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Lance S. Owens, “Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: the Occult of Connection”

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Lance S. Owens, “Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: the Occult of Connection” Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 1989–2011 Volume 8 Number 2 Article 13 1996 Lance S. Owens, “Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult of Connection” William J. Hamblin Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/msr BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Hamblin, William J. (1996) "Lance S. Owens, “Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult of Connection”," Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 1989–2011: Vol. 8 : No. 2 , Article 13. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/msr/vol8/iss2/13 This Other Publication is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 1989–2011 by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Title “Everything Is Everything”: Was Joseph Smith Influenced by Kabbalah? Author(s) William J. Hamblin Reference FARMS Review of Books 8/2 (1996): 251–325. ISSN 1099-9450 (print), 2168-3123 (online) Abstract Review of “Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection” (1994), by Lance S. Owens. Lance S. Owens. "Joseph Smith and Kabbahlh: The Occult Connection." Dialogue 27/3 (1994): 117-94. Reviewed by William J. Hamblin "Everything Is Everything": Was Joseph Smith Influenced by Kabbalah? For everythin g has everything in itself, and sees everything in everything else, so that everyth ing is everywhere, and everything is everythin g and each thing is everything. Plotinus, Enneads, 5.8.4' The Mormon History Association recently awarded Lance S. Owens's "Joseph Smith and Kabbalah : The Occult Connection" its Best Article Award for 1995.2 With sllch an imprimatur the Translation mine. The Loeb translation reads: "Each th erefore has eve­ rything in itself and sees all things in every other. so that all are evcrywhere and each and evcryone is all." Plotinus. Enneut/s, trans. A. H. Armstrong (Harvard: Harvard University Press. 1978-84), 5:248-49. Stephen Mac Kenn a's trans­ lation rC:lds: "And cach of thcm contains all within itself, and at thc same time sees all in evcry other, so that everywherc there is all . and all is all and each all." Th e Enlleads (New York: Pengui n, 19(1). 4 14. I would like to thank Becky Schuhhies for assistance in researchin g thi s paper, ami George Millon and Daniel Fcterson for helpfu l comments. I wou ld also like to thank Robert L. Millet. Stephen E. Robinso n. and L'ury E. Dahl. 2 All parentheti cal ci tations are to Owens's article un less otherwise indi- cated. A shorter. IlOPulari7.cd version of Owens's paper appeared as "Joseph Smith: America's Hermetic Prophet." Gllosi.f; A Journal of th e !Vesum Inner Traditions 35 (S pring 1995): 56-64. It is interesting to compare Owens's pres­ entation of his theory to a non· Mormon, New Age audience with that found in Dialogue. The Mormon Hi story Association Best Art icle Award is mentioned in The Mormoll History A.ssociation Newsfelfer (Summer 1(95): I. Recently. D. Mic hael Quinn has uncriticall y acceptcd Owcns's thesis; sec The Mormon Hier­ archy: Origins of Power (Salt L:!ke City: Signature Books in association with Smith Research Associates, t994), 265 n. I, 639, 643, 649. 252 FARMS REVIEW OF BOOKS 8n (1996) article deserves a closer crit ical evaluation than it has apparently heretofore received.3 Owens's basic thesis is thal T hrough his associations with ceremon ial magic as a young treasure seer, [J oseph ] Smith cont acted sym· bois and lore taken directly from Kabbalah. In hi s pro ­ phet ic translat ion of sacred writ, hi s hermeneutic method was in nature Kabbalistic . With his initiat ion into Masonry, he entered a tradition born of the Her­ mctic- Kabbalistic tradition. T hese associations culmi ­ nated in Nauvoo, the period of his most important doctrinal and rit ua l innovations. During these last years, he enjoyed friendship with a European Jew [Alexander Ncibaurl well-versed in the standard Kabba li stie works and possibly possessing in Nauvoo an unusua l eo l1 ee· ti on of Kabbalistic books and manuscripts. By 1844 Smit h not only was cognizant or Kabbalah, but enlisted Iheosophic concept s taken direct ly from its principal text in hi s most important doctri nal sermon, the" Kin g Fo l1 ell Discourse." (p. 119) Allhough impoTi ant elements or his attempt to link Joseph Smith to kabbalism arc new, Owens's overa ll conclusions broadly parallcl those round in D. Michael Quinn' s Early Mormonism (llId rhe Magic