The Refiner's Fire: the Making of Mormon Cosmology 1644-1844 by John L

BYU Studies Quarterly Volume 34 Issue 4 Article 17 10-1-1994 The Refiner's Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology 1644-1844 by John L. Brooke Davis Bitton Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq Part of the Mormon Studies Commons, and the Religious Education Commons Recommended Citation Bitton, Davis (1994) "The Refiner's Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology 1644-1844 by John L. Brooke," BYU Studies Quarterly: Vol. 34 : Iss. 4 , Article 17. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol34/iss4/17 This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in BYU Studies Quarterly by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Bitton: <em>The Refiner's Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology 1644-1844< JOHN L BROOKE the Refiners fire thetbemakingtubemakingmaking of mormon cosmology 164418441644 1844 cambridge cambridge univ press 1994 reviewed by davis bitton professor of history university of utah this ambitious treatment of mormon origins and mormon history will likely win plplauditsplauditeaudits after all how can you lose by combining two subjects of interest hermeticism and mormonism both tinged with controversy add magic and folk culture mix ini a bit of quantification get advance recommendations from scholars who should know their subject land a respected press to publish your work and then have it reviewed by people whose mastery of the whole range of subject matter isJs lacking and a prize should be in sight but is this fire or only smoke with a range of apparent erudition that will overwhelm the general reader brooke weaves a fascinating tale of influences that allegedly converged and combined in the fertile megalomaniacal mind of joseph smith to produce a vicious religious system the person who reads only this book on the subject of mormonism will conclude that mormonism is rotten at the core combining superstition and pseudosciencepseudoscience in an unholy synthesis and that its early followers were quite simply dunces in fact in an audacious final summary of the history of the past century brooke tars mod- emern cormonsmormons with the same brush only a dinwitdimwit ignorant and devoid of character could believe this religion that the Refiners fire has serious methodological flaws that its central thesis remains unproved will predictably be overlooked by those who have neither the time nor the ability to do a close reading or by those whose predisposition assures a welcome to any book that disparages Morcormonsmormonsmons it is important to understand clearly what is at issue no in- formed mormon would deny similarities between mormonism and other religions or other thinkers the explanation for these has been twofold 1 on repeated occasions in the past when apostasy from the true gospel occurred individual practices or teachings remained as fragments and 2 the gospel includes all truth and is therefore receptive to true statements or principles from any source in general therefore the discovery of similarities or parallels t Published by BYU ScholarsArchive, 1994 1 BYU Studies Quarterly, Vol. 34, Iss. 4 [1994], Art. 17 review II11 of the refinerstirefinersRefinerrefinersrefineryRerinersstifesTirestorefire J 183 does not threaten mormonism for it is in the restored gospel that these are all fully integrated and properly understood but this comfortable recognition hardly requires cormonsmormons to accept any and all assertions of similarity especially when coupled with a charge or claim of influence that precludes revelation mormonism has of course been the subject of examination from its inception what we ask has brooke contributed what new explanations of joseph smith and mormonism does he advance that some notions from the world of popular magic and divining were believed by members of the smith family and some other early converts not new that ideas of a graded system of sal- vation might have been derived from writings such as those of thomas dick old hat that smith ever read dick remains unproven but the similarity such as it is is there for all to consider and has been well known to any serious student since at least 1945 what about the similarities between masonic rituals and the temple ceremonies excited anti cormonsmormons raised that charge in the 1840s and it has recurred as a predictable refrain ever since mervin hogan and others familiar with both have calmly explained their basic differences more importantly early mor mons who had been masons experienced no cognitive dissonance when they participated in the temple ceremonies external or superficial similarities did not mean that the holy endowment a christ centered ordinance was merely warmed over masonry we could go on and on john brooke has pulled into his work many stale allegations that have been around for a long time with the dizzying pace of brookes study names and terms are thrown around furiously and chronological grounding is made difficult by repeated jumps across time and its ponderous schol- arly apparatus at the back of the book in numbered endnotes each usually containing several references the general reader will be swept away understanding or retaining few of the details but brookes large simple distorted conclusions will stick joseph smith a moronic superstitious knave a lecher a would be dicta- tor was somehow the outlet for mysterious influences from the past that reached him not exactly through subterranean channels but through a process of dilution and cultural transmission that eventuated in the folk beliefs of his progenitors never mind https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol34/iss4/17 2 Bitton: <em>The Refiner's Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology 1644-1844< 184 BbyustudiesBYUYU studies r fw ft r that brookes approach fails to consider or account for dozens of the most basic claims and teachings of the restored gospel what then is the brooke thesis first of all it is thoroughly naturalistic no openings for any divine influences here one requires little imagination to realize what the same approach would do with the new testament gospels and early christianity but instead of merely rehashing the old charges although there is rehashing aplenty the author lumps them together into a large interpretation on which he places his signature the primary shap- ing influence on joseph smith and mormonism was here it comes hermeticism the body of ancient writings collectively termed hermetic was revived in renaissance florence at the instigation of cosimo de medici he funded and encouraged marsilio ficinocicino to complete and publish the corpus hermeticumHermeticum a compilation of some nineteen treatises this project was completed even before his massive edition of platos dialogues and the subsequent theolog ica Plaplatonicaplatonidatonica these works are heavy going to say the least they provide a basis for mysticism using the word in its narrow sense and stimulated a series of intellectuals in sixteenth and seventeenth century europe along with revived platonism the hermetical teachings have been credited with influencing even early modern science brookes theory is that hermeticism was also the looming presence behind mormonism however after all of the hoopla brooke concedes that joseph smith did not consult the corpus hermeticumHermeticum in fact the total number of alleged parallels between mormonism and hermeticism is only two divinization and the coniunctio on occasion he adds the preexistencepreexistence and materiality of spirit how then does brooke make a book out of this how does he try to make his case answer he creates a new entity this con- struct is fabricated out of hermeticism or selected particles thereof but it is also much more it is hermeticism radical protestant restorationism millennialism rosicrucianism freemasonry witchcraft popular religion divining counterfeiting commancommun itarianism brookes mind breezily glides from one to another of these but instead of making proper distinctions he treats them as Published by BYU ScholarsArchive, 1994 3 BYU Studies Quarterly, Vol. 34, Iss. 4 [1994], Art. 17 review ilII11 of the Refiners fire 185 a single coherent concrete phenomenon over and over again whatever the specific topic the adjective hermetical will crop up in a magical act of which the illusionist david copperfield would be proud the author reifiesreidies into a single entity the variety of influences that for him explain the otherwise unique and inexplicable 279 aspects of mormonism the hermetic presence is amorphous shifting and wonder- fully adaptable with a wave of the wand brooke has performed an alchemical trick of his own I1 do not accuse him of creating this loaf ex dibilonibilo but of mixing together a variety of ingredients toss- ing it into the oven overtakingoveroverbakingbaking and then assuming that the re- sulting crust actually once existed in historical time it is unbelievable to me that other scholars of early national america would find this methodology acceptable one wonders how often this explanatory principle hermetic subculture as a unified if ill defined concept not unlike the once fashionable zeit- geist will be applied to other historical problems in the early national period after all count the mystical symbols on the back of a one dollar bill or the number of early united states presidents who were masons does this justify a hermetical theory for the origins

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