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Latter Day Saint movement

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Latter Day Saint Movement
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Latter Day Saint movement
Denominations

Mormonism · Latter Day Saint
Mormonism and Christianity

Movement history
Church of Christ · Succession crisis
LDS Church history
Community of Christ history
Latter Day Saint texts
Book of Mormon · Book of Commandments
Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible
Doctrine & Covenants · Book of Abraham
Pearl of Great Price
Significant leaders
Joseph Smith, Jr. · Oliver Cowdery
Sidney Rigdon · Brigham Young
Joseph Smith III · James Strang
Unique beliefs
Views on Godhead · Views on Jesus
Priesthood · Articles of Faith · Restoration
Mormonism and Judaism · Temples

The Latter Day Saint movement is a religious movement which began in the early 19th century and is generally considered to be founded by Joseph Smith, Jr., whom those involved in the movement regard to be a prophet. It is one of a number of movements within Restorationism, which includes the Restoration Movement and the Millerite movement. These Restorationists attempted to transcend Protestant denominationalism, and to restore what they considered a form of Christianity truer to their interpretation of the New Testament. The Latter Day Saint movement spawned many religious denominations, the most well known being The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, some of which include a set of doctrines, practices, and cultures collectively known as Mormonism, although some do not accept the designation Mormon.

Contents

[edit] Brief history

Main article: History of the Latter Day Saint movement

The driving force behind the Latter Day Saint movement was Joseph Smith, Jr., and to a lesser extent, during the movement's first two years, Oliver Cowdery. Joseph Smith testified to having seen Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ (as two separate beings), who told him that the true church had been lost and restored to him various keys to organize and lead the true Church of Christ. Joseph Smith, with the assistance of Martin Harris and Oliver Cowdery acting as scribes (to record), testified that he had translated the Book of Mormon from a set of Golden Plates.

The first Latter Day Saint church was formed in April 1830, consisting of a community of believers in the western New York towns of Fayette, Manchester, and Colesville. Like many other Restorationist churches of the time, they called themselves the Church of Christ. On April 6, 1830, this church formally organized into a legal institution under the name Church of Christ. In 1834, the church was referred to as Church of Latter Day Saints in early church publication, and in 1838 revelation was received to officially change the name to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.[1]

From 1831 until the mid-1830's, the movement's theology and failed attempts at Christian communal living were greatly influenced by Sidney Rigdon, a minister within the Restoration Movement who had been associated with the Disciples of Christ. In the late 1830's, when the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saint's headquarters moved to Nauvoo, Illinois, Mormon apostle Parley P. Pratt became the church's first dynamic writer of religious tracts and theological essays. William Law and several other leading Mormons publicly accused Joseph Smith of blasphemy, atheism and of being a false prophet, resulting in some schisms in the church. Many of these people later returned to the church.

Following Smith's martyrdom by a mob in Carthage, Illinois, these and other prominent members of the church claimed to be Smith's legitimate successor resulting in a Succession Crisis. This crisis resulted in several permanent schisms, the body of the church breaking into several denominations. The two main branches of the movement are sometimes called the "Prairie Saints" (those that remained in the region) and the "Rocky Mountain Saints" (those who followed Brigham Young to what would become Utah). At which time Brigham Young and Emma Smith (Joseph Smith's wife) came to a disagreement and Emma and her family stayed out east. For a long time Emma was looked down upon by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for not following Brigham west, but the current mainstream LDS opinion of Emma is high, seeing her as someone who had done everything she could and simply could not do anymore.

Today, there are many schism organizations claiming to be a part of the Latter Day Saint movement. Most of these organizations are very small. Most Latter Day Saints belong to the largest denomination, called The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints which reports more than 12 million members worldwide. The second largest denomination is the more ecumenical Community of Christ which reports over 250,000 members.

