Image sources: facebook.com/TheMindlessPhilosopher; cdn2.picryl.com; history.churchofjesuschrist.org
Josephsmithpapers.org; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thor; m.media-amazon.com/images; tatteredcover.com; media.licdn.com
The Banner above is a Side by Side Comparative Visual of Nietzsche’s Joyful Warrior Philosophy (and Balance of the Apollonian and Dionysian) & Joseph’s Cheerful Muscular Christianity (and Balance of Thriving Families & the Zion Ideal)
This blog series will offer some short commentary comparing and contrasting the philosophies of Nietzsche and Joseph Smith. For longer documents see my Google Site here where I offer longer documents discussing the topic (note that these documents are a work in progress and are constantly being edited by me).
I must begin by saying I do not agree with or support every part of Nietzsche's philosophy. So I will begin by pointing out those who are critical of his philosophy, of which I have read and watched, specifically:
Nietzsche and the Nazis: A Personal View Stephen Hicks (free audio book and video documentary on YouTube)
Nietzsche, Prophet of Nazism: The Cult of the Superman; Unveiling the Nazi Secret Doctrine by Abir Taha
Nietzsche scholars, Paul S. Loeb and David F. Tinsley, add to Abir's research above, as they make the case that Nietzsche was arguing for the breeding of a new species. See:
Translating and Interpreting Nietzsche's Philosophical Concept of the Übermensch by Paul S. Loeb and David F. Tinsley "Translators' Afterword" from Volume 14 of The Complete Works of Friedrich Nietzsche (SUP), 2019
Source: https://ups.academia.edu/DavidFTinsley
Nietzsche's Philosophical Concept of Superior Humans
by Paul S. Loeb and David F. Tinsley
"Translators' Afterword" from Volume 15 of The Complete Works of Friedrich Nietzsche (SUP), 2022
Pages 507-532: The central theme of the unpublished fragments collected in this volume (Spring). Source: https://ups.academia.edu/DavidFTinsley
These two Afterwards, which can be downloaded in PDF form in the links above, make the convincing case that the "Superman" is not a single individual (as Kaufman argued), but a new species.
Also see Nietzsche (On the Genealogy of Morals) by Duane Armitage on Youtube.
And the documentary Nietzsche and the Nazis by Stephen Hicks (also available as an audiobook on YouTube). Steven Hicks has also appeared on podcasts to be even more critical of Nietzsche, see here and here.
Also see My "Nietzschean Phase" by Gregory Sadler.
So, having listed several scholars and philosophers who criticize Nietzsche's philosophy above, which I've consumed, of course I am reluctant to compare Mormonism to Nietzscheanism without offering some caveats and disclaimers below. I also know that Nietzsche is impossible to ignore in philosophical and theological circles. He continues to be quoted and referenced and in some cases idolized. Thus, he simply can't be ignored. I also think that while parts of his philosophy is deeply problematic and even potentially "dangerous," as covered in the links above, I'm not willing to commit the fallacy of composition and say that his entire body of work is useless and problematic. The fact is there are many important and useful things he says in his writings in a very elegant and poetic way that I agree with and find beneficial for overcoming philosophical nihilism and secularism.
I should also note that there are Nietzschean scholars that completely disagree with many of the conclusions by the authors and programs linked above. For an alternative perspective on Nietzsche's philosophy, and defenses of him and his work (against the criticisms above), see the work of these scholars: Walter Kaufmann, Robert C. Solomon, Graham Parkes, and R.J. Hollingdale (to name a few).
Having read most of Nietzche's body of work myself, I find myself sifting through his writings and ideas and pulling out the intellectual wheat and leaving the chaff behind. So in this blog series, I will be comparing and contrasting Nietzscheanism and Mormonism. In no way do I mean to ever say that they are exactly the same, but only in some cases similar and in other cases completely at odds with each other.
Whenever I speak of Nietzsche's philosphy I'm almost always speaking descriptively not prescriptively, in other words I am describing a "perceptual lens," an interpretive way of seeing things but never am I prescribing and/or recommending the Nietzschean perspective as how we should perceive things or behave.
