15 Latter-day Saints Family

THE IMPETUS TO SCHISM

BELIEFS

ORGANIZATION

CONTROVERSY

CURRENT MORMON DIVISIONS

SOURCES

Utah Mormons

Polygamy-Practicing

Missouri Mormons

Other Mormons

The following passage by Joseph Smith Jr. (1805–1844) describes the event that led to his founding the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1830.

After I had retired to the place where I had previously designed to go, having looked around me, and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction. But, exerting all of my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction—not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being—just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.

It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name, and said, pointing to the other—“This is my beloved son, hear him!”

My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right—and which I should join. I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong, and the personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in His sight: that those professors were all corrupt; that “they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; they teach for doctrines the commandments of men: having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.” He again forbade me to join with any of them: and many other things did he say unto me, which I cannot write at this time. When I came to myself again, I found myself lying on my back, looking up into heaven. When the light had departed, I had no strength; but soon recovering in some degree, I went home.

Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 1902–1912, vol. 1, pp. 5–6.

Vermont-born Joseph Smith had moved to western New York in 1815 at the age of 10, along with many others who flooded the area following the War of 1812. With the immigrants came the revival-oriented church to stoke the fires of their emotions and burn the Word of God into their pioneer hearts. So successful had the evangelists been that observers would look upon western New York and label it “the burned-over district,” the product of wave after wave of evangelical fervor and spiritual fire. It was in this same area that Charles G. Finney (1792–1875), discussed in chapter 8, made his triumphant tours in the late 1820s and early 1830s.

In this context, Joseph Smith began to be moved by religious concerns and, like so many before him, was confused by the plethora of churches, each claiming to speak God’s truth. Smith began to see visions (including the one related above) that resulted in his founding a new church to be the embodiment of God’s true revelation. The two personages in the first vision (later identified as Jesus and God the Father) were followed in other visions by John the Baptist and various angelic beings. Smith reported that one of the angels gave him in 1827 plates of gold engraved with what is now known as the Book of Mormon. The engraving was in what Smith described as a reformed Egyptian language. The angel also gave Smith two divining stones, the Urim and Thummim (Exodus 28:30), which were to be used to translate the tablets.

The story related in the Book of Mormon purported to be the history of two groups of people: the Jeradites, who came to America directly after the attempt to build the Tower of Babel, and the Israelites, who came following the destruction of Jerusalem in the sixth century b.c.e. The former group was destroyed shortly before the arrival of the second group. The second group was essentially destroyed in the fourth century c.e., and Native Americans remained as its only remnant. The last of the prophets among the second group was commanded to write a history, which was buried in New York.

In 1830 the Book of Mormon was published and the church organized. Both events had an immediate impact on the religious community, and began a debate that has grown in

intensity to this day. The Book of Mormon was attacked, and the Mormons became outcasts.

But the Book of Mormon was not the only revelation received by Smith. His other major works were the Book of Moses, the Book of Abraham, and a translation of the Bible. At regular intervals, Smith experienced new revelations for specific purposes. These were gathered in a collection in 1833 known as the Book of Commandments, now called the Doctrine and Covenants. Smith also wrote fragmentary works and there are reports of other major works that were never undertaken because of Smith’s untimely death. References to the Doctrine and Covenants are given with the initials DC and the number of the section under consideration. The Book of Mormon contains books within it, like the Bible. References to the Book of Mormon resemble biblical references (e.g., II Nephi 2:46–47).

THE IMPETUS TO SCHISM

Smith’s many revelations created a number of problems for Mormon theology. They also built into the system a ready-made impetus to schism. It did not take long for others to get the idea that they could act as Smith had. Apart from Smith’s detractors who questioned the veracity of the Book of Mormon and the additional revelatory material published by Smith, his example continually excited would-be prophets to action. Common to almost every Mormon splinter group has been one or more leaders who claimed to be receiving new revelations. These leaders originated as disturbers of the peace in each new church center as the Mormons migrated from Kirtland, Ohio, to Independence, Missouri, to Nauvoo, Illinois, and finally, after Smith’s murder, to Salt Lake City, Utah.

