“Lutius Gratiano” and the Uses of Prophecies Available to Purchase

Among pseudonymous Mormon prophecies, the one known as “Lutius Gratiano” stands out both for its long popularity and for its disrepute. The prophecy is usually regarded as an 1893 fabrication by Jacob Spori with no basis in the writings of its putative author, the eighteenth-century Swiss pastor Samuel Lutz, that was popularized by LDS missionaries but is significant today only as an example of believers’ unlimited credulity. In the following, I will show that each point is wrong or subject to substantial revision. The specific context in which Spori cited the prophecy of “Lutius Gratiano” has been overlooked, and what Spori meant by the citation has been misunderstood. While “Lutius Gratiano” is a highly selective and exaggerated representation of Samuel Lutz's writings, it reflects both authentic aspects of Lutz's views and specific passages in his published works. The key moment in the creation of the prophecy of “Lutius Gratiano” was...