José Smith/El ocultismo y la magia/Origen

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El origen de las experiencias espirituales de José Smith

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Pregunta: ¿Fueron originalmente las experiencias espirituales de José Smith los productos de la magia y el ocultismo?

  NEEDS TRANSLATION  


Joseph's family believed in folk magic, and that Joseph himself used several different seer stones in order to locate lost objects

It is a known fact that Joseph's family believed in folk magic, and that Joseph himself used several different seer stones in order to locate lost objects.[1] Brant Gardner notes,

Young Joseph Smith was a member of a specialized sub-community with ties to these very old and very respected practices, though by the early 1800s they were respected only by a marginalized segment of society.

Joseph's family shared folk magic beliefs that were common to the day. Joseph's mother, Lucy, felt it important to note in her history that the family did not let these magical endeavors prevent the family from doing the necessary work to survive:

But let not my reader suppose that, because I shall pursue another topic for a season, that we stopped our labor and went at trying to win the faculty of Abrac, drawing Magic circles or sooth saying to the neglect of all kinds of business. We never during our lives suffered one important interest to swallow up every other obligation. But, whilst we worked with our hands, we endeavored to remember the service of, and the welfare of our souls.[2]

Joseph's involvement with Josiah Stowell's attempt to locate a lost Spanish treasure is well documented in Church history

Stowell requested Joseph's assistance in a mining operation looking for old coins and precious metals. This effort, in fact, resulted in charges being brought against Joseph by Stowell's relatives for being a "glasslooker" in 1826. Joseph was ultimately charged with being a "disorderly person" and released. (For more detailed information, see: Joseph Smith's 1826 glasslooking trial)

Some, however, believe that all of Joseph's early spiritual experiences, particularly the First Vision and the visit of Moroni, were originally magical or occult experiences that were only later couched in spiritual terms. For example, the Hurlbut affidavits relate stories of Moroni's visit that cast the angel in the role of spiritual treasure guardian, with one (Willard Chase) even claiming that the angel appeared in the form of a toad.

D. Michael Quinn has been the most prolific author on the subject of "magic" influences on the origins of Mormonism. According to William Hamblin:

Quinn's overall thesis is that Joseph Smith and other early Latter-day Saint leaders were fundamentally influenced by occult and magical thought, books, and practices in the founding of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This is unmitigated nonsense. Yet the fact that Quinn could not discover a single primary source written by Latter-day Saints that makes any positive statement about magic is hardly dissuasive to a historian of Quinn's inventive capacity.[3]

Joseph Smith and his followers undoubtedly believed in supernatural power

Joseph Smith and his followers undoubtedly believed in supernatural power. And, they may have had some ideas about how to access that power that now strike us as inaccurate and even strange. This is not surprising, given the two centuries and massive scientific advances which separate our culture from theirs. However, there is no evidence that Joseph and others considered these things to be "magic," or the "occult," nor did they consider "magic" or the "occult" to be positive things.


Pregunta: ¿Cuál es la distinción entre la creencia en la "magia popular" y una creencia religiosa en lo sobrenatural?

  NEEDS TRANSLATION  


The use of the terms "magic" and "occult" are prejudicial, loaded terminology

When critics use the term "magic" or "occult," they are using prejudicial, loaded terminology. Used in a neutral sense, magic might mean only that a person believes in the supernatural, and believes that supernatural can be influenced for the believer's benefit.

However, critics are generally not clear about what definition of magic they are using, and how to distinguish a "magical" belief in the supernatural from a "religious" belief in the supernatural.[4] Scholars of magic and religion have, in fact, come to realize that defining "magic" is probably a hopeless task. John Gee noted:

Defining "magic" as "religious beliefs other than their own"

In 1990, Cambridge University published Stanley Tambiah's Magic, Science, Religion, and the Scope of Rationality, which showed that the definitions of many of the most important writers on "magic" were heavily influenced both by their backgrounds and their personal ideological agendas: they defined "magic" as religious beliefs other than their own. In 1992, the International Interdisciplinary Conference on Magic in the Ancient World failed to come to any agreement on what "magic" was. The plenary speaker, Jonathan Z. Smith, in particular voiced strong opinions:

