Reprint: George Mitton: Joseph Smith and the Magical Contest

George Mitton

Abstract: Ancient prophets have had contests with those claiming established authority and ability to do miraculous things, such as Moses with the magicians at the court of pharaoh. The prophets won the contests because of their calling and the power of the priesthood that they held. Scholars have called this a “magical contest.” It might also be considered a “ritual contest” because ritual is involved. This essay identifies common elements in such contests to show that Joseph Smith had essentially the same kind of contest, such as his encounter with folk magic and its ritual at the time of his youth, and the ritual of Freemasonry when he established the Latter-day Saint temple rites.

Part of our book chapter reprint series, this article originally appeared in Joseph Smith and Our Preparation for the Lord’s Final Judgment: Essays by George L. Mitton. For more information, go to https://interpreterfoundation.org/books/joseph-smith-and-our-preparation-for-the-lords-final-judgment/.

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About the Interpreter Foundation Book Chapter Reprint Series

The purpose of this reprint series is to make individual chapters from books published by The Interpreter Foundation more accessible to readers. Although in some instances the formatting and pagination may have been changed, the content of this chapter, like others in this reprint series, is identical to what appeared in its original book publication. It has not been updated to incorporate research that has appeared subsequently nor to reflect the current practice of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to use the full name of the Church and to avoid terms such as “Mormon” and “LDS.”

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