The church was barely organized before Brother Hiram Page (1800–1852) began to experience revelations concerning the church through “a certain stone.” Smith soon learned that his confidant, Oliver Cowdery (1806–1850), as well as David Whitmer (1805–1888), had been taken in by Page, but Smith was able to handle this situation in a church conference. Page recanted, and he and Cowdery were sent on a mission to preach to the Native Americans.

After Smith’s followers moved to Kirtland, Ohio, genuine schism began to develop. Wycam Clark led a group of former Mormons, who established the short-lived Pure Church of Christ. Another man, named Hawley, walked barefoot 600 miles from New York to tell Smith that he was no longer the prophet. In 1831 Smith was able to reconcile a group called “the family” to full status in the church. This communal group had joined the Mormons as a body and had to be persuaded to follow “the more perfect law.” In 1832 two men named Hoton and Montague organized a body of which the former was president and the latter bishop. The group fell apart when the bishop accused the president of visiting the “pork barrel” (stored supplies), and the president accused the bishop of visiting his wife.

The 1837–1838 period was difficult for Smith, as two major movements took sheep from his flock. Warren Parrish (1803–1887), treasurer of the Kirtland Safety Society, became disillusioned with Smith’s prophetic ability and withdrew from the church. He and a number of prominent Latter-day Saints then founded the Church of Christ. There also appeared in Kirtland a woman called the Kirtland seeress. She carried a black stone, and she prophesied that either David Whitmer or Martin Harris (1783–1875) would succeed Smith, who had fallen into transgression. The movement in support of these anti-Josephite revelations was strong enough to spread to Missouri. No record of the eventual fate of the seeress is known.

Smith’s History of the Church includes a proclamation issued in the fall of 1837 expressing hope for the reclamation of Whitmer and others. In 1838 the Latter-day Saints moved to Missouri to a town called Far West. In 1839 they were forced to leave Far West, so they settled in Nauvoo, Illinois, and stayed there until Joseph Smith’s death in 1844. In 1840 George M. Hinkle (1801–1861), a colonel in the militia that defended the Mormons at Far West, Missouri, founded the Church of Jesus Christ, the Bride the Lamb’s Wife, in Moscow, Iowa. Hinkle, a trusted confidant of Smith, played a major role in turning Joseph, his brother Hyram (1800– 1844), and others over to the Missouri militia. The name Hinkle has since been synonymous in Mormon circles with traitor. In 1845 Hinkle’s church merged with Sidney Rigdon’s (1793–1876) Church of Christ.

In the 1840s, during the Nauvoo period, Smith reached the height of his power. Nauvoo, in Hancock County, was at the time the largest city in Illinois and, because of the evenly divided makeup of Illinois politics, it held the balance of power between Democrats and Republicans. Because Smith kept switching sides, the Mormons became a hated people. Added to the political situation was the jealousy among non-Mormons in Hancock County at the success of the Nauvoo enterprise. During the stay of the Mormons at Nauvoo, tensions were on the rise and schismatics could always find support.

At least three major schisms occurred while the community was centered at Nauvoo, each contributing to the downfall of the Mormon establishment. In 1842 the High Council excommunicated Oliver Olney, a would-be prophet who moved to nearby Squaw Grove, Illinois, to establish headquarters and to publish anti-Smith literature. Olney was still publishing as late as 1845, but his full history is not known. Also in 1842, Gladden Bishop (1809–1864) was excommunicated for “having received, written and published or taught certain revelations not consistent with the Doctrine and Covenants of the Church.” Bishop began setting up splinter churches, but later rejoined the Latter-day Saints. He is known to have had followings at various times at Little Sioux, Iowa, as well as in California, Wisconsin, Ohio, and Salt Lake City. He was eventually excommunicated permanently.

