Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Gage Murphy's avatar

This post did exactly as you said it would for a Christian esotericist like myself: deeply piqued my interest in Mormon thought, I am eager to learn more. As any good and honest Christian esotericist, I am involved in the process of synthesizing opposites like Tombergs Hermit, not to make them forced hybrids, but to find that which strives toward real unity. I never fit in to the the perennialist or Pharisee crowd because I refuse to settle and fall for either trap. A devil to the left and a devil to the right so to speak. As an American (New England to be precise and descendent of Mayflower voyagers) and disenfranchised evangelical, the question of the Mormons seems to be an important part of “making sense” of the great unfolding of universal history and my own part in it. I especially appreciate the absence of abstraction that imo lead to the great mess that is the state of western philosophy/theology. Once again, thank you.

Expand full comment
Bruce Cowsser's avatar

I just found this post as well, and found it exceptionally interesting. As a Latter Day Saint, I find your summary of what we believe to be the most accurate of any I have ever read from a non-member. Also, having had a deep and long-lived fascination with Hugh Nibley and his works (I'm looking at a complete collection of his work sitting on my library shelf, which I have devoured) I was very pleasantly surprised at your characterization if him as the 20th Century's greatest intellectual, a sentiment with which I fully agree. He's had a profound affect on my understanding of LDS theology, and therefore on my entire world-view. I'm also an avid fan of Terryl and Fiona Givens' work.

There is a new young scholar who has recently emerged on the scene by the name of Adam Miller. He's written a book called "Original Grace," that has affected my world-view as much as anything Givens has written, and I'd like to recommend it to you as a fascinating re-examination of the Protestant view on Original Sin through the lens of Joseph Smith's Restoration theology: https://www.amazon.com/Original-Grace-Adam-S-Miller/dp/1639930248 . The book's value far exceeds its price, in my view. See what you think.

Expand full comment
49 more comments...

No posts