Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Early Mormonism and the Magic World View/Use of sources

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Index of Claims

A FAIR Analysis of: Early Mormonism and the Magic World View A work by author: D. Michael Quinn Use of Sources

Apologetics

Note: This is a review of claims and/or responses to misrepresentations of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints found in this work. The inclusion of an author's work here does not imply that he or she is "anti-Mormon," or that none of his or her works have value. Those who do not wish to examine the claims contained in what some would consider an "anti-Mormon" work are advised to proceed no further.

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Source Analysis, Sorted by Page Number

Source interpretation
In an effort to show that books on magic were readily available on the frontier, the author makes some estimates. After estimating that a single book peddler "was selling about 25,000 books to farmers each year," the author then concludes that "by the early 1800’s there were thousands of peddlers." The author also claims that “‘some peddlers also stocked clandestine works’” and that therefore, “if local stores would not supply occult publications to American farmers, book peddlers were there to fill the need.”

Author's source(s)

• James S. Purcell, “A Book Pedlar’s [sic] Progress in North Carolina,” North Carolina Historical Review 29 (January 1952): 15.
• "Just received at the Rochester Book-Store," Western Farmer (Palmyra, NY), 31 July 1822.
• J. R. Dolan, The Yankee Peddlers of Early America (New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1964) 81.
• William J. Gilmore, “Peddlers and the Dissemination of Printed Material in Northern New England, 1780–1840,” in Peter Benes, ed., Itinerancy in New England and New York: The Dub;in Seminar for New England Folklife Annual Proceedings 1984 (Boston: Boston University Press, 1986), 80.

Source Analysis

• For a detailed response, see: Peddlers of occult books on the frontier?

Source interpretation
The author states that,

New York state's law provided punishment for "Disorderly Persons," whose definition included "all jugglers [conjurors], and all persons pretending to have skill in physiognomy, palmistry, or like crafty science, or pretending to tell fortunes, or to discover lost goods." (the amendation of "conjurors" is the author's)

Author's source(s)

• New York, Laws of the State of New-York...2 vols., (Albany: Southwick, 1813), 1:114

Source Analysis

• For a detailed response, see: Jugglers or conjurors?

Source interpretation
The author claims "bookstores near Joseph's home" in the 1820s were selling "thousands" of books that ranged from "44 cents to a dollar each."

Author's source(s)

• "Just received at the Rochester Book-Store," Palmyra Herald & Canal Advertiser (Palmyra, NY), 31 July 1822.
• "NEW BOOKS," Ontario Repository (Canandaigua, NY), 13 June 1820.

Source Analysis

• For a detailed response, see: Availability of cheap magic books?

Source interpretation
The author claims that Moshe Idel wrote that the Zohar 'is manifestly anthropomorphic', and that Gershom Scholem wrote of the Cabala's 'almost provocatively conspicuous anthropomorphism'.

Author's source(s)

• Moshe Idel, Kabbalah: New Perspectives (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1988), 107, 112, 121-22, 127, 135.
• Gershom Scholem, Kabbalah (New York: Quadrangle, 1974), 141.

Source Analysis

• For a detailed response, see: Anthromorphism in Kabbalah