A Radical Spirit

Autorentext

Andrew Bolton coordinated international peace and justice ministries, and later served as an apostle in Asia for Community of Christ. His latest book is Sermon on the Mount: Foundations for an International Peace Church Living the Sermon on the Mount in Difficult Times. Taunalyn Ford is postdoctoral research fellow at the Neal A. Maxwell Institute and serves on the board of the Mormon History Association. Patrick Q. Mason is the Leonard J. Arrington Chair of Mormon History and Culture at Utah State University. His many books include Mormonism and Violence: The Battles of Zion.

Klappentext

The early Latter Day Saint movement embraced a vision and mission that challenged the political, social, and economic systems of the nineteenth century. Andrew Bolton, Taunalyn Ford, and Patrick Q. Mason edit essays that explore the ideas and transformative energy at the root of the Latter Day Saint tradition that gave rise to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Community of Christ.

Early followers of Joseph Smith believed their new faith could organize society from the ground up and create a religious community shaped by justice, equality, and spiritual transformation. The essayists look at the movement's diverse influences—religious, philosophical, and cultural—alongside the economic, gender, and racial issues that informed its radicalism. They also trace the competing pressures inside and outside the movement that helped determine which radical ideas survived and which faded or were later enhanced.

Eye-opening and expansive, A Radical Spirit rediscovers implications of the original heart of the Restoration tradition that thrived among the marginalized poor in the USA, Canada and in Europe—a radical Spirit of Jesus that offers possibilities for our times.

Contributors: Andrew Bolton, Gerard Charmley, Rebekah Clark, Taunalyn Ford, Russell Arben Fox, Erik J. Freeman, David J. Howlett, Brad A. Martell, Lori Martell, Patrick Q. Mason, Michael Ratcliffe, Jennifer Reeder, Joseph M. Spencer, Jordan T. Watkins, Walker Wright

Inhalt

INTRODUCTION
Patrick Q. Mason

PART I: ECONOMICSNonconformity, Radicalism, and Latter-day Saints in Great BritainGerard Charmley and Andrew BoltonMines, Mills, and the Jubilee of Zion: Latter Day Saintism in Wales in the Mid-Nineteenth CenturyMichael Ratcliffe"The Shared Fate "of all the Communist Societies": Nineteenth-Century Mormonism and Utopian Socialism in Francophone Switzerland and FranceErik J. FreemanLabor Unions, Socialism, and Cooperatives: The RLDS Radical Tradition during the Long Progressive EraDavid J. Howlett

PART II: SOCIAL ISSUES AND MOVEMENTS"It Is Not Right That Any Man Should Be in Bondage to Another": Abolitionist Potential in the Latter Day Saint TraditionJordan T. Watkins"A Monster Development of the Isms": George Fitzhugh on Liberalism and the Latter-day SaintsWalker WrightRadical Roots of Latter Day Saint Mission in IndiaTaunalyn FordSomething Extraordinary: Sororal Community among Nineteenth-Century Latter Day Saint WomenJennifer ReederSaints, Suffragists, and the "Gospel of Equal Rights"Rebekah ClarkThe Latter Day Saint Critique of State Violence and the Nonviolent Ideal of ZionPatrick Q. Mason

PART III: CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVESLive Together in Love: Consecration, Stewardship, and MonasticismJoseph M. SpencerThe Communitarian and Socialist Radicalism of the Mormon United Order Movement, in History and TheoryRussell Arben FoxEnd Time: Climate Apocalypse, Stewardship, and the Sacredness of Creation in Community of ChristAndrew Bolton, Brad A. Martell, and Lori S. Martell

EPILOGUE
Andrew Bolton