|
|
| (35 intermediate revisions by 3 users not shown) |
| Line 1: |
Line 1: |
| − | {{Articles FAIR copyright}} {{Articles Header 1}} {{Articles Header 2}} {{Articles Header 3}} {{Articles Header 4}} {{Articles Header 5}} {{Articles Header 6}} {{Articles Header 7}} {{Articles Header 8}} {{Articles Header 9}} {{Articles Header 10}}
| + | #REDIRECT[[Events leading to the First Vision]] |
| − | {{Resource Title|Were there revivals in the Palmyra area in 1820?}}
| |
| − | {{FirstVisionPortal}}
| |
| − | <onlyinclude>
| |
| − | == ==
| |
| − | {{QA label}}
| |
| − | {{:Source:Christofferson:The Prophet Joseph Smith:BYUI Devotional:2013:Critics have also claimed that there were no religious revivals in the Palmyra, New York, area in 1820}}
| |
| − | {{:Question: What religious excitement was occurring in Palmyra in 1820?}}
| |
| − | {{:Question: Was there no mention of revival activity in 1820 in the newspaper?}}
| |
| − | {{:Question: At what age did Joseph Smith become concerned about religion?}}
| |
| − | {{:Question: What evidence of religious excitement is there from non-Mormon sources?}}
| |
| − | ==Question: Were revivals and religious excitement too common to be noticed in the newspapers?==
| |
| − | | |
| − | Ironically, evidence for local religious meetings was less likely to be documented in the newspapers because they were so ''common.'' One report of a Methodist camp meeting in Palmyra only made it into the local newspaper because of a fatality due to alcohol consumption. The paper, in a less politically correct time, pointed out that the deceased was Irish and had died due to alcohol at the Camp-ground outside Palmyra:
| |
| − | | |
| − | :Effects of Drunkenness--DIED at the house of Mr. Robert McCollum, in this town, on the 26th inst. James Couser, aged about forty years. The deceased, we are informed, arrived at Mr. McCollum's house the evening preceding, from '''a camp-meeting which was held in this vicinity''', in a state of intoxication. He, with his companion who was also in the same debasing condition, called for supper, which was granted. They both stayed the night--called for breakfast next morning--when notified that it was ready, the deceased was found wrestling with his companion, who he flung with the greatest ease,--he suddenly sunk down upon a bench,--was taken with an epileptic fit, and immediately expired.--It is supposed he obtained his liquor, which was no doubt the cause of his death, at '''the Camp-ground''', where, it is a notorious fact, the intemperate, the lewd and dissolute part of community too frequently resort for no better object, than to gratify their base propensities.
| |
| − | | |
| − | :The deceased, who was an Irishman, we understand has left a family, living at Catskill this state. <ref>''Palmyra Register'' (Palmyra, NY), 28 June 1820.</ref>
| |
| − | | |
| − | Mention of "the Camp-ground" did not endear the paper to the local Methodists, who objected to the implication that this (the location of their worship services) was the site of drinking to excess and a place of gathering by the "dissolute part" of the community. An article appeared in the same paper a week later which said:
| |
| − | | |
| − | :"Plain Truth" is received. By this communication, as well as by the remarks of some of our neighbors who belong to the Society of '''Methodists''', we perceive that our remarks accompanying the notice of the unhappy death of James Couser, contained in our last, have not been correctly understood. "Plain truth" says, we committed "an error in point of fact," in saying that Couser "obtained his liquor at the camp-ground." By this expression we did not mean to insinuate, that he obtained it within the enclosure of their place of worship, or that he procured it of them, but at the grog-shops that were established at, or near if you please, '''their camp-ground'''. It was far from our intention to charge the Methodists with retailing ardent spirits while professedly met for the worship of their God. Neither did we intend to implicate them by saying that "the intemperate, the dissolute, &c. resort to their meetings."--And if so we have been understood by any one of that society, we assure them they have altogether mistaken our meaning. <ref>''Palmyra Register'' (Palmyra, NY), 5 July 1820.</ref>
| |
| − | | |
| − | Thus, Joseph's recollection of religious excitement in Palmyra is confirmed at the very edge of the Spring of 1820; very close to the time when he said he prayed to God about religion. <ref>This episode in the ''Palmyra Register'' was noted in Walter A. Norton, "Comparative Images: Mormonism and Contemporary Religions as Seen by Village Newspapermen in Western New York and Northeastern Ohio, 1820-1833" (Ph.D. Diss., Brigham Young University, 1991), 255. Discussed in footnote 3 by {{FR-6-2-8}}</ref>
| |
| − | | |
| − | ===A parallel===
| |
| − | | |
| − | Critics often wish to place the revival which Joseph spoke about in 1818. However, even though we know that a revival occurred in Palmyra during June 1818, there is no mention of it in the town paper, despite the fact that it was attended by Robert R. Roberts, who was one of "only three Methodist bishops in North America." <ref> Discussed and cited on pages 9–10 of {{DialogueP | author=D. Michael Quinn | article=Joseph Smith's Experience of a Methodist 'Camp-Meeting'|date=12 July 2006|num=3|pdf=http://www.dialoguejournal.com/excerpts/e3.pdf}}</ref>
| |
| − | | |
| − | Once again, the commonality of such an event did not ensure that it would get a mention—yet, by the critics' same argument, this "silence" in the newspaper should mean that the 1818 revival didn't happen either.
