Captain Moroni and the Garments of Shame

[consiglieri]

I just got done roughing out a draft of some remarkable Book of Mormon "hits" with insights gleaned from Jonathan Z. Smith's paper, "The Garments of Shame," published in 1966. I got wind of the article by reading Hugh Nibley's Book of Mormon class transcript, in which he references it. The results are pretty impressive, I think. I know it is a long OP, but I hope it will be found worth the reading to anyone interested in Book of Mormon exegesis.

Not only do the insights produced by Smith's paper contextualize and inform our reading of Alma 46:20-22, they also give new meaning to other Book of Mormon passages, increasing the odds that at least some of these connections are actually replicated or referenced in the Book of Mormon.

Okay. Dim the lights and grab the popcorn!

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Captain Moroni and the Garments of Shame

An episode is recounted in the Book of Mormon where Captain Moroni rallies a citizen army to respond to an imminent Lamanite invasion. The text provides a bundle of concepts associated with the enlistment of this citizen army, involving (1) the taking of garments and throwing them at the feet of Moroni (2) for the purpose of having the garments trodden under foot (3) in symbolism of the covenant entered into by the people (4) that they would not transgress the commandments of God so that (5) God would preserve their freedom. The text indicates the people may be publicly disrobing when they take off their garments, though they state they are (5) not â??ashamed,â? and they replace the garments removed and trodden upon with (6) â??armor girded about their loins.â? The removed garments may also be symbolically replaced by (7) taking â??upon them the name of Christâ? as a garment of righteousness.

Alma 46:20 Behold, whosoever will maintain this title upon the land, let them come forth in the strength of the Lord, and enter into a covenant that they will maintain their rights, and their religion, that the Lord God may bless them.

21 And it came to pass that when Moroni had proclaimed these words, behold, the people came running together with their armor girded about their loins, rending their garments in token, or as a covenant, that they would not forsake the Lord their God; or, in other words, if they should transgress the commandments of God, or fall into transgression, and be ashamed to take upon them the name of Christ, the Lord should rend them even as they had rent their garments.

22 Now this was the covenant which they made, and they cast their garments at the feet of Moroni, saying: We covenant with our God, that we shall be destroyed, even as our brethren in the land northward, if we shall fall into transgression; yea, he may cast us at the feet of our enemies, even as we have cast our garments at thy feet to be trodden under foot, if we shall fall into transgression.

In 1966, Jonathan Z. Smith published an article titled â??The Garments of Shame,â? History of Religions, Vol. 5, No. 2 (The University of Chicago Press: Winter, 1966), pp. 217-238. In this paper, Smith analyzes Logion 37 of the Gospel of Thomas, which mentions the disciples stripping without being ashamed and then treading upon their garments:

Gospel of Thomas, Logion 37:

His disciples said, "When will you appear to us, and when will we see you?"

Jesus said, "When you strip without being ashamed, and you take your clothes and put them under your feet like little children and trample then, then [you] will see the son of the living one and you will not be afraid."

From Logion 37, Smith deduces four separate elements which he associates with the rite of early Christian baptism, and then traces the roots to earlier Jewish traditions relating to Adam and Eve. These four elements are: â??(1) the undressing of the disciples, (2) their being naked and unashamed, (3) their treading upon the garments, and (4) their being as little children. In the light of these, I would suggest that the origin of logion 37 is to be found within archaic Christian baptismal practices and attendant interpretation of Genesis 1-3.â? The Garments of Shame, p. 218.

1. THE UNDRESSING OF THE DISCIPLES

Smith notes the general aversion to nudity among early Jews and Christians with the exception of baptism. â??[T]he texts which describe Jewish proselyte â??baptismâ?? consistently suggest that the proselyte was nude.â? As to the Christian corollary, â??The early church shared Judaismâ??s horror of nakedness (Rev. 3:18; 16:15) but held that in baptism it was necessary.â? The Garments of Shame, at 219-20.

