Shoemaker Review - And the Moon Shall Turn to Blood

And the Moon I Shall Turn to Blood A Review by T. Eugene Shoemaker

The relevance of Velikovskian theory for Latter-day Saints is the topic of Anthony Larson’s book, And the Moon Shall Turn to Blood. Larson not only believes Velikovsky’s claims, he also promulgates the idea that cataclysmic history holds the secret to our understanding of the future when applied to ancient and modern prophecy. From the dust jacket of his book we read: “In this work … a stunning new understanding of cosmological changes in the heavens and on the earth joins with the truths of the restored gospel to give an incredible insight into prophecy.” The reader’s first reaction might well be that this is just so much hyperbole and media promo. I firmly believe it is not. Indeed, it seems to me that Larson adequately makes his case. He first asserts the centrality and inspiration of Velikovsky’s ideas to the concepts upon which his book is based, explaining “If the idea of catastrophism — the cataclysmic instigation of cosmic and terrestrial change — is a correct principle, and if Velikovsky’s cosmological explanation for the cause of such change is also correct, then we may expect these theories to conform not only to ancient scripture, but to modern revelation as well”(p. 55). This is the crux of Larson’s exposition. He identifies three interconnected themes common to much of ancient and modern prophecy: prophetic symbolism, historical events (accurately recorded),

and catastrophism, produced by extraterrestrial forces. These become inexorably wedded when, for example, they are applied to the catastrophes found in the Book of Mormon. The events of the universal cataclysm foretold in connection with the second coming also show this intrinsic unity. Such prophecies, seldom intelligible in their own terms, are clarified by Velikovskian concepts, says Larson. Moreover, the ideas of Velikovsky aid our understanding of the prophetic pronouncements of latter-day church leaders who speak of a holocaustal premillennial cataclysm caused by extra-terrestrial forces from planetary encounters.

While his book may not be immediately persuasive, it does seem plausible and reasonably conceived. If one were to treat Larson’s discovery of catastrophism as a strict ‘law,’ then there may not be enough evidence to corroborate it. But if one takes it, as I do, as a stimulating intuition, it casts a fascinating light upon the usual prosaic discussions of the modern prophecies of Adventism. I, for one, am grateful for an exposition on prophecy that does not assault one’s intelligence, nor make God a magician. Although Mormonism is based on a strong prophetic tradition, most lds writings on the subject have been recording of modern prophetic events and interpretative books about prophecy. (The works of W. Cleon Skousen and Duane S. Crowther are typical of most of the prophecy literature the church has produced throughout the 20th century.) I consider it nearly indistinguishable from much of the prophecy writings issued by other Christian millennialists. Taken together, Mormon and non-Mormon, these interpretative remonstrations seek only to confirm the Second Coming, emphasizing its imminence and the horrible destruction of the wicked. Larson’s book is, by contrast, not just a book about prophecy. It is a prophetic book. For example, he applies Velikovsky’s

thesis to the obscure images of the book of Revelation, a book of which Mormons have seldom tried to make much sense, being content to leave such interpretative musings to their ‘less inspired’ Christian brothers and sisters of protestant fundamentalism. Larson’s reasonable deciphering of that scripture is refreshing and an added justification for reading his book. And the Moon Shall Turn to Blood should find a wide reading audience among the Latter-day Saints … More published works of the kind and quality of Larson’s book can be very helpful in restoring reason to latter-day prophetic interpretation. It makes a unique and very necessary contribution to the prophecy literature of Mormonism. In fact, I have come across nothing recently in this regard which I have enjoyed more. For those of us who live lives of thought, this work is a welcome and challenging adventure. Despite its size, this book is a major work, seminal in scope, of original scholarship, and based on much research in the writings of Velikovsky and the words of the prophets, both ancient and modern. The Sunstone Review, Vol. #3, May 1982, p 29, 30. T. Eugene Shoemaker teaches in the government department of the California State University at Sacramento.