Lucifer's Lantern

     John Leacock’s, The First Book of the American Chronicles of the Times 1774-1775   probably comes as close to a contemporary of the Book of Mormon as I could find. As luck would have it, the first version I read was the 1987  edited version, which gave me a breakdown of the work and the literary methods used from 1774-1775. Title Page of the 1987 reprint .      Here is the introduction:      "The First Book of the American Chronicles of the Times, a parodic satire written as a six-chapter pamphlet series , is clearly one of the most humorous works of  patriot  propaganda to have come out of the events just preceding the Revolutionary War. A conflation of the political events of 1773 and 1774 in a "biblical" narration , the American Chronicles targets both New England and old in a sometimes scurrilous attack on tyranny, militarism, Catholicism, Puritan millennialism, and extremes of all forms. Clearly and consiste...

     It's important to note that biblical influence  in American writing has been around since the puritans first settled the Americas. This trend was particularly evident in works that sought to connect the American experience with the grand narratives of ancient history or biblical prophecy. We may not see direct satire of the Bible like we do in works of psuedo-biblicia, but we see a lot of writings that carry this religious tone.    One significant to serve as an example is Cotton Mather’s " Magnalia Christi Americana : or Ecclesiastical history of New-England, from its first planting in the year 1620. unto the year of Our Lord, 1698. In seven books " (1702).  Title page of Magnalia Christi Americana     Yeah, that's quite the title. And if you're going to judge a book by its cover, this is it. It is dense.  This contains a very detailed, over 800 page, narrative of the Ecclesiastical history of New England.  As such, it carrie...

     As I discussed in my previous post, my theory is that the Book of Mormon is a psuedo-biblical  historical fiction . I believe that it is a work which was influenced by other writings in this genre and the history of America.     In order to explore this concept a little more, we need to first understand how widespread these types of works were in the United States. And in order to do that, we need to first go to London, where psuedo-biblicia first captured the public's attention.      In 1740, William of Malmesbury published a book telling the history of the Kings of England in a biblical style, or "the manner of The Jewish Historians." Titled The Chronicle of the Kings of England It was published in multiple editions and spread quickly to the United States. Cover page from the 1821 edition      The book quickly gained notoriety for its unique approach to retelling English history. It was designed to...

     Upon first leaving the church, I didn't have any real explanation to give people for why the religion was "false." I had questions, but I felt that I had no answers.    As a faithful member, I had done my best to steer away from "anti" material. Most items on my shelf stemmed from personal observations and experiences. It took me several months after leaving before I even sat down to read the CES Letter . It seemed backwards to only pursue the material after I decided to leave the church. Somehow it felt wrong. Most people read the letter and then leave... right?      I began posting some of my experiences on  reddit  (under a different username) as a way to vent to others and to find a new sense of community. At one point I shared this sentiment, that I felt unjustified in a way for how I came to the conclusion to leave. I quickly found that many...  many... people experienced what I had experienced. The loss of faith, which ...

 "I don't think Joseph Smith was a prophet"      Tears that I had been holding back finally broke free as I said the words I never thought I would say. The fear, the anger, the betrayal. The emotions that countless people who have lost their faith had felt, were rushing through me. I collapsed to the floor as this great realization washed over me.      I  had lost my faith.       It was gone.      I don't feel that it is important to share the events that led to my faith crisis, and honestly they are hard to explain. Like most people who leave the church, there were a number of issues that had piled up over the years. Items that were stacked on my shelf of concerns eventually became too much for the shelf to handle. It broke, and with it, my world shattered.      The grief was overwhelming. I had known nothing but Mormonism for my entire life, and the loss was the feeling of losing a loved one. An ...