What I will argue here is that it does not matter that much to me if Mormonism is a fictional invention or pseudopigrapha by Joseph Smith; wherein he had pious intentions for the greater good (as historian Dan Vogel argues). For what matters to me most is what is real, and what is real, as I see it is the psychological "energy" of the Indo-European mythos of my Northern Germanic European ancestors; which I see "bubbling up" from the pages of Joseph Smith's scriptural creations as an Indo-European himself.
For even if Smith himself was unaware of what he was doing, being someone of Indo-European lineage (as I cover here), I think Smith was either consciously or subconsciously manifesting the cultural memory of his Indo-European ancestors: though his religious creations which grew out from his own subconscious and cultural heritage. So that while Smith saw himself as a restorer of "true Christianity," by becoming more of a restorer ancient Israelite religion, I think what he was actually doing (as perhaps only someone of Indo-European lineage could do) was restoring the ancient Indo-European aristocratic ethos.
My working theory is that Joseph Smith was subconsciously forming an expanded version of the further "Germanization of Christianity," just as many other Christians of European descent had done previously. For more details on this process of how Indo-European energy influenced Christianity, see the book The Germanization of Medieval Christianity. Joseph Smith's version of this, as I see it, was the best version so far of a pro Indo-European version of Christianity.
I think Smith was subconsciously creating a hybrid religion, by combining both the Indo-European religion of his European ancestors and mixing it together with elements from Roman Constantinian Christianity and Freemasonry. Previous versions of the Germanization of Christianity by others has been called Arthurian Christianity or "Muscular Christianity." Mormon Christianity can be seen as an expansion of this. A good example of this germanization process is what's known as the Saxon Gospel called The Heiland. Joseph Smith is doing the same thing, only Smith had an ego big enough to take it further by completely replacing the Pauline "leveling" ideas and gene swapped Gentiles (called to be ideally celibate-martyrs), with a more Indo-European ethos of heroic hierarchical acescent toward breeding a New Peoplehood.
Before I continue, note that I am building off my other website solar pantheonism, where I explain the meaning of the term Indo-European and the ancient religion I call solar pantheonism.
The way I see it, Joseph Smith was subconsciously infusing the Indo-European mythos into Christianity, just as the Apostle Paul had subconsciously infused the Maccabean martyr tradition, Stoicism, and the Roman mystery religions into his apocalyptic Messianic Judaism. So that what Joseph Smith is doing, as I see it, is he is replacing the Pauline cult of suffering and the imitation of a suffering Messiah -- through radical pacifism and voluntary poverty, celibacy, and voluntary martyrdom -- with instead Joseph Smith systematically replacing the Pauline emasculating ideology with a more pro-masculine Indo-European mythos. Starting with Joseph Smith's condemning the Shaker movement which was promoting celibacy in D&C 49; and Joseph Smith restoring the Hebrew Bible's concept of an embodied God with a phallus, who had a wife or consort; and reinstating the practices of polygamist patriarchs like Abraham. So that by restoring ancient Israelite religion, he was simultaneously restoring a form of solar pantheonism: for original Judaism was also a solar religion with a pantheon, with the god Jehovah likely originating from the Canaanite Pantheon; and just like the Vikings who were polygamous, the ancient Hebrew religion also practiced polygamy.
The ancient Semitic Jewish people had a long history of defeats, from the Babylonians to the Romans who destroyed the temple in 70 AD; and this led to more of a focus on the beaten, enslaved and downtrodden, etc. Paul then combined the collective memory of this Jewish heritage with an apocalyptic vision of his Messiah coming back very soon to enforce an egalitarian Utopia. So that the pursuit of power, wealth, and progeny (as was the ethos of the Indo-European mythos), was rejected in the Pauline mythos. Instead of a focus on conquest, success and posterity as in Indo-European traditions, Paul emphasized suffering and defeat and death as a celibate martyr as the new ideal.
