Joseph Smith, Jr.: Reappraisals After Two Centuries

Front Cover
Reid L. Neilson, Terryl L. Givens
Oxford University Press, Dec 2, 2008 - Religion - 296 pages
Mormon founder Joseph Smith is one of the most controversial figures of nineteenth-century American history, and a virtually inexhaustible subject for analysis. In this volume, fifteen scholars offer essays on how to interpret and understand Smith and his legacy. Including essays by both Mormons and non-Mormons, this wide-ranging collection is the only available survey of contemporary scholarly opinion on the extraordinary man who started one of the fastest growing religious traditions in the modern world.
 

Contents

Contributors
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Joseph Smith American Culture and the Origins
Smith
The Metaphysical Joseph Smith
The States Rights
Joseph Smith and Creation of the Sacred
Prophecy Process and Plenitude
Visions Revelations and Courage in Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith and the First
Authentic Religion and
Some Evangelical Probings
The Prophethood of Joseph Smith
A Guide to the Sources
Notes
Index

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About the author (2008)

Terryl L. Givens did graduate work at Cornell University in intellectual history and at UNC Chapel Hill, where he received his PhD in comparative literature. He holds the Jabez A. Bostwick Chair of English and is Professor of Literature and Religion at the University of Richmond, where he teaches courses in nineteenth-century studies and the Bible's influence on Western literature. His writing has been praised by the New York Times as "provocative reading," and his numerous books include When Souls Had Wings, a history of the idea of premortal life in Western thought, as well as The God Who Weeps (with Fiona Givens) and Wrestling the Angel.

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