In thinking about this, I’ve come to the general conclusion that the Restoration happened as soon as it could. It happened in what was almost certainly the most religiously free nation on Earth, and Joseph Smith still ended up being martyred. The Saints were persecuted and forced to flee to Utah.

If the Restoration had been attempted sooner, the restored church might have been crushed before it developed. (Or, possibly worse, coopted by a government. Here’s a bit of alternate history for you: A young Spanish explorer in Mesoamerica in the early 1500s finds and translates the golden plates and begins to restore the gospel, including the doctrine of plural marriage. Although nobody expected it, the new religion runs afoul of the Spanish Inquisition. But when Henry VIII of England is looking for a way to have a male heir, he decides Los Mormones have the answer. Mormonism becomes the established religion of England.)

If the Restoration had happened a generation or two later, the restoring prophet would probably have lived to a ripe old age, and Church headquarters would probably still be somewhere back east. And the growth curve of the Church would be behind where it is.

But more what I was thinking of were figures who felt a restoration was needed, but who weren’t in the Protestant tradition as much. As you’ve noted in your own writing theurgical platonism (very broadly considered) tended to ascribe a lot of ideas including religious ones to Hermes Trismegistus. Even though fairly early on in the modern period these beliefs were shown to be false, the tradition of restoring these very old traditions from Egypt became a prominent theme in the esoteric tradition. It’s that sense of restoration I was thinking of.

Glenn

Drawing clear lines between Protestantism and esotericism is frequently quite hard. Admittedly there was also opposition (such as say Lutheran antagonism to Masonry)

Matt, that was my reaction to reading Beyer as well, but based on the small corner of the primary sources from that era that I work with, I think he’s right. I’m planning a post about how Beyer’s book might be relevant to Mormon Studies, but I need to wait until my review for an academic journal comes out, so it might be a few months yet.

Clark, good points, but one thing I want to discuss more in that future book review is that esoteric traditions may not be the best explanation if there are more mundane options available. They’re still interesting parallel developments, though.

Interesting. I didn’t know that.

Outside of what I’d call the esoteric and Protestant traditions we then had interesting purported prophecy or related movements. Swedenborg in the 17th century is one example who was influential on early America and offered some parallels to Mormonism.

In discussing the very idea of apostasy historically, those two broad movements really need to be considered.

I enjoy your contributions, Jonathan. You extend the history of Mormon-like thought to centuries and places beyond anything in a typical Mormon history study.