Like many people who disagree with Nietzsche's overall philosophy (and many things he argues for), I nevertheless find value in some of his ideas. I do think that there is much that he says that is useful and inspiring and positive. So what I have done is filter out these positive elements and point out that they are also found in Mormonism; but that Mormonism does not contain the problems that Nietzscheanism does. Thus, I conclude the blog series by arguing that Mormonism is the better worldview or life-philosophy.
But why would I write so much comparing and contrasting Nietzsche and Joseph Smith's philosophy, given the controversial nature of Nietzscheanism, one might still ask? Because I simply take Nietzsche in layers like an onion, and one layer can be very uplifting and empowering and another layer deeply problematic and even potentially harmful. This is probably the case with many or even most philosophers and philosophies. I don't think we can simply only choose philosophies that are "100% pure" and we completely agree with.
The main reason I continue to find Nietzscheanism of interest is because of the effect it had on me in my personal life. When I went through a phase of questioning the truth claims of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I made my way through reading all the major philosophers and the Sciences, and eventually fell into the philosophy of pessimism and nihilism. I did not know it at the time but I had basically constructed a life philosophy very similar to Schopenhauerianism (see the lecture here by Michael Sugrue). For a cinematic education on Schopenhauerianism, just watch the first season of HBO's True Detective: where the character Rust Cohle basically articulates Schopenhauer's philosophy of life. I would not say I was ever as "bad off" philosophically as Rust Cohle, but I went through a period of several years having nearly the same worldview. So when I finally came to commit to reading Nietzsche's major works (and books summarizing his philosophy), it acted upon me as an igniting of my inner pilot light within my soul; reinvigorating me toward embracing life more rather than avoiding it, going from a more sedentary ascetic lifestyle to becoming more actively engaged in the world.
The short video by the YouTube channel Weltgeist, titled How Nietzsche Psycho-Analyzes Schopenhauer, rightly argues that we need to understand the philosophy of Schopenhauer in order to understand the core motivations and ideas grounding Nietzsche's life-affirming philosophy.
When one reads Nietzsche with this in mind, that he often or nearly always has Schopenhauerianism in the back of his mind (as someone to respond to and philosophically fight against), a lot of Nietzsche's philosophy becomes very illuminating and empowering. You begin to see that Nietzsche is seeking to uplift the reader and encourage humanity to say "Yes" to life affirmatively.
So this interpretive angle of valuing Nietzsche's philosophy as life-affirming, is sufficient for me to find his work useful and beneficial in layers (but not necessarily agree with it whole cloth), especially given the current secular cultural climate that often offers the same or similar Schopenhauerian pessimistic nihilism in different forms.
My extensive reading of both Nietzsche and Joseph Smith, has led me to realize that the two men held a fundamental commonality, the Affirmation of Life. Just as Nietzsche was seeking to counteract the pessimistic nihilism of Schopenhauer with his Dionysian Pantheism (a term I learned from Graham Parkes (see PDF here), Joseph Smith was seeking to counteract acsetic and puritanical Augustinianism with his Abrahamic Expansionism (a term I came up with and explain in my blog series Sex, Gods and Zion).
What I have found is that similar to Nietzsche's life-affirming philosophy, Joseph Smith begins his theological philosophy by moving away from the Augustinianism ("despising of the body") by beginning with his Book of Mormon and a Fortunate Fall. The Book of Mormon also begins with an affirmation of mammalian life with an homage to good parenting. The first official LDS doctrine, bound in scripture which Smith edited and approved, the first Lecture on Faith, argues that faith is "the principle of action." His religion would not be a sedentary and monastic hide in a cave philosophy of life, but a call to action and dominion.
Learning line upon line, precept upon precept, Joseph Smith incrementally expanded beyond Augustinian puritanism; learning Hebrew and studying the science of his day, similar to Nietzsche, he moved toward a philosophy of monism (See the chapter Monism, in Wrestling the Angel: The Foundations of Mormon Thought by Terryl L. Givens). In other words, similar to Nietzsche's monism (yet different), in D&C 130 to 132 and the Book of Abraham, Smith presents the idea that all matter is "spirit matter," and man's soul is eternal and self-existent; and thus man cannot be inherently depraved and the body something offensive and disgusting to God, something to be discarded, as the martyr-centered monastic/acetic type Christians had long preached; but in fact, man is simply the same species as the Gods and the body itself is the means to Godhood. This radically affirmed life, the earth, and the body.
