DOC Creation of the Sacred: Tracks of Biology in Early Religions by Walter Burkert in History

Description

Brigham Young was a rough-hewn craftsman from New York whose impoverished and obscure life was electrified by the Mormon faith. He trudged around the United States and England to gain converts for Mormonism; spoke in spiritual tongues; married more than fifty women; and eventually transformed a barren desert into his vision of the Kingdom of God. While previous accounts of his life have been distorted by hagiography or polemical expose; John Turner provides a fully realized portrait of a colossal figure in American religion; politics; and westward expansion. After the 1844 murder of Mormon founder Joseph Smith; Young gathered those Latter-day Saints who would follow him and led them over the Rocky Mountains. In Utah; he styled himself after the patriarchs; judges; and prophets of ancient Israel. As charismatic as he was autocratic; he was viewed by his followers as an indispensable protector and by his opponents as a theocratic; treasonous heretic. Under his fiery tutelage; the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints defended plural marriage; restricted the place of African Americans within the church; fought the U.S. Army in 1857; and obstructed federal efforts to prosecute perpetrators of the Mountain Meadows Massacre. At the same time; Young's tenacity and faith brought tens of thousands of Mormons to the American West; imbued their everyday lives with sacred purpose; and sustained his church against adversity. Turner reveals the complexity of this spiritual prophet; whose commitment made a deep imprint on his church and the American Mountain West."