Without the Mormon Lens: 5 - Re-contextualization

     John Leacock’s, The First Book of the American Chronicles of the Times 1774-1775  probably comes as close to a contemporary of the Book of Mormon as I could find. As luck would have it, the first version I read was the 1987 edited version, which gave me a breakdown of the work and the literary methods used from 1774-1775.

Title Page of the 1987 reprint.

     Here is the introduction:

    "The First Book of the American Chronicles of the Times, a parodic satire written as a six-chapter pamphlet series, is clearly one of the most humorous works of patriot propaganda to have come out of the events just preceding the Revolutionary War. A conflation of the political events of 1773 and 1774 in a "biblical" narration, the American Chronicles targets both New England and old in a sometimes scurrilous attack on tyranny, militarism, Catholicism, Puritan millennialism, and extremes of all forms. Clearly and consistently anti-British, the text celebrates as folk heroes Benjamin Franklin, Israel Putnam, Samuel Cooper (well-liked pastor of the Brattle Street Church in Boston), a fictional Indian chief, and Oliver Cromwell. The double-voicing of the parodic form enables serious implications—by way of satiric correction—to modify the Cromwellian celebration." (pg 11)

 

     This gives us a sense of what the stories contain, but further in the introduction is where it captured my attention.

    "The re-contextualization of the Bible text in the new parodic text as American Chronicles offered readers the possibility of humorous self-recognition ... The double-voiced message was available precisely because of the form of the text as parodic biblical satire. The First Book of the American Chronicles of the Times, immensely popular in its own day, provides readers interested in parodic texts and in American literature, history, and religious philosophy yet another piece of evidence that the American populace during the Revolution was capable of a complexity and a self-humor often unrecognized by the nineteenth-century historians of American literature."

   Let's read that first part again.

    "The re-contextualization of the Bible..."

    What exactly does this mean? Re-contextualization refers to the method of extracting text,  meaning, or signs from one context, and then placing it into another. Not only is this a satire of a piece of American history, but the author actually replaced the names of the people with biblical names and intertwined verses from the Bible into his story.

    "The “biblical” narration invites speculation as to the contemporary identities of most characters. Many characters have biblical names. The question arises, then, as to whether the contemporary personality resembles its biblical namesake. That is, is the name Jeremiah, for instance, given to a person who was like a “jeremiah” to the people of Boston? More than simply an “engaging puzzle,” the American Chronicles includes characters that, when identified with their contemporary figures, could provide valuable insight into the popular conceptions of contemporary revolutionary leaders..." (pg 18)

     "... Some of these [names] are easily connected with the contemporary people they represent. Rehoboam is obviously King George III; his adversary in Privy Council, Mordecai the Benjamite, clearly Benjamin Franklin. Haman the Northite is Lord North. And Balaam the wizard, who was ousted by Matherius Cottonius, is Sir Edmund Andros. Finally, Judas the Parasite is Thomas Hutchinson.The identities of other characters given biblical names in the satire are not so easily established. Perhaps known to contemporary readers, their identities have been obscured by time, if they indeed were ever completely known by the uninitiated popular reader." (pg 13)

     I strongly encourage you to read the book and then the notes. If I were to try showing how complex this was, I may as well just copy and paste the entire publication. So for the sake of length, here is an example of one of the passages, complete with the notes on their context.

(This table may be hard to read on a mobile device)

