The Devil and Mister Jones by Jonathan Z. Smith Part Two

The Emergence of Comparative Religions in the Academy

• Mandatory Inclusion in Theological Education: Historically, all theological students were required to undertake work in the field of comparative religions as part of their curriculum.
• Establishment at the University Level: A key indicator of the field's intended academic rigor was the invitation of James George Frazer to join the faculty specifically to teach comparative religions.
• The Paradigm Shift in Theology: The inauguration of this program marked the first instance in the United States where theology, "unfettered by test," was accepted as an integral component of university organization, treated as any other academic subject rather than a confessional or doctrinal one.
• Global Context and Divergent Patterns:
  • European Model: In most of Europe, religious studies traditionally remained categorized under the "divine sciences," a pattern that persists in many regions today.
  • United States Model: Until approximately $20$ years ago, a sequential academic hierarchy prevailed. A doctoral degree ($Ph.D.$) in religious studies required a Bachelor of Divinity ($B.Div.$) from a seminary as a prerequisite.

Legislative and Political Foundations of the Field

• The Role of State Universities: The proliferation of religious studies programs in state universities followed significant legal milestones.
• The Abington v. Schempp (1963) Decision: This U.S. Supreme Court case was pivotal for the field. Justice Goldberg famously distinguished between the "teaching of religion" (proselytizing or devotional practice) and the "teaching about religion" (academic study).
• The Dutch Precedent: The parallel course of religious studies in the secular academy was originally instituted in Holland a century prior, but it only became possible in the U.S. after these legislative clarifications.

The Enlightenment Heritage and the Domestication of Religion

• The Academic Study as a "Child of the Enlightenment": The intellectual heritage of modern religious studies is rooted in the Enlightenment notion of "generic religion" as opposed to historical, specific believing communities.
• Transformation from Pathos to Ethos: Jonathan Z. Smith argues that the Enlightenment mood sought to "domesticate" religion. It was moved from the realm of intense, irrational experience (pathos) to the realm of common sense, civil discourse, and commerce (ethos).
• The Commitment to Intelligibility: The impulse of the Enlightenment is one of tolerance, refusing to leave any human datum—religion included—beyond the realm of human reasoning.
• The Steppenwolf Formula Revamped: Entry into the secular academy requires the "use of our mind." Practitioners are stubbornly committed to achieving intelligibility and must accept the "long hard road of understanding."
• Consequences of Failure: To fail to seek understanding is to forfeit the academy's license to practice, leaving the study of religion open to charges of incivility or intolerance.

The Scandal of Jonestown as a Test Case

• Definitions of "Scandal": Smith uses "scandal" in its original sense: an event that erupts and perturbs the assumptions of civility and the Enlightenment faith in reasoning.
• Historical Parallel: Smith compares the impact of Jonestown to the Lisbon earthquake of $11/01/1755$, which devastated contemporary philosophical assumptions.
• The Significance of Jonestown ($11/18/1978$): Smith claims Jonestown may be the most important single event in the history of religions. He argues that if the profession fails to make this event understandable, the "daring and difficult experiment" of academic religious studies has failed.
• Tolerance vs. Relativism:
  • Tolerance (Montaigne): As argued in the essay "Of Cannibals," we cannot judge others solely by our own customs. We may judge based on universal "rules of reason," but we must recognize that we often surpass others in "barbarity."
  • Conceptual Relativism (D.C. Phillips): Phillips argues that if a tribe's language or concepts are foreign (e.g., child sacrifice vs. murder), condemnation is impossible because translation is impossible.
  • The Academy's Stance: Smith sides with Montaigne over Phillips. If translation is impossible, the human sciences (which are fundamentally translation enterprises) become impossible.

Biography and Progression of James Warren Jones

• Early Life: James Warren Jones was born on $05/13/1931$ in Lynn, Indiana, a town characterized by both Christian fundamentalism and Ku Klux Klan activity.
• Transition to Social Action ($1950$s):
  • $1950$: Moved to Indianapolis; served at Somerset Southside Church.
  • $1953$: Founded Unity Church, an interracial community subsidized by Jones selling pet monkeys door-to-door.
  • $1956$: Founded the Peoples Temple, focused on integration and predominantly black membership.
• Affiliation and Ordination:
  • $1960$: Appointed Director of the Indianapolis Human Rights Commission.
  • $1961$: Affiliated the Peoples Temple with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
  • $1964$: Formally ordained as a minister.
• Eschatological Shift:
  • Jones read an Esquire article on nuclear destruction and predicted a nuclear holocaust for $07/15/1967$.
  • In search of "safe locations" listed in the article, he visited Bello Horizonte, Brazil, and stopped in Guyana on his return.
• The Move to California ($1965$): Jones moved approx. $150$ members to Ukiah after the magazine cited it as a safe zone. He became a significant civic figure, serving as chairman of the local legal services society and foreman of the Mendocino grand jury.

The Tragic Culmination in Guyana

• Establishment of Jonestown: Only $15$ members were on-site in $1975$, but by $1978$, Jones and approx. $900$ congregants moved there, leaving $100$ in California for logistics.
• Mounting Legal Troubles ($1978$): Between April and November, lawsuits for assault and fraud were filed. Ex-members and relatives charged Human Rights violations.
• The Visit of Leo Ryan: On $11/14/1978$, Representative Leo Ryan arrived in Guyana. While initially impressed, he was threatened on $11/17/1978$.
• The Airstrip Massacre: At $4:00$ PM on $11/18/1978$, Ryan and $4$ members of his party were killed; $11$ others were wounded.
• The "White Night":
  • Approximately one hour after the shooting, the rehearsed mass suicide began.
  • Total death count: $914$ people.
  • Method: Fruit drink laced with cyanide and tranquilizers.
  • Demographics: $260$ infants and children (poisoned by parents); mostly black families from the San Francisco Bay Area ($229$), Redwood Valley ($139$), and Los Angeles ($137$).

Interpreting Jonestown: Reduction and Familiarization

• Critique of Theological Dismissal: Smith rejects the religious press's view that Jones was merely a "false messiah" or "diabolical." This dismisses the "ordinary humanness" of the participants.
• Overcoming Distinctions: Jones's core project was the removal of social distinctions, primarily race, which he labeled variously as Christianity, socialism, or communism.
• Submerged vs. Utopian Space:
  • Submerged Space: In California, the Temple operated as a "counter polis" with its own laws and discipline, hidden while participating in civil life.
  • Utopian Space: The move to Guyana represented an exodus to a total utopian space.
• Spatial Vocabulary of Death: On recovered tapes, Jones used spatial language for suicide: "Step over," "Step to the other side," or "Step over to another place."
• The Logic of "Revolutionary Suicide":
  • Smith interprets the event as a gesture of "shame" directed at defectors and the civil world.
  • Like "Cargo Cults" of Oceania, Jonestown followed a specific internal logic that failed when civil space (Rep. Ryan) invaded utopian space.
  • The act was a quest for a "corporate picture of peace and harmony" that could only be achieved in death.