The agrarian values of Mormonism : a touch of the mountain sod

Abstract

Mormons and the agrarian West seem to be almost synonymous to some. The Mormon use of irrigation is internationally known and provides a benchmark in the history of the American West. While much work has been done regarding the economic and social impact of Mormon agrarianism, virtually nothing has been written about the religious motives and values of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints which resulted in Mormonism's agrarian impulse. The agrarian values of Mormonism derive from two doctrines: redeeming and subduing the earth, and the doctrine of independence. These two doctrines provide the theological basis for the incorporation of agrarian ideals, symbols and myth. The secular agrarian myth and Mormonism's own variation of the myth were pressed into service as ideals which supported the doctrinal or religious goals of the Church. A historical review of Mormon agrariansim revealed that while the substance of the Mormon agrarian ideal change little, its method of presentation and impact changed to cope with the needs of the Church. While never the central ideology of Mormonism, the agrarian ideal has had surprising virility and longevity; it survives into the late twentieth century in a church which is no longer American and rural in outlook, but international and urban. The agrarian ideal survives because, like almost all other Church doctrines, it is intertwined with Mormon millennialist hopes.