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IMW Journal of Religious Studies Volume 6 Number 1 Intermountain West Journal of Religious Studies Volume 6 Number 1 Spring 2015 Article 1 2015 IMW Journal of Religious Studies Volume 6 Number 1 Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/imwjournal Recommended Citation "IMW Journal of Religious Studies Volume 6 Number 1." Intermountain West Journal of Religious Studies 6, no. 1 (2015). https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/imwjournal/vol6/iss1/1 This Full Issue is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at DigitalCommons@USU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Intermountain West Journal of Religious Studies by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@USU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Intermountain West Journal of Religious Studies is designed to promote the academic study of religion at the graduate and undergraduate levels. The journal is a student initiative affiliated with the Religious Studies Program and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Utah State University. Our academic review board includes professional scholars specializing in Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Mormonism, as well as specialists in the fields of History, Philosophy, Psychology, Anthropology, Sociology, and Religion. The journal is housed in the Intermountain West, but gladly accepts submissions from students throughout the United States and around the world. INTERMOUNTAIN WEST JOURNAL Of RELIGIOUS STUDIES ‡ Advisors PHILIP BARLOW RAVI GUPTA Managing Editor CORY M. NANI Editor JEDD COX Associate Editor CHRISTOPHER WILLIAMS Emeritus Editors CHRISTOPHER BLYTHE MARK BULLEN RASMUSON DAVID MUNK Cover Design CORY M. NANI ________________________________________________________________ Academic Review Board RAVI GUPTA Utah State University REID L. NIELSON LDS Church Historical Department KAREN RUFFLE University of Toronto ANNE-MARIE CUSAC Roosevelt University STEPHEN TAYSOM Cleveland State University KECIA ALI Boston University PETER VON SIVERS University of Utah R. KEVIN JACQUES Indiana University KENNETH GARDEN Tufts University CAROLE M. CUSACK University of Sydney HECTOR AVALOS Iowa State University RICHARD SHERLOCK Utah State University _______________________________________________________________ ‡ Submissions The Intermountain West Journal of Religious Studies accepts manuscript submissions year–round. All manuscripts should be submitted as an attachment to: [email protected] Manuscripts should be double-spaced, using a 12–point serif font and 1-inch margins, including footnotes, and must include an abstract of no more than 150 words. Manuscripts should be between 10 and 25 pages, although shorter articles will be considered. The Intermountain West Journal of Religious Studies follows the Chicago Manual of Style: 16th Edition (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010). Authors are encouraged to consult that volume for answers to questions not addressed in this document. All manuscripts accepted for publication are subject to editorial modification. Website http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/imwjournal Contents ‡ Mormons and Muslims—An Ongoing Encounter HADYN B. CALL, UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY 2 ________________________________________________________________ The Pauline Project—Christ Universalized NICHOLAS COVALESKI, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-LA CROSSE 22 ________________________________________________________________ The Millennial Press—Shakers and the Progressive Periodical (1871—1899) SEBASTIAN GALBO, DARTMOUTH COLLEGE 38 ________________________________________________________________ Questioning the Plausibility of Jesus Ahistoricity Theories—A Brief Pseudo-Bayesian Metacritique of the Sources RAPHAEL LATASTER, UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY 63 ________________________________________________________________ Serving a New Master—An Examination of Chuck Colson’s Legacy with Regards to Prison Reform PRESTON LIM, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY 97 ________________________________________________________________ The Ideal—One Possibility for the Future of Religious Identity ADAM J. POWELL, LENOIR-RHYNE UNIVERSITY 111 ________________________________________________________________ ISSN 2155-1723 Volume Six, Number One (Spring 2015) © 2015 Intermountain West Journal of Religious Studies. All rights reserved. Cover by CORY M. NANI Diogène Jules Bastein-Lepage Oil on canvas, 1873 “I am just looking for an honest man.” Hadyn B. Call: Mormons and Muslims—An Ongoing Encounter 2 HADYN B. CALL is a doctoral student at Utah State University pursing a Ph.D. in Education, specializing in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in Social Studies. His interests involve all aspects of Social Studies, including Religious Studies and Mormon history. He has a background in education and history (B.A. in History and M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction from Weber State University and an M.A. in History from Utah State University). 