[edit] Denominations through 1844

Denominations which formed prior to the death of the movement's founder, Joseph Smith, Jr. include:

[edit] "Prairie Saint" denominations

Prairie Saint denominations include:

[edit] "Rocky Mountain Saint" denominations

Rocky Mountain Saint denominations include:

Image:Unbalanced scales.svg
The neutrality of this section is disputed.
Please see the discussion on the talk page.
  • The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints— after the death of Joseph Smith Jr. in 1844, the Church fragmented into several groups, as a result of the fact that Smith's intentions as to who should replace him were not clear. The largest of these groups aligned with Brigham Young after prophetic revelation. Today this organization (note the difference in spelling) is, according to its members, the original church founded by Joseph Smith, and is the group popularly known as "the Mormons" (a term not used by most (if not all) other Latter Day Saint denominations). However, other groups, including the Community of Christ (see below) reject such claims of legitimacy based on the fact that Young's group allegedly changed church doctrine (even in conflict with church scripture) and rejected Smith’s own charge that his son was to be his successor (although it must be noted that there is some confusion over whether or not he actually did so). This, in conjunction with the succession disputations that followed Joseph Smith's death evidence for some that, despite having the largest following, the church that Brigham Young led ceased to be the true church and essentially became a new religion, severing itself from the church established by Joseph Smith. However, by 1838, Brigham Young was the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles which gave Brigham Young acting governing and presiding rights over the Church until a successor was selected by the Quorum.

The Community of Christ (see below) was declared (twice) in a court of law to be the true continuation of Smith's church, in the Kirtland Temple case (an amicable action between the RLDS church and its own president, Joseph Smith III, in which no other denomination was represented), and the Temple Lot case (the failure by the then RLDS church to be awarded the Temple Lot in the city of Independence MO., was a result of an appeal made by the current occupants, but this did not overturn the original ruling that the RLDS was the direct continuation of Smith's Church). This situation can be compared to the concept of the Orthodox Church rejecting the concept of having left, or broken away from the Roman Church, and in fact viewing it as the exact opposite, that for matters of apostasy, corruption, etc., the latter became a dead work, making the former a remnant of the true church. The church that Brigham Young led after the death of Joseph Smith overwhelmingly remains the largest Latter Day Saint denomination, with over 12 million members worldwide (2004)[2]

see also: Polygamous Mormon fundamentalists

Plural marriage is illegal in most western states. Current editions of scriptures published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints include the original revelation endorsing plural marriage (see D&C 132 / http://scriptures.lds.org/en/dc/132); however the Church banned this practice in October 6, 1890, and added this as a revelation from God to its standard scriptures (see D&C "OFFICIAL DECLARATION—1" / http://scriptures.lds.org/en/od/1). Today the LDS church does not endorse polygamy, and excomunicates (removes from membership) those who practice it. See also Polygamy

For a discussion of the usage of "Mormon," "Latter Day Saint," "Latter-day Saint," and related terms, see Mormon.

[edit] RLDS / Community of Christ denominations (also generally considered "Prairie Saints")

  • The Community of Christ, previously known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints—based on the Church of Christ organized by Joseph Smith Jr. in 1830, reorganized (after a period of disunity following the selection of Brigham Young as president by most of the Church membership) by Joseph Smith III with a small remnant in 1860. This movement gathered together many followers of other Latter Day Saint denominations. Based in Independence, Missouri, the Community of Christ is the second largest Latter Day Saint denomination. Its members are of the position that it is, despite its reorganization and occasional name change, the original church established by Joseph Smith II, based on the belief that all other groups (including the large following under Brigham Young) distorted the doctrine of the original church, or aligned with someone who lacked authority to replace Smith. This position is supported by the fact the Church has on two occasions been declared by a court of law to in fact be the legal continuation of the church established by Joseph Smith Jr.[citation needed]

[edit] References

  • Steven L. Shields, Divergent Paths of the Restoration: A History of the Latter Day Saint Movement Los Angeles: 1990.
  • Jon Krakauer, Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith New York: 2003.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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