Holy Watermelon

Canada's National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is right around the corner, and we've decided to interrupt our regular programming in favour of an interview with Cheryl Whiskeyjack from Bent Arrow Traditional Healing Society, and some important First Nations Stories.

Canada's name is derived from an old word for village, making us the nation of villages.

We discuss the role of storytelling, and the place for newcomers and women within indigenous tradition, as well as the power of ceremonial tradition in day-to-day life.  

Cheryl teaches us a little bit about her religious background, some of the great mythology of Turtle Island, and how she learned the traditions of her current faith, and the power of womanhood.  

Cheryl also discusses things like cultural misappropriation, the legacy of residential schools, and the path to healing for Canada's First Nations Peoples and all Canadians. 

All this and more.... 

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If you think you know Mormonism, this one's for you. We examined the origins of the Latter Day Saints last month, and now we're taking a look at the men that led the Mormons in various divisions. 

There was a nonet of splinter groups that left the early Mormon Church before the assassination of Joseph Smith, but some of them shouldn't really count, since they disavowed everything Joseph taught, and they had no interest in the Book of Mormon, but there were a couple who broke away because they believed what Joseph taught, but believed he was a fallen prophet.

After the succession crisis and the Great Mormon Schism, Brigham came out on top as the leader of the largest faction, and he took his party to the Salt Lake Valley, but several groups splintered off to avoid Brigham, while others splintered off much later to keep Brigham's vision alive forever. 

We're exploring the history of the Bickertonites, the Strangites, and the Smith-family branch formerly known as the RLDS, now called the Community of Christ. (The name change came right after the leadership was separated from the Smith family.)  We also look at the FLDS and their ilk, though they deserve greater attention in a later episode. 

What makes the Brighamite Majority LDS Church in Utah different from the others?  The biggest difference is the Latter-Day Saint Temples and the secretive Endowment, so we get into that, too.

All this and more.... 

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Brigham Young gets a lot of credit as the "American Moses," but it's nothing compared to the work Joseph Smith did to earn that title. Moses led the people for many years, from place to place, but he never entered the Promised Land--like Joseph Smith. Joshua was the one who led the final trek into their new home--THAT'S Brigham's parallel. 

The Latter Day Saint movement (Utah Mormonism, et al) lives within the broader category of millennial restorationism. Not your typical Protestants, these guys believe in an angelic restoration of the church after a complete apostacy from the divinely appointed church. 

The volcanic explosion of Mount Tambora in 1815 is credited with not only the bad weather that brought us Frankenstein's monster, but also with moving the Smith family from Vermont to where they would find the Golden Codex of Mormon. 

Who was Joseph Smith? What did the early Mormons believe? What's the deal with polygamy? After considering the Smith family connection to Methodist and Presbyterian churches in the Second Great Awakening, we take time to explore the principal Mormon sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, Ordination, Endowment, and Marriage. Polygyny (a subset of polygamy) deserves some special attention, and we deliver. 

Joseph Smith reported countless angelic and divine visitations, and it was an angel that instructed him relative to the Book of Mormon as early as 1823. It's worth noting that the "Mormon Bible" is a poor label for the Book of Mormon, since the church officially sticks with the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible in English-speaking congregations. 

In 1844, Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were assassinated while in jail, murdered by an angry mob. We explore some of the details that led to their martyrdom. 

This week's episode is the first half of a two-part exploration of the Mormon tradition. Next time we'll talk about the splits before and after the assassination, and what makes the Brighamite Majority LDS Church in Utah (Latter-Day Saints, with a hyphen) different from the others. 

All this and more.... 

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Lost books include apocryphal literature from heretics, grifters, and entrapment-dodging translators, but there's also genuine works that were abridged or edited later, allowing the originals to disappear in the fog of disuse. Some books are lost because their religious traditions and communities have died out or were pushed underground, and other books are the stuff of legend, and may never have really existed....

After our discussion of how the various canons were established, we MUST discuss what was left on the cutting room floor.

In addition to the more popular Deuterocanonical "Apocrypha" of the Alexandrian Greek Judeo-Christian tradition, there's a vast collection of other Jewish apocryphal and pseudepigraphical writings, and more from Christian writers. Some of our favorites are the Book of Jubilees, and the Testament of Job, and the Christian Infancy Gospels.

There is also material that was once listed with--and within--sacred texts that has been lost, including several Hebrew prophetic books mentioned in the Tanakh, and several lost apostolic letters mentioned in the New Testament canon. Even the original Book of Mormon has material that didn't make it into the final publication.

With these books, we also explore some of the lost books of Mani (the founder of Manichaeism), the legendary Purvas of Jainism, the burned books of the pre-colonial Mexicans of the Aztec Triple-Alliance, the Christian Book of Nepos, and the Gospel of Eve.

But all is not lost, we have been fortunate to discover--in the last century--the Nag Hammadi Library and the Dead Sea Scrolls, so we have to examine these, too.

Learn more about the Dead Sea Scrolls project at www.deadseascrolls.org.il

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Staring Down the Canon might be intimidating for some, but now that we've explored several holy texts, we're ready to talk about the nature of scriptural authority and how texts are measured against one another within religious traditions. 

Books are a great way to preserve knowledge, testimony, and prophecy, but its imperative that readers remember that authors perform their work as imperfect people full of biases and ignorance, just like the readers themselves. 

Canon is the criterion against which all ideas and writings are measured. No canon has been divinely established, instead, canon is the product of intense deliberation and authoritative ruling. To help illustrate the universality of this word's utility, Preston uses the Star Wars canon (pre-Disney) to lay down an intellectual foundation before getting into more germane examples in more religious realms.

Fundamentalism is a growing problem in some faith communities, particularly among those who run from a healthy education, seeing their parents' favorite version of their favorite book as the only authoritative source of information on history, physics, biology, geology, and astronomy. What could go wrong? 

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The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is one of the best books of religious satire released this century, and maybe it will hold that status for a while--only time will tell. After a serious look at the most revered books on the planet, it's time to lighten things up with the Pastafarians and their book that contains approximately as many contradictions as the Christian Bible, but with a rock-solid explanation built into the preface.

Even Richard Dawkins, the famous atheist-biologist, has good things to say about this Quill Award-winning religious text. 

For this movement that began in 2005, a book release only the next year might be a little quick compared to some traditions, but it's a little slow compared to some others. Bobby Henderson penned the bulk of the text, offering a wide variety of biblical parodies, but he also includes several essays from others who have joined the movement.

The best of these parodies are rooted in the biblical books of Genesis and Exodus, but there is material based on more recent historic figures, too. 

Like the best religions, there are things to celebrate, and Pastafarians have several noodly holidays, many playing puns on some of the biggest holidays in the Judeo-Christian tradition.

If you enjoy our show and don't take faith too seriously, you'll love The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster., and other books published by devotees of the movement. If you like the work that the Satanist churches are doing but find them too dark, try Flying Spaghetti Monsterism. 

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The Book of Mormon has a better story than you might think, though not quite what you might have heard in Stone & Parker's musical of the same name.  

Rather than a tome of collected works, each the subject of contentious discussion in council, The Book of Mormon is an abridgement of a continuous historical record, with a couple appendices of original content and other summarized histories.  

Of course, this book is incomplete, and we look into the story of how the first portion went missing before publication, as well as the translation process.

In September 1823, young Joseph Smith, Jr. was visited by an angel named Moroni who had the ancient record of his extinct people, and he needed Joseph to translate and publish his record so that people would renew their faith in Christ. After several trials of Joseph's fidelity, and several years, Joseph obtained the tome, written on sheets of gold to stand the ravages of time. 

Several scribes helped Joseph throughout the translation process, and though most of them expressed irreconcilable conflict with Joseph personally at one point or another, they each vehemently defended their testimony of the divine work they helped to accomplish in the Book of Mormon.

The climax of the abridged narrative has the angelic visitation of Jesus Christ himself, followed by a brief summary of the peaceful following centuries, and ending  with the complete genocide of the faithful.

