Materializing Religion, Heidegger, and the Stability of Joseph Smith's Seer Stones as Religious Objects

Bibliographic Data

ID4916183
AuthorsMichael Hubbard Mackay (0000-0003-1152-7142, Brigham Young University, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume16
Issue3
Pages345-359
Publication date2020-05-26
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueMaterial Religion (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1743-2200 • E-ISSN: 1751-8342
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17432200.2020.1756165
OpenAlexW3028253788
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited10

This article examines the stability of religious objects by asking how Joseph Smith’s seer stones, from which he dug for buried treasure and produced the Book of Mormon, were materialized into religious objects. This analysis challenges the assumed stability of material objects by demonstrating that the seer stones could potentially lose their religious qualities and values once they were examined, displayed, or explained. This is framed by using Martin Heidegger’s practical descriptions “ready-to-hand” and “present-to-hand” to explain the unstable nature of religious objects and why public examination and explanation of religious objects can potentially strip them of their perceived sacredness

Aesthetics · Art history · Religious experience · Sociology · Theology · Treasure · Computer Science · History · Mormonism, Religion, and History · Philosophy · Psychedelics and Drug Studies · Religious studies · Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices