Mormonism: The Story of a New Religious Tradition

Jan Shipps has been the modern equivalent of Thomas L. Kane, a sympathetic outsider who helps explain Mormonism to the world beyond the borders of Deseret. "Mormonism: The Story of a New Religious Tradition" is her master statement. I read this book when it first came out more than twenty years ago; on rereading it, I recognize even more clearly than previously how it was a benchmark in the historiography of the LDS religion. Shipps's thesis is encapsulated in this book's subtitle, that the Latter-day Saint religion is completely separate from the Protestant tradition that spawned it in the early nineteenth century--perhaps as distinct from it as Christianity is from Judaism. She writes, "Of the cultic movements whose members accepted radically revised or fundamentally altered versions of the faith stories regnant in their cultures, only Christianity and Mormonism are now full-scale religious traditions" (p. 50). It is a powerful thesis, and Shipps argues on behalf of it with eloquence and alacrity. It is also a thesis that is at its base attractive to members of the Latter-day Saint church, since they view themselves as a "peculiar people," and therefore it has been embraced as an explanation for the exceptionalism of the religion. Using the literature of both cultural anthropology and sociology to buttress her thesis, Shipps makes explicit comparisons between the Mormon/Protestant and the Christian/Jewish traditions. She unabashedly draws parallels and makes insightful comparisons. More to the point, she also questions many of Mormonism's cherished principles about a restoration of ancient Christianity. At the same time, she gives full measure to the religious innovations, such as esoteric temple rituals, plural marriage, and a host of other oddities. I am especially taken with her discussion of the role of historical investigation in her analysis. Shipps believes that the depiction of events in the Mormon past is more significant to the health of the religion than for most other faiths. Accordingly, an overtly mythic history has emerged and there is exceptionally little wiggle room for reinterpretation of the agreed upon "master narrative." Since I am personally enthralled with the power of myth in the making of image and memory I find these observations fascinating. There is much to praise in this important book, and little to criticize. Some have questioned Shipps's thesis in the context of the twentieth century, for Mormonism appears to many observers more American than America and not all that distinctive, certainly not a religious tradition comparable to early Christianity's relationship to Judaism. For those immersed in Mormon studies, however, her thesis holds up quite well for the more recent past just as it does for earlier eras.

Jan Shipps, this remarkable LDS-ologist, was the one who wrote the beautiful essay about Joseph Smith, "The prophet puzzle". She is the type of scholar that has never been ready to "give up" and accept one isolated single perspective on LDS history, not then, not now. She is the one of eternal limit cross-over and the "multi-scholar", which likes to wove together the different views on history, religion and philosophy and illuminate the LDS from several aspects, which brings dialogue and respect, not hatred and contempt. She is the one with the thesis, antithesis and synthesis, which is a common feature of this book. In the seven chapters, she philosophises about the origins of LDS, its development, its changes, its historiographical tradition, its view of the sacred and profane, and its relation to Amerian culture and Christian religion. One of the reviews below, remarks on the non-polemical asepct of the book. I agree to 10 percent, cause the book is diplomatically polemical. Every issue it brings up, is clarified. The two-side-story of Joseph is mentioned by her, the redaction of Joseph's mother, Lucy's autobiography is tackled in one chapter. Of course, the reader won't find any tannerisms (anti-LDS expressions) in the book. It is not to create hatred, to denounce, but to lift up and inform the reader about this rich tradition who has changed the life of millions of people in both ways - more godly, or more atheistic, but changed! The book shows that it is inherent in every religious body to forget inconveniences in the past, to create a whole present and marvelous future. It happened to Christianity, and it happened to LDS. The only difference is that LDS had more paperwork left from its origins than Christianity. She handles the time issue, the pioneer period and modern period in a healthy thought-evoking way. She shows why LDS lived in another way and why they changed - mainly of the pressure from federal government and the Manifesto endig plural marriage in this life. Both forced the church of pioneer era to accomodate to the world and to make spirituality more esoteric (ie inner-focused), thru temple rituals and Word of wisdom (dietary codes). Implicitly, I believe, that she wants to say: it doesn't matter how many contradictions one can find in Joseph's theology, what matters is what and why the church chose to believe a specific version. Thank you for a wonderful insight about LDS!

The book focuses on the development of the Mormon church from its small beginnings to the 10.5 million members it has today. Her arugement is that Mormonism is a new religious tradition in the sense that it grew outside of the mainstream Protestantism of America in the 1830's. She argues that although it has aspects of Old Testament Judaism and New Testament Christianity the Mormon church should be considered another Religious tradition that is developing into a world religion. Overall the book is persuasive, but I found some of the logic or proofs strained and hard to follow. It is favorable towards the church and does tend to gloss over the controversial parts of the LDS faith.

Shipps book is not so much a history of the Mormon church as a case study for how new religions comes into being. Theoretically, this is an extremely helpful book for anyone attempting to understand the nuts and bolts of how a religion comes to explain itself to both outsiders and its own members. Shipps argues that new religions must be studied from both the inside and outside as the people on either side of the new "truth" have different paradigms and thus diferent realities. New religions are built on "foundational tripods" of a prophet, a new scripture, and a shared history. They have to form a new history to justify and explain their existence and they usually do this through a process of Reiteration, Reinterpretation, Recapitulation, and Ritual Re-Creation of the older tradition they are springing from (Christianity did this as it separated from Judaism just as Mormonism did it as it separated from Protestantism). Shipps shows how a group's history must be guarded and defended for it is what grounds and justifies the group. She concludes by presenting a remarkably clear section on how groups' identities depend on their ability to set themselves apart as special and different from the outside world. When this can't be done corporately (through a widely recognized variance with mainstream society, like polygamy), then it must be done personally (such as through a distinctive diet, dress, or ceremonial tradition). All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable and informative book. A must-read for all students of American religion.