Description
Book SynopsisThe publication of the
Book of Mormon in 1830 began a new scriptural tradition. Resisting the long-established closed biblical canon, the Book of Mormon posited that the Bible was incomplete and corrupted. With a commitment to an open canon, a variety of Latter Day Saint denominations have emerged, each offering their own scriptural works to accompany the Bible, the
Book of Mormon, and other revelations of Joseph Smith.
Open Canon breaks new ground as the first volume to examine these writings as a single spiritual heritage.
Chapters cover both well-studied and lesser-studied works, introducing readers to scripture dictated by nineteenth- and twentieth-century revelators such as James Strang, Lucy Mack Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Harry Edgar Baker, and Charles B. Thompson, among others. Contributors detail how various Latter Day Saint denominations responded to scriptures introduced during the ministry of Joseph Smith and how churches have employed the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Lectures of Faith over time. Bringing together studies from across denominational boundaries, this book considers what we can learn about Latter Day Saint resistance to the closed canon and the nature of a new American scriptural tradition.
Trade Review“A collection that treats the still-proliferating scriptures of the still-diverging branches of the Latter Day Saint movement both as a common phenomenon and as individual phenomena meriting equal intellectual seriousness and scholarly rigor is long overdue. This volume will be a landmark in Latter Day Saint studies.”—Jared Hickman, associate professor of English, Johns Hopkins University, and coeditor of
Americanist Approaches to The Book of MormonTable of Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Churches and Movements
- Select Chronology
- Sources and Abbreviations
- Foreword
- Philip L. Barlow
- Part I: Introductory Essays
- 1. Opening the Canon: A New Scriptural Tradition
- Christopher James Blythe
- 2. Anchored in Revelation: Scripture and Schism in the Restoration
- Laurie F. Maffly- Kipp
- 3. Revelation, Scripture, and Authority in the Latter Day Saint Diaspora, 1840–1870
- Richard L. Saunders
- Part II: Reception of Joseph Smith’s Revelations
- 4. Books of Mormon: Latter- day Saints, Latter Day Saints, and the Book of Mormon
- Joseph M. Spencer
- 5. The Church of Christ (Temple Lot): A Solae Scripturae Mormonism
- Chrystal Vanel
- 6. Joseph Smith’s Letter from Liberty Jail: A Study in Canonization
- Kathleen Flake
- 7. Lectures on Faith in the Latter Day Saint Tradition
- Richard S. Van Wagoner, Steven C. Walker, Allen D. Roberts, and Christine Elyse Blythe
- Part III: Case Studies in New Scripture: Nineteenth Century
- 8. Lucy Mack Smith and Her Sacred Text
- Janiece Johnson
- 9. Strangite Scripture
- Christine Elyse Blythe and Christopher James Blythe
- 10. The Book of Enoch “Revised, Corrected, and the Missing Parts Restored”
- Christopher James Blythe
- 11. William Bickerton’s Cooperative Views on Scripture and Revelation
- Daniel P. Stone
- 12. Scriptures for the Children of Zion: The Revelations of Sidney and Phebe Rigdon
- Jay Burton
- Part IV: Case Studies in New Scripture: Twentieth and Twenty- First Centuries
- 13. Harry Edgar Baker and The Word of the Lord
- Thomas G. Evans and Christopher James Blythe
- 14. The Levitical Writings of the House of Aaron
- Casey Paul Griffiths
- 15. The Hidden Records of Central Utah and the Struggle for Religious Authority
- Christopher C. Smith
- 16. Matthew Philip Gill, Joseph Smith, and the Dynamics of Mormon Schism
- Matthew Bowman
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- Contributors
- Index
