Book Three: The Refiner's Fire
3.21.2012
The Refiner's Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology, 1644-1844, John L. Brooke
Nope, I haven't gone missing or forgotten about this blog. What I have been doing for the past month is reading this book (and then, for the next month, trying to figure out how to write about it). Yup, one month, one book. Yipes! Was it incredibly dense and slow? Absolutely! Was it totally worth it? You bet! I love this stuff. Specifically, I love reading about Mormons, and this book takes on all the elements--social, religious, political, mystical & magical--that had a part in shaping the formation of the Mormon religion. For example, most people know that Freemasonry was pretty influential in Mormon ritual and cosmology, but this book argues that Mormonism's roots go all the way back to hermeticism. Crazy!
There's a bunch of stuff I never knew about in regards to the basic tenets of the religion at its outset, things that have since been abandoned. Such as the idea that Adam was considered a God (the idea of Adamic perfection has ties to alchemy and the search for the philosopher's stone), that you could only get into the celestial kingdom via celestial marriage (i.e. polygamy) but once that was thrown out it was replaced with the whole baptizing of the dead, because they needed family members to populate the celestial kingdom with them now that they couldn't have wives up there with them, natch, or that some of the temple endowment rituals are taken directly from Freemasons. Or that those said rituals used to include some blood atonement stuff in relation to Joseph and Hyrum Smith's death, but they got rid of that . For reals!
Bottom line: for crazy people like me this book is the shit. For everyone else it might be a little dry.
Nope, I haven't gone missing or forgotten about this blog. What I have been doing for the past month is reading this book (and then, for the next month, trying to figure out how to write about it). Yup, one month, one book. Yipes! Was it incredibly dense and slow? Absolutely! Was it totally worth it? You bet! I love this stuff. Specifically, I love reading about Mormons, and this book takes on all the elements--social, religious, political, mystical & magical--that had a part in shaping the formation of the Mormon religion. For example, most people know that Freemasonry was pretty influential in Mormon ritual and cosmology, but this book argues that Mormonism's roots go all the way back to hermeticism. Crazy!
There's a bunch of stuff I never knew about in regards to the basic tenets of the religion at its outset, things that have since been abandoned. Such as the idea that Adam was considered a God (the idea of Adamic perfection has ties to alchemy and the search for the philosopher's stone), that you could only get into the celestial kingdom via celestial marriage (i.e. polygamy) but once that was thrown out it was replaced with the whole baptizing of the dead, because they needed family members to populate the celestial kingdom with them now that they couldn't have wives up there with them, natch, or that some of the temple endowment rituals are taken directly from Freemasons. Or that those said rituals used to include some blood atonement stuff in relation to Joseph and Hyrum Smith's death, but they got rid of that . For reals!
Bottom line: for crazy people like me this book is the shit. For everyone else it might be a little dry.
posted by arajane at
10:05 PM
1 Comments:
I hope you don't mind my asking this. What is it that makes you so fascinated by Mormonism? Obviously, I've known you and your blogs for quite some time, and you have stated before that you were not religious (or maybe your spritual status has changed or evolved, I don't know). If it's too personal, feel free to say so. But I'm very curious about you and the whole Mormon thing, and what sparked it. (And don't tell me it's from watching Big Love! I want a real answer). Lately this whole thing about religion has been fascinating me. I don't know what your religious background was growing up, if there was one. I grew up secular, but have always believed one could be secular but still spritual w/o being religious. I'm fascinated b/c a friend of mine (who is also my mentor at work) is Neo-Pagan, after having grown up Southern Baptist, and I recently worked up the courage to ask her how she arrived at that belief system, and why, in questioning her original faith, she hadn't gone the atheist route. I do believe that Mormonism is very fascinating and unique in so many ways, not only as a religion, but as a "cultural/ethnic" group. Have you ever taken Beliefnet's religion quiz? I recently took it and it gave me interesting results, which, I believe more than anything, reflect my liberal views on a lot of things than how I relate to god or gods or goddesses or other higher powers. My best match was Unitarian Universalist, followed by Neo-Pagan, followed by secular Humanism, followed by Liberal Protestant, followed by Liberal Quaker. Anyawy....I ramble on, but I am SO curious about this fascination w/ all things Mormon.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home