But the major trouble for Smith at Nauvoo came from a schism caused by William Law (1809–1892) and his associates—Wilson Law, Robert and Charles Foster, and C. L. Higbee. They and a large following left the church and set up a rival organization in Nauvoo with William Law as head. This schism meant more for the Latter-day Saints than the loss of members. In May 1844 Law announced that he would start a newspaper to spread his views. He then obtained an indictment against Smith for adultery and polygamy. Robert Foster obtained another indictment against Smith for false swearing. Francis Higbee sued Smith for slander, demanding $5,000. On June 7, 1844, the first and only issue of the Nauvoo Expositor appeared. The Nauvoo Legion shut the paper down after Smith declared it a public nuisance. This move proved to be a political blunder, and as news spread across the state, public pressure mounted against the Latter-day Saints and Joseph Smith. He was forced to flee to Iowa, but soon returned to Illinois.

The Law affair played directly into the series of episodes leading to the 1844 arrest of Smith, his brother Hyram, John Taylor (1808–1887), and Willard Richards (1804–1854). On June 27, 1844, a mob broke into the jail at Carthage, Illinois. The mob killed Joseph and Hyram and wounded Taylor. The sudden and violent death of its leader left the church in chaos. Smith had no clear successor, and left behind only a martyr’s image and a history of prophecy. The Latter-day Saints were essentially united, but there began a power struggle that split the movement into at least four groups that, over the years, spawned more than 50 additional bodies.

Following Smith’s death, and the haste with which Nauvoo had to be abandoned, the church divided into several factions. Sidney Rigdon was among the first to claim to

be Smith’s successor, and a few Latter-day Saints followed him to Pennsylvania. James Jesse Strang (1813–1856) also claimed to be Smith’s successor, and some followed him to Wisconsin and eventually to Beaver Island, Michigan. The largest group took their guidance from Brigham Young (1801–1877) and migrated to Utah. This group survives today as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Many church members had not “gathered” at Nauvoo, but remained scattered around the Midwest. In the decade after Smith’s death, attempts were made to reorganize these groups under Joseph Smith III (1832–1914), the prophet’s son. He at first refused his father’s mantle, but in 1859 accepted. The new organization became known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1860 (in 2000 it became the Community of Christ). This church drew some of its early strength from followers of Strang who defected after his death in 1856. Still others who did not make the trek to Utah moved back to Independence, Missouri, and bought the tract of land that had been cited in the Doctrine and Covenants as the site of the temple in the coming kingdom of Zion, as predicted by Smith.

BELIEFS

The key idea in Smith’s theology was restorationism, the restoring of the apostolic church that had been lost. Restorationism had been a major concept of the Disciples of Christ movement founded by Alexander Campbell (1788–1866) (see chapter 9) from which Smith’s early confidant, Sidney Rigdon, came. Smith believed that the true church died with the first generation of apostles and was restored only with his ordination. The ordination at the hands of John the Baptist occurred on May 15, 1829, when Smith and Oliver Cowdery were given the priesthood of Aaron. Subsequently, the priesthood of Melchizedek was conferred and the church was formally established on April 6, 1830. Along with this restoration of the apostolic church came a set of doctrines and a church order.

The Articles of Faith, written shortly before Joseph Smith’s death, are still used by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and most of the groups that have derived from it. The average non-Mormon needs some interpretation of the articles, because they are worded to present Mormon doctrine in a format and language familiar only to members of most older traditional Christian denominations. However, the meaning of the affirmations is clear. For example, the first article affirms a belief in God the eternal Father, in his son Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Spirit. What might seem a statement of belief in the traditional Christian doctrine of the Trinity is in fact an affirmation of belief in three separate divine personage—that is, what is termed tritheism.