In his article Indo-European Conquest in Myth, Fortress of Lugh explains the Indo-European Godhead and pantheon, and when you learn about this you realize that the Pauline corpus had presented not a triumphal conquering mentality but instead an attitude of giving in to your enemy and being conquered by them willingly, because by suffering and "losing" you're imitating the Paul's suffering Messiah; with the intent being to "lose on earth" in order to "win in the afterlife." See the book Unmanly Men by Brittany Wilson, where she explains that much of the New Testament is designed to basically emasculate men mythologically. In that, it rejects biological masculinity and the male drives for territory, status, and strength (as exemplified in the Indo-European Ethos); and instead promotes being "good" or "pious" (or pleasing God) as giving away your wealth and seeking a lower status, and not fighting and dominating but being willfully dominated and even penetrated and supernaturally inseminated with divine seed as a "male-bride of a male-messiah." Through this Pauline path of being subjugated, bullied, penetrated, and emasculated, and tortured to death as a martyr, you are more and more uniting with Chrust and merging with this Messiah-deity taught in the Pauline mystery religion. I cover this in more detail in my blog post here: where I compare Paul and Joseph Smith.
In contrast to Paul, Joseph Smith is returning to the Indo-European energy of heroic conquest, vitality and fertility. For example, rather than the ideal of Pauline celibate martyrs as inseminated male-brides, Smith instead created a mythos of Supercouples and manly warriors: even forming a military militia and he invented a temple ritual using Freemasonry and Egyptian symbols like the god Min, with the temple ritual ending as a fertility rite: where the male seed is said to propagate eternally (which is more in line with Indo-European religion).
I took the following screenshot picture below, which depicts the Indo-European Peoples on horses that captures the triumphal energy of Indo-European spirituality and vitality as shown below:
In the video linked above he points out that the European gods were more masculine; and this is what Joseph Smith restores is the concept of Indo-European sky father as warrior and conqueror. Here is an ancient artifact that summarizes the Proto Indo European Peoples as horse riders revering the Sun:
I think this artifact above succinctly represents European religion. For it from the Indo-Europeans that we likely get the idea of a "Father God" dwelling above in the sky, shining his light upon us as it was in part a personification of the daylight sky (as depicted below):
For more details see: Dyēus, The Proto-Indo-European Sky God by Michael Roy.
I see this Indo-European energy being filtered through Joseph Smith who had Indo-European ancestry: in that I see Joseph Smith funneling thousands of years of heroic success and conquest within his inherited genetic memory from his ancestors (passed onto him unconsciously); and so he projected that cultural memory into the Book of Mormon (which I will cover below). Joseph Smith was not just strong and tall like his Indo-European ancestors, but he had an insatiable drive for conquest and domination. He was so ambitious that he does not just create a new religion and marry dozens of wives and become a mayor, a judge, and a military General, but he also crowned himself King while running for US President! These are not the actions of a humble and meek, pacifist, acting out the Pauline ethos of a docile celibate martyr. This was a man who despite his many faults and foibles, was a volcanic eruption of Indo-European vitality.
There are a lot of obvious solar imagery in both the New Testament and Mormon Scriptures. Here are just a few examples:
- Lecture 2 on the "The Father of Lights"
- The many Book of Mormon Sunlight metaphors
Ancient Indo-European Pantheonism:
Here is a summary of the ethnolinguistic Indo-European language tree, visually summarized below:
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Click on Image to Enlarge
The Mormon Gods and the heroes of the Book of Mormon can be seen as archetypical representations of the ancient Indo-European solar sky deity and pantheon, that is manifest in the re-mythologized and Americanized-Christ of the Book of Mormon: manifesting as a more Indo-European type of God that literally shines like the radiant Sun on his disciples in 3 Nephi and who has chosen to visit North America after his resurrection: with a message that was meant for both Native Americans and Indo-Europeans living on the American continent in the 1800s; so that the re-envisioned Christ of Mormonism is not just the "portraits of Jesus" depicted in the New Testament (as a Jew speaking mostly only to fellow Jews); but, is now, as the resurrected Christ a much more European type of deity that is being funneled through the revelations of the Irish American Joseph Smith (not just the Benjamite apostle Paul in the Middle East); with Smith, as an Indo-European, filtering into his revelations a more pro-American message from the resurrected Christ. So that Christ does not just speak through the Jewish Paul or the author of Mathew's gospel, etc. But now Christ is speaking directly to an American and sending a newer message filtered through the Indo-European Joseph Smith.
Whether or not Smith was actually channeling the will of Jesus by revelation (like Paul claimed), or he was mistaken, is not as important to me (as there are many forged documents in the New Testament itself); so I find it to be more interesting to ask whether or not Smith's ethos is an overall positive and healthy message that affirms life? In other words, which version of Christianity, Paul's or Joseph's, is more useful as a religion offering more practical advice for today in competitive and capitalist family-oriented North America?
