227:
stifle the ability of literary critics to engage with a larger academic community. John
Bennion similarly characterized the way that Cracroft separated Mormon works into sophic and mantic categories as another attempt by a literary critic to separate literature into binary categories, with one category being superior. He acknowledged that the genre of the novel is important to judging its quality, emphasizing that popular literature should not be judged the same way as literary fiction. He encouraged nuance, stating that "few examples are purely mantic and popular or purely sophic and literary." In an essay on LDS literary criticism, Richard Rust, an LDS professor of English at
179:
naturalism seeking to exterminate supernaturalism, while supernaturalism accepts naturalism. He further wrote that modern scholarship lacks an analysis of this skeptical tradition in intellectual history. Wright described Nibley's sophic-mantic studies as possibly "the most insightful thing he has ever done", describing the idea as "far more basic than the epistemological disjunction of reason and the senses". Wright wrote that he specifically sought out Nibley's "sophic-mantic studies", giving them to Gary Gillum for eventual collection as part of the complete works of Hugh Nibley. "Three
Shrines" appears in
249:
Nibley's observation that "those whom the Sophic claims for its greatest representatives lean strongly towards the Mantic, though the Sophic proposition condemns any such concessions." In other words, some of the world's greatest scientists and scholars have been highly interested in religion and divine influence. Christensen continues, arguing that there are "subjective" or supernatural aspects to science, but in a lesser degree than they are present in religion.
119:
149:
was preferable to the sophic, although the mantic had its own flaws. Mantic thinking, in being more flexible, "opens the door to all kinds of quacks and pretenders." On the other hand, mantic thinking does not always have to be "right" like the sophic. Nibley noted that "paradoxically, scientists often pay tribute to intuition, the one thing that strict objectivity will not allow."
132:
attitude as an objective, naturalistic attitude, while a mantic attitude is one which "unhesitatingly accepts supernatural occurrences and feelings as true reality." Gillum wrote that the mantic perspective includes the sophic, but not vice versa. In his notes on the sophic and mantic, Nibley traces the distinction back to
127:
world" as impossible to truly understand but part of human experience. He defines the sophic as "the tradition which boasted its cool, critical, objective, naturalistic, and scientific attitude". Nibley wrote that "whoever accepts the Sophic attitude must abandon the Mantic, and vice versa." He equated the mantic with
202:
Nibley's mantic/sophic distinction to explain what he perceived as a problem in Mormon letters: writers and critics who sought to both "have their faith and doubt it." He accused Mormon critics of having a "confusion between Mantic and Sophic stances", using Eugene
England's praise for Levi S. Peterson's
152:
H. Curtis Wright, a professor in BYU's
Library and Information Sciences program, published multiple articles on the sophic and mantic. He wrote an appendix entitled "The Mantic and Sophic Traditions" in the proceedings of the first Laying the Foundations Symposium. In it, he defined sophic and mantic
248:
In a 2004 ongoing interchange between him and Dan Vogel about the Book of Mormon, independent amateur scholar Kevin
Christensen criticized Vogel for equating the supernatural with pseudo-science and pseudo-history. In the section entitled "Science and Religion, Sophic and Mantic," Christensen quotes
244:
Matthew Hilton and Neil
Flingers make sophic and mantic the center of their 1990 essay entitled "The Impact of Shifting Cultural Assumptions on the Military Policies Directing Armed Conflict Reported in the Book of Alma". They define it as a synonym for the vertical/horizontal distinction in Judaism
178:
In a version of his writing on the sophic/mantic distinction for a secular audience, Wright did not use the terms sophic/mantic, but instead used the terms "metaphysical monism" and "metaphysical dualism". Wright characterizes the interaction between naturalism and supernaturalism as one-sided, with
148:
and wrote that true reason was "either divine or human," showing that this distinction was part of classical thought. Nibley found classical and modern examples to support the idea that the sophic often becomes hostile to the mantic, using polemics to refute the mantic. Nibley argued that the mantic
226:
magazine in 1993. Michael Austin wrote that
Cracroft's sophic-mantic dichotomization was oversimplifying literature based on whether or not it was "good" for Mormons. He further argued that to limit Mormon literary criticism to books "written by Mormons for Mormons dealing with Mormon themes" would
245:
and the supernatural/natural distinction in modern-day. Later they define the vertical position as "driven by revelation from God" and the horizontal as simply its opposite. A reviewer complained that the authors assumed readers would understand the sophic/mantic distinction without explaining it.