The articles deny original sin, affirming that humans are not punished for Adam’s sin, just their own sins. Christ’s atonement establishes a condition by which individuals may be saved if they are obedient to the laws and ordinances of God. There are four ordinances—faith, repentance, baptism by immersion, and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Part of what was revealed to Joseph Smith was the proper organization of the restored church. Derived according to biblical texts, the true church is headed by apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and others.

The church recognizes both the Bible and the Book of Mormon to be the Word of God. Not mentioned in the articles are the supplementary writing to which authority is given, the Pearl of Great Price, which contains the Book of Moses and the Book of Abraham, and the Doctrine and Covenants. Smith also began work on a translation of the Bible. It is not used by the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which prefers the King James Version, but is used by the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints/Community of Christ headquartered in Independence, Missouri. Revelation is believed to be open, and new revelations are added to the Doctrine and Covenants as they are received by the church president. New revelations are rare, but now form a distinct body of material by which the Utah-based church and Missouri-based Community of Christ differ.

The Articles of Faith also affirm that the future kingdom of Zion will be built, not at Jerusalem in the Holy Land, but on the American continent. According to the Doctrine and Covenants, Zion will be centered on present-day Independence, Missouri. Others believe it will be centered on Salt Lake City. Prior to the establishment of Zion, there will be a “gathering” of the Latter-day Saints in the immediate area.

ORGANIZATION

The restoration determined the nature of the church, which was to be organized after a revealed pattern. Two orders of priesthood were set up. The Aaronic priesthood is the lesser order; all adult males are members, and from it are drawn deacons, teachers, and priests. The Melchizedek priesthood is the higher order, and from it come the church’s leadership—elders, seventies, high priests, and the president.

Organizationally, the church is ruled by a series of councils. Leading the church is the first presidency, composed of three people—the president and two other high priests elected by the 12 apostles. When the office of the first presidency is filled, the council of 12 apostles officiates under its direction as a traveling presiding council. Unanimous decisions by the council of 12 have authority equal to the decisions of the first presidency. Thus the first presidency and council of the 12 function much like the pope and college of cardinals in the Roman Catholic Church.

The presiding quorum of 70 and the presiding bishopric comprise the other two ruling bodies. The presiding bishopric holds jurisdiction over the duties of other bishops in the church and over the organization of the Aaronic priest-hood.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has experienced phenomenal growth worldwide. According to its own figures, the church reached one million members in 1947. It took sixteen years to double that number and another fifteen years to again double the membership, which reached four million in 1978. During the 1980s growth was even greater, with membership reaching five million in 1982, six million in 1986, and seven million in 1989. By the end of the twentieth century, membership was reported to be 11 million. While critics have challenged these figures, saying that they count people joining but do not account for those leaving and becoming inactive, the numbers still represent a significant increase, and have been paralleled by the building of new houses of worship and the multiplication of temples. Growth has also changed the status of the church relative to the larger religious and secular community. The church represents either a majority or significant minority of the population in Utah and surrounding states, and regularly sees its members elected to political office. Senator Harry Reid, a Democrat from Nevada and a Mormon, became the majority leader in the U.S. Senate in 2007. Another Mormon politician, Republican senator Orrin Hatch from Utah, served as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee from 1995 to 2001 and from 2003 to 2005.

CONTROVERSY

The Latter-day Saints have been the subject of widespread controversy since the initial publication of the Book of Mormon in 1830. During the nineteenth century, controversy swirled around the authenticity of the Book of Mormon, the tendency of Latter-day Saints to act communally and vote as a block, the practice of polygamy, and the issue of statehood for Utah. In the twentieth century, many of these controversies have been pushed to the side as the church has become successful, and since World War II (1937–1945) the community has produced three viable candidates for the U.S. presidency in George Romney, Morris Udall, and Mitt Romney. Along the way, the church has rid itself of a final hobbling problem, the nonadmission of African Americans to the priesthood.

