People of Paradox: A History of Mormon CultureOxford University Press, 2007 M08 29 - 432 pages In People of Paradox, Terryl Givens traces the rise and development of Mormon culture from the days of Joseph Smith in upstate New York, through Brigham Young's founding of the Territory of Deseret on the shores of Great Salt Lake, to the spread of the Latter-Day Saints around the globe. Throughout the last century and a half, Givens notes, distinctive traditions have emerged among the Latter-Day Saints, shaped by dynamic tensions--or paradoxes--that give Mormon cultural expression much of its vitality. Here is a religion shaped by a rigid authoritarian hierarchy and radical individualism; by prophetic certainty and a celebration of learning and intellectual investigation; by existence in exile and a yearning for integration and acceptance by the larger world. Givens divides Mormon history into two periods, separated by the renunciation of polygamy in 1890. In each, he explores the life of the mind, the emphasis on education, the importance of architecture and urban planning (so apparent in Salt Lake City and Mormon temples around the world), and Mormon accomplishments in music and dance, theater, film, literature, and the visual arts. He situates such cultural practices in the context of the society of the larger nation and, in more recent years, the world. Today, he observes, only fourteen percent of Mormon believers live in the United States. Mormonism has never been more prominent in public life. But there is a rich inner life beneath the public surface, one deftly captured in this sympathetic, nuanced account by a leading authority on Mormon history and thought. |
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Page xi
... Prophet, harangued the Saints, urging that he be sustained as the ''guardian'' of the church. After a break for lunch, Brigham Young addressed the reconvened assembly, expressing his concern that because of their great number, all might ...
... Prophet, harangued the Saints, urging that he be sustained as the ''guardian'' of the church. After a break for lunch, Brigham Young addressed the reconvened assembly, expressing his concern that because of their great number, all might ...
Page xii
... Prophet's brother William would concur that Joseph's role was irreplaceable. He petitioned Brigham to be named Hyrum's successor as patriarch, but said he did not wish to be ''prophet in Joseph's place for no man on Earth can fill his ...
... Prophet's brother William would concur that Joseph's role was irreplaceable. He petitioned Brigham to be named Hyrum's successor as patriarch, but said he did not wish to be ''prophet in Joseph's place for no man on Earth can fill his ...
Page xiv
... prophet at the head of the church is every bit as literal and all-encompassing as that of Moses over the children of Israel. But it is also a religion in which the priesthood authority is also given to virtually every active Mormon male ...
... prophet at the head of the church is every bit as literal and all-encompassing as that of Moses over the children of Israel. But it is also a religion in which the priesthood authority is also given to virtually every active Mormon male ...
Page xv
... Prophets, establishing a fledgling university, and devoting himself to the study of ancient languages and lore even as he claimed to bypass the learned systems of men with his powers of seership and translation. So it is that Mormons ...
... Prophets, establishing a fledgling university, and devoting himself to the study of ancient languages and lore even as he claimed to bypass the learned systems of men with his powers of seership and translation. So it is that Mormons ...
Page 4
... prophet Moses: ... [He] came before me, saying—Behold here am I, send me, I will be thy Son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore, give me thine honor. But, behold, my ...
... prophet Moses: ... [He] came before me, saying—Behold here am I, send me, I will be thy Son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore, give me thine honor. But, behold, my ...
Contents
THE VARIETIES OF MORMON CULTURAL EXPRESSION Beginnings 18301890 The Dancing Puritans | 63 |
THE VARIETIES OF MORMON CULTURAL EXPRESSION A Movable Zion 1890Present Pioneer Nostalgia and Beyond the American Religion | 191 |
Through the Particular to the Universal | 339 |
Notes | 345 |
Index | 397 |
Other editions - View all
People of Paradox: A History of Mormon Culture Terryl C. Givens,Terryl L. Givens Limited preview - 2007 |
Common terms and phrases
American angel apostle architecture Arrington B. H. Roberts believe Book of Mormon Boyd K Brigham Young University building BYU Studies called century certainty Chicago Christ of Latter-day Christian Church of Jesus cited critic dancing Deseret Dialogue divine doctrine drama Early Mormon eternal Eugene England faith fiction gathering God’s gospel heaven historian Holy human hymns Improvement Era Jesus Christ John Joseph Smith Journal of Discourses Journal of Mormon Kimball Kirtland Latter-day Saints LDS church leaders literature Lord Methodists missionary Missouri Mormon art Mormon culture Mormon history Mormon intellectual Mormon theology Mormon Thought Mormonism’s Nauvoo Nephi novel Orson Pratt painting popular president priesthood produced Prophet Provo Puritans religion religious revelation Richard sacred Salt Lake City Salt Lake Temple salvation scholars scripture secular spiritual story Sunstone temple tension theater things tradition truth University Press unto Utah vision Wilford Woodruff William women writes York Zion