| |
| − | | |
| − | ===Conflation?===
| |
| − | | |
| − | Some critics and armchair scholars have come to the conclusion that some of the revival story elements found in Joseph Smith's 1838 historical narrative are not really accurate, but rather are representative of a conflation of facts. These people believe that Joseph Smith was actually mixing parts of 1818 and 1824-25 Palmyra revival activities into his storyline about what happened in 1820. In other words, they claim that the Prophet's narrative is not historically accurate - but not deceptively so.
| |
| − | | |
| − | The problem with the 'conflation theory' is two-fold: (1) It can be demonstrated that one of the most important pieces of documentary evidence which is used to support this theory does not actually say what some people think it says - see the FAIRwiki paper called [[Conflation of 1824-25 revival?]]. (2) There is plenty of documentary evidence that shows abundant revival activity in the general region surrounding Palmyra, New York during an 1819-1820 time period. A careful examination of Joseph Smith's 1838 narrative reveals that three distinct zones of revival activity are being referred to by him and each of these can be confirmed in non-LDS newspapers and ecclesiastical sources. When all of these sources are taken into account the idea of conflation loses most of its strength.
| |
| − | | |
| − | | |
| − | <videoflash>njE6WBooS_E</videoflash>
| |
| − | | |
| − | == ==
| |
| − | {{further information label}}
| |
| − | {{SummaryItem
| |
| − | |link=Joseph Smith's First Vision/Religious revivals in 1820/Gordon B. Hinckley cited false information
| |
| − | |subject=Gordon B. Hinckley cited false information?
| |
| − | |summary=Some claim that there were no religious revivals in the Palmyra, New York area in 1820, and that Gordon B. Hinckley cited false information in a book called Truth Restored.
| |
| − | }}
| |
| − | </onlyinclude>
| |
| − | {{CriticalSources}}
| |
| − | {{endnotes sources}}
| |
| − | | |
| − | {{FurtherReading}}
| |
| − | | |
| − | {{Articles Footer 1}} {{Articles Footer 2}} {{Articles Footer 3}} {{Articles Footer 4}} {{Articles Footer 5}} {{Articles Footer 6}} {{Articles Footer 7}} {{Articles Footer 8}} {{Articles Footer 9}} {{Articles Footer 10}}
| |
| | | | |
| | + | <!-- PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE --> |
| | [[de:Erste Vision/Erweckungsbewegungen 1820]] | | [[de:Erste Vision/Erweckungsbewegungen 1820]] |
| − | [[fr:First Vision/Religious revivals in 1820]] | + | [[fi:Ensimmäinen näky/Uskonnollinen kiihtymys 1820]] |
| | + | [[pt:A Primeira Visão/Revivals religiosos em 1820]] |
| | + | [[es:La Primera Visión de José Smith/Actividad religiosa en el área de Palmyra en 1820]] |
| | | | |
| | [[Category:First Vision]] | | [[Category:First Vision]] |
| − | [[Category:MormonThink]]
| |
