The sources of Joseph Smith's literary works remain the most enigmatic aspect of Mormon history. Joseph Smith's "translation projects," the Book of Mormon, Book of Moses, the Inspired Bible and Book of Abraham, include prophecies, visions and allusions to the ancient biblical prophet Enoch. Before Joseph Smith began writing his visions of Enoch, Oxford professor Richard Laurence revived interest in the prophet through his 1821 English translation of the ancient Hebrew text, the Book of Enoch, known as 1 Enoch. For decades, some historians have denied that Joseph Smith ever had access to the Book of Enoch, but many reserve the possibility that it directly influenced Smith's works. The author of this book documents the many stark similarities between the Book of Enoch and Smith's Mormon texts. Using source analysis and historical context, the author identifies the uniquely Mormon words, storylines, imagery and concepts that appear in Richard Laurence's translation of the ancient religious text.
Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction: Patterns and Parallels in Scripture Scholarship
Stories and Patterns
Motifs
Borrowed Traditions and Cultural Influence
Studying Joseph Smith and Early Mormon Scripture
The Patternist-Historian Approach
Chapter One. An American Farm Boy
Chapter Two. Who Is Enoch?
Enoch in the Old Testament
Enoch in the New Testament
Enoch in the Apocrypha
Enoch in the Book of Jasher
Enoch in the Book of Jubilees
Enoch in Mormon Doctrine
Chapter Three. The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch)
Chapter Four. Ground Rules for This Historical Question
Chapter Five. Joseph Smith's Access to the Book of Enoch
Chapter Six. Substantial (and Important) Similarities
Joseph's First Visions
Another Vision with Another Angel: The Angel Moroni
Chapter Seven. The Book of Moses
Moses 1: The Prologue to Genesis
1. Similar Openings and Settings
2. Moses Atop a Mountain, Speaks with God and Sees His Glory
3. Moses Is Shown All Things of the Past and Things Yet to Come
4. Moses Is Commanded to Write
5. Revelations for His Followers
Similar Openings and Settings
Taken Atop a Mountain to Speak with God and Sees His Glory
Moses and Enoch Are Shown All Things Past and Things Yet to Come
Moses and Enoch Are Both Commanded to Write Books
Both Are to Write Books for Their Followers "Who Believe"
6. Transfiguration to Speak with God Face to Face
7. Falling to the Ground
8. Satan Is Rebuked, He Fears and Departs
9. Beholding the Numberless on the Earth, from the Beginning and Without End
10. Moses and Enoch Both Ask What Is This World? And Why Creation?
11. The Purpose: Eternal Life and Everlasting Glory of Mankind
12. A Warning That the Children of Men Will Turn Against God's Books
Moses 2–5 (Genesis 1–4)
Secret Combinations and Death Penalty Oaths
Chapter Eight. Joseph Smith's Enoch
Mahujah, Mahijah and Mehujael
Joseph's Enoch Found in Translation
Joseph's Enoch as Another Elias
Enoch's Patriarchal Lineage
The Wild Man Out of the Wilderness
Literary Parallels Between Moses and Enoch
Bowing or Falling to the Earth
Waters in Their Course and Turning Their Ways
A "Spirit Prison"
God's "Earth Is His Footstool"
Men Are Carnal and Devilish
A Scribe of Righteousness
Joseph and Sidney Rigdon's Enoch Emerges
Again, Speaking with God and Seeing All Generations of the World
Angels Declaring Wo! Wo! to the Inhabitants of the Earth
Heavenly Weeping on Account of the Earth
Enoch's Son Methuselah Prophesies in Moses and the Book of Enoch
Enoch Foretells of Noah Building an Ark, and His Family Saved from the Flood
Corruption of "Sons of Men," "Giants" and Choosing Wives Among Daughters of Men
Enoch Foresees the Coming of the Son of Man
Chapter Nine. Zion—A New Jerusalem
Chapter Ten. The Mormon Temple Endowment
A Temple-Building People with a Promised Endowment
Mormon Temple Allusions and Book of Enoch Parallels
Latter-day Saints, Given Secret Names, Clothed in Garments and Anointed as Kings, Queens, Priests and Priestesses
Kings, Princes and Priests
Queens and Priestesses
Clothed in Garments
Secret Names
Latter-day Saints
The Archangel Michael/Adam Creator Doctrine
ACT I: The Cosmos and Creation
Earth: A Footstool of God, for the Dominion of the Sons of Man
ACT II: The Garden
A "New World" and Renewed Awakening
"The tree of knowledge also was there"
Adam and Enoch Are Ashamed, Naked and Wear Veils
Casting Out and Condemning Lucifer
Defeated, Satan Departs
ACT III: Knock and It Shall Be Opened Unto You
Seeking Light and Divine Knowledge
Secret Names and Swearing Oaths
The Celestial Room; the Throne Room
Chapter Eleven. Mormon Cosmology: The Book of Abraham
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"An existence previous to the formation of the luminaries of heaven"
The War in Heaven
A Star Fell from Heaven
Other Stars Also Cast Out from Heaven with the First
He Shall Dwell Among His Elect
The Judgment Throne
The Judged Are Cast into a Lake of Fire and Brimstone
Tens of Thousands of Angels Surrounding God's Throne
A New Heaven and Earth
The First Estate
The Second Estate
The Preexistence
A Spirit Prison
Multiple Heavens and Celestial and Terrestrial Kingdoms
Echoes of Enoch in the Book of Abraham
Keeping Records for the Benefit of Future Generations
A Vision of the Celestial Stars, and the Names of the Great
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Observing the Times and Seasons and Heavenly Operations
A Reckoning of a Day on Earth in the Lord's Time
A Book of the Revolutions of the Luminaries
Inferior and Superior Luminaries of the Night and Day
Chapter Twelve. Gods of Our Own Worlds
"The holy, holy, Lord of spirits fills the whole world of spirits"
Counsels of Gods in the Heavens
Infinite Intelligences
Light of the World
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index
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