Mormon Gods & Characters as Indo-European:
As I see it, some of the Mormon Gods and heroes are very similar to other Gods and heroes in the various Indo-European solar pantheons. Note that because, in Mormonism, exalted humans become Gods in Jehovah's Realm, then the dead and now spirit-bodied Moroni for example, can be viewed as having the status of a God or divine being (a member of the Elohim or divine holy ones, to use Michael Heiser's language). Here is just a few speculative ways I've listed below on how one could integrate and synthesize the Indo-European divine archetypes with Mormonism. The equal sign (=) means similar to:
- Lehi = Zeus (as an archetype)
- Captain Moroni = Thor (archetype)
- Ammon = Ares
- Nephites = Ancestors of Vikings (Scandinavians)
- God the Father = Dyḗus ph₂tḗr (literally "Father Daylight," compare Lecture 2:2); as well being archetypically Min and/or Odin
- Jesus = A Composite Character as Stoic Sage; Mithras; as well as the god of wine named Dionysus, and the god of regrowth after death named Persephone
There is actually a lot of LDS products sold and LDS literature emphasizing the heroic nature of the Book of Mormon characters. For example see Mormonism’s Heroes by Lisa M.
As I see it, Joseph Smith’s most famous sermon, the King Follett Discourse, is a synthesis of Indo-European mythology with the Hebrew Bible. For example, in the Icelandic religion Asatru, one is to become more like the Norse gods and goddess as they are archetypes for human potential and personal excellence. I think Joseph Smith indirectly revived this idea by describing God as an ascending deity, in a divine hierarchy, as a role model for higher evolution; wherein Smith argues that God is not some disembodied nothingness being without parts or passions (as foumd in the Nicene Creed), but instead God the Father has a body and even has celestial coitus just like many of the Indo-European gods. In fact, in the King Follett Discourse, Smith says that God is "God" not because he is a perfect and static Being, but because he was once a man and exercised his ability to gain power and dominion by building his own dynastic kingdom, which is what made him "God": and the model for all humans to follow in growing toward deification. In fact, the human spirit (or intelligence) is co-eternal with God (Abr. 3:18) while the form of the human soul is somehow born of Heavenly Parents (a Father and Mother God). This aligns more with the Indo-European concept of the Gods being born from other Gods in divine families (pantheons). Smith's idea of people's souls being "godlike" as eternal spirits and co-eternal with the Head God, and men potentially becoming Gods, also sounds closer to the part human, part divine, demigods in Indo-European mythology. Note that the New Testament is also heavily influenced by Indo-European mythology regarding "virgin births," the Eucharist and deification, etc.
The Vikings
There is a reason that paintings (shown below) of Book of Mormon characters were depicted as Indo-European Vikings by Arnold Friberg (note the "horned helmet" in the first image below is clearly signifying Viking imagery):
The Book of Mormon can thus be seen in a way as the restoration of solar pantheonism and Indo-European energy, for example in this video by The Ark channel, the author points out that the Founding Fathers of America were Deists and implemented a lot of Indo-European spirituality and philosophy into America; and according to many people, Joseph Smith's Book of Mormon was influenced by the book The Late War. The Joseph Smith Foundation does a lot of good work showing how much Mormonism is a very pro-American religion, for example see the videos here, here, here, and here. After watching these videos with host Hannah Stoddard, it became clear to me that LDS Scriptures are very much an Indo-Europen ethnolinguistic product of the Irish American Joseph Smith and how his scriptures and revelations affirms the nobility and sacrifices of British and Scandinavian peoples in how they fought and died to produce the United States of America and the U.S. Constitution (which is a divine document in Mormonism).
