When our hard copy of Touchstone arrived in the mail, my wife told me that I had to read John Granger’s article on the theology behind the Twilight series. The article is titled “Mormon Vampires in the Garden of Eden,” and it is now online here.
Granger gives us a reading of these books in light of Meyer’s Mormon faith, arguing that she is providing something of an apologetic for Mormonism. Granger explains:
Indeed, I think that resolving her misgivings and interior conflicts as a Mormon woman in a land of non-Mormons was a major impetus of Mrs. Meyer’s writing. In her books, she lays out defenses, often as inversions or compensating reversals (such as one would find in dreams), for at least ten specific Mormon beliefs, practices, and historic events that most outsiders would see as evidence that Mormonism is a fraud and a cult. One example from each category will illustrate this point.
Read the rest of his article to see how he argues for this interpretation and how this subtle message pervades the Twilight books.
December 5th, 2009 | 10:11 pm | #1
If nothing else, we have to give Mr. Granger credit for having the courage to be male, over 15, and admit publicly that he’s read and enjoyed not just one but all of the Twilight books…
December 5th, 2009 | 11:42 pm | #2
Hmm. The arguments are somewhat persuasive, but I don’t know enough about either Mormonism or Twilight to make a judgment call.
December 6th, 2009 | 8:29 am | #3
I wonder if this will create a bigger market for Bab5 reruns. (Also Mormon)
December 6th, 2009 | 4:11 pm | #4
Collin–Don’t you mean Battlestar Galactica?
December 8th, 2009 | 10:20 am | #5
[...] the cover story in this month’s hard copy magazine. (Hello to those readers joining us from the First Things weBlog link to that [...]
December 8th, 2009 | 8:06 pm | #6
There is a Mormon discussion about his writings that should also be read. There are some disagreements about methodology and conclusions.
December 8th, 2009 | 9:32 pm | #7
John Granger analyzes Meyer’s opus at length in his new book Spotlight (Zossima Press) and has a website devoted to the Twilight mythos at But personally, I think Harry Potter was far worthier of his erudition.
December 11th, 2009 | 11:17 am | #8
Here is a very good counter argument to this article. The main point of this response is, “Granger’s opinion appears to be informed more by anti-Mormon theories of the motivations for early Mormon polygamy than by a working knowledge of actual LDS belief. If you’re getting the impression this shortcoming may be a pattern in his article, your concerns are justified.”
December 11th, 2009 | 7:00 pm | #9
[...] Granger’s article is discussed on other blogs here, here, and here. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Was the Garden of Eden Really in [...]
December 12th, 2009 | 10:05 am | #10
That was the impression I got from Granger’s article.
Granger started with a hostile agenda against LDS beliefs, picked a handful of common anti-Mormon themes that are most popular in certain Evangelical circles, and then wrote a book review around them.
I’m still giggling at the idea that I, as a Mormon, am supposed to be having massacre flashbacks every time I encounter a meadow.
As a Mormon of 35 years both inside and outside of Utah, I can attest that only a tiny fraction of the Mormon population even knows about the Mountain Meadows Massacre. And of those who do, even fewer have lingering guilt about it.
As for Adam-God… It wasn’t even a “doctrine” when Brigham Young made his rather vague, confused, and contradictory statements about it. It never really caught on then, and has since faded into utter obscurity in the last 100 years.
The idea that a suburban Mormon housewife writing a teen romance novel would incorporate this doctrine into her stories is just so out-there, that the only explanation I can come up with is that Granger simply wanted to talk about Adam-God and wrote a book review as an afterthought.
December 12th, 2009 | 10:32 am | #11
Seth, do you giggle at the idea that your church has a flagship school named after a man who was complicit in the Mountain Meadows Massacre? Of have you had enough of the faith affirming Kool-Aid to think that Brigham Young had nothing to do with it? I will agree that the MMM and the silly Adam-God theory (along with all of the other crackpot theories your “prophets” spouted off over the years) miss the big picture. The blasphemous notion of God and the diminished of Christ are the real dangers of mormonism. The silly teachings about the location of the Garden of Eden and men on the moon are just fluff.
December 12th, 2009 | 11:01 am | #12
Way off base, Arthur. There’s no evidence whatsoever that Young had anything to do with the massacre, although there’s plenty of evidence to the contrary. And comparing faithful Latter-day Saints to poor men, women, and children from Jonestown who killed themselves, were forced at gunpoint to kill themselves, or were murdered, is a reprehensible and depraved analogy. Such vitriolic bigotry has no place in Christianity in any of its manifestations. You do your community of faith a great disservice.
Links
Blogs
Find Us
Contact