126:
Nibley gave a speech entitled "Three
Shrines: Mantic, Sophic, and Sophistic" at Yale University in 1963. In this speech, he defined mantic as a worldview that believes in "real and present operation of divine gifts by which one receives constant guidance from the other world"; accepting an "other
252:
In discussing Polish folk art in 1997, Doris R. Dant described the artists who pray for inspiration in their art as part of Nibley's "mantic" tradition. He compared the way that Polish folk artists seek inspiration for their art with the way that some LDS artists seek it. He defined the "mantic
201:
The sophic/mantic distinction had a visible influence on the intellectual thought of BYU professors, who used the terms when communicating to an LDS audience. Mormon literary critic and BYU English professor
Richard Cracroft, in a presidential address to the Association of Mormon Letters, used
131:
conception of "vertical" Judaism and the sophic with his "horizontal" Judaism. In describing the influence of spiritual inspiration on Nibley's scholarship, Gary Gillum described the sophic/mantic distinction that Nibley proposed in his talk entitled "Three
Shrines." Gillum described a sophic
231:
wrote: "from a Mantic perspective, to understand and evaluate literary creation is to be in touch with divinity." Writing an annotated bibliography of literary Mormon humor in 1998, Sharlene Bartholomew wrote that Mormon literature was difficult to classify in Cracroft's way. She used
206:
as an example of a critic who praised a book that was "faithful to a Sophic and secular vision of literature" but made Cracroft's "Mantic sensibilities recoil". Cracroft praised Mormon writers with "Mantic voices" that "speak to the Saints within the fold", such as
259:, a music theory professor at BYU, wrote two compositions for solo piano entitled "Sophikos" and "Mantikos", which reference the sophic and mantic distinction. Hicks writes that these equate to "rationalized" and "prophetic," as described in his notes in the album
187:
in 2009. In an interview, Wright explained that sophic and mantic "determine the sensory-noetic disjunction implicit in Greek thinking," or how we typically think about sensory information in a scientific way, but about ideas and literary things differently.
46:, in which he proposed fiction could be organized into sophic and mantic categories, with sophic literature aligning with worldly literary standards and mantic literature strengthening the faith of its Mormon readers.
669:
Hilton, Matthew; Flinders, Neil (1990). "The Impact of Shifting Cultural Assumptions on the Military Policies Directing Armed Conflict Reported in the Book of Alma". In Ricks, Stephen D.; Hamblin, William J. (eds.).
50:
and John Bennion criticized this distinction as reductive, with Austin stating that limiting Mormon literary criticism to books by Mormons for a Mormon audience would severely limit its scope.
920:
Rust, Robert (2001). ""Virtuous, Lovely, or of Good Report": Thoughts on a Latter-day Saint Literary Criticism". In Cracroft, Richard; Brady, Jane D.; Adams, Linda Hunter (eds.).
236:"The Christianizing of Coburn Heights" as an example of fiction positively focused on religious themes, but that would not be classified as "mantic" or devotional literature.
944:
Laying the Foundations: A Symposium Initiated by the Moral Character and Agency Education Research Group and Sponsored by the College of Education, Brigham Young University
36:(LDS) scholars referenced it, mostly in the 1990s. Wright wrote that while mantic approaches include sophic knowledge, sophic approaches exclude mantic knowledge.
161:" of sophism attracting "otherworldly types, including devoutly religious". Wright traced the religious influence on philosophy back to the prelogical idea of
863:
Gillum, Gary (2022). "Hugh Winder Nibley: The Man, The Scholar, The Legacy". In Bradshaw, Jeffrey M.; Ricks, Shirley S.; Whitlock, Stephen T. (eds.).
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228:
53:
The sophic/mantic distinction has also been used in Book of Mormon analysis and in an article on folk art in Polish and Mormon contexts.
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as naturalism and supernaturalism, respectively. He described the two attitudes as mutually exclusive, with the "metaphysical
901:
Nibley, Hugh (1991). "Paths That Stray: Some Notes on Sophic and Mantic". In Parry, Donald W.; Ricks, Stephen D. (eds.).
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Wright, H. Curtis (1991). "Appendix:The Mantic and Sophic Traditions". In Flinders, Neil J.; Holladay, Valerie (eds.).
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Nibley, Hugh (1991). "Three Shrines: Mantic, Sophic, and Sophistic". In Parry, Donald W.; Ricks, Stephen D. (eds.).
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Diogenes Laertius noticed a sophic/mantic divide in classical philosophy between Anazimander and Pythagoras.
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905:. The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley. Vol. 10 Ancient History. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company.
886:. The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley. Vol. 10 Ancient History. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company.
