Mormons<\/a> read \u201cany or all of those books. Rather, the citations are intended to demonstrate the extent of the written tradition, which, in time., diffused widely within the oral tradition\u201d (p. xviii). But how do we know that it had done so in the particular instance of the Smith family? Further, although Quinn expressly denies that these parallds represent direct thefts by Joseph Smith from magical lore, he states that they \u201csuggest that the conceptual viewpoint (or paradigm) and language of these texts may have sometimes reflected the religious, intellectual, and cultural perspectives of the nineteenth-century folk culture to which they were directed\u201d (p. 150). But what, precisely, does this mean? Have the names been reshaped (or actually chosen) to appeal to the cabalistic predilections and experience of the intended readership of the Book of Mormon? We ourselves find ancient Near Eastern etymologies of some of the names far more compelling than the \u201coccult \u201d ones supplied by Quinn,<\/span><\/p>\nOur general impression is that Quinn\u2019s evidence is sometimes being milked for rather more than it is worth. A few examples should suggest what we mean. Thus, to term such pseudepigraphic texts as the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs and the Ascension of Isaiah \u201coccult,\u201d as he does in a discussion of the doctrine of multiple heavens (pp. 173-175), is to use the word so broadly as to rob it of any meaningful content. Further, speaking of the Italian surname Morrone\/Morroni\/Marony, Quinn observes that it \u201ccan refer to a man \u2019with a dark or swarthy complexion,\u2019 which suggests a connection to folk magic\u201d (pp. 131-132).<\/span><\/p>\nSurely, though, dark complected people have no necessary connection to the occult. And in his discussion of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, Quinn stresses the magical paradigm of three supernatural visitations which must be concluded before the dawn. Then he fails to mention Moroni\u2019s daytime fourth visit (p. 122). \u00a0And what hour of the night would not be appropriate for an angelic visit, according to pages 121-122? \u00a0There seems to us, additionally, no justification for his inferring magic from Joseph Smith\u2019s use of the verb \u201cto conjure\u201d (p. 119). The context of the passage in question is, after all, plainly not \u201cmagical\u201d in any sense, and very common non magical usage of the word is attested as early as the thirteenth century. Finally, the tortured analysis of the Smith family\u2019s \u201cHoliness to the Lord\u201d parchment (pp. 108-109) serves to illustrate the weakness of Quinn\u2019s case for numerology among the founders of Mormonism. On the same topic, for example, he provides no evidence that any Latter-day Saint other than himself has ever noticed the alleged mystic meaning in the fact that the ideal quorum numbers stipulated in D&C 107:85-89 come to a total of 180 \u2014 which is equal to the number of degrees in a triangle, \u201cthe most potent geometric form in magic.\u201d (Is it significant that this fact occurs on page 180 of Quinn\u2019s book?)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\n
Quinn goes to great lengths to establish links between the Smith family and other early Mormons, on the one hand, and the occultic activities of the 1802 \u201cWood Scrape\u201d on the other. Pages 83-97 abound in second cousins and even third cousins twice removed, linked to associates of Nathaniel Wood by marriage. No genealogical tie is too tenuous to transmit occultic lore. Yet when he wants to argue for the presence of an amphibian at the Hill Cumorah, the fact that his two main sources, Willard Chase and Benjamin Saunders, are closely related is rather casually dismissed. We are assured that Saunders\u2019s interview in late 1894, dealing with events of nearly six decades earlier, is uncontaminated by the notions of his brother-in-law, whose affidavit had been published fifty years before.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
To be continued.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 Continued, from a review that my colleague Stephen D. Ricks and I originally published in Sunstone in January 1988: \u00a0 In chapters 5 and 6, Quinn attempts to demonstrate \u201cmagical\u201d influences in the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, and seeks to document allegedly \u201coccultic\u201d parallds to its content. For page after […]<\/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-72697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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Ricks and I originally published in Sunstone in January 1988: In chapters 5 and\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/04\/the-mormon-as-magus-part-two.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-04-09T14:43:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-04-10T15:33:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2016\/11\/hill-cumorah-765608-gallery.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=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/04\/the-mormon-as-magus-part-two.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/04\/the-mormon-as-magus-part-two.html\",\"name\":\"\u201cThe Mormon as Magus,\u201d Part Two\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-04-09T14:43:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-04-10T15:33:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\"},\"description\":\" Continued, from a review that my colleague Stephen D. 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