I see little merit in continuing the use of the substantive term "magic" in second-order, theoretical, academic discourse. We have better and more precise scholarly taxa for each of the phenomena commonly denoted by "magic" which, among other benefits, create more useful categories for comparison. For any culture I am familiar with, we can trade places between the corpus of materials conventionally labeled "magical" and corpora designated by other generic terms (e.g., healing, divining, execrative) with no cognitive loss. Indeed, there would be a gain.[5]

The use of the term "magic" is a negative label for modern Christians

The use of the term "magic" imposes, especially for modern Christians, a negative label at the outset, which explains its popularity for critics. As Professor of Egyptology Robert K. Ritner explained:

Modern Western terms for 'magic' function primarily as designations for that which we as a society do not accept, and which has overtones of the supernatural or the demonic (but not of the divine). It is important to stress that this pejorative connotation has not been grafted onto the notion of magic as the result of any recent theoretical fancy but is inherent in Western terminology virtually from its beginning. It constitutes the essential core of the Western concept of magic.[6]

The Book of Mormon condemns "magic"

Moroni's visit was a turning point for Joseph, for it is important to note that the Book of Mormon itself condemns "magic" whenever it is mentioned:

And it came to pass that there were sorceries, and witchcrafts, and magics; and the power of the evil one was wrought upon all the face of the land, even unto the fulfilling of all the words of Abinadi, and also Samuel the Lamanite. Mormon 1:19

Regardless of Joseph's or his family's previous opinions regarding folk magic prior to the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, they clearly always believed in and had faith in God. Joseph believed that instruments such as the Urim and Thummim and his seer stone were consecrated by God for their intended use.


Pregunta: ¿Cuáles fueron las actitudes de Joseph Smith y sus contemporáneos hacia la "magia"?

  NEEDS TRANSLATION  


The attitudes of Joseph Smith and his contemporaries toward "magic" was always negative

In 1841, Wilford Woodruff recounted an episode of Church disciplinary action:

The President then brought up the case of a Br Moumford, who was holding the office of a Priest, from whome fellowship had been withdrawn by the council of officers in consequence of his practizing fortune Telling, Magic, Black art &c & called upon Elders Woodruff & Cordon to express their feelings upon the subject when Elder Woodruff arose, & spoke Briefly upon the subject, & informed the assembly that we had no such custom or practice in the Church, & that we should not fellowship any individual who Practiced Magic fortune Telling, Black art &c for it was not of God. When It was moved & carried by the whole church that fellowship be withdrawn from Br Moumford.[7]

And, most importantly, the Book of Mormon's treatment of "magic" or "sorcery" is always negative, which seems strange if (as we are asked to believe by the critics) Joseph Smith concocted it while at the same time embracing that same "magic."


Pregunta: ¿Acaso José Smith y sus contemporáneos creen en entidades sobrenaturales con poder real?

Todo cristiano, Judio, o musulmán que cree en Dios, los ángeles, y el poder divino cree en entidades sobrenaturales con poder real

Así, tuvieron José Smith y sus contemporáneos creen en entidades sobrenaturales con poder real? Sí—y lo mismo ocurre con cada cristiano, Judio, o musulmán que cree en Dios, los ángeles, y el poder divino para revelar, sanar, etc. Sin embargo, para etiquetar estas creencias como "magia" es una petición de principio—para argumentar que José creía y buscó la ayuda de poderes , además de Dios. Nadie disputas que José y su familia creían en la Biblia, que condena la adivinación y la brujería:

No sea hallado en ti quien haga pasar a su hijo o a su hija por el fuego, ni quien practique adivinación, ni agorero, ni sortílego, ni hechicero, Deuteronomy 18:10

José y su familia vieron magia popular y el uso de piedras videntes como no caer bajo la condenación bíblica

Por lo tanto, José y su familia vieron magia popular y el uso de piedras videntes como no comprendidos bajo esta condenación bíblica. Está claro que José y sus contemporáneos creían que se podía adquirir conocimientos de actividades tales como la radiestesia (utilizando una varilla para encontrar agua, mineral, o tesoro enterrado) y el uso de las piedras videntes. Esto no significa, sin embargo, que José entendió esas actividades a ser una forma de magia.