3 IMW Journal of Religious Studies Vol. 6:1 ‡ MORMONS AND MUSLIMS—AN ONGOING ENCOUNTER ‡ Joseph Smith, Jr., born 23 December 1805 in Sharon, Vermont, relocated to Palmyra, New York with his family at age ten. His father, Joseph Smith Sr., and mother, Lucy Mack, had eleven children. Smith’s unique childhood in the “Burned-over District of Western New York, with all its revivalism and religious emotionalism,”1 created an intense curiosity and love for religion. As a child and throughout his life, Smith admired, tolerated, and was influenced by other Christian and non-Christian denominations. Smith believed firmly in the Bible, and challenged “if any man will prove to me by one passage of Holy writ, one item I believe, to be false, I will renounce it disclaim it far as I have promulg[at]ed it.” It was his faith and love for the Bible that led him to read and discover the “Epistle of James, first chapter and fifth verse, which reads: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.”2 His naïve faith led him to a grove to pray. This action was life altering and catapulted him into a position of leadership that brought about turmoil, persecution, and eventually death. Smith strongly believed in freedom of religion. He said, “I am the greatest advocate of the C[onstitution]. of U.S. there is there on the earth”3 and “[i]t is a love of liberty which inspires my soul, civil and religious liberty—were diffused into my soul by my grandfathers.”4 He believed that all religions were good and stressed that, “[t]he grand fundamental principles of Mormonism are truth, friendship, and relief.”5 Regarding truth, Smith taught that “Mormonism is to receive truth let it come 1 Mario S. De Pillis, “The Quest for Religious Authority and the Rise of Mormonism,” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Vol. 1 No. 1 (1966): p. 73. 2 1838 Joseph Smith Account, Joseph Smith History 1:1-26. 3 Sermon delivered at Nauvoo temple grounds on Sunday October 15, 1843 by Joseph Smith written by Willard Richards. 4 Sermon delivered at the Nauvoo temple grounds on Sunday July 9, 1843 by Joseph Smith written by Willard Richards. 5 Don Bradley, “’The Grand Fundamental Principles of Mormonism’ Joseph Smith’s Unfinished Reformation.” Sunstone, April 2006, p. 35. Hadyn B. Call: Mormons and Muslims—An Ongoing Encounter 4 from where it may.”6 Under friendship, Smith stated “[l]et me be resurrected with the saints whether to heaven or hell or any other good place—good society. [W]hat do we care if the society is good? [Don’t] care what a character is if he’s my friend.”7 Concerning relief, Smith claimed “[i]f it has been demonstrated that I have been willing to die for a Mormon I am bold to declare before heaven that I am just as ready to die for a presbyterian. a baptist or any other denomination.”8 Regardless of religion, Smith sought truth, kindled friendships, and provided relief for those in need. Throughout his ministry, Smith’s tolerance and acceptance of other religions was apparent. Samuel Prior, a Methodist minister, attended one of Smith’s sermons. He was “‘waiting to hear that foul aspersion of other sects…that rancorous denunciation of every individual but a Mormon.’ To his amazement, instead he ‘was invited to preach, and did so.’”9 Sparked by the teachings of the Book of Mormon, Smith had an extreme interest in Judaism, and was particularly interested in learning Hebrew. Smith was able to hire Joshua Seixas, an instructor from Hudson Seminary, to educate Mormons in Hebraic translation. Over the course of their relationship, Smith expressed “that Seixas ‘conversed freely,’ that he was ‘an interesting man,’ cordial, intelligent, and pleasant. Smith lent his own horses and sleigh so that his instructor could visit his wife and children in nearby Hudson during the cold winter months.”10 Smith’s knowledge and background, his revelations, and the Book of Mormon all played a major role in his tolerant views and acceptance of other religions. As expressed by Heber C. Kimball, “[w]e were some of us Baptists, some Methodists, some Presbyterians, some Campbellites, some 6 Sermon delivered at the Nauvoo temple grounds on Sunday July 9, 1843 by Joseph Smith written by Willard Richards. 7 Sermon delivered at Nauvoo, Illinois on July 23, 1843 by Joseph Smith written by Willard Richards. 8 Sermon delivered at the Nauvoo temple grounds on Sunday July 9, 1843 by Joseph Smith written by Willard Richards. 9 Steven Epperson, Mormons and Jews: Early Mormon Theologies of Israel (Salt Lake City, UT: Signature Books, 1992), pp. 92-93. 10 Ibid, p. 83. 5 IMW Journal
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