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Guide Home > Magic & Occult
Additional TopicsThe following are additional topic areas related to Magic & Occult. If there is a bracket number after the topic, that number indicates how many actual articles there are related to that subject. If the link for the topic is not live, it simply means the topic is a 'planned area' for future growth.
FAIR ResourcesThese links are either to Web pages hosted on the FAIR Website, or to FAIR Papers. FAIR Papers are short articles about specific topics or questions, written by members of FAIR. These articles can be downloaded and read in PDF format and are intended to be distributed by e-mail or print for the general use of our patrons. (To read FAIR Papers you will need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader. It can be downloaded free from the Adobe Web site.) Click on a title below to visit a FAIR Web page or to read the latest version of a FAIR Paper. Russell Anderson, "The 1826 Trial of Joseph Smith," (2002 FAIR Conference presentation.) Was Joseph Smith convicted of being a fraud and glass looker? Russell Anderson, "The 1826 Trial of Joseph Smith," (Mesa, Arizona: FAIR, August 2002) In his 2002 FAIR Conference presentation, Russell Anderson responds to critics who attempt to use the 1826 "trial" to impugn the reputation and character of Joseph Smith. Encyclopedia of MormonismThe resources listed below are articles available in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism. These links are to information not located on the FAIR Web site. Janet Thomas, "Magic," Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Edited by Daniel H. Ludlow (New York: Macmillan Publishing, 1992), 849-850 Other ResourcesThe resources listed below are related items available on the Web that should be of interest. These links are to information not located on the FAIR Web site. Mark Ashurst-McGee, "Moroni: Angel or Treasure Guardian," Mormon Historical Studies (Sandy: Mormon Historic Site Foundation, 2001), 39-75 Davis Bitton and Gary Bunker, "Mesmerism and Mormonism," BYU Studies, Vol. 15:2 (1975) On 2 May 1842 the Times and Seasons reprinted an article from the New York Weekly Herald which suggested that Joseph Smith was, unknowingly, practicing animal magnetism. This was the first effort to explain Mormonism in terms of animal magnetism, mesmerism, or their more respectable counterpart, hypnotism. Since Church leaders made repeated efforts to discourage any participation in such experiments, the persistence of claims that Mormonism relied on the powers of mesmerism is ironic to say the least. It was not the first time, nor the last, that Mormons were accused of practices they had clearly opposed. It is another instance of the wide chasm separating the Mormon religion and its history from the images purveyed in popular writings that established the stereotype of Mormonism. William J. Hamblin, ""Everything is Everything:" Was Joseph Smith Influenced by Kabbalah?," FARMS Review of Books (Provo, Utah: FARMS, 1996), 251-325 A review of "Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection," by Lance S. Owens. Marvin S. Hill, "Joseph Smith and the 1826 Trial: New Evidence and New Difficulties," BYU Studies, Vol. 12:2 (1972) In the late winter of 1826, according to an early account, Peter Bridgeman, a nephew of the wife of Josiah Stowell, presented a written complaint against Joseph Smith at South Bainbridge, New York, which led to his arrest and trial as a “disorderly person.” Since the time that Fawn Brodie in her biography of Joseph Smith accepted as authentic the account of the trial published in the Schaaf-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge (1883), it has been a source of sharp conflict among the students of early Mormonism. Perhaps the primary reason for Mormon opposition to the record is the alleged admission it contains made by Joseph Smith that he had been searching for lost treasure by means of a stone. Recently, Reverend Wesley P. Walters of the United Presbyterian church in Marissa, Illinois, discovered some records in the basement of the sheriff ’s office in Norwich, New York, which he maintains demonstrate the actuality of the 1826 trial and go far to substantiate that Joseph Smith spent part of his early career in southern New York as a money digger and seer of hidden treasures. But, despite any new evidence, many contradictions cannot be dismissed and some additional difficulties now appear. This article thoroughly examines the many claims and sources relating to this topic, and concludes by announcing that the deep sense of religious calling in Joseph's personality can no longer be ignored in any serious study of his character. W. John Walsh, Do You Have Blood Oaths in the Temple?. W. John Walsh, Do You Use Satanic Symbols in the Temple?. Recommended ReadingIf you are interested in more information about the topic of 'Magic & Occult,' you may want to refer to the books listed below. These books are available in the FAIR Bookstore; click on a link to find more information. Michael T. Griffith, A Ready Reply: Answering Challenging Questions About the Gospel (Horizon Publishers, 1994, 123 pages). This book provides clear and complete answers to numerous challenges made against the LDS Church.
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April 27, 2008
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