Origins of Mormon Doctrine
Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2018 8:46 am
It has become increasingly evident that Joseph Smith borrowed a lot of "original" Mormon doctrine from other sources. Examples include Josephus, Jasher, Thomas Dick’s Philosophy of a Future State, Thomas Taylor’s The Six Books of Proclus on the Theology of Plato, Adam Clarke's Bible Commentary, George Oliver's Antiquities of Freemasonry, Emanuel Swedenborg's Heaven, Its Wonders and Hell, Ethan Smith's View of the Hebrews.
Some recent attention has been given to the lectures of Professor John Smith, the first professor at Dartmouth College, who has multiple connections to Joseph Smith's family. First is that he was a direct relative of Joseph Smith Sr, as their fathers were first cousins. Second was that he developed much of the early curriculum at Dartmouth where Hyrum Smith attended Moor's Academy, the Dartmouth prep school that was housed on the Dartmouth campus. There, besides being in the presence of such interesting characters as Solomon Spaulding and Ethan Smith (besides later being the author of View of the Hebrews, he was Oliver Cowdery's minister), Hyrum would have learned all of John Smith's unorthodox theological theories.
A Dartmouth alumnus summarized Smith's lectures as:
-A concept of the preexistence derived from Greek philosophy
-Atonement covenant made before the earth was created
-Plan of salvation agreed upon in the preexistence
-Father, Son and sons of men were together in the preexistence
-Spiritual death was man's condition after the Fall
-Son's church would exist in all ages after the Fall
-Types and shadows of hte covenant found in the scriptures
-Oaths and covenants are Deity's legal structure
-Light, borrowed light and the light of reason would guide
-Melchizedek Priesthood is co-eternal with God
-Priesthood is the source of the Son's authority
-Aaronic Priesthood promised to Aaron's descendants
-Free Agency and the right to choose is integral to the plan
-Degrees of Glory is the structure of the Eternities
-Consecration to Christ is required for the highest exaltation
-Revelation required to know ultimate nature of God
-Spirit is a simpler form of matter
-The prosperity cycle is the natural direction of history
-Millions of peopled worlds
-Father argues for justice and Son argues for mercy
This list comes from Secret Combinations by Kathleen Kimball Melonakos.
John Smith also wrote a book in which he made his case that the Native Americans are Israelites, an idea that particularly excited his students Ethan Smith and Solomon Spaulding.
Melonakos also says that Dartmouth's original mission was to train ministers to evangelize the Indians, in an effort named The School of the Prophets.
One more note on Hyrum Smith. This kid was brilliant and I think he needs to be considered as a possible significant contributor to the Book of Mormon and Mormon doctrine in general. Could it be that Joseph was the band's lead singer, but Hyrum was the song writer? Hyrum was one of a very small number of applicants to get accepted into Moors, where the curriculum was advanced and vigorous. Freshman entry into Dartmouth required "that candidates be well versed in Latin and Greek languages, in Virgil, Cicero's Select Orations, Sallus, The Greek New Testament, Dalzell's Collectanea Graeca Minora, Latin and Greek Prosody, Arithmetic, Ancient and Modern Geography, and that he be able to accurately translate English into Latin (Melonakos, p. 74)
Is all of this just coincidental?
p.s. if that doesn't adequately weird you out, here's a list of eye-opening "coincidences" I found in George Oliver's Antiquities of Freemasonry:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WqN ... sp=sharing
Some recent attention has been given to the lectures of Professor John Smith, the first professor at Dartmouth College, who has multiple connections to Joseph Smith's family. First is that he was a direct relative of Joseph Smith Sr, as their fathers were first cousins. Second was that he developed much of the early curriculum at Dartmouth where Hyrum Smith attended Moor's Academy, the Dartmouth prep school that was housed on the Dartmouth campus. There, besides being in the presence of such interesting characters as Solomon Spaulding and Ethan Smith (besides later being the author of View of the Hebrews, he was Oliver Cowdery's minister), Hyrum would have learned all of John Smith's unorthodox theological theories.
A Dartmouth alumnus summarized Smith's lectures as:
-A concept of the preexistence derived from Greek philosophy
-Atonement covenant made before the earth was created
-Plan of salvation agreed upon in the preexistence
-Father, Son and sons of men were together in the preexistence
-Spiritual death was man's condition after the Fall
-Son's church would exist in all ages after the Fall
-Types and shadows of hte covenant found in the scriptures
-Oaths and covenants are Deity's legal structure
-Light, borrowed light and the light of reason would guide
-Melchizedek Priesthood is co-eternal with God
-Priesthood is the source of the Son's authority
-Aaronic Priesthood promised to Aaron's descendants
-Free Agency and the right to choose is integral to the plan
-Degrees of Glory is the structure of the Eternities
-Consecration to Christ is required for the highest exaltation
-Revelation required to know ultimate nature of God
-Spirit is a simpler form of matter
-The prosperity cycle is the natural direction of history
-Millions of peopled worlds
-Father argues for justice and Son argues for mercy
This list comes from Secret Combinations by Kathleen Kimball Melonakos.
John Smith also wrote a book in which he made his case that the Native Americans are Israelites, an idea that particularly excited his students Ethan Smith and Solomon Spaulding.
Melonakos also says that Dartmouth's original mission was to train ministers to evangelize the Indians, in an effort named The School of the Prophets.
One more note on Hyrum Smith. This kid was brilliant and I think he needs to be considered as a possible significant contributor to the Book of Mormon and Mormon doctrine in general. Could it be that Joseph was the band's lead singer, but Hyrum was the song writer? Hyrum was one of a very small number of applicants to get accepted into Moors, where the curriculum was advanced and vigorous. Freshman entry into Dartmouth required "that candidates be well versed in Latin and Greek languages, in Virgil, Cicero's Select Orations, Sallus, The Greek New Testament, Dalzell's Collectanea Graeca Minora, Latin and Greek Prosody, Arithmetic, Ancient and Modern Geography, and that he be able to accurately translate English into Latin (Melonakos, p. 74)
Is all of this just coincidental?
p.s. if that doesn't adequately weird you out, here's a list of eye-opening "coincidences" I found in George Oliver's Antiquities of Freemasonry:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WqN ... sp=sharing
