Narrative Revolutions in Nat Turner and Joseph Smith

Scales, Laura Thiemann

doi:10.1093/alh/ajs024

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 19 publications

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“…For example, Patrick Mason contrasts citizens of Joseph Smith's “theodemocracy” with the “autonomous individuals” who inhabit a liberal democracy (, 358). Laura Thiemann Scales argues that Smith's prophetic voice problematizes “the place of liberal personhood” (, 221). Nothing I have argued here undermines the reasons they offer for these conclusions.…”

Section: Autonomy and Authoritymentioning

confidence: 99%

Frontier Kantianism: Autonomy and Authority in Ralph Waldo Emerson and Joseph Smith

Davis¹

2018

Journal of Religious Ethics

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Ralph Waldo Emerson is often seen as the early American prophet of autonomy. This essay suggests a perhaps surprising fellow traveler in this prophetic call: Joseph Smith. Smith opposed religious creeds for the same reason that Emerson denounced them, namely that creeds represent a threat to the autonomy of a person's beliefs. Smith and Emerson also forward similar defenses of individual autonomy in action. Furthermore, they encounter a shared problem: how can autonomy be possible in a society where other individuals hold some kind of authority? I propose that each thinker resolves this tension through an insight with a Kantian echo. A suitably qualified version of authority can sometimes count as an expression of, rather than hindrance to, autonomy. I describe the overlap in Emerson and Smith as a “frontier” version of Kantianism. They favor determining one's own beliefs and actions in a way that looks forward to an open future of possibility.

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Section: Autonomy and Authoritymentioning

confidence: 99%

Frontier Kantianism: Autonomy and Authority in Ralph Waldo Emerson and Joseph Smith

Davis¹

2018

Journal of Religious Ethics

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Children's Literature and the Rise of ‘Mind Cure'

Stiles

2020

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Positive thinking is good for you. You can become healthy, wealthy, and influential by using the power of your mind to attract what you desire. These kooky but commonplace ideas stem from a nineteenth-century new religious movement known as 'mind cure' or New Thought. Related to Mary Baker Eddy's Christian Science, New Thought was once a popular religious movement with hundreds of thousands of followers, and has since migrated into secular contexts such as contemporary psychotherapy, corporate culture, and entertainment. New Thought also pervades nineteenth- and early twentieth-century children's literature, including classics such as The Secret Garden, Anne of Green Gables, and A Little Princess. In this first book-length treatment of New Thought in Anglophone fiction, Anne Stiles explains how children's literature encouraged readers to accept New Thought ideas - especially psychological concepts such as the inner child - thereby ensuring the movement's survival into the present day.

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Caribbean Visions: Revolutionary Mysticism in “Theresa: A Haytien Tale”

Albanese¹

2016

ESQ

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Narrative Revolutions in Nat Turner and Joseph Smith

Cited by 5 publications

References 19 publications

Frontier Kantianism: Autonomy and Authority in Ralph Waldo Emerson and Joseph Smith

Frontier Kantianism: Autonomy and Authority in Ralph Waldo Emerson and Joseph Smith

Children's Literature and the Rise of ‘Mind Cure'

Caribbean Visions: Revolutionary Mysticism in “Theresa: A Haytien Tale”

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