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Introduction
In July 1830, just three months after the formal organization of the Mormon Church, Joseph Smith dictated a revelation that promised, "in whatsoever place ye shall enter in & they receive you not inmy name ye shall leave a cursing instead of a blessing by casting offthe dust of your feet against them as a testimony & cleansing your feet by the wayside."2 Subsequently, the historical record is replete with examples of ritual cursing being performed up through the 1890s.While many of Smith's revelations and doctrinal innovations continue to be practiced by the LDS Church today, cursing has fallen into disuse. Despite this ritual's unique status as an act of formally calling down God's wrath upon others, it has received surprisingly little attention in scholarly studies.3
The first objective of this paper is to examine ritual cursing within Mormonism: how ritual cursing began, who performed curses, who was cursed, and how the ritual was performed. Factors that contributed to an environment conducive to ritual cursing will also be explored. Cursing arose during a period of bold innovation within Mormonism, as founding prophet Joseph Smith unveiled a seemingly endless stream of new doctrines and practices. Although ritual cursing may be appropriately described as new to the religious world in which Mormonism was born, it had ancient roots. Ritual cursing was an expression of Christian primitivism among Mormons, an attempt to recapture an ancient biblical rite that had been lost over time. The most common practitioners of ritual cursing were Mormon missionaries who faced rejection in their efforts to proselytize. Mormonism began as a small sect with many religious and political enemies, and Mormons used ritual cursing as a means of holy retaliation against their enemies. The manner in which the ritual was performed varied, typically including the dusting or washing of feet, but at times involving the shaking of one's garment. Cursing was considered part of a missionary's duty to prepare the world for the imminent millennium. The ritual designated unbelievers as such, marking them as separate from believers for the day of judgment. The ritual was f luid and developed over time, cross-pollinating with other rituals from the School of the Prophets, the Kirtland Endowment, and the prayer circle. The combination of doctrinal...