tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post6016903429944206331..comments2024-03-26T11:33:59.219-06:00Comments on Religion in American History: RevelationsPaul Harveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13881964303772343114noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-50265057902276885612009-10-28T21:15:01.650-06:002009-10-28T21:15:01.650-06:00Thanks, Stapley, B., and Mark.
I didn't real...Thanks, Stapley, B., and Mark. <br /><br />I didn't realize the documents series would includes the revelations with contextualization. I will look forward to it. <br /><br />While the accounts in the History series won't serve as an exhaustive analysis of the "First Vision," etc. (I enjoy the account of Joseph's conversation with Matthias, for instance), I'm still looking forward to their presentation in the JSP project. <br /><br />I thought the introductions and notes were very helpful to Joseph Smith's journals in the first volume of that series.John G. Turnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08461094355047650502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-68499037899920781392009-10-28T14:55:04.951-06:002009-10-28T14:55:04.951-06:00Thanks for the review John. J. Stapley is correct ...Thanks for the review John. J. Stapley is correct that in the forthcoming Documents series the revelations will be individually introduced as texts in their own right and will be contextualized. In Revelations vol. 1 the texts are the two manuscript revelations books, which are introduced and contextualized in their totality (see pp. 2-7, 406-410).<br /><br />I'm currently helping to finish up volume 1 of the History series, so I was interested in your comment that you're "looking forward to the [volume's] presentation of Joseph Smith's accounts of his early religious experiences." The volume does include the documents with the most significant accounts of the early visions, but not all of them--only the ones by JS and his assigned historians. Several other accounts by Mormons and others should be taken into account when analyzing the events on their own terms. As you probably know, these early visions have been the subject of close scrutiny by many over the years. In the Joseph Smith Papers, we have attempted to provide helpful contextual annotation, but not necessarily more than we provide for any subject in Smith's papers. Instead of annotating that which we find most interesting, we try to let the text speak for itself. Why was what was written down written down? We try to let the document lead the way when it comes to research avenues and resulting annotation. We're trying to present the documents as best we can, and we will leave it to historians and other scholars to use the documents as resources for whatever subject they wish to pursue--whether it be the "First Vision", the social position of the Smith family during the time, or the material culture of New York farmers. That being said, I think that History volume 1 makes a valuable contribution to understanding the early visions--not through its (re)publication of the vision narratives and not necessarily through its routine annotation of the relevant passages, but through the historical introductions to the relevant documents. A result of deep textual and contextual study, these historical introductions will be pathbreaking analyses of these foundational documents that will set them in a new light--one with implications for reading the vision narratives.<br /><br />Oops, I got a little carried away there. Anyway, thanks for your interest. I hope the Joseph Smith Papers can serve you and other scholars well. The ultimate purpose of the Smith edition is to facilitate more and better scholarship on Smith and early Mormonism.Mark Ashurst-McGeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04342748048504786987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-53720845874988636692009-10-27T22:03:19.993-06:002009-10-27T22:03:19.993-06:00Thanks for the review, John. I'm hoping someon...Thanks for the review, John. I'm hoping someone gets this for me for Christmas.Christopherhttp://juvenileinstructor.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-38912198188669864772009-10-27T09:54:50.977-06:002009-10-27T09:54:50.977-06:00The link below is an Ezra Taft Benson address wher...The link below is an Ezra Taft Benson address where he talks about the relative importance of living vs. past prophets. His 3rd point is the most relevant to your query about living oracles.<br /><br />http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=cc52b4f40c9db010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&vgnextoid=f318118dd536c010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRDB.https://www.blogger.com/profile/15234384405878210631noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-76444488095212331122009-10-27T09:22:26.940-06:002009-10-27T09:22:26.940-06:00Nice write-up, John. I agree, this is pretty spec...Nice write-up, John. I agree, this is pretty spectacular publication. I think the Documents volumes are where the Revelations will be more accessible. There they will have individual introductions and contextualization. However, they will be split up chronologically-interspersed with other docs, and presented without later editing. Having the cohesive manuscript volumes presented as they are is, as you note, a very rich source.<br /><br />Also, I think I read recently that the sales for Journals 1 has topped 50,000.<br /><br />There is a fair amount of modern rhetoric among Mormons about the scriptural nature of Church leader sermons; but that categorization is ultimately fleeting. The canonized texts have tremendously more weight. I think in the early day of Joseph Smith and then Brigham Young, there was enough innovation and dynamism that older scripture wasn't as carefully considered.J. Stapleynoreply@blogger.com