Divine Rite of Kings: Land, Race, Same Sex, and Empire in Mormonism and the Esoteric Tradition
Divine Rite of Kings: Land, Race, Same Sex, and Empire in Mormonism and the Esoteric Tradition is a social-historical-political analysis of the religion of the Latter-day Saints as deeply indebted to a variety of esoteric systems of belief. It argues that the present campaign against gay marriage and other homophobic policies of the “American religion,” targeting the LGBTQ community, and, indeed, children of same-sex parents, are connected to erstwhile racial doctrines and practices, which excluded persons from full fellowship on the basis of race alone, Africans the supposed offspring of Cain and Canaan and thus cursed. Narrow heterosexist notions of “sexual purity” merely replaced Anglo-Saxon supremacist notions of “racial purity” in the imperial and the millennial understanding of Mormonism. The new heterosexism, this book suggests, can be viewed as a form of boundary maintenance better suited to an emergent international church and world religion, ironically, which continues to make inroads in parts of Asia, where its social conservatism and, indeed, virulent attacks against the “gay and lesbian lifestyle,” continue to attract followers.
Clyde R. Forsberg Jr. is a Professor in the Department of Western Languages and Literatures at Karabuk University, Turkey. He is also a Civic Education Project and Open Society Institute Fellow with a personal and professional interest in higher education reforms in emerging democracies in the former Soviet Union and parts of the Middle East. His academic training is highly interdisciplinary, with a PhD in American Social and Cultural History under Klaus J. Hansen at Queen’s University, Canada, an MA in the Philosophy of Religion under the devout Roman Catholic and Bernard Lonergan scholar Hugo A. Meynell, and a BA (magna cum laude) in Religious Studies with a twin concentration in Biblical Studies under Peter C. Craigie and Medieval Islamic Civilization under Andrew Rippin. Forsberg is also a Canadian playwright and jazz musician of note, conflating the fine arts and liberal arts in an attempt to “get the message out.” Born in the United States (Logan, Utah), raised and educated in Canada’s capital (Ottawa), before going on to live and teach abroad in Kyrgyzstan, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, he is that brand of international American Studies scholar who feels most at home when far, far from it. The scion of pioneer Utah Mormons, he is a devout Unitarian. His wife, Cholpon Alieva, is a Central Asian Muslim. They have two children, Acacia and Attila.
“This is a fascinating book that includes the journey of Clyde Forsberg Jr into the esoteric world that includes Mormonism. He brings a wide range of perspectives to the topics discussed. Forsberg examines current issues that will have an impact upon the growing development of this movement. This book contains a unique exploration of the Mormon faith.”
H. Michael Marquardt
Independent historian; author of The Rise of Mormonism: 1816-1844 (2013); co-author of Lost Apostles: Forgotten Members of Mormonism’s Original Quorum of Twelve (2014)
“Building upon the work he did in a previous volume, Forsberg extends his observations on significant sociological aspects of Mormonism. In a unique and sometimes idiosyncratic writing style, he concocts a challenging exposition on key societal and ritual aspects of his native faith tradition. In this work, the author frolics about where others fear to tread—exploring Masonic and esoteric aspects of temple architecture, or Joseph Smith’s designs for a universal Priesthood, for example. Drawing upon widely scattered ingredients from a complicated and uniquely American religion, the author brews a biting analysis of gender, racial, political, and social issues. This book raises significant questions for discourse among both sociologists and devotees.”
Cheryl Bruno
LDS feminist, author, and authority on Mormonism and Freemasonry
“In 1844, a secret, Masonic aide-de-camp, known as the Council of Fifty, was organized to lead an assault on the White House, where a new political and religious order would be established with Mormon founder and prophet Joseph Smith Jr. as “King of the Kingdom of God.” Considered a prophet and seer, Smith used his own form of Freemasonry to challenge a variety of religious, social, and political norms of the nineteenth century. The sacred book of scripture, the Book of Mormon, was used in conjunction to create an invisible and unimpeachable kingdom of priests and priestesses, gods and goddesses—made behind closed doors, in secret ceremonies, and the bedchamber. Smith’s subsequent translation of Egyptian papyri called the Book of Abraham became the textual basis for Anglo-Saxon notions of racial purity and African inferiority. In recent years, these practices have been replaced by equally narrow heterosexual notions of sexual superiority (purity) and LGBTQ inferiority (impurity). Extensively researched and brilliantly written, Divine Rite of Kings skillfully demonstrates the degree to which Mormonism can, and ought to be seen, as a charter member of world Masonry.”
Vickie Cleverley Speek
Author, editor, John Whitmer Books and John Whitmer Historical Association
“Distinguished scholar Clyde Forsberg has written a brave, truth-telling account of Mormonism. Superbly researched, the book intervenes in important debates of our time about the Church's position on same sex relationships and social justice. Forsberg's book is an important and necessary contribution to scholarship.”
Bill V. Mullen
Professor of American Studies, Purdue University
“Divine Rite of Kings is a prodigious achievement of eclectic scholarship demonstrating the diverse origins of the Mormon tradition from the worlds of magic, Judaism, and the mystical. Focusing principally on Joseph Smith’s obsession with Masonic constructions and rites, Forsberg draws from hundreds of sources in compiling the definitive work in the area. Key parallels to genres of freemasonry are drawn concerning Smith’s dogma on gender, race, architecture, ritual, and government. To read this superb gift to Mormon studies is to discover many missing pieces of the “prophet puzzle.””
William D. Morain
MD, Professor of Plastic Surgery at Dartmouth Medical School; President, the Plastic Surgery Educational Foundation and the Northeastern Society of Plastic Surgeons; Secretary of the American Board of Plastic Surgery; Author, The Sword of Laban: Joseph Smith, Jr., and the Dissociated Mind (1998)
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