The Joseph Smith Foundation also presents an interesting theological theory that some of the Nephites in the Book of Mormon may have migrated North and mixed their genes with the Norse Vikings (Scandinavians). In my article here, I point out that even if this theory can't be proven historically or scientifically, I think it is at the very least archetypically true: in that I think Joseph Smith was filtering into the text of the Book of Mormon the European Spirit through his own European ancestry when creating the characters and stories of the Nephites. Interestingly, in one of his books, Dan Vogel argues that Joseph Smith was carrying on the idea which was popular at the time that Native Americans originated from a previous "white" or Caucasian race. See this web article here and the section Part 3: Two Interesting Articles from "Oliver Oldschool's" Port Folio issues of June and July, 1816. This would mean that the Joseph Smith had in the back of his mind perhaps subconsciously at least, that Europeans were Nephites archetypically. When you combine that with the historical fact the Vikings did visit North America, it's not completely farfetched to imagine the Nephites as having become Scandinavian Vikings or Nordic Europeans as archetypes of heroic nobility. Since all religion is myth-making to a large degree then I also find it empowering as a European to think of the Nephites as often being depicted archetypically -- through Joseph Smith's unconscious -- as Europeans and American heroes.
The European Christ
In one of Joseph Smith's First Vision versions he apparently describes Jesus as blue-eyed. It is clear to me that while the apostle Paul as a Benjamite Jew living in the Middle East, thought "Gentiles" needed to be literally trandformed into Jews to be delivered from the comimg wrath, with Paul not thinking at all about God having anything to do with European ethnicies in the West; in contrast, when Joseph Smith began channeling the voice of Christ like Paul claimed but through his Irish American body and his Anglo-Saxon ancestry, a new pro Americanist gospel emerges. John Turner titled his book, The Mormon Jesus: A Biography. I think he could have just as equally titled it The American Jesus.
If you think about it, the writings of Paul is the alleged voice of Jesus being funneled through his Jewish Paul as Middle Eastern man who thought Jesus was coming back in his lifetime when all mortal life would be annihilated; and thus he did not think about the European peoples far away in the West. The LDS Doctrine and Covenants in contrast is the voice of Christ being funneled through the European American Joseph Smith. So of course his theology is more affirming of Europeans and Americans. The Apostle Paul simply lived 2000 years ago with a more primitive Middle Eastern religious mindset espousing ideas most American men actually don't like or ignore (i.e. the ideal of celibacy, pacifism, or "male-brides seeded by a male-messiah." All of those ideas may have been useful as a strategy during that phase of Christianity (which I discuss and defend here), but as an American male myself, I can say that today those Pauline ideas are simply impractical and not useful for thriving today.
I am not alone in thinking this, Nietzsche said this over a century ago; and young males like the author of The Ark are echoing the same thing. For example, in his article Why A Pagan Revival is Necessary: A Practical Look at Why Christianity Fails Where European Paganism Succeeds by The Ark (Oct 06, 2025), he quotes several New Testament verses that are problamic for navigating life today as a capitalist North American. As I read these verses at the end of his aticle I could not help but think that Joseph Smith's Americanized gospel remedies these passages with Smith's scriptures saying things like it is good to gain riches in order to do good, that Mormons should not be celibate like the Shakers of the 1800s, and a Christian should defend their friends, families, and land and country!
Joseph Smith grew up in America with European ancestry as a descendant of American warriors, and thus in my opinion he's a better filter of the Christ phenomenon for Americans.
The Mormon Jesus, according to the LDS Articles of Faith even elevates European LDS Christians as those who gather in the Lost tribes of Israel to North America!
All American Book of Mormon
We who are of Indo-European descent living in North America have lost our identity to a large degree. There is a distinct feeling in our culture today and that one should not be proud of their American Heritage and certainly not their European ancestry. The Joseph Smith Foundation rightly points out that there does seem to be a systematic attack on the Indo-European Founders of our North America government and Anglo-Saxon American culture. I see Mormonism as a native ancestral religion that indirectly taps into the archetypal energy of the Indo-European peoples. As I see it, Mormonism is atvits heart just as much an Indo-Europen Americanist religion as much as it is a universalist faith: which it certainly is with for example The Book of Mormon inviting all to come to Christ in 2 Nephi 26:33, which states, "God denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God" So LDS Scripture is this unique blend, containing both ethnolinguistic Indo-European spirituality combined with a universalist ambition to invite all ethnicities into one Global Family through Christ. So that you have LDS Scripture saying that "contention is of the devil" and has the goal of eventually having no "manner of -ites" in creating Zion with no rich or poor; but then it also contains that American Spirit where the Founding Fathers broke free of the British Empire by fighting for freedom rather than choosing to be dominated as pacifist martyrs.