The success of the Latter-day Saints has also made them a target for Evangelical Christians. Since the nineteenth century, the larger Christian community has viewed Mormons as heretics, at best, and generally as a separate religion that, while keeping Christian language, has departed from the tradition at many important points. In response, the authorities of the Church of Latter-day Saints have continued to argue that the Mormon Church is a restoration of the original Christian message. At the same time, church leaders have asked that members and critics alike stop using the adjective Mormon to describe the church, as it suggests that the church is something other than Christian. Some scholars, like Jan Shipps, have suggested that Mormonism should be regarded as post-Christian in much the same way that the Christian church is post-Jewish. This view, which is a variant of that held by many of the church’s Evangelical critics, is reflected in the Latter-day Saints’ practice of widely advertising the Book of Mormon as another testament of Jesus Christ.

Since the 1950s, as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has developed into a national organization, has grown to become one of the five largest religious bodies in America, and has continued its campaign to recruit new members without regard to their past affiliations (perceived by many as sheep stealing), Evangelical Christians have placed the Latter-day Saints among their primary targets for counter-recruitment efforts and boundary maintenance polemics. Hundreds of Evangelical missionary organization, many quite small, have arisen to evangelize the Latter-day Saints, “expose” and denounce their difference with orthodox Christianity, and make public the more confidential aspects of church life, especially beliefs and practices related to the Latter-day Saints’ temples. Some critics have established themselves in Salt Lake City and daily distribute literature and talk to the many tourists and visitors at the church’s large headquarters complex.

Church authorities have generally refused to respond directly to the Evangelical critique of Mormonism. However, the church has approved the work of various members and institutions in providing a Mormon apologetic. Most notable in this regard is the work of Hugh Nibley (1910–2005), a long-time professor at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah. In like measure, in 1979 Mormon attorney John W. Welch established the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS). Welch became a professor at BYU in 1980, and in 1997 FARMS became affiliated with the university, where it now operates as part of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship.

A Mormon-Evangelical dialogue has emerged since the 1997 publication of Craig Blomberg and Stephen E. Robinson’s How Wide the Divide? Blomberg is an Evangelical New Testament scholar while Robinson teaches at BYU. Their conversation has been duplicated in the speaking and writing of Robert L. Millett, a BYU professor emeritus, and Gregory C.V. Johnson, head of Standing Together, a Utah-based missionary organization. This dialogue led the Latter-day Saints first presidency to allow evangelical leader Ravi Zacharias to speak at the Mormon Tabernacle in 2004.

CURRENT MORMON DIVISIONS

Most Mormons can be divided into Utah Mormons and Missouri Mormons, names that refer to their history rather than to their current church headquarters. Those known as Utah Mormons either have their headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah, or were established by a former member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The great majority of present-day Mormons are members of the Utah-based church. Those known as Missouri Mormons rejected the leadership of Brigham Young, who led a large group of Mormons, but not all, to Salt Lake City. The early leaders of this Missouri church gathered the remaining Latter-day Saints who had dwelt across the Midwest into a newly reorganized church body, with headquarters eventually established in Missouri. The Missouri Mormons have strongly emphasized Joseph Smith’s prophecy (DC 51) that the temple was to be built in Independence, Missouri.

No turmoil has so affected the restoration movement founded by Joseph Smith as did the controversy that arose after the Civil War (1861–1865) over the practice of polygamy. Polygamy seems to have been introduced into the church in Nauvoo by Smith, and to have been a factor in Smith’s assassination. Emma Hale Smith (1804–1879), Joseph Smith’s first wife, never accepted the idea, though she did not publicly speak against it during his lifetime. After her husband’s death, she remained in Nauvoo and did not travel to Salt Lake City, even though she was enticed to do so by Brigham Young. She emerged as an antipolygamy champion and affiliated with the Reorganized Church, which strongly denounced polygamy, especially as it emerged as a public doctrine in Utah in the 1850s.