Chapter 1 (pgs 35-36)	Notes (Pgs 85-86)
18. And the Bostonites, the men of New-England, spake unto Jedediah the scribe, that he would bring the book of the law of their fathers, which the Lord had commanded they should obey.	"Jedediah the scribe: Jedediah is the name given Solomon by the prophet Nathan (2 Sam. 24-25). This is the only place in which Jedediah is called a scribe; beginning with 1.19, he is thereafter called a priest. Jedediah the scribe is perhaps Samuel Adams.  (Note 24, pg 86)
19. Then Jedediah, the priest, brought the book of the law before the congregation, both of men and women that could understand it.	Jedediah the priest is most likely Samuel Cooper..." (Note 24, pg 86)  "book of the law: The commandments Moses gave the people were to be read every seven years (Deut. 31:10)." (Note 25, pg 86)
20. And he read therein, in the street that was before the Water-gate, and in the Market-place, and at the entry of the Fish-gate, and in the Old South, from the morning until the midday, and from the midday until the evening.	"20: “When all Israel shal come to appeare before the Lord thy God, in the place which he shal chose, thou shalt read this Lawe before all Israel that they may heare it” (Deut. 31:11).  The Old South was the scene for the mass assembly in which it was agreed that the tea from the Dartmouth should be dumped. The ship's owner had been instructed to demand a pass from Governor Hutchinson so that his ship could depart with the tea. Hutchinson refused to grant a pass, which precipitated patriot action (Labaree, 191-92)." (Note 26, pg 86)
21. For Jedediah the priest had understanding of the times to know what the Americanites ought to do, and what they ought not to do, and all his brethren were at his commandment.	"understanding... commandment: “And of the children of Issachar which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel oght to do: the heades of them were two hundredth; and all their brethren were at their commandment” (1 Chron. 12:32)." (Note 27)
22. And the ears of all the people hearkened unto the book of the law, and entered into a solemn league and covenant, that they would obey the book of the law, and none other, both the priests and the Levites. (pg 52)	hearkened... law: Support for the nonimportation measures spread through the colonies, though most of the colonies would not agree to the Solemn League and Covenant..." (Note 28, pg 86)
" 18-22: Boston resumed nonimportation measures that had originally been adopted at the time of the Stamp Act in 1765. On 12 May 1774, shortly after news that the Boston Port Bill had arrived, the Boston Committee of Correspondence called a town meeting. With eight other Committees from nearby towns in attendance, members jointly prepared letters to Committees of Correspondence throughout New England, asking that all exports and imports with Britain and the West Indies be stopped (Jensen, 463-66)." (Note 23, pg 85)

    

    This type of comparison is exactly how I will be approaching the Book of Mormon. All of the concepts that I have discussed in my posts up until this point have laid the foundation to be able to make several claims.

     1. Americans loved the biblical style of writing from the puritans up to the mid 1800's

     2. We have an entire genre of psuedo-biblical books that existed right up to the the publication of the Book of Mormon.

     3. One of the most popular pieces of literature replaced real names with Biblical names, sometimes even combining multiple people into one character, and intertwining biblical verse with contemporary events.

   All three of these together form what I believe to be the basis of the Book of Mormon. 

_____

Keep in mind:

Joseph smith was willing later in life to alter names of people and places in the Doctrine and Covenants, so why would we dismiss the possibility of him doing so in The Book of Mormon?

Check Your Understanding:

Test what you picked up from this post.

1. What genre best describes The First Book of the American Chronicles of the Times?

Historical biography
Political sermon
Travel narrative
Parodic pseudo-biblical satire

2. What does “re-contextualization of the Bible” mean in the context of this work?

Translating scripture into multiple languages
Taking biblical language and applying it to contemporary American events
Rewriting the Bible for children
Removing all religious references from historical events

3. How did Leacock characterize real political figures in the text?

By assigning them biblical names
By listing them alphabetically at the end
By disguising them as fictional animals
By removing all references to identifiable individuals

4. Why does the author argue this text matters when studying the Book of Mormon?

It proves Joseph Smith plagiarized Leacock directly
It disproves the existence of pseudo-biblical literature
It demonstrates that Americans were already familiar with biblical-style historical storytelling
It contains a prophecy about the Restoration

5. What literary technique did the Chronicles frequently use?

Modern scientific citations
Greek epic meter
Dialogue-heavy stage drama
Blending biblical verses with Revolutionary-era events

6. What larger argument does the post make about the Book of Mormon?

It may draw from a long American tradition of pseudo-biblical writing
It was originally a British political pamphlet
It was meant only for newspaper serialization
It intentionally avoided biblical influence

- Next Post -

5.1 - Consider the Preface

Some additional thoughts on the title page and content of the Book of Mormon

New here? Consider starting at the first post.