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bgsu1124572144.pdf (3.94 MB)
ETD Abstract Container
Abstract Header
Policing the Borders of Identity at The Mormon Miracle Pageant
Author Info
Bean, Kent Richard
Permalink:
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1124572144
Abstract Details
Year and Degree
2005, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, American Culture Studies/Popular Culture.
Abstract
While Mormons were once the “black sheep” of Christianity, engaging in communal economic arrangements, polygamy, and other practices, they have, since the turn of the twentieth century, modernized, Americanized, and “Christianized.” While many of their doctrines still cause mainstream Christians to deny them entrance into the Christian fold, Mormons’ performance of Christianity mark them as not only Christian, but as perhaps the best Christians. At the annual Mormon Miracle Pageant in Manti, Utah, held to celebrate the origins of the Mormon founding, Evangelical counter-Mormons gather to distribute literature and attempt to dissuade pageant-goers from their Mormonism. The hugeness of the pageant and the smallness of the town displace Christianity as de facto center and make Mormonism the center religion. Cast to the periphery, counter-Mormons must attempt to reassert the centrality of Christianity. Counter-Mormons and Mormons also wrangle over control of terms. These “turf wars” over issues of doctrine are much more about power: who gets to authoritatively speak for Mormonism. Meanwhile, as Mormonism moves Christianward, this creates room for Mormon fundamentalism, as small groups of dissidents lay claim to Joseph Smith’s “original” Mormonism. Manti is also the home of the True and Living Church of Jesus Christ of Saints of the Last Days, a group that broke away from the Mormon Church in 1994 and considers the mainstream church apostate, offering a challenge to its dominance in this time and place.
Committee
Jack Santino (Advisor)
Pages
402 p.
Keywords
Mormon
;
Mormonism
;
Manti
;
Joseph Smith
;
Evangelical
;
Christian
;
Counter-Mormon
;
Anti-Mormon
;
Fundamentalist Mormon
;
Pageant
;
Pageantry
;
Spectacle
;
Public display
Recommended Citations
Refworks
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RIS
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Citations
Bean, K. R. (2005).
Policing the Borders of Identity at The Mormon Miracle Pageant
[Doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1124572144
APA Style (7th edition)
Bean, Kent.
Policing the Borders of Identity at The Mormon Miracle Pageant.
2005. Bowling Green State University, Doctoral dissertation.
OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center
, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1124572144.
MLA Style (8th edition)
Bean, Kent. "Policing the Borders of Identity at The Mormon Miracle Pageant." Doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University, 2005. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1124572144
Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)
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Document number:
bgsu1124572144
Download Count:
10,598
Copyright Info
© 2005, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Bowling Green State University and OhioLINK.