In Utah, polygamy was first practiced quietly, and then openly proclaimed. Its practice was ingrained in the social structure (though only a minority of the males were wealthy enough to participate), and it was key to the Utah church’s doctrine of salvation and the afterlife. The practice of polygamy was also an irritant to the larger non-Mormon religious community, which made it the object of a fervent crusade to rid the land of what was perceived by many as blatant immorality. After the Civil War, the federal government moved against the church with a series of actions asserting the government’s authority in Utah and its hostility to the continuance of polygamy.

By this time, however, polygamy had become an essential part of the Mormon social system and theology, and it was only after a lengthy battle against overwhelming odds that the church slowly capitulated. This capitulation began in the form of a manifesto in 1890 by President Wilford Woodruff (1807–1898) abolishing the practice of plural marriage. The manifesto was unanimously adopted by the vote of the Latter-day Saints Church conference. Quietly, however, the practice continued, and only a series of actions during the first quarter of the twentieth century—excommunicating those who either conducted plural-marriage ceremonies or entered into a polygamous relationship—finally eradicated the practice among church members.

In reaction to the threats of excommunication, several polygamy-practicing groups formed but broke up during World War I (1914–1918). New groups formed after the war, some of which have continued to this day. Most polygamy-practicing Mormons accept a common history that dates to an incident they claim occurred on September 26,1886, four years prior to the manifesto. On this date, they claim, at a meeting of church leaders to consider a document prepared by George Q. Cannon (1827–1901) concerning the polygamy question, church president John Taylor spent a night in conversation with Joseph Smith and the Lord. The next morning, Taylor denounced Cannon’s document and asked church members to pledge themselves to the principle of plural marriage. After the meeting, five copies were made of the revelation of the Lord on plural marriage, and five men— Cannon, Samuel Bateman, Charles H. Wilkins, John W. Woolley, and Lorin C. Woolley—were given authority to administer the covenant (i.e., plural marriage). They were also to ensure that no year passed without children being born in the covenant. Taylor also prophesied that during the time of the seventh Mormon president, Heber J. Grant (1856–1945), the church would go into spiritual and temporal bondage, and “one strong and mighty” would appear (DC 85). The Church of Latter-day Saints claims this meeting never occurred and was a fiction created by Lorin Woolley.

Among the polygamists are Mormons called fundamentalists. They are distinguished from other polygamy-practicing groups in that they claim only to control the presidency of the high priesthood. Other polygamy-practicing groups claim to control both the presidency of the high priesthood and the presidency of the church.

In 1929 Joseph White Musser (1872–1954), a leader of the Mormon fundamentalists and their most prolific writer, claimed that he had received authority from Taylor’s five disciples. He further claimed that after the manifesto was issued, the office of the president of the church and the president of the high priesthood were separated and the latter was given to the fundamentalists. Hence the priesthood has authority apart from the church leadership. Musser felt that the movement away from polygamy was but one of several departures from the faith that the church had made. Mormon fundamentalists believe in what is termed the Adam-God theory (as originally taught by Brigham Young), according to which “Adam is Our Father and Our God and is the literal Father of Jesus.” Almost all Mormon fundamentalists claim authority through Musser, and read his voluminous writings in his books and in the magazine The Star of Truth, which he published for many years.

The polygamists are living outside the laws of both the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the United States, and most have retreated into the rural landscape to escape legal and social pressure. They are something of an embarrassment to the contemporary Church of Latter-day Saints, which tends to ignore them.

The continuing concern over polygamy within the Mormon cultural milieu in Utah and the surrounding states where the Latter-day Saints have a strong presence periodically becomes front-page news. In 2001 the trial of outspoken independent polygamist Tom Greene, husband of five and father of more than 25, attracted the attention of state authorities and the national media. He was arrested and convicted on a spectrum of charges, including statutory rape.