World View and John L. Brooke 's recent Ute Refiner 'S Fire.4 Owens reels Ihal Brooke's work is "a well constructed sunul)ary of th is lill ie understood intersection" of hermeticism, alc hemy, and rad ical Christianity.5 Hc sees Brooke's work as .. a valuable contribut ion" showing that "the [hermeti c/alchemical] tradit ion'S parallcls in Mormonism are many and striking." For Owens, Brooke's is "a seminal work, a study that will be con sid· ered by every sc holar who henceforth attempts to rctcll the story 3 Owens antici pated a "violent response from traditionalists" ( p. 119), p er h :~rs tacitl y recogni zi ng th at his thesis is not immu ne \0 criticism. O. Michael Quinn. Early Morm onism and the Ma gic World Vie w (Sal! L.1ke City: Signature Books. 1987); John L. Brooke, 111 t! Refiner's Fire: The Ma k.ing of Marmo/! Cosmology, 1644- 1844 (New York: Cambri dge Un iversi ty Press, 1994). 5 L.1ncc 5, Owens, "The Divine Transmutation," review of The Rcfi l1 er '$ Fi re, by l ohn L. Brooke, m a/oglft! 27/4 (1994): 187. OWENS, JOSEPH SMfTfI A.ND KABBALAH (HAMBLI N) 253 of Joseph S mith."6 Owens feels Brooke "draws simi lar conclu­ sions" to his ow n (p. 160 n. 83). However, neither Qu inn's, Brooke's, nor Owens's methods and conclusions are beyond criti­ cism, and Owens's work suffers from many of the same problems found in Brooke.? As thi s st udy will show, because of nu me rous problems with evidence and analysis, none of Owens's major propos it ions have been substantiated. Problems with Sources Owens's article beg ins with a lengthy introduction to the "occult" sciences.S Indeed, over half of hi s article (pp. 117- 54) is a rather pedestrian review of secondary sources on the matter. 6 Owens, 'The Divine Transmutation:' IR8, 190. Owens is not ent irely positive about Brooke's work. He criticizes Brooke for "pursuing the trail of counterfeiting" (p. 190), and for "entirely ignor[ing] the less world-affirmative clements of both classical and Renaissance hermeticism" (p. 188). Nonethe­ less. Owens's overall review is quite positive. cr. Owens's comments in a simi­ lar vein in "America's Hermetic Prophet," 63-64. Owens docs not ci te Brooke in his article, since Brooke's work appeared only as Owens's article was going to press (p. 160 n. 83). As wi ll be noted below, Owens relies on Quinn extensively and uncritically. 7 On Brooke. see William J. Hamblin. Daniel C. Peterson, and George L. Mitton . "Mormon in the Fiery Furnace: or Loftes Tryk Goes to Cambridge." Re· I'iew of Books OIl /hc Book of Mormon 6/2 (1994): 3- 58. An abridged version of this essay 3ppcarcd in lJYU Stu(/ics 34/4 (1994- 95): 167- 8 1, along with il review by Davis BiUon on pages 182- 92. Unpublished reviews by Grant Underwood ("A Brooke Review") aoo David Whitaker ('"Throwing Water on Brooke's Fire") at the 1995 Mormon History Association were also quite nega­ tive. as were those by Philip L. Uartow, "Decoding Mormonism," Chris/ian Ccn ­ /"0' (17 January 1996): 52- 55, and Rich3rd L. Bushman, "The Secret History of Mormonism." SUlls/One (March 1996): 66-70. It is interesting to note that the positive reviews of Brooke's book tend to be from people who are nOI special­ ists in Mormon studies. For reviews of Quinn, see Stephen E. Robinson, 8 YU S//ulies 27/4 (1987): 88-95; and Stephen D. Ricks and Daniel C. Peterson, 'The Mormon as Magus," Slim/one (January 1988): 38- 39; a detailed review of Quinn's ElIrly Mormoni~'lrl awaits the second edition. promised for wimer 1996 (Signatllre Books 1996 ell/a/O!;, 8). 8 It is unfortunate that Owens uses the misleading term occill/ to describe the esnleric tradition. In modern p,l rlance occult often conjures up images of demonic black magic, while ils original meaning was merely "hidden" or "esoteric." For a laiC twentieth-century aud ience kabbalism and hermeticism arc much better descrihed as ewteric rather than occult. 254 FARMS REVIEW OF BOOKS 8/2 (1996) Unfortunately, the background material presented by Owens is oflen dated or misrepresented. Owens's use of sources, both pri4 mary and secondary, is problematic at a number of levels. First, he ignores nearly all earlier writings by Latter-day Saint scholars o n the significance of the poss ible parallels between Latter-day Saint ideas and the Western esoteric tradition. There is, in fact, a grow­ ing body of Latter-day Saint literature that has examined some of these alleged parallels, and presented possible interpretations of the reialionship between the esoteric tradition and the gospel. Why is Nibley not even mentioned by Owens. despite the fact that he has been writing on this subject for four decadcs?9 Robert F.
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