In this blog series, I will be exploring these ideas and other similarities (and differences) in the views of Nietzsche and Joseph Smith.
The LDS hymn "Praise to the Man" (the original title was simply Joseph Smith) is a favorite thing to nitpick and criticize among Critics of the LDS Church. I often find those who are feverishly typing away judgmental tirades on the web against Joseph Smith, do not live lives that most of us would find very praiseworthy. Theodore Roosevelt put it this way in regards to the critics on the sidelines complaining about the men in the arena of life:
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
Joseph Smith may have often come up short, and failed in many ways, but who can deny that he strove valiantly toward the worthy cause of building up Zion? I think the song Praise to the Man, is a reasonable honoring of the masculine vitality of Joseph Smith and all he accomplished for the Latter-day Saints. I also see it as an honoring of men of valor and great deeds, as the song basically presents Joseph Smith's life to the tune of what Joseph Campbell called The Hero's Journey. So that Joseph's triumphs act as an archetype of what all men can aspire to on their own hero's journey.
Joseph Smith was no slouch. He was always in the area of life! At the age of 23 he dictated the entire 531 pages of The Book of Mormon in what scholars consider one of the greatest orations in history. He went on to organize a church in 1830 at the age of 24, which has grown into a major new religion. He went on to dictate over a 100 revelations that are uplifting and inspiring to many.
In Joseph Smith and His Papers: An Introduction, we read:
For one who had little schooling, Joseph Smith left an unusually extensive literary record. From 1828, when he began work on the Book of Mormon at age twenty-two, to 1844, when he was killed at age thirty-eight, Smith produced thousands of pages of revelations, translations, correspondence, declarations, discourses, journals, and histories. …
His rise from obscurity to prominence as the founder and first prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints did not follow a conventional path. Though he was intelligent and strong willed, no ordinary talent can account for his success. His rise as church leader, city builder, and theologian rested on what he believed was a gift of revelation …
… The revelation [in D&C 76, described] a hereafter divided into three degrees of glory, more finely graded than the usual heaven-or-hell division and more in accord with the mixture of good and evil in actual life. The revelations thrilled believers. William W. Phelps , a New York newspaper editor converted a year after the church was organized, called the revelation on the three degrees of glory “the greatest news that was ever published to man.”[4] A meeting of Latter-day Saints making publication plans voted that the revelations “be prized by this Conference to be worth to the Church the riches of the whole Earth. speaking temporally.”[5] …
… Joseph Smith introduced readers into ancient worlds without injecting himself into the story. The Book of Mormon opens with the phrase “I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father”; the book of Moses begins, “The words of God which he spake unto Moses at a time when Moses was caught up into an exceeding high Mountain”; and the book of Abraham starts, “In the land of the Chaldeans, at the residence of my father, I, Abraham, saw that it was needful for me to obtain another place of residence.”[7] Readers are transported to remote times and places as they are when reading Beowulf or Thucydides—or the Bible. In the book of Moses, the reader learns of Enoch, who conversed with God and built a city that was taken into heaven. In the book of Abraham, the father of nations learns astronomy by consulting a Urim and Thummim. However one accounts for these marvelous narratives, they exceed anything one would expect from a poorly educated rural visionary. They are one reason for Yale literary critic Harold Bloom’s comment that Smith was “an authentic religious genius” who “surpassed all Americans, before or since, in the possession and expression of what could be called the religion-making imagination.”[8] …
… In March 1830, Joseph Smith published the 584-page Book of Mormon, an unusual beginning for a life as a minister of the gospel. No other religious career in Smith’s time began this way. Others of his generation claimed visions, but none published a “translation” or wrote a parallel Bible. … Joseph Smith, instead of communicating with the world through sermons, made his entrance onto the religious stage with the translation of a large book of ancient records. Though not widely read himself, he instinctively sensed the increasing potency of print in disseminating religious knowledge. … [Critics] could not account for the extensive narrative tying the religious passages together.
