Ten Tribes were taken away with it, and that in the latter days it would be
restored to the Earth or be let down in the Polar regions.”^76
As revelations, Mormon claims are immune to any scientific challenge—
not the case with the Jewish Indian theory, which relied on ethnographic
findings. Nevertheless, scientific challenges to Mormonism have been an
integral part of its history since its inception.^77 And for its part, Mormon
science is interested in proving the correlation between the various nations
mentioned in the Book of Mormon and, for instance, the mound builders.^78
The power of the Mormon Church of Latter-day Saints lies, however, not in
such proofs so much as in the conversion or restoration of the lost into the
center of its revelation and in the commissioning of its prophets to the task of
“gathering Israel from the four parts of the earth,” as Joseph Smith com-
manded. The Book of Mormon and the subsequent revelations represent one
of the most radical reactions to the idea of the hope of Israel. The church,
“Israel,” is engaged in an unrelenting effort to reunite with the lost—the rest of
humanity—a true fulfillment of the hope of Israel and a trueConcordia Mundi.
Ephraim’s Empire: England and Anglo-Israelism
Mormonism had a lesser-known British precursor some two decades earlier. In
1794 , Richard Brothers ( 1757 – 1823 ), a retired naval officer who was a radical
Calvinist, revealed himself in London as a prophet. Brothers called himself
“Prince of the Hebrews” and promised that the end of the world was very near.
The basic premise Brothers propagated inA Revealed Knowledge, of the Prophe-
cies & Timeswas a return of the Hebrews to Jerusalem. The moment would
come in 1798 , when he would lead the Jews and his followers back to Jerusa-
lem and build it anew. He devised a complete project of colonizing the Holy
Land.^79 Brothers was quickly arrested on the grounds of insanity and remained
in an asylum until 1806. Nevertheless, he managed right from the start to
attract followers, and his numerous missives from prison were published in
multiple editions. As is often the case in other unfulfilled millenarian or
messianic movements, the fact that nothing transpired in the predicted year
did not matter much,^80 and the small movement gained more followers
(although some left him for another prophet).
Thus originated Anglo-, or British, Israelism—the belief that the Anglo-
Saxons (and related Europeans) are the descendants of the ten lost tribes,
a superior chosen race, destined to rule the world. The movement’s proponents
and opponents—in the United States and in England—focus on Anglo
racial supremacy.^81 The pamphlets, sermons, and books that this movement