Due to his interest in the experiential elements of religion and his desire to gain a greater understanding of holiness or sanctification, John Wesley wrote letters to some of his followers in the late eighteenth century, asking if they had … Continued
When I started looking at early American Methodism thirty years ago, the first thing that struck me was how full of vibrant supernaturalism it was. Early American Methodists lived in a world where visions, prophetic dreams, and supernatural impressions were … Continued
One of the questions we ask about Joseph Smith’s First Vision is, What did visions mean in those days? How did Smith understand his encounter with God? The most established interpretation is that questions about the churches prompted Smith to … Continued
When Joseph Smith recounted his 1820 vision to others, they rejected it. The rejection was probably not because he told of a vision; other people in his culture recorded similar experiences, such as going into the woods to pray, being besieged by darkness, and then laying eyes upon God and Jesus.
But Joseph’s experience brought together the celestial and the corporeal, ignoring the carefully constructed doctrinal demarcations of orthodoxy of his Protestant peers. Borrowing terminology from the Enlightenment, Evangelicals claimed a belief in an experimental religion that rested on empirical facts. Visions could be felt through the spirit or seen by the eye of faith but could not be physically literal. Joseph Smith always insisted on the bodily presence of God and Jesus in his vision and later followed divine instruction to found a new denomination.
The first chapter of the Book of Mormon, in the words of Hugh Nibley, “has the authenticity of a truly ancient pseudepigraphic writing stamped all over it. It is a well-nigh perfect example of the genre.” Indeed, the first chapter of 1 Nephi conforms precisely to a literary pattern that form-critical studies have demonstrated to be the very essence of the prophetic commission in ancient Israel which “gives the individual’s credentials as a prophet, messenger and ambassador of the heavenly council.”
After defining the literary pattern of the prophetic commission and its historical development, this article will examine the throne-theophany in 1 Nephi and compare the prophetic commission patter found therein with numerous Old Testament and pseudepigraphic sources. The account found in 1 Nephi will then be compared with nineteenth-century visions of God. Finally, this article will consider the probable origins of the pattern and indicate the significance of the form in the Book of Mormon.
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have become increasingly aware that the restoration of the gospel did not occur in a vacuum inhabited only by Joseph Smith. Numerous individuals were involved, both as forerunners and as disseminators of newly restored or revealed principles. And not all of those involved were members of the Church. It is not necessary, however, to rely exclusively on the “great minds,” the strongest voices (like Wordsworth or Milton), to find elements in strong parallel with LDS doctrine. Other poets, often less well known, less widely accepted critically, were equally convinced of such doctrinal points as a preexistence and of an apostasy and the need for a restoration. One of the most fascinating is the “minor” poet Henry Vaughan.
The first volume of Fred C. Collier’s Unpublished Revelations (1979) contains revelations (actual or alleged) which were received by Joseph Smith but which for various reasons are not printed in the Doctrine and Covenants. Volume 1 also includes certain visions and revelations of Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, and Orson Pratt. Among other documents reproduced in volume 1 are the patriarchal blessings Joseph Smith pronounced upon his father and other men, a revelation regarding the names for God, the words of “A Song, sung by the gift of tongues and translated,” the Prophet’s 1833 prayer for the redemption of Zion, and an account of a Wilford Woodruff meeting in the Gardo House with Mormon lawyers.
Among the many spiritual manifestations that occurred during David O. McKay’s 1920–21 world tour came a remarkable event during the thirty-six hours they spent on Maui. On the grounds of the little chapel at Pulehu, President Mckay felt inspired to offer a prayer of thanksgiving for a small party of brethren. During that prayer, all five men were deeply stirred spiritually testified of visions and other experiences where the veil was very thin. Thanks largely to the kindness of many members of the families involved, Lavina Fielding Anderson has found sixteen separate accounts of this event, all but four of them unpublished. This essay examines these accounts in chronological order and in the context of the participants’ lives, as an exploration of the dynamics of memory, faith, love, and spirituality.
Joseph F. Smith (1838–1918), sixth President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, endured the sorrow of the deaths of many loved ones, including his parents and several children. Smith also felt the horror of World War I, and his sons served in American forces. In October 1918, Smith received a comforting vision of God’s love and of Christ and saints ministering and preaching the gospel among the spirits of the dead. The vision teaches that the dead who repent will be redeemed and become heirs of salvation. This vision is now canonized as Doctrine and Covenants 138.
The significance of what transpired at the dedication of the Kirtland Temple on March 27, 1836, is well established among Latter-day Saints. The historical record affirming an outpouring of divine manifestations is rich. Even so, precious few contemporaneous reports by observers are available. Recently, however, the richness of the historical record increased with the discovery of an eyewitness account of the miraculous Kirtland Pentecost penned by Benjamin Brown.
