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Show City, Community, and Purity: Mormonism's Evolution of Zionism and Place M. Todd Ethington work, the Book of Moses, now contained in the LDS book of scripture the Pearl of Great Price, was revealed to the Mormon prophet. Within this book, Smith read the narrative of the biblical prophet Enoch, whose ministry was to gather a people who would follow God's laws: And the Lord called [Enoch's] people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them.... And it came to pass in his days that he built a city that was called the City of Holiness, even Zion. (Moses 7:18-19) Further in the account, the Lord shows Enoch a vision of the latter-day Church: "...[A]nd righteousness and truth will I cause to sweep the earth as with a flood, to gather out mine elect from the four quarters of the earth, unto a place which I shall prepare, an Holy City, that my people may.. .be looking for the time of my coming; for there shall be my tabernacle, and it shall be called Zion, a New Jerusalem. (Moses 7:62) As the narrative continues, Enoch is then told that his city of Zion will be taken from the earth and its citizens will dwell with God, awaiting the time when the latter-day Zion will also be lifted from the earth. This episode is to be followed by a millennium of peace and Christ personally ruling among mankind. Here Smith and the Church are given a unique conception of Zion: not only is it a city, it is also a community of Saints living a social order in the prototype of Enoch's righteous followers. An obvious element of the latter-day Zion conception is that when this community of place is established, its citizens will be received into heaven, ushering in the Second Coming of Christ and the onset of his millennial reign. In effect, Smith now had a blueprint for the perfect community and specifications for speeding the Lord's return. In 1832, Smith was told by revelation that the Lord had designated Jackson County, Missouri, as the place where the latter-day Zion was to be built by his people {Doctrine, and Covenants6 84:2-4), and subsequently Smith's followers started to gather there with designs to organize a Zionic society and build a holy city. An additional conception of Zion was articulated in a revelation received by Smith in August of 1833. Amidst harsh persecution, the Saints in Jackson County had been forced to sign an agreement that they would vacate their property, and with it their hopes of building the city of Zion there at that time. The revelation stated in part: And the nations of the earth...shall say: Surely Zion is the city of our God, and surely Zion cannot fall, neither be moved out of her place- Therefore, verily, thus saith the Lord, let 6The Doctrine and Covenants is a book of Mormon scripture containing a collection of divine revelations received through Joseph Smith and other latter-day Mormon prophets, "for the restoration of (God's) holy work and the establishment of the kingdom of God on the earth..." (Doctrine and Covenants: Explanatory Introduction). Hereafter cited as D&.C. Zion rejoice, for this is Zion-the pure in heart; therefore, let Zion rejoice, while all the wicked shall mourn. (D&C 97:19, 21) This final conception of Zion brings us to three understandings of Zion that are evident in Mormon Zionism: "(1) Zion as a place, or specific geographical location; (2) Zion as a community of the saints; and (3) Zion as an internalized spiritual state" (Millet 1985, 1). As we examine how each of these concepts of Zion has been alternately emphasized, we also see how the role of place has been modified within the Mormon community. Original Emphasis Both Smith and his immediate successor, Brigham Young, emphasized Zion as a place, a city of holiness preparing the earth for the Second Advent of Christ. A major part of this undertaking was the admonition to "gather out [the] elect from the four quarters of the earth," and collect them in the city of Zion (Moses 7:62). Consequently, the Church sent out missionaries to find the "elect" and gather them with the Saints in a central location. This "central place" (Olsen 2002, 19) changed alternately from Kirtland, Ohio, to Jackson County, Missouri, and then to Nauvoo, Illinois. After the Saints were expelled from Nauvoo, they sought a sacred homeland in the Western United States-seeking, as Henrie says, "a place of divine destiny, suitable for a people of destiny" (1972, 76). Henrie's research discovered that most Mormons feel that Utah is sacred because it was the "land of promise for the Mormon Pioneers" (1972, 77). "Utah," he claims, "became Zion through hard work and constant rhetoric" (Henrie 1972, 76). Gathering the Saints remained a "suggestion" under Smith. Less than a third of the 17,849 initial European converts during Smith's presidency left their homes for Nauvoo (Millet 1985, 224-25). But after the Church founder's assassination in 1844, "The suggestion to gather became fixed as a duty and a commandment during the administration of Brigham Young" (Millet 1985, 224-25). Arrington and Bitton found that between 1846 and 1887, the years of Brigham Young's leadership, the number of European converts who emigrated to the Utah Zion totaled 85,000 (qtd. in Millet 1985, 224-25). By focusing on the importance of Zion as a city, and by extension a gathering place, living with other Saints in the central Zion also became important to Church members. Young, however, also "believed strongly in social equality" (Arrington et. al. 1976, 89), and Zion's promise of social and economic parity struck a chord with the Mormon Church's new president. Perhaps as a result of Young's attempts to bring out the social conception of Mormon Zionism among the Saints upon their arrival in the state of Deseret, Bellah commented: ...one of the things that links the early Puritans in Massachusetts and the Mormons through much of their his- 10 |