Mormonism
Mormonism is the theology and religious tradition of the Latter Day Saint movement of Restorationist Christianity started by Joseph Smith in Western New York in the 1820s and 1830s. As a label, Mormonism has been applied to various aspects of the Latter Day Saint movement, although since 2018 there has been a push from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to distance itself from this label.
A prominent feature of Mormon theology is the Book of Mormon, a 19th-century text which describes itself as a chronicle of early Indigenous peoples of the Americas and their dealings with God. Mormon theology includes mainstream Christian beliefs with modifications stemming from belief in revelations to Smith and other religious leaders. This includes the use of and belief in the Bible and other religious texts, including the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price. Mormonism includes significant doctrines of eternal marriage, eternal progression, baptism for the dead, sexual purity, health, fasting, Sabbath observance, and formerly, plural marriage.
The theology itself is not uniform; as early as 1831, and most significantly after Smith's death, various groups split from the Church of Christ that Smith established. One source estimated over 400 denominations have sprung from founder Joseph Smith's original movement. Other than differences in leadership, these groups most significantly differ in their stances on polygamy, which the Utah-based LDS Church banned in 1890, and Trinitarianism, which the LDS Church does not affirm. The branch of theology which seeks to maintain the practice of polygamy is known as Mormon fundamentalism and includes several different churches. Other groups affirm Trinitarianism, such as the Community of Christ, and describe their doctrine as Trinitarian Christian restorationist.
Cultural Mormonism is a term coined by cultural Mormons who identify with the culture, especially present in much of the American West, but do not necessarily identify with the theology.
Historical overview
The doctrines of Mormonism began with the farmboy Joseph Smith in the 1820s in Western New York during a period of religious excitement known as the Second Great Awakening. Smith, at 14 years old, was determined to find out which church taught the "true" doctrine of God. He believed that God existed, but was confused by what he believed to be contradictions in the beliefs of churches available to him. In Joseph Smith-History, he wrote: "While I was laboring under the extreme difficulties caused by the contests of these parties of religionists, I was one day reading the Epistle of James, first chapter and fifth verse, which reads: 'If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. After praying about which denomination he should join, Smith said he received a vision in the spring of 1820. Called the "First Vision", Smith said that God the Father and his son, Jesus Christ, appeared to him and instructed him to join none of the existing churches because they were all wrong. During the 1820s, Smith chronicled several angelic visitations, and was eventually told that God would use him to re-establish the "true Christian church."In 1830 Smith published the Book of Mormon which he claimed to have translated from ancient writings found on golden plates. He said an angel first showed him the location of the plates in 1823, buried in a nearby hill. After obtaining the plates in 1827, Smith began dictating the text of the Book of Mormon in April 1828 with the assistance of Martin Harris and later Oliver Cowdery. After several interruptions, Smith completed the manuscript in June 1829. Smith said the plates were returned to the angel after he finished the translation.
The Book of Mormon claims to be a chronicle of early Israelites who left the Near East and traveled to the Americas. The book begins BC with the departure from Jerusalem of the family of a prophet named Lehi, and their sailing to the Americas. It tells of people in the Americas with a belief in Jesus hundreds of years before his birth; their witnessing Jesus's personal visitation to them after his resurrection; and of their eventually losing Christianity after generations of wars and apostasy. According to Smith, the Book of Mormon and other revelations would be the means of establishing correct doctrine for a restored church. Smith began baptizing new converts in 1829, and formally organized the Church of Christ in 1830. Smith was seen by his followers as a modern-day prophet.
The early church encountered criticism and persecution from residents of Palmyra, New York and surrounding several towns when they began to organize. To avoid confrontation, Smith and the early church members, known as Mormons, moved West to Kirtland, Ohio, and Jackson County, Missouri where they hoped to establish a permanent New Jerusalem or City of Zion. However, they were expelled from Jackson County in 1833 and fled to other parts of Missouri. In 1838, fighting between the Missourians and Mormons resulted in the governor of Missouri issuing an "extermination order" against the Mormons, forcing them to flee the state. The displaced church relocated to Illinois where under Smith's direction, the church bought a small town, renamed it Nauvoo, and lived with a degree of peace and prosperity for a few years. However, tensions between Mormons and their neighbors again escalated. In 1844 Smith was killed by a mob, precipitating a succession crisis.
The largest group of Mormons, now called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, followed Brigham Young as the new prophet and, under his direction, emigrated to what became the Utah Territory. There, the church began the open practice of plural marriage, a form of religious polygamy which Smith had instituted in Nauvoo. Polygamy became the faith's most sensational characteristic during the 19th century, and vigorous opposition by the United States Congress threatened the church's existence as a legal institution. Further, polygamy was also a major cause for the opposition to Mormonism in the states of Idaho and Arizona. In the 1890 Manifesto, church president Wilford Woodruff announced the official end of plural marriage.
Due to this formal abolition of plural marriage, several small groups broke from the LDS Church forming many smaller Mormon fundamentalist denominations. During the latter half of the 20th century the LDS Church grew rapidly, going from about 1.7 million members in 1960 to around 7.7 million members in 1990. Growth since then has slowed, and the church claimed a membership of 16 million in 2020.
Theology
Nature of God
In orthodox Mormonism, the term God generally refers to the biblical God the Father, whom Latter Day Saints refer to as Elohim, and the term Godhead refers to a council of three distinct divine persons consisting of God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost. Latter Day Saints believe that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are three distinct beings, and that the Father and Jesus have perfected, glorified, physical bodies, while the Holy Ghost is a spirit without a physical body. Latter Day Saints also believe that there are other gods and goddesses outside the Godhead, such as a Heavenly Mother—who is married to God the Father—and that faithful Latter-day Saints may attain godhood in the afterlife. Joseph Smith taught that God was once a man on another planet before being exalted to Godhood.This conception differs from the traditional Christian Trinity in several ways, one of which is that Mormonism has not adopted or continued to hold the doctrine of the Nicene Creed, that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are of the same substance or being. Also, Mormonism teaches that the intelligence dwelling in each human is coeternal with God. Mormons use the term omnipotent to describe God, and regard him as the creator: they understand him as being almighty and eternal but subject to eternal natural law which governs intelligences, justice and the eternal nature of matter. The Mormon conception of God also differs substantially from the Jewish tradition of ethical monotheism in which elohim is a completely different conception.
This description of God represents the Mormon orthodoxy, formalized in 1915 based on earlier teachings. Other currently existing and historical branches of Mormonism have adopted different views of god, such as the Adam–God doctrine and Trinitarianism.
Restoration
Mormonism describes itself as falling within world Christianity, but as a distinct restored dispensation; it characterizes itself as the only true form of the Christian religion since the time of a "Great Apostasy" that began not long after the ascension of Jesus Christ. According to Mormons this apostasy involved the corruption of the pure, original Christian doctrine with Greek and other philosophies, and followers dividing into different ideological groups. Additionally, Mormons claim the martyrdom of the Apostles led to the loss of Priesthood authority to administer the Church and its ordinances.Mormons believe that God re-established the 1st-century early Christian church as found in the New Testament through the restoration of Joseph Smith. In particular, Mormons believe that angels such as Peter, James, John, and John the Baptist appeared to Joseph Smith and others and bestowed various Priesthood authorities on them. Mormons thus believe that their Church is the "only true and living church" because divine authority was restored to it through Smith. In addition, Mormons believe that Smith and his legitimate successors are modern prophets who receive revelation from God to guide the church. They maintain that other Christian religions have a portion of the truth and are guided by the light of Christ.