The relationship between early Mormons and the United States was marked by anxiety and hostility, heightened over the course of the nineteenth century by the assassination of Mormon leaders, the Saints' exile from Missouri and Illinois, the military occupation of the Utah territory, and the national crusade against those who practiced plural marriage. Nineteenth-century Latter-day Saints looked forward to apocalyptic events that would unseat corrupt governments
across the globe, particularly the tyrannical government of the United States. The infamous "White Horse Prophecy" referred to this coming American apocalypse as "a terrible revolutionEL in the land of
America, such as has never been seen before; for the land will be literally left without a supreme government." Mormons envisioned divine deliverance by way of plagues, natural disasters, foreign invasions, American Indian raids, slave uprisings, or civil war unleashed on American cities and American people. For the Saints, these violent images promised a national rebirth that would vouchsafe the protections of the United States Constitution and end their oppression.In
Terrible Revolution, Christopher James Blythe examines apocalypticism across the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, particularly as it took shape in the writings and visions of
the laity. The responses of the church hierarchy to apocalyptic lay prophecies promoted their own form of separatist nationalism during the nineteenth century. Yet, after Utah obtained statehood, as the church sought to assimilate to national religious norms, these same leaders sought to lessen the tensions between themselves and American political and cultural powers. As a result, visions of a violent end to the nation became a liability to disavow and regulate. Ultimately, Blythe argues that
the visionary world of early Mormonism, with its apocalyptic emphases, continued in the church's mainstream culture in forms but continued to maintain separatist radical forms at the level of
folk-belief.
The relationship between early Mormons and the United States was marked by anxiety and hostility, heightened over the course of the nineteenth century by the assassination of Mormon leaders, the Saints' exile from Missouri and Illinois, the military occupation of the Utah territory, and the national crusade against those who practiced plural marriage. Nineteenth-century Latter-day Saints looked forward to apocalyptic events that would unseat corrupt governments
across the globe, particularly the tyrannical government of the United States. The infamous "White Horse Prophecy" referred to this coming American apocalypse as "a terrible revolutionEL in the land of
America, such as has never been seen before; for the land will be literally left without a supreme government." Mormons envisioned divine deliverance by way of plagues, natural disasters, foreign invasions, American Indian raids, slave uprisings, or civil war unleashed on American cities and American people. For the Saints, these violent images promised a national rebirth that would vouchsafe the protections of the United States Constitution and end their oppression.In
Terrible Revolution, Christopher James Blythe examines apocalypticism across the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, particularly as it took shape in the writings and visions of
the laity. The responses of the church hierarchy to apocalyptic lay prophecies promoted their own form of separatist nationalism during the nineteenth century. Yet, after Utah obtained statehood, as the church sought to assimilate to national religious norms, these same leaders sought to lessen the tensions between themselves and American political and cultural powers. As a result, visions of a violent end to the nation became a liability to disavow and regulate. Ultimately, Blythe argues that
the visionary world of early Mormonism, with its apocalyptic emphases, continued in the church's mainstream culture in forms but continued to maintain separatist radical forms at the level of
folk-belief.
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter One: The Apocalyptic Tradition in Early Mormonism
Chapter Two: "Long Shall His Blood...Stain Illinois": Martyrology
and Malediction
Chapter Three: The Geography of Mormon Apocalyptic
Chapter Four: The Judgments Begin: Apocalypticism in Utah
Territory
Chapter Five: The Americanization of Mormon Apocalyptic
Chapter Six - Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Apocalyptic
Trajectories
Afterword: Apocalypticism in the "Mormon Moment"
Notes
Index
Christopher James Blythe is an assistant professor of English at
Brigham Young University, where he teaches courses on folklore and
Latter-day Saint literature. He has previously held positions at
the Neal A. Maxwell Institute of Religious Scholarship and the
Joseph Smith Papers. From 2016-2022, Blythe was an editor for the
Journal of Mormon History. He has published extensively in academic
journals including Nova Religio, Journal of Religion, and
Material Religion; co-edited three volumes of the Joseph Smith
Papers series and an edited collection, Open Canon: Scriptures of
the Latter Day Saint Tradition (University of Utah, 2022).
Certainly, the book reveals a rich lode of apocalypticism that
persists and changes within religious traditions that lay claim to
be the restoration of all things prior to the earth's final
dispensation. In so doing, it invites promising further work by
scholars of religious futurism.
*Tona Hangen, BYU Studies Quarterly*
It is when he begins to explore understudied material... that this
book really starts to break new ground and offer not simply new
history, but new perspectives on the trajectory of the new
religious movement that Joseph Smith founded.
*Matthew Bowman, Claremont Graduate University, Journal of Mormon
History*
Blythe's most admirable achievement with this volume is his ability
to provide a fascinating, easily accessible, but still truly
academic, thoroughly researched, and meticulously presented
cultural and social history of the Latter-day Saints in the United
States, structured around the theme of the apocalypse ... I
wholeheartedly recommend Terrible Revolution.
*Iren E. Annus, Nova Religio*
...this volume is a unique contribution to the literature on
American religious history. Highly recommended. Upper-division
undergraduates through faculty.
*D. S. Azzolina, CHOICE*
The title may include "Terrible," but this book is anything but. It
is a unique contribution to understanding the history, theology,
and folklore surrounding the much-anticipated end times through the
eyes of the church and its lay members.
*Kevin Folkman, Association For Mormon Letters*
Terrible Revolution was one of the most exciting and
well-researched books I've read in a while. It is a book that you
want to complete in one sitting, but don't. Instead, you show
restraint and space out the reading because you want to savor the
history and enjoy it a moment longer.
*Christopher Angulo, Association of Mormon Letters blog*
Christopher Blythe has written an essential guide for understanding
the religious culture of Mormonism. Terrible Revolution takes
readers from early expectations of an imminent Second Coming, to
the White Horse Prophecy, to contemporary preppers. An essential
text.
*John G. Turner, author of Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet*
In this illuminating study, Christopher Blythe spins a masterful
narrative that combines an impressive breadth of sources, official
and popular, to tell a story still unfolding in the 21st century."
-Terryl Givens, author of Wrestling the Angel: The Foundations of
Mormon Thought
Blythe's Terrible Revolution offers a smart, original, and
compelling analysis of the evolving role of apocalyptic thinking in
the LDS Church. Blythe has marshalled thousands of sources, some
long hidden away in obscure places, and diligently connected them
to larger social and political trends." -Matthew Avery Sutton,
author of American Apocalypse: A History of Modern
Evangelicalism
Blythe does a terrific job walking the reader through the shifts
and nuances of the multiple apocalyptic themes that pepper the LDS
imagination, both officially and unofficially." -Amy Hoyt,
Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought Ik Y
The Latter-day Saints of the nineteenth century belonged to an
apocalyptic tradition, argues historian and folklorist Christopher
Blythe in his highly informative book Terrible Revolution....Blythe
charts the rise and fall of Mormon apocalyptic discourse over the
two-hundred- year history of the Restoration. He defines
"apocalyptic" as "the belief that society was headed toward
cataclysmic events that would uproot the current social order in
favor of a divine order that would be established in its
place".
*Patrick Q. Mason, Journal of Book of Mormon Studies*
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