Physics Guy wrote:I doubt that J.R.R. Tolkien ever read the Book of Ether, but I'm wondering whether the similarity between Tolkien's silmarils and Jared's brother's stones points to some meme of Christian alchemy that might have inspired them both.
That very well could be the case, Physics Guy. Indeed, if you include Smith's own narratives regarding the discovery of his white seer stone, then the similarities only become more striking.
"Petition wasn’t meant to start a witch hunt as I’ve said 6000 times." ~ Hanna Seariac, LDS apologist
Physics Guy wrote:I doubt that J.R.R. Tolkien ever read the Book of Ether, but I'm wondering whether the similarity between Tolkien's silmarils and Jared's brother's stones points to some meme of Christian alchemy that might have inspired them both.
“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.”
― Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 1951
Yes, looking into George Rapp is very useful. Also looking into medieval lapidaries and scholarship on them is helpful. The fun and exciting thing about Mormon Studies is that there is still so much to understand about it!
"Petition wasn’t meant to start a witch hunt as I’ve said 6000 times." ~ Hanna Seariac, LDS apologist
I'm out of my depth on a lot of this but for what it's worth I agree. A lot of what I've learned about Mormonism is just appalling—how much human effort has been devoted to what to me seems a palpable fraud by despicable people. But lots of really good people have done their best with a faith into which they were born, and how on Earth this has all come about is certainly fascinating.
A lot of the specific issues in themselves are quite niche, but I think of them as case studies in important and general human propensities. Mormon Studies is a field that deserves a vigorous life, as far as I am concerned.
Walters is certainly one of the most tantalizing of early Mormonism's historical figures.
Something I find of interest is that Walters grew old and died in his home locale without much controversy. According to his obituary he long showed the ability to "find" items that Smith Jr. also displayed but his other skills were as a herbalist and folk physician. Rather than the "conjuror" intimated by some, Walters seemed more like the "magnetized" spiritualist pioneer Andrew Jackson Davis. Davis claimed clairvoyance and also distance healing skills and his official modern heir became Edgar Cayce, the so-called "Sleeping Prophet".
Maksutov wrote:Walters is certainly one of the most tantalizing of early Mormonism's historical figures.
Something I find of interest is that Walters grew old and died in his home locale without much controversy. According to his obituary he long showed the ability to "find" items that Smith Jr. also displayed but his other skills were as a herbalist and folk physician. Rather than the "conjuror" intimated by some, Walters seemed more like the "magnetized" spiritualist pioneer Andrew Jackson Davis. Davis claimed clairvoyance and also distance healing skills and his official modern heir became Edgar Cayce, the so-called "Sleeping Prophet".
Yes, Walter was a doctor of sorts. That was his primary practice, and in this he was different from Smith. I am drawing a blank on the “magnetism,” however. I know the word pops up in connection with Walter now and then, but I do not recall which contemporary (to Walter) source does so. Chances are that, if he was into “magnetism,” it was Perkinsism and not the European variety. But I do not recall seeing any primary source that mentions Walter using tractors or any other procedure of “magnetism.”
If you do recall the evidence attesting to Walter’s practice of magnetism, I would appreciate you jogging my recollection.
ETA: I see that Clark Braden claimed that Walter knew Magnetism and Mesmerism in 1884. I find it doubtful that Braden really knew. He was probably associating Walter and Smith with garden variety quackery.
"Petition wasn’t meant to start a witch hunt as I’ve said 6000 times." ~ Hanna Seariac, LDS apologist