Following the emergence in 2002 of Warren Jeffs as leader of the largest of the fundamentalists groups, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, complaints multiplied that young men in the group were being forced out and the young women were married against their will to their fathers’ contemporaries. Some of the young women were reputedly under the legal age of consent. In 2006 authorities attempted to arrest Jeffs, who went into hiding and eventually was placed in the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. He was arrested in 2007 and convicted of several charges of being an accomplice to rape.

Jeffs’s conviction led to a raid on the group’s center near Eldorado, Texas, in 2008, during which all the minors were taken into state custody. In the flurry of court actions following the case, Texas authorities were forced to return most of the children to their parents, but legal proceeding were pursued against men believed to have had sexual relations with underage females.

SOURCES

Few American religious traditions have generated as much literature as have the Latter-day Saints. The church has been a literary tradition from its beginning in the 1830s, and today the Mormon culture of the American West supports a large community of amateur Mormon historians and book collectors. The success of the church, combined with its efforts at door-to-door recruitment, has made it an object of counter-evangelical efforts by Evangelical Christians. With the possible exception of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, no other religious group in the United States popularly identified as a target by Christian counter-cultists has had so much material produced and circulated about it.

The study of the Latter-day Saints’ history, life, and thought is nurtured by the Mormon History Association, 10 West 100 South, Suite 610, Salt Lake City, UT 84101 (www.mhahome.org/). This association publishes the Journal of Mormon History. Both the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Community of Christ keep extensive archives, the former located at the Church History Library and Archives, 50 East North Temple Street, Room 227E, Salt Lake City, UT 84150-3420, and the latter at the Community of Christ headquarters in Independence, Missouri. An additional important resource is the library of Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.

General Sources

Arbaugh, George Bartholomew. Revelation in Mormonism: Its Character and Changing Forms. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1932. 252 pp.

Carter, Kate B. Denominations that Base Their Beliefs on the Teachings of Joseph Smith. Salt Lake City, UT: Daughters of the Utah Pioneers. 1969. 68 pp.

Cornwall, Marie, ed. Contemporary Mormonism: Social Science Perspectives. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994.

Cory, Delbert J. A Comparison Study of the Basic Thought of the Major “Latter Day Saint” Groups. Oberlin, OH: Author, 1963. 42 pp.

Goodliffe, Wilford Leroy. America Frontier Religion: Mormons and Their Dissenters, 1830–1900. Ph.D. diss., University of Idaho, 1976. 287 pp.

Launius, Roger D., and Linda Thatcher, eds. Differing Visions: Dissenters in Mormon History. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994.

Ludlow, Daniel H., ed. Encyclopedia of Mormonism. 4 vols. New York: Macmillan, 1992.

Ostling, Richard N., and Joan K. Ostling. The Power and the Promise: Mormon America. San Francisco: Harper, 1999.

Rich, Russell R. Little Known Schisms of the Restoration. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 1967. 76 pp.

———. Those Who Would Be Leaders: Offshoots of Mormonism. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 1967. 89 pp.

Shields, Steven L. Divergent Paths of the Restoration: A History of the Latter-day Saint Movement. 3rd ed. Bountiful, UT: Restoration Research, 1982. 282 pp.

———. The Latter Day Saint Churches: An Annotated Bibliography. New York: Garland, 1987. 281 pp.

Smith, Joseph. History of the Church. Vol. 1. Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret, 1902–1912.

Tullis, F. LaMond, ed. Mormonism: A Faith for All Cultures. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 1978. 365 pp.

Joseph Smith Jr.

Anderson, Richard Lloyd. “The Reliability of the Early History of Lucy and Joseph Smith.” Dialogue 4, no. 2 (Summer 1969): 12–28.

———. Joseph Smith’s New England Heritage: Influences of Grandfathers Solomon Mack and Asael Smith. Rev. ed. Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret, 2003. 312 pp.

Brodie, Fawn M. No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet. New York: Knopf, 1971. 499 pp.

