“In Their Promised Canaan Stand”: Outlawry, Landscape, and Memory in C. C. A. Christensen’s Mormon Panorama

Authors

Jennifer Champoux

Keywords

BYU Studies, Canaan, Robin Hood, rebels

Abstract

What do Robin Hood and Joseph Smith have in common? This article examines C. C. A. Christensen’s Mormon Panorama according to themes of outlawry in Anglo-Saxon literature, revealing insights into the nineteenth-century Latter-day Saint understanding of exile and sacred space in relation to both the landscape and to America. In Christensen’s paintings, the moral rightness of Latter-day Saints is contrasted with injustice by both government officials and local vigilantes, thereby equating outcast status with righteousness and true justice. In collating early stories of persecution and miracles, and presenting them with an aura of objective truth, the Mormon Panorama helped shape a historical narrative in which Church members could find divine providence in exile.

Recommended Citation

Champoux, Jennifer (2021) "“In Their Promised Canaan Stand”: Outlawry, Landscape, and Memory in C. C. A. Christensen’s Mormon Panorama," BYU Studies Quarterly: Vol. 60: Iss. 2, Article 2.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol60/iss2/2