In the Book of Mormon, the citizens who rally to Moroniâ??s call rend their garments and cast them at his feet, suggesting they had disrobed. The passage also mentions that â??they came running together with their armor girded about their loins,â? indicating they were not completely naked when they threw their garments at Moroniâ??s feet, but that this may have been an act evoking their symbolic nudity. In this regard, Smithâ??s quotation of Jeromeâ??s Epistle to Fabiola 19 is of interest:

And when ready for the garment of Christ, we have taken off the tunics of skin, then we shall be clothed with a garment of linen which has nothing of death in it, but is wholly white so that, rising from baptism, we may gird our loins in truth and the entire shame of our past sins may be covered.â? Garments of Shame, p. 232-33.

2. WITHOUT SHAME

In contrast to the customary â??horrorâ? of nudity, Smith notes, â??Linked to the theme of the initiantâ??s nakedness at baptism is the additional element that he be unashamed.â? Garments of Shame, p. 222. This is in imitation of the nudity of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden prior to the Fall, when â??they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.â? Genesis 2:25.

Smith quotes from Cyril of Jerusalemâ??s Mystagogical Catechesis II:

Therefore, as soon as you entered in, you put off your garment which was an image of putting off the old man and his deeds . . . What a marvel! They [i.e., the newly baptized] were naked before the gaze of all and did not become ashamed, because they were the image of the first created Adam who, in Paradise, was naked and not ashamed.â? Garments of Shame, p. 223.

The Book of Mormon text indicates that those who throw their garments at Moroniâ??s feet are not ashamed; that â??if they should transgress the commandments of God, or fall into transgression, and be ashamed to take upon them the name of Christ, the Lord should rend them even as they had rent their garments.â?

3. TREADING UPON THE GARMENTS

When Adam and Eve transgressed the commandments of God by partaking of the fruit of the Tree of Life, they realized they were naked, became ashamed, and God made for them â??coat of skins, and clothed them.â? Genesis 3:21. Smith delves into the early Christian rite of baptism, which includes the removal of the â??coat of skinsâ? (i.e., the â??garment of shameâ?) and standing naked and unashamed, thus indicating the reversal of the fall of Adam and Eve, and the initiant, as respectively Adam or Eve, once more standing naked in the presence of God.

Citing the Catechetical Homilies of Theodore of Mopsuestia, Smith delineates the typical Syrian baptismal praxis, consisting broadly of a four-stage ceremony: â??(1) the postulant lays aside his outer garments and is exorcized; (2) the postulant is signed with oil upon his forehead, then, after removing all of his garments, is anointed on his entire body; (3) the postulant, now naked, is immersed; and (4) the newly baptized is clothed in white clothing.â? Garments of Shame, 224-25.

Smith also notes that as part of the ceremony, the initiant frequently treaded upon the garments they had taken off. Continuing to quote from Theodore:

You stand also on garments of sackcloth so that from the fact that your feet are pricked and stung by the roughness of the cloth you may remember your old sins and show penitence and repentance of the sins of your fathers . . . and so that you may call for mercy on the part of the judge and rightly say: Thou has put off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness. Garments of Shame, p. 226.

A. The New White Linen Garment Associated with â??Freedomâ?

Subsequent to baptism, the individual is clothed with a new and white garment made of linen, which is associated with the freedom in Christ into which the initiant has entered:

Still from Theodore:

Immediately after your godfather, who is standing behind you, spreads an orarium of linen on the crown of your head and makes you stand erect. By your raising from your genuflection, you show that you have cast away your ancient fall . . . The linen which he spreads on the crown of your head denotes the freedom to which you have been called.â? Garments of Shame, p. 226.

The association of the new linen garment with â??freedomâ? is of interest inasmuch as the Book of Mormon describes the covenant entered into as being one not only to not transgress the commandments of God, but specifically to â??enter into a covenant that they will maintain their rights, and their religion.â? Alma 46:20.