En los días de José, el poder de (por ejemplo) la radiestesia fue visto como una manifestación de "cómo funcionaba el mundo." Un artículo publicado en 1825 describió cómo la sacudida a la baja de un adivinación montó "se parece mucho a la inclinación de la aguja magnética, cuando se atraviesa una cama o de mineral".[8] Un diario de la ciencia informó la idea de que "la vara está influenciada por los minerales."[9]

Un radiestesista británica temprana denunció la idea de que la radiestesia para el mineral se basa en la magia. "[la varilla] guió mee al orificio de una mina de plomo. [La varilla es] de los familiares a la carga de piedra [imán], dibujo hierro a ella por un Vertue secreto, innato en la naturaleza, y no por la cualquier conjuro como algunos han imaginado con cariño. "[10]

Usando una varita mágica fue visto en estos ejemplos como una manifestación de la ley natural, y que requiere la gracia de Dios para operar

Por lo tanto, la adivinación fue visto en estos ejemplos como una manifestación de la ley natural. Así como uno puede usar una brújula o lode-piedra para encontrar el norte verdadero, sin entender los principios o las matemáticas del magnetismo que subyacía, por lo que uno podría utilizar la radiestesia como una herramienta, sin entender los principios por los que operaba.

Además, es claro que los que utiliza divinización por varillas, por ejemplo, creían que la capacidad natural de la barra también se requiere la gracia de Dios para operar. Por lo tanto, los profesionales podrían consagrar sus barras, y ruega a Dios que bendiga sus esfuerzos.[11] De estos asuntos, Oliver Cowdery se le dijo en una revelación temprana, "sin fe no puedes hacer nada."[12] Como cualquier habilidad natural, Joseph cree que el don y herramientas de videncia (en el sentido más amplio) podrían ser mal utilizados. Como le dijo a Brigham Young, "más ... que no se encontró [una piedra vidente] hacen un mal uso de ella."[13] Y, hermano hostil de Emma Smith Alvah tarde recordaría que José le dijo "que su regalo en ver con una [vidente] piedra y sombrero, fue un regalo de Dios."[14]


Pregunta: ¿Qué efecto tuvieron las falsificaciones de Hofmann en el estudio de la historia de los primeros tiempos de los Últimos Días?

  NEEDS TRANSLATION  


D. Michael Quinn wrote his first edition of Mormonism and the Magic World View while still believing that Hofmann's forged "Salamander letter"

One difficulty of assessing the issue of "magic" versus a religious belief in the supernatural is the fact that D. Michael Quinn wrote his first edition of Mormonism and the Magic World View while still believing that Hofmann's forged "Salamander letter" was genuine. He chose to publish his work essentially unaltered, believing nothing needed to be changed,[15] when the truth of the forgeries became known:

Quinn must have begun his research when he still had the Hofmann letters and the salamander to serve as the rock of his hypotheses. It was those solid, indisputable historical documents that would give credibility to the rest of his data and make his case come together. Quinn's speculative notes would merely hang like decorations on the solid mass provided by the Hofmann documents, and the greater would justify the lesser. However, as Quinn approached publication, the Hofmann materials were pulled out from under him, leaving a huge salamander-shaped hole in the center of his theory. . . .

With the salamander letter and other Hofmann materials, Quinn had a respectable argument; without them he had a handful of fragmented and highly speculative research notes. It appears to me that when he was faced with the choice of seeing months of research go down the drain for lack of a credible context to put it in or of putting the best face on it and publishing anyway, Quinn simply made the wrong choice. This would explain why his remaining arguments are so strained and the scanty evidence so overworked. This would explain why the book is such a methodological nightmare. Having lost the turkey at the last minute, Quinn has served us the gravy and trimmings, hoping we won't notice the difference.[16]


Pregunta: ¿Cómo usar Joseph sus piedras videntes en su juventud?

