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:''This article is about the Latter Day Saint leader. For the fictional character, see The Abduction Club.'' James Jesse Strang (March 21, 1813 – July 9, 1856) was an American religious leader, politician and self-proclaimed monarch. In 1844 he founded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Strangite), a faction of the Latter Day Saint movement that he claimed to be the sole legitimate continuation of the Church of Christ founded by Joseph Smith fourteen years before. A major contender for leadership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints during the 1844 succession crisis, Strang vied with Brigham Young and Sidney Rigdon for control of the organization in Nauvoo, Illinois before his rejection there subsequently led him to start his own sect. While serving as Prophet, Seer and Revelator of his church, Strang reigned for six years as the crowned "king" of an ecclesiastical monarchy that he established on Beaver Island in the US state of Michigan. Building an organization that eventually rivaled Young's in Utah, Strang gained nearly 12,000 adherents〔"(History and Succession )". ''Strangite.org''. Retrieved on 2007-10-28. This compares to approximately 50,000 for Brigham Young at this same time. See "Church membership: 1830–2006," at http://www.lds.org/library/display/0,4945,40-1-3474-2,00.html.〕 prior to his murder in 1856, which brought down his kingdom and all but extinguished his sect. In contrast to Joseph Smith, who used the eminently republican title of "President of the Church," Strang taught that the chief prophetic office embodied an overtly ''royal'' attribute, by which its occupant was to be not only the spiritual leader of his people, but their temporal king as well.〔Strang 1856, pp. 168–76.〕〔"(Strang, the King )". ''MormonBeliefs.com''. Retrieved on 2007-10-28.〕 He offered a sophisticated set of teachings that differed in many significant aspects from any other version of Mormonism, including that preached by Smith. To bolster his claims, Strang published translations of two purportedly long-lost works: the Voree Record, deciphered from three metal plates reportedly unearthed in response to a vision; and the Book of the Law of the Lord, supposedly transcribed from the Plates of Laban mentioned in the Book of Mormon. These are accepted as scripture by his followers, but not by any other Latter Day Saint church. Although his long-term doctrinal influence on the Latter Day Saint movement was minimal, several early members of Strang's organization helped to establish the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which became (and remains) the second-largest Mormon sect. While most of Strang's followers eventually disavowed him, a small but devout remnant continues to carry on his teachings and organization today. In addition to his ecclesiastical calling, Strang served one full term and part of a second as a member of the Michigan House of Representatives, and assisted in the organization of Manitou County. He was also at various times an attorney, educator, temperance lecturer, newspaper editor, Baptist minister, correspondent for the ''New York Tribune'', and amateur scientist. His survey of Beaver Island's natural history was published by the Smithsonian Institution, remaining the definitive work on that subject for nearly a century,〔Weeks, Robert P. (June 1970).("For His Was the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory ... Briefly )". ''American Heritage'' 21 (4).〕 while his career in the Michigan legislature was praised even by his enemies. However, his polygamous lifestyle and sometimes abrasive personality made him many enemies inside his church and out of it, contributing to his ultimate demise. While Strang's organization is formally known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the term "Strangite" is usually added to the title to avoid confusing them with other Latter Day Saint bodies carrying this or similar names. This follows a typical nineteenth-century usage where followers of Brigham Young were sometimes referred to as "Brighamites," while those of Sidney Rigdon were called "Rigdonites," followers of Joseph Smith III were called "Josephites", and disciples of Strang became "Strangites".〔"(Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints )". ''MormonBeliefs.com''. Retrieved on 2007-10-28.〕 ==Childhood, education and conversion to Mormonism== James Jesse Strang was born March 21, 1813, in Scipio, Cayuga County, New York. He was the second of three children, and his parents had a good reputation in their community. James' mother was very tender with him as a consequence of delicate health, yet she required him to render an account of all his actions and words while absent from her.〔Post, Warren. "(History of James Strang: The Birth and Parentage of the Prophet James )". ''StrangStudies.org''. Retrieved on 2007-10-28.〕 In a brief autobiography he wrote in 1855, Strang reported that he had attended grade school until age twelve, but that "the terms were usually short, the teachers inexperienced and ill qualified to teach, and my health such as to preclude attentive study or steady attendance." He estimated that his time in a classroom during those years totaled six months.〔"(Strang, the Man )". ''MormonBeliefs.com''. Retrieved on 2007-10-31〕 But none of this meant that Strang was illiterate or simple. Although his teachers "not unfrequently turned me off with little or no attention, as though I was too stupid to learn and too dull to feel neglect," Strang recalled that he spent "long weary days ... upon the floor, thinking, thinking, thinking ... my mind wandered over fields that old men shrink from, seeking rest and finding none till darkness gathered thick around and I burst into tears."〔 He studied works by Thomas Paine and the Comte de Volney,〔 whose book ''Les Ruines'' exerted a significant influence on the future prophet.〔Fitzpatrick, pp. 26–27.〕 As a youth, Strang kept a rather profound personal diary, written partly in a secret code that was not deciphered until over one hundred years after it was authored (by Strang's own grandson Mark Strang, a banker in Long Beach, California). This journal contains Strang's musings on a variety of topics, including his desire to "rival Caesar or Napoleon" and his regret that by age nineteen, he had not yet become a general or member of the state legislature, which he saw as being essential by that point in his life to his quest for fame.〔Strang, Mark. (1961). ''The Diary of James J. Strang: Deciphered, Transcribed, Introduced, and Annotated''. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press. Entry for March 21, 1832.〕 However, Strang's diary equally reveals a heartfelt desire to be of service to his fellow man, together with agonized frustration at not knowing how he might do so as a penniless, unknown youth from upstate New York. At age twelve, Strang was baptized a Baptist. He did not wish to follow his father's calling as a farmer, so he took up the study of law. Strang was admitted to the bar in New York at age 23 and later at other places where he resided. He became county Postmaster and edited a local newspaper, the ''Randolph Herald''.〔Jensen, Robin (2005). (''Gleaning the Harvest: Strangite Missionary Work 1846–1850 ),'' p. 32. Retrieved on 2007-10-30.〕 Later, in the midst of his myriad duties on Beaver Island, he would find time to found and publish the ''Daily Northern Islander'', the first newspaper in northern Michigan.〔Fitzpatrick, p. 208.〕 Strang, who once described himself as a "cool philosopher"〔 and a freethinker, became a Baptist minister but left in February 1844 to join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He quickly found favor with Joseph Smith, though they had known each other only a short time, and was baptized personally by him on February 25, 1844.〔Fitzpatrick, p. 27.〕〔Greene, John P. (Nauvoo City Marshal in 1844). "(150 people who each knew more about Joseph Smith than anyone alive today )." ''Strangite.org'', item 48. Retrieved on 2007-10-28.〕 On March 3 of that year he was ordained an Elder by Joseph's brother Hyrum and sent forthwith at Smith's request to Wisconsin, to establish a Mormon stake at Voree. Shortly after Strang's departure, Joseph Smith was murdered by an anti-Mormon mob in Carthage, Illinois. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「James Strang」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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