B. The New White Linen Garment Associated with Christ

The new linen garment with which the newly baptized initiant is clothed also has associations with Christ himself. We have previously noted Smithâ??s quotation of Jeromeâ??s Epistle to Fabiola 19:

And when ready for the garment of Christ, we have taken off the tunics of skin, then we shall be clothed with a garment of linen which has nothing of death in it, but is wholly white so that, rising from baptism, we may gird our loins in truth and the entire shame of our past sins may be covered.â? Garments of Shame, p. 232-33.

In a similar vein, Smith cites Augustineâ??s contemporary in Carthage, Quodvultdeus:

â??What is it that in this night has happened about you that did not happen in past nights? That from hiding places you were brought forth one by one before the whole church, and then, with head held down that once was held too high, with humble feet upon the strewn goatskin, the proud Devil was exorcized and the lowly, most high Christ was called down upon you.â? Garments of Shame, pp. 229-30.

Similarly, the Book of Mormon account not only indicates the disrobing of those entering into the covenant, but also uses language indicating those entering into the covenant â??take upon them the name of Christâ? as a garment. Alma 46:21.

Smith synopsizes:

â??There are, thus, two different states of nakedness according to Theodore. The first is the nakedness of shameâ??of Adam and Eve after the Fallâ??a nakedness in which the postulant stands on the cilicium whose pricks remind him of his sinful state, a nakedness like that of a slave. The second state, which is like that of Adam and Eve before the Fall, is a nakedness without shame, a nakedness which will be fully realized by the believer only at the resurrection and for which a white shining garment is the anticipatory sign, a nakedness of transcendence.â? Garments of Shame, pp. 227-28.

â??In the African rite (of the Christian Church), the catechumen is clothed in the goatskin, a notion not found in Theodore; and he does not merely stand upon the skin, he tramples it. This latter quotation introduces a suggestion of Adamic typology with the reference to the curses placed on the inciter, and it also contains an allusion to Gen. 3:15 in the notion of treading on sin.â? Garments of Shame, p. 229.

It will be remembered that Gen. 3:15 recounts the curse of God upon the serpent, â??And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.â? Here a trampling action is indicated, in which the man tramples upon the head of the serpent, who was the tempter that caused the Fall. The â??garment of shameâ? is trampled underfoot due to its associations with the serpent who enticed Adam and Eve to transgress the commandment.

Smith suggests â??the symbolism of the rite is probably to be traced back to Jewish exegesis of Gen. 3:21, the clothing of Adam and Eve by God with â??tunics of skins.â? Some rabbis interpreted this to mean that before the expulsion from Eden, Adam and Eve had bodies or garments of light, but that after the expulsion, they received bodies of flesh or a covering of skin.â? Garments of Shame, p. 231.

â??[T]hus a nexus is established between the taking off of oneâ??s clothing at baptism, which symbolizes the unashamed nudity of the first pair, and the treading upon the goatskin, which signifies a triumph over the fleshly bodies with which the primal pair were clothed following the Fall.â? Garments of Shame, p. 232.

The Book of Mormon recounts individuals entering into ritual covenant to not transgress the commandments of God, and as part of the rite, taking their garments and throwing them at Moroniâ??s feet to be trodden upon as a witness to their covenant.

4. AS LITTLE CHILDREN

Smith concludes his analysis of Logion 37 with the element of being â??as little children,â? noting the â??little child is a standard metaphor of innocence and sinlessness like that of Adam and Eve before the Fall. Their unashamed nakedness (symbolically reproduced in the nudity of the initiant) is interpreted as being analogous to that of little children.â? Garments of Shame, pp. 233-34.