José como el vidente del pueblo: el uso de la piedra vidente antes de la Restauración

Brant Gardner aclara el papel que José y su piedra jugaban dentro de la comunidad de Palmira,

El joven José Smith era un miembro de una sub-comunidad especializada con vínculos con estas prácticas muy antiguas y muy respetados, aunque a principios de los años 1800 que se respetaron solamente por un segmento marginado de la sociedad. Expuso un talento paralelo a otros en comunidades similares. Incluso en Palmyra no fue único. En palabras de D. Michael Quinn: "Hasta que el Libro de Mormón empujó joven Smith en la prominencia, más notable vidente de Palmyra fue a Sally Chase, que utiliza una piedra de color verdoso William Stafford también tenía una piedra vidente y Joshua Stafford tenido un 'peepstone. que parecía de mármol blanco y tenía un agujero en el centro. "[9] Richard Bushman añade Chauncy Hart, y un hombre no identificado en el Condado de Susquehanna, ambos de los cuales tenía piedras con que se encuentran los objetos perdidos. [10] [17]

Durante su mandato como un "vidente del pueblo", José adquirió varias piedras videntes. José utilizó por primera piedra vidente de un vecino (probablemente que la pertenencia a Palmyra vidente de Sally Chase, en el balance de la evidencia histórica, aunque hay otras posibilidades) para descubrir la ubicación de un marrón, piedra en forma de pie del bebé. La visión de esta piedra probablemente ocurrió en aproximadamente 1819–1820, y obtuvo su primera piedra vidente en aproximadamente 1821–1822.[18]

Según informes, la segunda piedra vidente fue encontrado durante la excavación de un pozo en la propiedad de William Chase de 1822

José entonces utiliza esta primera piedra para encontrar una segunda piedra (uno blanco). Según informes, la segunda piedra vidente fue encontrado en la propiedad de William Chase, en 1822 cuando Chase lo describió:

En el año 1822, yo estaba comprometido en la excavación de un pozo. Empleé Alvin y José Smith para que me ayude .... Después de cavar unos veinte pies por debajo de la superficie de la tierra, descubrimos una piedra que aparece singularmente, lo que excitó mi curiosidad. Me lo trajeron a la parte superior del pozo, y como estábamos examinando él, José lo puso en su sombrero, y luego su cara en la parte superior de su sombrero .... A la mañana siguiente vino a mí, y deseaba obtener la piedra, alegando que podía ver en ella; pero yo le dije que no he querido desprenderse de él a causa de su ser una curiosidad, pero me lo prestan.[19]


Las Revelaciones en Contexto en history.lds.org: "Cowdery fue uno de los que creen en y utilizó una varita mágica"

Las Revelaciones en Contexto en history.lds.org:

Oliver Cowdery vivió en una cultura impregnada de ideas bíblicas, lenguaje y prácticas. La referencia de la revelación a Moisés probablemente resonó con él. El relato del Antiguo Testamento de Moisés y su hermano Aarón relató varios casos de uso de varillas de manifestar la voluntad de Dios (véase Éxodo 7:9-12;.. Num 17:08). Muchos cristianos de José Smith y Oliver Cowdery día creyeron de manera similar en varitas de zahorí como instrumento de revelación. Cowdery fue uno de los que creen en y utilizó una varita mágica.[20]


Pregunta: ¿Fue un "vagabundo adivino" llamado Walters el "mentor" de José Smith?

  NEEDS TRANSLATION  


The idea that Walter's "mantle" fell upon Joseph is the creation of an enemy of Joseph Smith, Abner Cole

It is claimed by some that a "vagabond fortune-teller" named Walters became popular in the Palmyra area, and that when Walters left the area, "his mantle fell upon" Joseph Smith. However, the idea that "Walters the Magician" was a mentor to Joseph Smith and that his "mantle" fell upon Joseph once Walters left the area originated with Abner Cole. Cole published a mockery of the Book of Mormon called the "Book of Pukei."