1014:
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means prophetic, inspired, or otherwise not coming from the human mind. According to Lidell and Scott's
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848:"Popular and Literary Mormon Novels: Can Weyland and Whipple Dance Together in the House of Fiction?"
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212:
47:
924:. Provo: Center for the Study of Christian Values in Literature; Brigham Young University Press.
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29:
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impulse" as a desire from an artist to use inspiration to achieve their artistic goals.
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Gospel & Antigospel: A mantic-to-sophic theory of ancient-to-modern reformations
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208:
39:
185:
Gospel and Antigospel: A mantic-to-sophic theory of ancient-to-modern reformations
539:"Attuning the Authentic Mormon Voice: Stemming the Sophic Tide in LDS Literature"
167:, which he defined as substance that is alive and divine that gave rise to both
157:" of the Greeks attracting highly educated secular people and the "metaphysical
810:
698:"Stephen D. Ricks, and William J. Hamblin, eds,. Warfare in the Book of Mormon"
43:
993:
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758:"Truth and Method: Reflections on Dan Vogel's Approach to the Book of Mormon"
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538:
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Composer's Notes. Felt Hammers: Michael Hicks, performed by Keith Kirchoff
494:"Evidence of Ancient Writing on Metal: An Interview with H. Curtis Wright"
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21:
982:
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587:
145:
141:
674:. Salt Lake City: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies.
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32:
information science program, popularized the distinction and several
446:. Vol. 10. Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies.
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172:
61:
25:
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in 1963 as a way of describing naturalistic and supernaturalistic
789:"Polish Religious Folk Art: Gospel Echoes from a Disparate Clime"
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168:
33:
609:
562:"The Function of Mormon Literary Criticism at the Present Time"
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Wright, H. Curtis (1989). "Naturalism and Revealed Religion".
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means what humans can learn through their own thinking, while
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described an Egyptian king who wanted prophetic gifts as a
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Nibley, Hugh; Parry, Donald W.; Ricks, Stephen D. (1991).
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Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel
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728:""FAIR Conversations," Episode 9: Kevin Christensen"
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655:An Annotated Bibliography of Literary Mormon Humor
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92:means something that is inspired or divinatory.
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136:'s description of philosophy as beginning with
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144:, a mathematician interested in the mystical.
42:made the distinction part of his critique of
492:Wright, H. C.; Sutton, Elisabeth R. (2008).
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70:, a sophic and a mantic man. The Greek word
922:Colloquium: Essays in Literature and Belief
903:The Ancient State: The Rulers and the Ruled
884:The Ancient State: The Rulers and the Ruled
831:(compact disk). Tantara Records. p. 2.
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30:Brigham Young University (BYU) Library
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762:Review of Books on the Book of Mormon
756:Christensen, Kevin (1 January 2004).
702:Review of Books on the Book of Mormon
566:Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought
517:"Attuning the Authentic Mormon Voice"
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652:Bartholomew, Sherlene Hall (1998).
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183:. Wright authored a book called
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537:Cracroft, Richard (July 1993).
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222:. The address was reprinted in
967:"A Sophic and a Mantic People"
867:. The Interpreter Foundation.
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672:Warfare in the Book of Mormon
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197:In Mormon literary criticism
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658:. Brigham Young University.
213:Tales of Alvin Maker series
20:were originally defined by
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467:Wright, H. Curtis (2009).
110:came to mean rhetorical.
67:sophos kai mantikos aner
1005:Concepts in metaphysics
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618:, p. 159-161; 164.
1000:Concepts in aesthetics
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696:Weiland, Kurt (1991).
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78:Greek-English Lexicon
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98:is used rather than
515:Cracroft, Richard.
393:, pp. 128–129.
381:, p. 125; 142.
369:, pp. 405–406.
357:, pp. 403–404.
345:, pp. 388–390.
333:, pp. 382–383.
321:, pp. 727–729.
285:, pp. 315–316.
1015:Mormon apologetics
813:. BYU Music Group.
417:, pp. 53, 57.
129:Erwin Goodenough's
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181:The Ancient State
134:Diogenes Laertius
18:sophic and mantic
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138:Anaximander
22:Hugh Nibley
994:Categories
912:0875793754
893:0875793754
738:30 January
681:0875793002
267:References
240:Other uses
146:Empedocles
142:Pythagoras
114:Background
104:, because
26:ontologies
952:cite book
774:2156-8022
714:2156-8022
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640:Rust 2001
601:19 August
596:254398932
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192:Influence
107:sophistic
101:sophistic
57:Etymology
983:43041518
946:. Provo.
827:(2014).
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159:dualism
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