_ _ _ _ _

Smith discovers, in sum, an early Christian baptismal rite which throws considerable light on the Book of Mormon account in Alma 46:20-22, involving the initiant taking off their outer garments which symbolically represent the garment of sin or shame given to Adam and Eve after transgressing the commandments of God. The initiant then stands on the garments, or tramples them underfoot, in apparent representation of the Genesis 3:15 curse upon the serpent that he, as a symbol of evil and the first-cause of the Fall, shall be so trodden and his head crushed. The initiant is then anointed and baptized and a new white linen garment is placed upon them, representing freedom and Christ himself which is thereby â??put on.â?

A. Other Book of Mormon Connections

As Smith argues, the symbolic elements of this early Christian baptismal rite have roots that extend back into archaic Judaism, and may inform our reading of other Book of Mormon passages:

1. Alma 30:58-60 recount the strange end of Korihor, who is â??run upon and trodden down, even until he was dead,â? by the Zoramites. Is it possible this is describing a ritualized form of execution based on the cultural understanding of trampling upon that which is considered evil stemming from Genesis 3:15? The one-verse summary of Korihorâ??s death appears to link the manner of Korihorâ??s death with the devil, whom the Nephites equated with the serpent (2 Nephi 2:17-18):

Alma 30:60 And thus we see the end of him who perverteth the ways of the Lord; and thus we see that the devil will not support his children at the last day, but doth speedily drag them down to hell.

2. In a celebrated Book of Mormon passage, King Benjamin speaks of becoming a saint through the atonement, the first step of which is to divest oneâ??s self of the â??natural manâ? in language that sounds very much like removing a garment, and also links this act to the fall of Adam and becoming as a child:

For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child . . .â? Mosiah 3:19a.

Is King Benjamin alluding to the ritualized removal of the garments of shame received by Adam and Eve in this passage as part of becoming a saint? In this regard, the Mosiah passage might be compared with Logion 37 of the Gospel of Thomas:

His disciples said, "When will you appear to us, and when will we see you?"

Jesus said, "When you strip without being ashamed, and you take your clothes and put them under your feet like little children and trample then, then [you] will see the son of the living one and you will not be afraid."

We might also compare King Benjamin Cyril of Jerusalemâ??s Mystagogical Catechesis II, quoted above:

Therefore, as soon as you entered in (to be baptized), you put off your garment which was an image of putting off the old man and his deeds.

3. The Book of Mormon often mentions that evil actions are the equivalent of trampling God underfoot. (See, for example, 1 Nephi 19:7; Alma 5:53; 3 Nephi 28:35.) The egregiousness of such an act is increased by an understanding that it is the â??garment of shame,â? representing the serpent and that which is evil, which is to be trampled underfoot. To trample God underfoot is not only to treat him contemptuously, but to treat him as that which is evil, and ultimately to treat God as the serpent, or the devil.

In conclusion, Smithâ??s paper, â??The Garments of Shame,â? not only gives depth and contextualization to the recruitment efforts of Captain Moroni as recounted in Alma 46, but also informs our understanding of several other Book of Mormon texts.

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All the Best!

--Consiglieri

[DispensatorMysteriorum]

As I said before, I think you ought to seek to publish the above info in Insights or something.

[consiglieri]

As I said before, I think you ought to seek to publish the above info in Insights or something.

Thanks, man! Your comments are one of the main reasons I took the time and effort to write this stuff down. I amplified it somewhat for this post.

I have already e-mailed it to some contacts in high places. We'll see what, if anything develops.

All the Best!

--Consiglieri

[DispensatorMysteriorum]

....waiting for the critics.....

[e=mc2]

Someone ought to publish this. The good news is whether they do or not, I want to make videos using it! LOL!

[consiglieri]

Someone ought to publish this. The good news is whether they do or not, I want to make videos using it! LOL!

Perhaps your videos will evoke more response than this thread.

All the Best!

--Consiglieri

[e=mc2]

Perhaps your videos will evoke more response than this thread.

All the Best!

--Consiglieri

They will because I can show my enthusiasm! Woo hoo!