The Book of Mormon is an elaborate, thousand-year history of a civilization that flourished and then collapsed more than fourteen hundred years before Joseph Smith published the book. In its ambitious scope, the Book of Mormon most resembles the Bible. The first hostile reports immediately called it the “Gold Bible,” partly because of the echoes of King James English in the prose. The text begins with the flight of two Israelite families from Jerusalem in about 600 BC and ends with the destruction of their civilization in about AD 421. The text is divided into “books” named for prophets, similar to the prophetic books of the Bible, and tells stories of God’s intervention in human affairs. In a reprise of the New Testament, Christ appears to these people after his resurrection and teaches the Christian gospel. Although many New England writers of Smith’s generation tried to produce scripture-like writing, the literary historian Lawrence Buell has pointed out that none succeeded in completing more than a few fragments of inspired poetry. “The new Bible did not get written,” he says, “unless one counts The Book of Mormon.”[17]
Though like the Bible in many respects, the Book of Mormon is not a copy. It introduces scores of distinctive characters and tells dozens of original stories about the struggle to establish a righteous society. The account, which takes place largely in the Western Hemisphere, where the migrating families arrive by ship, re-creates an economy, a culture, a political system, a military, and a church. The complexity of the story and the scene makes it difficult to sustain the hypothesis that the Book of Mormon merely imitates the Bible or that, as [Alexander] Campbell argued, the uneducated Joseph Smith pulled together snatches of theological and political controversy to patch the book together. Considering that Smith dictated the bulk of the book in less than three months, it is perhaps the most notable example of untutored genius in all of American history.
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The Quora website points out the following regarding Joseph Smith:
- His visionary leadership of a community of believers motivated thousands to gather from various countries in Europe and North America to strive to “build Zion” - where the people are “of one mind and one heart, with no poor among them.” Calling it a cult in no way diminishes the rarity of this kind of achievement in human history.
- He led believers to make extraordinary sacrifices in order to create two temples, in Kirtland, Ohio and again in Nauvoo, Illinois — both of which were among the most extraordinary buildings every built on the American frontier.
- He created a theology and tapestry of doctrine that is so extraordinarily rich in breadth and depth that it informs the daily lives of millions of believers ...
- He conceived a pattern for organizing cities that became a successful blueprint used by Brigham Young in colonizing dozens of cities in the West, including some of the earliest successful settlements in Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, and Arizona.
- He founded a city in Illinois that rapidly grew to become one of the largest on the American frontier, rivaling Chicago in size for a few years at the end of Joseph’s 38-year lifespan.
- ... let me point you to the writings of Josiah Quincy III, who was a U.S. Congressman, Mayor of Boston, and Harvard University President. ... It is doubtful that a more credible witness to the achievements of Joseph Smith can be found, and I quote from his remarks after meeting Joseph Smith and spending considerable time with him:
The man who established a religion in this age of free debate, who was and is today accepted by hundreds of thousands as a direct emissary from the Most High—such a rare human being is not to be disposed of by pelting his memory with unsavory epithets.
Fanatic, impostor, charlatan, he may have been; but these hard names furnish no solution to the problem he presents to us. Fanatics and impostors are living and dying every day, and their memory is buried with them; but the wonderful influence which this founder of a religion exerted and still exerts throws him into relief before us, not as a rogue to be criminated, but as a phenomenon to be explained.
The most vital questions Americans are asking each other today have to do with this man and what he has left us. A generation other than mine must deal with these questions. Burning questions they are, which must give a prominent place in the history of the country to that sturdy self-asserter whom I visited at Nauvoo.
Joseph Smith, claiming to be an inspired teacher, faced adversity such as few men have been called to meet, enjoyed a brief season of prosperity such as few men have ever attained, and finally, forty-three days after I saw him, went cheerfully to a martyr's death. When he surrendered his person to Governor Ford, in order to prevent the shedding of blood, the Prophet had a presentiment of what was before him. "I am going like a lamb to the slaughter," he is reported to have said; "but I am as calm as a summer's morning. I have a conscience void of offense, and shall die innocent." ...
