[Cronos]

The recognition that protestantism is the necessary predicate for the LDS, and that in fact LDS theology is not contradicted by protestant metaphysics .

you are correct. J Smith was a smart fiction writer who took the themes of his day -- the Baptist idea that there was a "Great Apostasy" and that the Baptists somehow stayed aside from orthodoxy. Then he took the aspects of the Adventists etc. Then he took the British-Israelism which had roots in Calvinism and British Imperial propaganda

He mixed it up with the fascination about Egypt that was just starting (but the hieroglyphs were not deciphered yet) and mixed it all up together and voila!

[proe]

I took a history course from one of the foremost Jacksonian scholars who later was commissioned to write a biography of the early years of Joseph Smith. The professor explained that Smith was a product of his times (1820's ) and there was such an atmosphere of Revivalism in Palmyra NY area, that Smith was easily able to attract believes. He noted the themes of Jacksonian Democracy present in the themes of Smith.

The professor painted a picture of this period in Upstate NY as being very electric and claimed that if Smith had come 10 years before or after his disclosures the climate would not have supported acceptance of his doctrines.

When questioned concerning the validity of these LSD doctrines, the professor merely laughed and refused to comment. Perhaps that is why the Mormon authorities cooperated in this venture.