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Revision as of 13:06, 28 October 2022
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Contents
Question: Did Joseph Smith use entheogens to effectuate the founding of the Church?
Introduction to Question
"In 2019, retired emergency department physician Robert Beckstead, Naked Mormonism podcaster [and critic] Bryce Blankenagel, independent researcher Cody Noconi, and retired Arizona State University Professor Michael Winkelman published 'The Entheogenic Origins of Mormonism: A Working Hypothesis' in the online Journal of Psychedelic Studies. Their lengthy article, richly illustrated with 41 color figures and more than 300 references in the bibliography, attributes many of Joseph Smith’s visionary experiences and those of other early Latter-day Saints to the use of 'entheogens,' or psychedelic chemical substances available in the environment."[1]
"Entheogens are psychoactive substances that induce alterations in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition, or behavior for the purposes of engendering spiritual development or otherwise in sacred contexts."
This article provides resources that respond to this theory.
Response to Question
Brian Hales' Interpreter Paper
Researcher Brian C. Hales wrote a lengthy article responding to the four authors above for Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship. We strongly encourage readers to see his response.
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship, "Visions, Mushrooms, Fungi, Cacti, and Toads: Joseph Smith’s Reported Use of Entheogens"
Brian C. Hales, Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship, (July 31, 2020)An article recently published in an online journal entitled “The Entheogenic Origins of Mormonism: A Working Hypothesis” posits that Joseph Smith used naturally occurring chemicals, called “entheogens,” to facilitate visionary experiences among his early followers. The entheogenic substances were reportedly derived from two mushrooms, a fungus, three plants (including one cactus), and the secretions from the parotid glands of the Sonoran Desert toad. Although it is an intriguing theory, the authors consistently fail to connect important dots regarding chemical and historical cause-and-effect issues. Documentation of entheogen acquisition and consumption by the early Saints is not provided, but consistently speculated. Equally, the visionary experiences recounted by early Latter-day Saints are highly dissimilar from the predictable psychedelic effects arising from entheogen ingestion. The likelihood that Joseph Smith would have condemned entheogenic influences as intoxication is unaddressed in the article.
Click here to view the complete article
Brian Hales' "Saints Unscripted" Interview
Brian also did an interview with the Latter-day Saint YouTube talkshow "Saints Unscripted". For those that don't want to trudge through Hales' Interpreter article, this may be a more attractive alternative.
Notes
- ↑ Brian C. Hales, "Visions, Mushrooms, Fungi, Cacti, and Toads: Joseph Smith’s Reported Use of Entheogens," Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship 38 (2020): 307–08.