Matthew Brown discusses the "Book of Pukei":,

Cole claims in the "Book of Pukei" that the Book of Mormon really came into existence in the following manner:

  • Walters the Magician was involved in witchcraft and money-digging.
  • Walters was summoned to Manchester, New York by a group of wicked, idle, and slothful individuals—one of which was Joseph Smith.
  • Walters took the slothful individuals of Manchester out into the woods on numerous nighttime money-digging excursions. They drew a magic circle, sacrificed a rooster, and dug into the ground but never actually found anything.
  • The slothful group of Manchesterites then decided that Walters was a fraud. Walters himself admitted that he was an imposter and decided to skip town before the strong arm of the law caught up with him.
  • At this point, the mantle of Walters the Magician fell upon Joseph Smith and the rest of the Manchester rabble rallied around him.
  • The "spirit of the money-diggers" (who is identified implicitly with Satan in the text) appeared to Joseph Smith and revealed the Golden Bible to him.[21]



Notas

  1. ↑ Criticisms of Joseph's use of "folk magic" appear in the following publications: Plantilla:CriticalWork:Atheneum:July 1841:Book of Mormon and the Mormonites; Henry Caswall, The Prophet of the Nineteenth Century, or, the Rise, Progress, and Present State of the Mormons, or Latter-Day Saints : To Which Is Appended an Analysis of the Book of Mormon (London: Printed for J. G. F. & J. Rivington, 1843), 28. off-site (Inglés); Plantilla:CriticalWork:Clark:Gleanings by the Way VII; Plantilla:CriticalWork:Hunt:Mormonism; MormonThink.com sitio web (as of 28 April 2012). Page: http://mormonthink.com/transbomweb.htm; Plantilla:CriticalWork:Sunderland:Mormonism
  2. ↑ Luck Mack Smith, 1845 manuscript history transcribed without punctuation, in Dan Vogel (editor), Early Mormon Documents (Salt Lake City, Signature Books, 1996–2003), 5 vols, 2:285.
  3. ↑ William J. Hamblin, "That Old Black Magic (Review of Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, revised and enlarged edition, by D. Michael Quinn)," FARMS Review of Books 12/2 (2000): 225–394. off-site (Inglés)
  4. ↑ See discussions of this issue in: John Gee, "Review of Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, revised and enlarged edition, by D. Michael Quinn," FARMS Review of Books 12/2 (2000): 185–224. off-site (Inglés); William J. Hamblin, "That Old Black Magic (Review of Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, revised and enlarged edition, by D. Michael Quinn)," FARMS Review of Books 12/2 (2000): 225–394. off-site (Inglés); William J. Hamblin, "That Old Black Magic (Review of Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, revised and enlarged edition, by D. Michael Quinn)," FARMS Review of Books 12/2 (2000): 225–394. off-site (Inglés)
  5. ↑ John Gee, "Review of Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, revised and enlarged edition, by D. Michael Quinn," FARMS Review of Books 12/2 (2000): 185–224. off-site (Inglés); citing Stanley J. Tambiah, Magic, Science, Religion, and the Scope of Rationality (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990) and Jonathan Z. Smith, "Trading Places," in Ancient Magic and Ritual Power, ed. Marvin Meyer and Paul Mirecki (Leiden: Brill, 1995), 16.
  6. ↑ Robert K. Ritner, "Egyptian Magic: Questions of Legitimacy, Religious Orthodoxy and Social Deviance," in Studies in Pharaonic Religion and Society in Honour of J. Gwyn Griffiths , ed. Alan B. Lloyd (London: Egypt Exploration Society, 1992), 190; cited in John Gee, "Review of Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, revised and enlarged edition, by D. Michael Quinn," FARMS Review of Books 12/2 (2000): 185–224. off-site (Inglés) Plantilla:Eo.
