise, it's of the devil. The miracles of Jesus were labeled as such. And he responded to those accusations.The claims by Joseph Smith were spectacular. And Quinn undertakes a monumental task of placing those claims in their cultural context. Plus, he addresses attacks, sometimes quite brutal, from LDS apologists. The book does display a little attitude in that regard, and Quinn's repeated reference to his critics can be a little distracting, but I understood that this was part of his mission in writing the book, both to address his critics and to explore the subject matter to such a degree that his critics would have to spend the rest of their lives reading his footnotes, which I do not expect to be perfect, although purposefully exhaustive.So what did I learn? First and foremost, I learned an interesting perspective regarding why and how Joseph Smith grew into a prophet, how he was esteemed as a young seer, even in the early treasure trade where young people were sought for this role, and how seriously he undertook his later avowed calling and mission by following the details he understood to be important from a folk religious perspective, including astrological observances and calendaring of events.I learned why non believers, and some believers, remain suspicious about the alleged occult connections in folk religion... Indeed, claiming to have visions, seeing angels, etc., was viewed by many Protestants and Catholics to be itself evidence of heresy, or worse, Satan's work...I also learned that the LDS should not be ashamed of the LDS history, but embrace it with understanding. There is no need to spend time disclaiming the magical world view as if one's faith in "Mormonism" depended on it. I remain a believer in Joseph Smith as a "prophet." It is a marvel, not only that God looked to folk religionists to start the restorational work, but that folk religion was not an end in itself, but was a forerunner to the what the LDS believe to be God's restorational work.Notably, the LDS church has relics of folk religion to this day, seer stones and "prophets, seers, and revelators," which are actual titles used commonly by folk religionist for centuries. The fantastic claims by Joseph Smith remain, and cannot be glossed over or explained away. Readers should also consider "Religion and the Decline of Magic," by Keith Thomas (cited by Quinn), which is a monumental secular book that helps complete and provide a supplement to Quinn's work which addresses the Joseph Smith and LDS experience.Much thanks to the late D. Michael Quinn for writing a focused book, and a volume of footnotes, that no one else has written or attempted, for its perspective, depth, and humor.

The author builds a strong case for the influence of magical thinking on the entire Smith family, and by extension, on the events surrounding the founding of the Mormon church.

I am a member of the Mormon church, I have served my two year mission, married in the temple, served in various church leadership positions and been a full on believer. There are many things in the Mormon history that are fantastical, strange and mystical and of these claims the Golden Plates story has been perhaps the most enticing and delicious. This book pulls back the curtain on our founding story, not in a malicious or salacious way but , for me, in a grinding fact by grinding fact manner that took my breath away and left my already shattered faith washed clean away. This book and its excellent research should be read by anyone wishing to understand, investigate and contextualise the gold plates, peep stones and early doctrine of the Mormons. This information will not be made available by the church nor by most of its well meaning but unknowing members and missionaries. This has shocked me. It is excellent though it should be read in sections as it is so full of referencing and depth of research that it's hard to assimilate it all. Quinn does have his biases but the facts are meticulously researched.

What D. Michael Quinn has done here is quite astonishing. The level of detail this book goes into in piecing together the life and influences available to Joseph Smith is truly impressive. This is supported by detailed referencing. If you want to really see the world in which Joseph Smith grew up and lived, then i'd highly recommend this work.

Although I have lots more to shop of items like this, I really have considered buying a second copy to read.