{"id":39336,"date":"2017-01-22T21:02:23","date_gmt":"2017-01-23T04:02:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=39336"},"modified":"2017-01-22T21:05:48","modified_gmt":"2017-01-23T04:05:48","slug":"gadiantonism-organized-crime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/01\/gadiantonism-organized-crime.html","title":{"rendered":"Gadiantonism and Organized Crime?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Guatemalan<\/a>
Volcanoes in Guatemala (Wikimedia Commons public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Way back in 1990 \u2014 I never imagined myself being as old as I am now! \u2014\u00a0I published two\u00a0articles with what was then called the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS) in which, among other things, I argued that the so-called \u201cGadianton robbers\u201d of the Book of Mormon weren\u2019t merely a criminal syndicate but represented an alternate and dissident form of religiosity:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNotes on \u2018Gadianton Masonry'\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Gadianton Robbers as Guerrilla Warriors\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Later, I followed up on one of the arguments in those two articles with another short piece:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNotes and Communications: \u2018Secret Combinations\u2019 Revisited\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Later still, Nathan Oman and Paul Mouritsen published two very valuable additional articles on the topic of the Gadianton robbers:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Secret Combinations\u2019:\u00a0A Legal Analysis\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSecret Combinations and Flaxen Cords:\u00a0Anti-Masonic Rhetoric and the Book of Mormon\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Finally, in 2011, I returned to the subject for what would prove\u00a0to be my last publication\u00a0with the Maxwell Institute, the successor organization to FARMS, as someone affiliated with that organization:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cExploratory Notes on the\u00a0Futuwwa<\/i>\u00a0and Its Several Incarnations\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now, my BYU colleague Eric Eliason<\/a>\u00a0kindly calls my attention to this very interesting item, which seems to suggest plausible modern-day parallels to the Gadiantons as I view and understand them:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPraying for Death\u200a\u2014\u200aBlood Sacrifice and Drug Cartels in Latin\u00a0America:\u00a0Cult rituals among criminal groups are more widespread than believed, according to a new\u00a0book\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I still have some things that I want to say on the subject. \u00a0This article reminds me of that.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 Way back in 1990 \u2014 I never imagined myself being as old as I am now! \u2014\u00a0I published two\u00a0articles with what was then called the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS) in which, among other things, I argued that the so-called \u201cGadianton robbers\u201d of the Book of Mormon weren\u2019t merely a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nGadiantonism and Organized Crime?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    Way back in 1990 -- I never imagined myself being as old as I am now! --\u00a0I published two\u00a0articles with what was then called the Foundation\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/01\/gadiantonism-organized-crime.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gadiantonism and Organized Crime?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"    Way back in 1990 -- I never imagined myself being as old as I am now! --\u00a0I published two\u00a0articles with what was then called the Foundation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/01\/gadiantonism-organized-crime.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-01-23T04:02:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-01-23T04:05:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/files\/2017\/01\/800px-Volcanoes_of_Guatemala_002.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/01\/gadiantonism-organized-crime.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/01\/gadiantonism-organized-crime.html\",\"name\":\"Gadiantonism and Organized Crime?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-23T04:02:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-01-23T04:05:48+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\"},\"description\":\"    Way back in 1990 -- I never imagined myself being as old as I am now! --\u00a0I published two\u00a0articles with what was then called the Foundation\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/01\/gadiantonism-organized-crime.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/01\/gadiantonism-organized-crime.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/01\/gadiantonism-organized-crime.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Gadiantonism and Organized Crime?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/\",\"name\":\"Sic et Non\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\",\"name\":\"Dan Peterson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Peterson\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\\\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Gadiantonism and Organized Crime?","description":"    Way back in 1990 -- I never imagined myself being as old as I am now! --\u00a0I published two\u00a0articles with what was then called the Foundation","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/01\/gadiantonism-organized-crime.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Gadiantonism and Organized Crime?","og_description":"    Way back in 1990 -- I never imagined myself being as old as I am now! --\u00a0I published two\u00a0articles with what was then called the Foundation","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/01\/gadiantonism-organized-crime.html","og_site_name":"Sic et Non","article_published_time":"2017-01-23T04:02:23+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-01-23T04:05:48+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/files\/2017\/01\/800px-Volcanoes_of_Guatemala_002.jpg"}],"author":"Dan Peterson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Peterson","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/01\/gadiantonism-organized-crime.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/01\/gadiantonism-organized-crime.html","name":"Gadiantonism and Organized Crime?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-01-23T04:02:23+00:00","dateModified":"2017-01-23T04:05:48+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045"},"description":"    Way back in 1990 -- I never imagined myself being as old as I am now! --\u00a0I published two\u00a0articles with what was then called the Foundation","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/01\/gadiantonism-organized-crime.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/01\/gadiantonism-organized-crime.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/01\/gadiantonism-organized-crime.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Gadiantonism and Organized Crime?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/","name":"Sic et Non","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045","name":"Dan Peterson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Peterson"},"description":"\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39336\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}