  7. ↑ Wilford Woodruff, Journal, 28 March 1841; also cited in Wilford Woodruff, Wilford Woodruff’s Journal, 9 vols., ed., Scott G. Kenny (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1985), 2:75. ISBN 0941214133.
  8. ↑ "The Divining Rod," The Worchester Magazine and Historical Journal (October 1825): 29; cited in Mark Ashurst-McGee, "A Pathway to Prophethood: Joseph Smith Junior as Rodsman, Village Seer, and Judeo-Christian Prophet," (Master's Thesis, University of Utah, Logan, Utah, 2000), 66. Buy online
  9. ↑ "The Divining Rod," The American Journal of Science and Arts (octubre 1826): 204; citado en Mark Ashurst-McGee, "A Pathway to Prophethood: Joseph Smith Junior as Rodsman, Village Seer, and Judeo-Christian Prophet," (Master's Thesis, University of Utah, Logan, Utah, 2000), 65–66. Buy online
  10. ↑ Gabriel Platts, A Discovery of Subterraneal Treasure (London: 1639), 11–13, emphasis added; cited in Mark Ashurst-McGee, "A Pathway to Prophethood: Joseph Smith Junior as Rodsman, Village Seer, and Judeo-Christian Prophet," (Master's Thesis, University of Utah, Logan, Utah, 2000), 66. Buy online
  11. ↑ Véase la discusión en Mark Ashurst-McGee, "A Pathway to Prophethood: Joseph Smith Junior as Rodsman, Village Seer, and Judeo-Christian Prophet," (Master's Thesis, University of Utah, Logan, Utah, 2000), 140, 182–192. Buy online
  12. ↑ Plantilla:BoC
  13. ↑ Joseph Smith, cited by Brigham Young, "History of Brigham Young," Millennial Star (20 February 1864), 118–119.; citado en Mark Ashurst-McGee, "A Pathway to Prophethood: Joseph Smith Junior as Rodsman, Village Seer, and Judeo-Christian Prophet," (Master's Thesis, University of Utah, Logan, Utah, 2000), 184. Buy online
  14. ↑ "Mormonism," The Susquehanna Register, and Northern Pennsylvanian (Montrose, Pennsylvania) (1 mayo 1834): 1, column 4; citado en Mark Ashurst-McGee, "A Pathway to Prophethood: Joseph Smith Junior as Rodsman, Village Seer, and Judeo-Christian Prophet," (Master's Thesis, University of Utah, Logan, Utah, 2000), 184. Buy online
  15. ↑ See footnote 29 in John Gee, "Review of Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, revised and enlarged edition, by D. Michael Quinn," FARMS Review of Books 12/2 (2000): 185–224. off-site (Inglés)
  16. ↑ Stephen E. Robinson, "Review of Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, by D. Michael Quinn," Brigham Young University Studies 27 no. 4 (1987), 94–95.
  17. ↑ Brant A. Gardner, Joseph the Seer—or Why Did He Translate With a Rock in His Hat?, 2009 FAIR Conference presentation. Gardner references [9] D. Michael Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1987), 38. and [10] Richard L. Bushman, Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1984), 70.
  18. ↑ Mark Ashurst-McGee, "A Pathway to Prophethood: Joseph Smith Junior as Rodsman, Village Seer, and Judeo-Christian Prophet," (Master's Thesis, University of Utah, Logan, Utah, 2000), 200–215. Buy online
  19. ↑ Eber Dudley Howe, Mormonism Unvailed (Painesville, Ohio: Telegraph Press, 1834), 241-242; cited in Richard Van Wagoner and Steven Walker, "Joseph Smith: 'The Gift of Seeing," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 15:2 (Summer 1982): 48–68.
  20. ↑ Jeffrey G. Cannon, "Oliver Cowdery's Gift," Revelations in Context on history.lds.org
  21. ↑ Matthew Brown, "Revised or Unaltered? Joseph Smith's Foundational Stories.", 2006 FAIR Conference.
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