... Ten closely written pages of my journal describe my impressions of Nauvoo, and of its Prophet, mayor, general and judge [To read is full of what Ford said of Smith, see here. Here are some excerpts:]
He was a hearty, athletic fellow, with blue eyes standing prominently ...
... capacity and resource were natural to his stalwart person ...
[He] seemed best endowed with that kingly faculty which directs as by intrinsic right ...
... the impression of rugged power that was given by the man ...
... The other objections of his antagonist [a Methodist minister] were parried with a similar adroitness ... Clearly the worthy minister was no match for the head of the Mormon Church ...
... [He] had long been familiar with perils. For fourteen years he was surrounded by vindictive enemies, who lost no opportunity to harass him. He was in danger even when we saw him at the summit of his prosperity ...
... If these letters go little way toward interpreting the man, they suggest that any hasty interpretation of him is inadequate...
... We then went on to talk of politics. Smith recognized the curse and iniquity of slavery ... We who can look back upon the terrible cost of the fratricidal war which put an end to slavery, now say that such a solution of the difficulty would have been worthy a Christian statesman. But if the retired scholar was in advance of his time when he advocated this disposition of the public property in 1855, what shall I say of the political and religious leader [Joseph Smith] who had committed himself, in print, as well as in conversation, to the same course in 1844? ...
... Who can wonder that the chair of the National Executive had its place among the visions of this self-reliant man? He had already traversed the roughest part of the way to that coveted position. Born in the lowest ranks of poverty, without book-learning and with the homeliest of all human names, he had made himself at the age of thirty-nine a power upon earth. Of the multitudinous family of Smith, from Adam down (Adam of the "Wealth of Nations," I mean), none had so won human hearts and shaped human lives as this Joseph. His influence, whether for good or for evil, is potent to-day, and the end is not yet.
I have endeavored to give the details of my visit to the Mormon Prophet with absolute accuracy. If the reader does not know just what to make of Joseph Smith, I cannot help him out of the difficulty. I myself stand helpless before the puzzle.
[End of quote by U.S. Congressman, Josiah Quincy III]
(Source)
The Quora website goes on to quote a talk, Joseph Smith: By Elder Tad R. Callister, which states regarding the accomplishments of Joseph Smith:
Had 2 temples built
1st American Religion
First factory line
A candidate for the presidency of the United States
First to recommend a national bank
First to have suggested the annexation of Texas, Mexico, and Canada to the United States.
He founded the city of Nauvoo
He served as one of Nauvoo's mayors, judges, and aldermen.
He commanded its armed militia, the Nauvoo Legion, that at its peak was a force of about 3,000 men.
... He revealed the additional ordinances of latter-day temples that open the doors to exaltation and godhood.
The gospel is preached in the spirit world/paradise and especially spirit prison to those who have died without an opportunity to hear it. Not only is this doctrine scripturally correct, but it appeals to every fair-minded individual.
(Source)
Consider the The New York Sun (September 1843):
This Joe Smith must be set down as an extraordinary character, a prophet-hero, as Carlyle might call him. He is one of the great men of this age, and in future history will rank with those, who, in one way or other, have stamped their impress strongly on society.
Nothing can be more plebian, in seeming, than this Joe Smith. Little of dignity is there in his cognomen; but few in this age have done such deeds, and performed such apparent miracles. It is no small thing, in the blaze of this nineteenth century, <to give to Man a New Revelation; found a new religion; establish new forms of worship,> to build a city, with new laws, institutions, and orders of architecture; to establish ecclesiastical civil, and military jurisdiction; found colleges; send out missionaries, and make proselytes in two hemispheres: yet all this has been done by Joe Smith, and that against every sort of opposition, ridicule, and persecution. This sect has its martyrs also, and the spirit in which they were imprisoned and murdered, in Missouri, does not appear to have differed much from that which has attended religious persecutions in all ages of the world.
That Joe Smith, the founder of the Mormons, is a man of great talent— a deep thinker, and eloquent speaker; an able writer, and a man of great mental power, no one can doubt who has watched his career.
(Source)
For more on Joseph Smith's antifragility, see the study manual Teachings of President of the Church: Joseph Smith (2011), Chapter 19: Stand Fast through the Storms of Life.
