Wayment on "borrowing" in the JST

[_Fence Sitter]

Lately I have been interested in contemporary sources that might of impacted or were directly imported into Joseph Smith's writings.

Charles Buck produced his popular "Theological Dictionary" in 1802 first published in London. This is one of the books that was known to be part of Joseph Smith's personal library, it was quoted by John Taylor in 1843 T&S and also Buck's entry on 'Theology' was directly quoted in its entirety in the Lectures on Faith.

Some notable parallels to Mormonism in Buck's include it entry on the Origenists a third century denomination who:
1. Believed in a pre-existence and eternal souls.
2. Souls got their mortal bodies in order to expiate faults committed in the pre-existence.
3. Souls joined with spirits of purest matter.
4. Christ was before the “Beginning of the World” similar to Joseph Smith terminology.
5. Resurrection. We will be clothed in ethereal bodies.
6. After period of time, the damned will be released from their torment. They did not believe in eternal damnation.
7. Earth after the conflagration will become the mansion of men.

Or Buck's entry on the Dunkers' a Philadelphia German denomination founded in 1724 who believed in a gathering, theMelchizedek Priesthood, Baptism of the Dead, they did not believe in original sin, and they believed in the righteous preaching to the dead.

It would be interesting to see if Buck's work directly or even indirectly influenced the JST in the same way that Clarke's did.

[_Dr Moore]

https://uofupress.lib.utah.edu/producin ... scripture/

Has anyone ordered the book yet? I tried to get the electronic version, which is listed for $40, but seems not an option at checkout.

[_Kishkumen]

Looks like a must-have book, but unfortunately I don't . . . yet.

[_Holy Ghost]

Joseph Smith no doubt had a high degree of charisma, enough for which a cult of personalty was spun around. It was an interesting time, a vagabond religion in his day, on the run from each new locale to the next. He was even pulling up stakes on the 'long' stay in Nauvoo at the time it finally all caught up with him personally.

His theology too was home spun, putting a very relatable twist on the mysteries, like rendering the trinity into two physical beings plus a third with only a spiritual existence. His magnum opus, the Book of Mormon, did not so much show new enlightenment on acknowledged ideas, but leaned so heavy on the Late War as to tip the scales more toward plagiarism. It relied on the fact that the readers into whose hands the Book of Mormon almost always fell had never heard of the Late War.

When coupled with how many scrapes with neighbors he got into, wherever he went, and all the chicanery and legal proceedings as backdrop, I don't quite reach the bricolage conclusion that some do.

[_Dr Moore]

For those interested, Producing Ancient Scripture is now available to order with an estimated ship date of July 27, 2020. I'm not sure why it was delayed from the expected Feb. 2020 publication date, but anticipate it will be worth the wait.

Dear Valued Customer:

You indicated while placing an order in our shopping cart that you wanted to be notified when the following title is available. At the time of your initial inquiry, this item was either Not Yet Published or temporarily Out of Stock. This item is now available to order. You can simply click on the link below to drop it in your shopping cart:

9781607817383
Producing Ancient Scripture
University of Utah Press
MacKay

https://uofupress.lib.utah.edu/producin ... scripture/

I believe it is available for pre-order from a number of booksellers.

[_Hagoth]

I'm kinda late to the party but here's an inspired translation of a verse to make it a bit more prophetic:

Helaman 13:31 And behold, the time cometh that he curseth your scriptures, that they become slippery, that ye cannot hold them; and in the days of your apologetics ye cannot retain them.

[_Fence Sitter]

Hi Hagoth,

Are you implying that this will be an apologetic work?

[_Hagoth]

I wasn't responding directly to the previous comment; just a general observation about how LDS apologists and members are becoming much more elastic in their understanding of how they must define scripture in light of things like the Clarke commentary, the contents of the Joseph Smith papyri, the seer stone, the redefining of "translation," etc. It's a fascinating evolutionary period for church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints-ism.

[_Dr Moore]

My order of Producing Ancient Scripture shipped today. I was issued a tracking number and should have the book by this weekend.

Should be interesting. As far as I am aware, this weekend will be the first time full text of Wayment’s article connecting Clarke’s commentary with the JST will be in the public for review and analysis.

[_Fence Sitter]

Dr. Moore,

Where did you order it from? Amazon still shows it as unreleased.

By the way, I think the chapter by Matt Grey will actually cause the most controversy since he is directly contradicting Gee et al's timeline for the Book of Abraham production.

I do not think Wayment's article will have much more beyond we already know.

Joseph Smith plagiarized Clarkes to produce his Bible translation, Wayment will show that.