"The Evil Spirits Are Always Trying to Bring You Down": Righteousness and Spirit Harassment Among Latter-day Saints in Northern Utah
This article explores contemporary Latter-day Saint conceptions of evil in northern Utah through considering both the lived experiences of spirits and the didactic tales of spirits that are a rich part of local folklore. Latter-day Saints are visited by both benevolent and malevolent spirits. These...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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Published: |
Oxford University Press
2022
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In: |
Journal of the American Academy of Religion
Year: 2022, Volume: 90, Issue: 3, Pages: 695-712 |
Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
Summary: | This article explores contemporary Latter-day Saint conceptions of evil in northern Utah through considering both the lived experiences of spirits and the didactic tales of spirits that are a rich part of local folklore. Latter-day Saints are visited by both benevolent and malevolent spirits. These encounters with spirits are connected with local conceptions of "righteousness," a moral framework that is centered on positive action. Malevolent spirit visits are typically understood as the consequence of "unrighteous" actions or as impediments to exceptionally righteous activity; indeed, the most righteous actions are perhaps the most spiritually dangerous. Negative visitations reflect a cultural framework of evil as a human phenomenon that results from the temptations and distractions of an aggressive, external cosmological force - Satan. Righteous and unrighteous actions both attract the interest of Satan, and therefore invite the possibility of evil to disrupt the moral order. |
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ISSN: | 1477-4585 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: American Academy of Religion, Journal of the American Academy of Religion
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/jaarel/lfac048 |