Given the above listings of his major accomplishments within a relatively brief period of time; who can deny the masculine power and noble endeavors of Joseph Smith, which even non-Mormons like U.S. Congressman, Josiah Quincy III, recognized. In this context, I think the hymn Praise to the Man is a very reasonable song as an homage to the accomplishments of Joseph Smith; while simultaneously showing reverence for Healthy Masculinity in all of its virtue, fecundity and power; that implants, builds, forms, and orders our worlds in yin-yang balance with Healthy Femininity.
Excerpts from The Lecture on Faith (#1):
Quotes were taken from https://lecturesonfaith.com/1/#11
Words in bold and in brackets are my own for emphasis.
… 7 The author of the epistle to the Hebrews, in the eleventh chapter of that epistle, and first verse, gives the following definition of the word faith:
8 Now faith is the substance [assurance] of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
9 From this we learn, that faith is the assurance which men have of the existence of things which they have not seen; and the principle of action in all intelligent beings.
10 If men were duly to consider themselves, and turn their thoughts and reflections to the operations of their own minds, they would readily discover that it is faith, and faith only, which is the moving cause of all action, in them; that without it, both mind and body would be in a state of inactivity, and all their exertions would cease, both physical and mental.
11 Were this class to go back and reflect upon the history of their lives, from the period of their first recollection, and ask themselves, what principle excited them to action, or what gave them energy and activity, in all their lawful avocations, callings and pursuits, what would be the answer? Would it not be that it was the assurance which we had of the existence of things which we had not seen, as yet?—Was it not the hope which you had, in consequence of your belief in the existence of unseen things, which stimulated you to action and exertion, in order to obtain them? …
Would you have ever sown if you had not believed that you would reap? Would you have ever planted if you had not believed that you would gather? Would you have ever asked unless you had believed that you would receive? Would you have ever sought unless you had believed that you would have found? Or would you have ever knocked unless you had believed that it would have been opened unto you? …
Or may we not ask, what have you, or what do you possess, which you have not obtained by reason of your faith? Your food, your raiment, your lodgings, are they not all by reason of your faith? Reflect, and ask yourselves, if these things are not so. Turn your thoughts on your own minds, and see if faith is not the moving cause of all action in yourselves; and if the moving cause in you, is it not in all other intelligent beings?
13 … But faith is not only the principle of action, but of power, also, in all intelligent beings, whether in heaven, or on earth. Thus says the author of the epistle to the Hebrews. (11:3):
14 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God: so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
15 By this we understand that the principle of power, which existed in the bosom of God, by which the worlds were framed, was faith; and that it is by reason of this principle of power, existing in the Deity, that all created things exist—so that all things in heaven, on earth, or under the earth, exist by reason of faith, as it existed in HIM.
[Compare Moses 7:47: "... and through faith I [Enoch] am in the bosom of the Father, and behold, Zion is with me."]
16 … [Faith] is the principle by which Jehovah works, and through which he exercises power over all temporal, as well as eternal things.
In the LDS Book of Moses, Christ is described as being in the bosom of the Father, the Only Begotten (1:6), and it's through the Only Begotten that the Almighty God creates worlds (2:1). Thus, to act on faith toward action is to embody Christpower.
Lecture 1 then shifts toward empowering the Latter-day Saints by pointing out how the Bible is not merely a book of stories, but a book of practical empowerment:
17 Who cannot see, that if God framed the worlds by faith, that it is by faith that he exercises power over them, and that faith is the principle of power? And that if the principle of power, it must be so in man as well as in the Deity? This is the testimony of all the sacred writers, and the lesson which they have been endeavoring to teach to man.
18 The Savior says, (Matthew 17:19-20), … that it was because of their unbelief: "For verily, I say unto you," said he, "if ye have faith as a grain of mustard-seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place! and it shall remove: and nothing shall be impossible unto you."
19 … and that it was by faith that the mountain Zerin was removed, when the brother of Jared spake in the name of the Lord. See also Ether 12:30.
[Ether 12: 30-31: "For the brother of Jared said unto the mountain Zerin, Remove—and it was removed. And if he had not had faith it would not have moved; wherefore thou workest after men have faith. For thus didst thou manifest thyself unto thy disciples; for after they had faith, and did speak in thy name, thou didst show thyself unto them in great power.]