So it's no surprise that pro-America books clearly influenced Joseph Smith in producing the Book of Mormon. Let's discuss some of those books that scholars think influenced Smith's formation of the Book of Mormon. On page 105 of his book Restoring Christ, author Grant Palmer writes about some likely sources that inspired Joseph Smith's scriptural productions. In discussing what likely influenced the sections of the Book of Mormon, he writes:
Alma 43-63: These war chapters reflect the war strategies of the American Indian Wars and the War of 1812, especially the British/Indian fighting strategies used against the American soldiers in the War of 1812. Smith heard his relatives and neighbors recount stories of these wars. For some of this evidence, see Mercy Otis Warren’s 1805 book, History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution;and David Ramsey’s 1789 book, History of the American Revolution.
Palmer presents this as a criticism but I interpret this as a positive feature because some of my own great-grandfather's fought in these same American North American wars. So if the Book of Mormon captures the energy of my own ancestors, I see that as a positive!
Here are some other sources that many people think influenced the contents of the Book of Mormon:
The First Book of Napoleon and The Late War:
Rather than seeing this as a criticism of Mormonism, as many exMormons do, I personally see it as unconventionally faith promoting in a way, that is if one has a more sophisticated unorthodox way of thinking of a "testimony" wherein they see the Irish (i.e. Indo-European) Joseph Smith revitalizing ancient solar pantheonism. So I see it as a positive that Joseph Smith was most likely influenced by the content of the book The Late War. As Audible.com summarizes the book The Late War:
The Late War Between the United States and Britain is a historical text written by Gilbert J. Hunt and published in 1816. The book presents itself as a retelling of the War of 1812 in the style of the King James Bible, combining historical events with biblical language and tone. It is often referred to as a patriotic children's book due to its intended audience and its attempt to teach young listeners about the war in a moral and religious context. In the book, Hunt narrates the events of the War of 1812 in a simplified and dramatic manner, portraying the conflict as a righteous struggle between good and evil. The battles and key moments of the war are depicted through allegorical language, drawing parallels to biblical tales of valor and triumph. Through this unique presentation, the author seeks to instill a sense of national pride and virtue in young American listeners, framing the war as a divine mission to defend liberty and uphold American values.
Although The Late War Between the United States and Britain was popular in its time and contributed to the growth of American nationalism. It is also important to note that it is frequently credited with being a primary source of inspiration for the invention of the Book of Mormon, authored by Joseph Smith and then published in 1830.
The idea that Joseph Smith as an American was influenced by the American Patriotism surrounding him as an Indo-European and an American, is not for me in any way a problem if one embraces Blake Ostler's "expansion theory of the Book of Mormon." As this website explains:
… there must be several texts that were borrowed from [to produce the Book of Mormon]. The one that hit me the hardest is plagiarism from George Washington's letter to Canada. It's basically Captain Moroni's speech about fighting for their lives and liberty, etc.
… link here ...
Relevant section:
“Above all, we rejoice, that our Enemies have been deceived with Regard to you—They have persuaded themselves, they have even dared to say, that the Canadians were not capable of distinguishing between the Blessings of Liberty, and the Wretchedness of Slavery; that gratifying the Vanity of a little Circle of Nobility—would blind the Eyes of the People of Canada.—By such Artifices they hoped to bend you to their Views, but they have been deceived, instead of finding in you that Poverty of Soul, and Baseness of Spirit, they see with a Chagrin equal to our Joy, that you are enlightened, generous, and virtuous—that you will not renounce your own Rights, or serve as Instruments to deprive your Fellow Subjects of theirs.—Come then, my Brethren, unite with us in an indissoluble Union, let us run together to the same Goal.—We have taken up Arms in Defence of our Liberty, our Property, our Wives, and our Children, we are determined to preserve them, or die. We look forward with Pleasure to that Day not far remote (we hope) when the Inhabitants of America shall have one Sentiment, and the full Enjoyment of the Blessings of a free Government.”
Audible.com summarizes The First Book of Napoleon: The Tyrant of the Earth by Eliakim The Scribe, this way:
This book written ostensibly by the writer "Eliakim the Scribe" was a book written about the tyrant of the time: Napoleon Bonaparte. Written in early modern English, the book feels like a reading of history, in the language of the Holy Bible. The history of Napoleon Bonaparte is recounted and the listener learns the ups and downs of the reign of one of the greatest conquerors in history. As one of the few popular works written in the 1800s in the language of the 1600s …
Knowing that the book on Napoleon and The Late War are about real people, a real Napoleon, a real war of the United States against Britain, makes the military tactics and lessons of the Book of Mormon more real and even useful strategically. So that even if one were to conclude that the Lamanites and Nephites are fictional characters, what they represent symbolically is real: representing not only aspects of Joseph Smith's own Indo-European biology and autobiography, but also the ancient heroic ideal: that can be traced back to ancient Indo-European traditions and solar pantheonism.
