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Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

Keywords

conversion, Lamanite, Abish, theopany

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Abish and her secret conversion to the Lord “on account of a remarkable vision of her father” “many years” before the conversion of Lamoni’s household (Alma 19:16–17) emerge at a crucial moment in the Lamanite conversion narratives (Alma 17–27). In terms of a timeline of events, this “remarkable vision” stands first in a sequence of visions that result in the conversion of numerous Lamanites. Moreover, these visions, and the mass conversions that follow, precipitate seismic events on the landscape of Lamanite-Nephi history as Mormon recounts it. He mentions Abish’s name, gives a brief biography, and references the “remarkable vision of her father” amidst his description of the theophanic visions seen by King Lamoni, Lamoni’s wife, and members of their royal court (Alma 19). Mormon later describes a similar ecstatic theophany experienced by Lamoni’s father, king of all the Lamanites, in his own palace (Alma 22:15–23). These theophanies all occurred within royal court settings, and the Lamanites who witnessed these events nearly misinterpreted them with potentially tragic results.

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