20 In addition to this we are told in Hebrews, 11:32-35, that Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets, through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens …
21 Also, Joshua, in the sight of all Israel, bade the sun and moon to stand still, and it was done. (Joshua 10:12)
22 We here understand, that the sacred writers say, that all these things were done by faith—It was by faith that the worlds were framed—God spake, chaos heard, and worlds came into order, by reason of the faith there was in HIM. So with man also—he spake by faith in the name of God, and the sun stood still, the moon obeyed, mountains removed, prisons fell, lions' mouths were closed, the human heart lost its enmity, fire its violence, armies their power, the sword its terror, and death its dominion; and all this by reason of the faith which was in them.
… 24 Faith, then, is the first great governing principle which has power, dominion, and authority over all things: by it they exist, by it they are upheld, by it they are changed, or by it they remain, agreeably to the will of God. Without it, there is no power, and without power there could be no creation, nor existence!
This was written and/or edited by Joseph Smith in the 1830s; the Christian Pragmatist Jordan Peterson said something similar in his book, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos:
"At the beginning of time, according to the great Western tradition, the Word of God transformed chaos into Being through the act of speech. It is axiomatic, within that tradition, that man and woman alike are made in the image of that God. We also transform chaos into Being, through speech. We transform the manifold possibilities of the future into the actualities of past and present."
“To stand up straight with your shoulders back is to accept the terrible responsibility of life, with eyes wide open. It means deciding to voluntarily transform the chaos of potential into the realities of habitable order. It means adopting the burden of self-conscious vulnerability, and accepting the end of the unconscious paradise of childhood, where finitude and mortality are only dimly comprehended. It means willingly undertaking the sacrifices necessary to generate a productive and meaningful reality (it means acting to please God, in the ancient language).”
Source: goodreads.com
Lecture 1 continues:
Question 1: What is theology?
It is that revealed science which treats of the being and attributes of God …
This fits my article on Action Theology, where I compare the practical action-oriented theo-philosophy of Joseph Smith with Nietzche's action philosophy.
… Question 4: What arrangement should be followed in presenting the subject of faith?
First, Should be shown what faith is: (1:3)
Secondly, The object upon which it rests; and (1:4)
Thirdly, The effects which flow from it. (1:5)
Question 5: What is faith?
… being the assurance which we have of the existence of unseen things, must be the principle of action in all intelligent beings.
Question 6: How do you prove that faith is the principle of action in all intelligent beings?
First, By duly considering the operations of my own mind; and secondly, by the direct declaration of scripture. Hebrews 11:7: By faith Noah, being warned of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. Hebrews 11:8: By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out not knowing whither he went. Hebrews 11:9: By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. Hebrews 11:27: By faith Moses forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. (1:10-11)
Question 8 …
… Rom. 4:16: Therefore, it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed: not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. (1:12-13)
Question 9: Is faith any thing else beside the principle of action?
It is.
Question 10: What is it?
It is the principle of power, also (1:13)
Question 11: How do you prove it?
First, It is the principle of power in the Deity, as well as in man …
… Question 12: How would you define faith in its most unlimited sense?
It is the first great governing principle, which has power, dominion, and authority over all things. (1:24)
From this we can see something interesting, the very first words of the Book of Mormon are, "I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father …" In the first lecture in the Lectures on Faith which were the doctrine portion of the original Doctrine and Covenant, it is emphasized that faith is the first principle because it is the power to take action and create and build something. It just so happens that one of the number one best selling books on business success is The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey, which begins with the first principle of proactivity: which requires faith; and the principles of Interdependence is synergy which requires good parents.
So I see in Joseph Smith's Mormonism an action theology. Joseph Smith was taught early on win-win thinking and synergy through his familial upbringing; and his athletic body and a life of action led to an emphasis on faith as a principle of action in his theology. This has practical benefits to the believer or utilizer of Joseph's action-oriented theology, for to read his words and absorb his theo-philosophy is to take on that energy of the power of faith as the method for acting out the Call to Dominion.