The evidence that Joseph Smith was influenced by patriotic American literature is clear in my view. If one wishes to study this see:
- The American Revolution
- The Adventures of Jacob H. Jackson
- The Philosophy of a Future State
For more detail see the first section "The Settler Worldview" in the book Joseph Smith: The Architect of Mormonism, A Topical Biography by Ganesh Cherian. The Book of Mormon is thus very much a hybrid document, mixing Evangelical voices like Jonathon Edwards with Americans like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Thus, in my view it is an approvement on the New Testament, as the authors of the New Testament endorsed "the divine right of kings" rather than democracy, etc. As explained by EP Sanders in his lecture, Is Paul Relevant for Today?
So as I see it Mormonism is the funneling of British, Germanic and Scandinavian (i.e. Indo-European) ethnolinguistic cultural memory into the main body of the first Mormons living in Utah, as an Indo-European Tribe that became a vibrant and healthy Peoplehood. In fact, my very own European ancestors on both sides of my family, were part of the very British and Scandinavian peoples who migrated to Utah to form this ethnolinguistic European Ephramite Tribe of Proud Americans.
So my "unconventional testimony" is that what is real which no one can deny, is one's tribal roots and people and culture. So based on the book Selective Breeding and the Birth of Philosophy by Alamariu, Costin Vlad, and Nietzsche's concept of the Great Health, then what is real is the growth of the Mormon People as a quasi-ethnic tribe and culture. So that Joseph Smith's scriptures, even if untrue historically and scientifically if taken literally, is nevertheless"more than true" metaphorically what Jordan Peterson calls maps of meaning: as the means to the end of the biological growth of a real Indo-European tribe of people in the 1800s in Utah, where mostly British and Scandinavian people migrated to form an Ephraimite tribe; and then post 1900 became more of a universalist faith converting millions of people in all countries among all ethnicities. But, in the first about 150 years, Mormonism was a pro-American Peoplehood by coverting those from Britian and the "northern countries" and persuading them to gather in Utah to form Zion as Ephraimites. This gave the first Mormons a powerful identity and a sense of a deep rooted belonging as a literal spiritual tribe called Ephraim.
The video Conservatives are Wrong. America was Never a Christian Country by The Ark YouTube Channel, makes an interesting argument that America was founded on the Indo-European Spirit. I then thought that if you combine the American Seal of the eagle and arrows of war, with the book Late War and the book on Napoleon, you can see that the Book of Mormon is an Americanist gospel:
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So while Joseph Smith is a patriotic American with an Indo-European vitality, he is also influenced by Methodist Pietism and Pentecostal-type charismatic performances of the Evangelical Protestant Preaches at the Tent Revivals in the 1820s depicted below:
All of the above influences, the pietism, camp meetings, John Edwards, American patriotism, and Joseph Smith's own biological Indo-European ancestry, all went into Joseph Smith's production of the Book of Mormon.
If we take the perspective of the Book of Mormon as a kind of midrash, then the historicity does not matter as much as the value of the inspiring and practical truthfulness of the overall pro-European/pro-American message. In his article The Book of Mormon as Symbolic History, Jess Groesbeck writes:
My claim that the Book of Mormon should be understood primarily as a symbolic, not literal, history, we must look at the way we as humans structure our worlds through myths—the highly symbolic narratives that speak of origins and primordial powers but also weave together the disparate elements of our experience in such a way that we can understand our place within an overarching story.[2] All mythos has a structure, an internal logic that helps us feel oriented within the world. ...
... By the beginning of the nineteenth century, a virtual crisis existed, a crying need for accommodation between the two groups as white Europeans began to colonize and move across the North American continent. In New England and New York—where Joseph Smith and his ancestors lived—the Christian influence of the Puritans and European fathers was, in the minds of many of the foreign settlers, beginning to take second place to the native consciousness. Fascination with the New World, with Indian and Spanish treasures, and with the magic of shamanistic medicine men was beginning to dominate—something that was intolerable to Christian leaders.[14] ...