This text, sacred to the various churches of the Latter-day Saint movement, is the subject of intense scrutiny, and we're here to help in our own little way.

It's worth noting that the "Mormon Bible" is a poor label for the Book of Mormon, since the church officially sticks with the King James Version of the Bible (KJV) in English-speaking congregations.

All this and more...

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What is the Granth Sahib? What is the Adi Granth?

The Guru Granth Sahib is the last and eternal Guru, an authoritative collection of sacred verses from not only the greatest Sikh leaders, but also from faithful Muslims and Hindus. Like other sacred texts, this collection has an interesting history, including a contested editorial process. Who are them men who recorded their revelations in sacred song? How does this collection bridge the gaps between conflicting traditions in India? How has the Sikhi made its mark in the subcontinent and around the world?  

The Adi Granth was completed in 1604, as a compilation of the best, surest writings of the previous four Gurus, along with those of the incumbent leader. The Granth Sahib is the same collection with additions of later Gurus. In addition to these writings, we have the blessed verses of other great religious thinkers, including Sufi Muslims, and Hindus; those 15 elevated Devotees (Bhagats), with 11 Bards (Bhatts), and 4 other faithful admirers and seekers of light are honoured with the inclusion of their songs of worship along with the hymns of the Gurus.

For a scriptural canon, it is shockingly inclusive, and organized in a truly unique scheme.

In this episode, we explore the nature of the hymns, their content, and the contention surrounding textual variants that exist across Sikh communities. Some great scholarly work has been done in this field, and we just scratch the surface.

All this and more...

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What is the Quran? 

It is among the most published texts in the world, and among the most vilified in the global west. Who was really responsible for the book as we know it today, and how did imperial power play into its history? Why is it that so many interpretations of the text are considered authoritative, and what efforts were made to ensure the acceptance of such ambiguity? The recitations of the prophet Mohammad are controversial, not only in our globalized community, but within early Islam.

According to the myth (foundational narrative), Mohammad never wrote down the recitations he received from Allah (the Abrahamic God) through the angelic intermediary. He may even have discouraged his companions from writing them, though if that's the case, they weren't discouraged for long.

After Abu Bakr compiled an edition of the things Mohammad heard from the angel Gabriel, Uthman put a lot of effort into codifying the most ambiguous text possible--not to create confusion, but to accomodate the varied recitations held sacred by Muslims in several communities. This codex wasn't initially popular with everybody, but the heavy hand of authoritative leadership nearly eliminated every unauthorized version of the Quran, leaving only the one (generously ambiguous) text to rule them all.

In this episode, we explore the nature of the recitations, their content, and the contention surrounding textual variants that exist between versions of the Quran. A lot of great scholarly work has dug into this content, and we just scratch the surface.

All this and more...

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The Christian New Testament is a tiny collection of letters, and a small handful of modestly interdependent testimonies of a personal Jesus from a small town in the unnamed northern province (now known as Galilee). The outliers are almost as valuable as the more orthodox materials.

The Bible consists of four biographies, some of which show more interest in symbolic teaching than in historical accuracy. Two of these rely heavily on another for their production, while a much later fourth comes to establish a slightly different path. One of these biographies gets a sequel, but when the hero leaves at the end of the prologue, the story shifts to a stranger: Saul of Tarsus.

After the biographies (aka "Gospels"), written by mortal men who were happy to testify of what they had seen/heard, we have an assortment of letters from several of Jesus' Apostles to various parts of the church under direct Imperial rule, mostly from Paul.

Because we've already talked about the Revelation of John at length (see Apocalypse, Now?), we only briefly cover it in this episode.

To say that "the Bible" is the infallible word of God is to deny the obvious inconsistencies and material contradictions. To say that it is the complete word of God is to deny the obvious appeals to missing authoritative texts. To say that it is the literal word of God is to deny the obvious editorial history and the skill of the genuine authors. 

We address the various literary genres found in this tiny collection, we look at rejected books that might hope to belong, and we cite texts that were certainly authoritative but have since been lost--some with popular forgeries. With scores of translations of various textforms, there is no single Bible, but we do what we can to keep it accessible.

All this and more...

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