Carl Christian Anton Christiansen : An Overview

Sidney said, “We will never be the aggressors, we will infringe in the rights of no people, but shall stand for our own until death. We claim our own rights, and are willing that all others shall enjoy theirs.” Sidney Rigdon Oration, July 4, 1838 (Bushman, 342). The Mormons felt as if the speech was a good idea at the time, but Sidney’s speech did not work well in the Mormons

She states that “Young’s church elders swept through the outlying communities” and scrutinized “those who were found lacking” (Denton 105). Denton then focuses on the revival of blood atonement, and how it struck fear in the saints. She points out that Mormons tried to flee after the reformation was in progress, but were “hunted down and killed” (Denton, 106). In her book she talks about how the church had more problems, stating that the church was “on the brink of bankruptcy, and with apostates and internal dissenters at an all time high” (Denton 107). Denton uses all of these radical statements to illustrate and give readers an understanding of why there was tension among the Mormons.

People and religion are a part of everyday life. The world is sure to be empty without the existence of God’s creation. When people and religion are viewed as different, the history, beliefs, and practice are formed unrealistically by outsider, more so than an insider. In an interview with a LDS, the author attempts to write and summarize a Mormon‘s journey through life with God and others.

Mormonism, the largest church to originate on American soil is not without its own burdens to bear. As one of the younger religions, one that strayed from the foundations of the other already established religions in the United States, it is often viewed with negativity and mockery. Modern day social media, television, news articles and movies often exploit Mormon beliefs. They twist and exaggerated certain facets of the Mormon way of life. This framing of their belief system by the media leads the public opinion toward viewing this representation as a true depiction of the Mormons. Some of the more extreme behaviors exhibited by members that have separated from the main group are used against the entire faith by the media, so in turn this extremist view has become a Mormon stereotype.

Mormonism was founded by Joseph Smith, a man who came from a family of poor New York state farmers that were involved in occult practices according to Malise Ruthven and Peggy Fletcher Stack. He claimed to have been visited by the angel Moroni after attending a revival in the New York area. During his visitation, he was given spiritual revelation from God, which Joseph claimed were written on “golden plates”, which he then translated using sacred stones . His translation of these golden plates was printed in 1830 with financial aid from a farmer by the name of Martin Harris who obtained a loan for the publication fees. Criticism of the book of Mormon was almost immediate, the Wayne Sentinel declared that “most people entertain an idea that the

He then became the first prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The LDS Church believes that he translated the gold plates to what is now called the Book of Mormon, the main scripture for the LDS church (Dirkmaat,2013). It is also believed that he received many revelations from God. He was persecuted throughout his life and ended up dying a martyr at the age of 38 (McKeever,n.d.).

I did not know much about John Smith, but I learned that he was an artist that did watercolor studies of the Indians and their way of life.

No one has ever been able to articulate just what makes a cult, and what makes a religion different. Yet most people, when listing mainstream religions, name Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, among others. These religions have existed for thousands of years and have millions of followers; they have thus earned a degree of respect even from outsiders. However, Mormonism—the tradition of the Latter Day Saints movement—is considered strange, and by some, a cult. In the modern age, many consider its very premise a hoax. Mark Twain criticized the Mormon holy scripture, calling it “chloroform in print” (Turner 229), and Jacob Weisberg (editor of the Washington Post) called Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, “an obvious con man” (Ostling xv). Yet

Mormonism was founded in the 1820s’ by Joseph Smith. Smith, wanting to expand his religious following migrated to Illinois where he established a settlement that included a temple of worship and a village (Green 57). In Illinois the Mormon peoples’ were met with threats, violence, and occasionally they were even killed. This was the case for their leader Joseph Smith; Smith was met with disgust from non-mormons when he attempted to run for presidency and his church riddled with scandal when the word of polygamy got out. With his tarnished reputation, Smith was ultimately murdered by an outraged mob, who then threatened other Mormons that if they did not leave they would be met with the same fate (Mormons into the West). With that warning, the Mormons picked a new leader, Brigham Young, who wanted to flee the American Border. Young set for travel with his new followers to the Great Salt Lake, which at the time was located in Mexico.

Upon walking into Gallery 250 of Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, one will find on the wall a particularly eye-catching piece of art. The piece, set high on the corner of the wall encompassed by pictures depicting scenes from the life of Jesus Christ, is Giulio Cesare Procaccini's The Scourging of Christ. In this piece, Procaccini's masterful use of light and shadows in a technique called chiaroscuro dramatically portray the torturing of Christ, and it is this very application of chiaroscuro that immediately caught my eye. Through his masterful rendition of value, Procaccini successfully evoked within me a crushing sensation of agony. While I did not initially realize that the piece was one of Christ, research enabled me to witness how

He provided a good example due to the Market Revolution in the early 1800s. Joseph Smith, the founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints, or Mormonism, created another model of a religious utopia (Keene, 301). Smith grew up in western New York, where the fires of the Great Awakening burned hot. In Smith’s Christian Religion environment, had a revelation on which Mormonism was based (Keene, 301). The Book of Mormon was published in Palmyra, New York, in 1830 and this town became the site of one of the earliest Mormon communities (Keene 301). Smith was influenced by the widespread belief that the millennium was at hand, bringing with it an end to debt and the return of Christ and a new era of peace, happiness, and prosperity. Smith’s revelations detail struck a resonant chord with small farmers and etc whose experience with the expanding market economy had been largely negative (Keene 301). The revelation attracted thousands of followers. Joseph Smith members were popularly known as Mormons. With the exception of the first generation of Mormon converts, American society does not seem to have been receptive to him; they were pushed from one location to another, and eventually after Smith’s assassination, they moved to Utah. Prior to their exodus the Mormons endured a long period of internal dissension and harassment by their non-Mormon

After its founder’s assassination ■ (Joseph Smith Jr. in June 1844) and facing harassment by their neighbors, the Church of Latter-Day Saints knew it needed to move its headquarters from Nauvoo [Illinois]. With several factions competing for the Church’s control, the faithful debated possible destinations, including Oregon, Vancouver Island, Texas, and México’s Alta California province. In February 1846, with Apostle Orson Pratt’s backing, Samuel Brannan (1819–1889) led 238 stalwarts and set sail for Alta California aboard the 404-ton Brooklyn. Brannan hoped to pave the path for the Church’s eventual overland exodus.

Paolo de Matteis’s esteemed work The Adoration of the Shepherds is a large painting, depicting a classic Christian Nativity scene, that is displayed in the Dallas Museum of Art. In the piece, a dozen or so individuals surround the newborn Christ and his parents, gazing at him in admiration and paying him homage while animals look serenely on and angels assemble around the heads of the Holy Family. The artist employs several classic artistic elements in his painting, such as line, light, color, and shape, to draw the viewer’s focus directly to his intended point of emphasis, the infant Jesus.

The Christ in Majesty with Symbols of the Four Evangelists uses an interesting technique in its apse, compared to previous Byzantine decorations in apses. It incorporates the technique of fresco painting, where artists painted pigments into the plaster and wood on the walls so the paint would become one with the walls similar to methods used in ancient Greece, compared to exercising mosaics as decorations in apses. The artist mostly employed primary pigments in the Christ in Majesty with Symbols of the Four Evangelists to make the figures stand out. A repetition occurs in the pigments with red, gold-like yellow, and blue with the occasional purple and the hair colors vary with tones of brown and grayish white.

Christ in Majesty is a work of art made to emphasize religion and to teach illiterate people the principles of Christianity. On the upper register one sees figures from the New Testament such as Christ surrounded by the four symbols of the