... If such a symbolic answer could arise during the time of intense psychic dissonance in which Joseph Smith lived, what would it include? Certainly, the following issues seem to be pertinent:
• If two cultures so disparate as the white European and American Indian were to find an acceptable accommodation, there would have to be some way to find common ground in their relationship, perhaps by establishing a similar genealogical heritage.
• There would need to be some harmonization of their religious views, suggesting ways they might work helpfully together.
• The answer would need to include a plan or program whereby each would be able to fit into the other’s way of living.
With these criteria in mind, let’s take a close look at the Book of Mormon as a symbolic historical answer to this critical problem of cultural assimilation. How does the Book of Mormon perform this symbolic function?
First, it states that the American Indian (again speaking of native peoples collectively and not individually, even though as tribes they are quite different) and the white European have a common ancestry in that they both go back to Israelite origins. The book settles the question of whether or not the Indian is a child of Adam. It weighs in on the “Lost Ten Tribes”
issue by saying, no, the Indian is actually closely related to Ephraim; he is also a son of Joseph through Manasseh. The book teaches that America is a promised land to both the Indian and the European, as both were led to its shores by the hand of God.
... Finally, through its speaking “from the dust,” the Book of Mormon restores a knowledge of how both parties can freely relate in a meaningful and humane way with one another. In its stories of Alma the younger and the sons of Mosiah, and especially the depiction of a Zion society in 4 Nephi—a society in which there was not “any manner of -ites”—the Book of Mormon depicts principles by which the groups can successfully live together in peace and as “one, [the] Children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God (4 Ne. 1:17). But even as it models successes, the Book of Mormon also warns of mutual destruction should we fail to heed its many lessons.
... I believe that through its stories and teachings, the Book of Mormon became for its time, and still is today, a “divine third,” a spectacular example of a highly symbolic solution that allows for accommodation of polar opposites without compromising the integrity or power of either. It is a cultural-symbolic bridge that performs a wondrous shamanic balancing act. It was brought forth through the powerful healing gifts of a young shaman, who grew up in a region of a fledgling nation in particular tension, not only between Native Americans and the European immigrants, but between the power of Indian spirituality and treasure lore and the totalizing message of the Christian gospel. Besides its many other functions, of which Shipps hints above, the Book of Mormon, taken from gold plates dug from a hill, is also a “third” for the disrespected, treasure-seeking Smith family, a symbolic assertion of the value and power of both their folk and Christian traditions. ...
... I HAVE EXAMINED the Book of Mormon as a product of grand symbolic processes that touch on archetypal themes in the collective unconscious and unleash associated energies in the way described by Jung. Though the Book of Mormon’s specific origins can be located in the tensions between European and Indian cultures, it is clear from its far reaching influence that it can also be applied helpfully to issues in hundreds of cultures and without regard to particular historical contexts. ...
Smith Evolved from Evangelical Methodist Pietism (1829-1834) toward a more Indo-European Freemasonic Vitality After 1835:
After studying Hebrew in 1835, Smith began to become even more Indo-European in his outlook and practices. So that "Post-1835 Nauvoo Mormonism" moved further and further away from its earlier Evangelical-Edwardian dogmas to become more humanistic and Deist via Freemasonry. As I see it, post-1835, Mormonism was even more Indo-European: by becoming a more pro-body theophilosophy; as well as embracing the Renaissance Enlightenment, the doctrine of spirit-matter (a version of rational physicalism) and the ancient Hebrew plurality of Gods. So that later 1840s Mormonism shifts away from 1830s Evangelical Edwardianism to become a more Indo-European religion, as seen in these bullet points:
- Freemasonic influence
- God depicted as the Egyptian phallic god Min
- The restoration of the Hebrew Bible practice of plural marriage
- The Nauvoo Temple ritual affirming the biological body as a pro-body fertility rite
All these elements replaced the Augustinian and Edwardian turn-or-burn rhetoric and the Pauline martyr-centric, celibate-ideal and bodiless deity of the Creeds; by moving away from the Pauline corpus (based in part on the Maccabean tradition) and the ideas in the Nicene Creed (that emphasized a bodiless deity), LDS theology moved more toward ancient Indo-European solar pantheonism via the ancient Israelite pantheon and imagery from the Egyptian pantheon (as found upon the Egyptian papyrus). So that through the Renaissance Enlightenment and the Deism within Freemasonry and the more life-affirming energy of the Hebrew Bible (which even Nietzsche advocated), combined with the imagery of the phallic Egyptian god Min, Joseph Smith restored ancient Indo-European Solar Pantheonism through his later post-1835 Mormon Ethos.
Balancing Tribal Hierarchy and Sensuality with Communal Kindness and Hospitality
What Mormonism does as a whole is balance our tribal nature -- our drives for procreation, gaining territory, status, and power -- with our other drives to form community through solidarity, kindness, and hospitality. So I put together these illustrations below combing LDS Scripture verses with various LDS images:
What will become apparent below is this balancing of Yin and Yang, somto speak, as seen above, is the result of Joseph Smith integrating Americanist and Indo-European energy into his scriptures that balances out the more Pauline energy.
The Book of Mormon was the first stage in the development of Mormonism. Joseph Smith found it useful to use Evangelical Protestant language to gain converts; for example he explains using the voice of the Lord that the hell fire and brimstone language of a permanent hell in the Book of Mormon was used only as means of working upon the reader to convert them (see D&C 19). By the mid 1830s Smith had moved to other means to gain converts and impede dissidents, by moving toward an appeal to natural hierarchy, to political advancement in the priesthood, the threat of destruction for some (see D&C 132) and the motive of additional wives in order to expand one's future kingdom throughout the eternities. In this way, Joseph's myth-making, moved the Mormons' consciousness more toward an Indo-European consciousness of life as the drive to thrive (the lifeward impulse to compete to expand or decline and go extinct). Today, Utah is thriving as mostly Indo-Europeans, many of whom like myself, have polygamous Mormon ancestors that often competed for wives which selected for certain traits; as they gathered as a tribe to grow a Peoplehood, and many practiced plural marriage based on the belief that those who would be crowned kings and queens in eternity were the most elite and chosen Ephraimites that entered into plural marriage.
[Apostle Orson Hyde] is a practical polygamist, as are all the rest, but he has a convenient way of utilizing the system. He marries a cook, a laundress, a sempstress, a dairy-maid, or any servant he may happen to need. It is so much cheaper to marry domestics than to hire them. Under the latter arrangement he would be compelled to pay them for their services, while by the former he is only obliged to give them shelter, food, and clothing. His wives represent nearly every nationality, and when visitors come to the house, the first Mrs. Hyde introduces her husband's other wives, as " Mr. Hyde's German wife, Mr. Hyde's English wife, Mr. Hyde's Danish wife," and so on, until all are presented.
3 Nephi 16:7-8:Behold, because of their belief in me, saith the Father, and because of the unbelief of you, O house of Israel, in the latter day shall the truth come unto the Gentiles [i.e. Europeans], that the fulness of these things shall be made known unto them. ...D&C 109:60:“Now these words, O Lord, we have spoken before thee, concerning the revelations and commandments which thou hast given unto us, who are identified with the Gentiles [i.e. Europeans],.”1 Nephi 13:23:“. . .they contain the covenants of the Lord, which he hath made unto the house of Israel; wherefore, they are of great worth unto the Gentiles.”3 Nephi 21:12“And my people who are a remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles, . . .”3 Nephi 23:2“For surely he spake as touching all things concerning my people which are of the house of Israel; therefore it must needs be that he must speak also to the Gentiles.”D&C 107:33, 97:“The Twelve are a Traveling Presiding High Council, to officiate in the name of the Lord, under the direction of the Presidency of the Church, agreeable to the institution of heaven; to build up the church, and regulate all the affairs of the same in all nations, first unto the Gentiles [i.e. Europeans], and secondly unto the Jews.”“And these seventy are to be traveling ministers, unto the Gentiles first [i.e. Europeans] and also unto the Jews.”D&C 113:7-10:"Questions by Elias Higbee: What is meant by the command in Isaiah, 52d chapter, 1st verse, which saith: Put on thy strength, O Zion—and what people had Isaiah reference to?He had reference to those [i.e. European Mormons] whom God should call in the last days, who should hold the power of priesthood to bring again Zion [see A of F #10 that reads, "Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent ..."], and the redemption of Israel; and to put on her strength is to put on the authority of the priesthood, which she, Zion, has a right to by [European Ephraimite] lineage; also to return to that power which she had lost. ...