Bushman, Richard Lyman. Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling. New York: Knopf, 2005. 740 pp.

Huntress, Keith. Murder of an American Prophet: Events and Prejudices Surrounding the Killing of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, Carthage, Illinois, June 27, 1844. San Francisco: Chandler, 1960. 232 pp.

Nibley, Hugh. No Ma’am That’s Not History: A Brief Review of Mrs. Brodie’s Reluctant Vindication of a Prophet She Seeks to Expose. Salt Lake City, UT: Bookcraft, 1946. 62 pp.

Smith, Lucy Mack. Joseph Smith and His Progenitors. Lamoni, IA: Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1912. 371 pp.

Taves, Ernest H. Trouble Enough: Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus, 1984. 280 pp.

Vogel, Dan. Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet. Salt Lake City, UT: Signature, 2004. 715 pp.

Mormon History

Allen, James B. The Story of the Latter-day Saints. Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret, 1976. 722 pp.

Arrington, Leonard J. Brigham Young: American Moses. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1986. 560 pp.

———. Great Basin Kingdom: An Economic History of the Latter-Day Saints, 1830–1900 (1958). New ed. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2005. 534 pp.

Arrington, Leonard J., and Davis Bitton. The Mormon Experience: A History of the Latter-day Saints. 2nd ed. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992. 414 pp.

Backman, Milton V., Jr. Eyewitness Accounts of the Restoration. Orem, UT: Grandin, 1983. 239 pp.

Bagley, Will. Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2004. 540 pp.

Bitton, Davis, and Maureen Ursenbach Beecher, eds. New Views of Mormon History: Essays in Honor of Leonard J. Arrington. Salt Lake City, UT: University of Utah Press, 1987. 480 pp.

Firmage, Edwin Brown, and Richard Collin Mangrum. Zion in the Courts: A Legal History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830–1900. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1988. 430 pp.

Givens, Terry L. People of Paradox: A History of Mormon Culture. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. 432 pp.

Mullen, Robert. The Latter-day Saints: The Mormons of Yesterday and Today. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1966. 316 pp.

Quinn, Michael D. The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power. Salt Lake City, UT: Signature. 1994. 685 pp.

Rich, Russell R. Ensign to the Nations: A History of the Church from 1846 to the Present. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 1972. 663 pp.

Shipps, Jan. Mormonism: The Story of a New Religious Tradition. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1985. 211 pp.

Stegner, Wallace. The Gathering of Zion: The Story of the Mormon Trail. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964. 331 pp.

Latter-day Saints Beliefs

Living Truths from the Book of Mormon. Salt Lake City, UT: Sunday School of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1972. 330 pp.

McLaughlan, James M., and Lloyd Ericson, eds. Discourses in Mormon Theology: Philosophical & Theological Possibilities. Draper, UT: Kofford, 2007. 301 pp.

McConkey, Bruce R. Mormon Doctrine. Salt Lake City, UT: Bookcraft, 1966. 856 pp.

Millet, Robert L. The Mormon Faith. Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret, 1998. 222 pp.

Richards, LeGrand. A Marvelous Work and a Wonder. Rev. ed. Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret, 1976. 424 pp.

Smith, Joseph F. Gospel Doctrine. Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret, 1969. 553 pp.

Walker, Ronald W., Richard E. Turley, and Glen M. Leonard. Massacre at Mountain Meadows. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008. 448 pp.

Christian Refutations of the Latter-day Saints

Beckwith, Francis, Carl Mosser, and Paul Owen, eds. The New Mormon Challenge: Responding to the Latest Defenses of a Fast-Growing Movement. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002. 544 pp.

Blomberg, Craig, and Stephen E. Robinson’s How Wide the Divide? A Mormon & an Evangelical in Conversation. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1997. 228 pp.

Fraser, Gordon H. Is Mormonism Christian? Chicago: Moody Press, 1977. 192 pp.

Marquardt, H. Michael, and Wesley Walters. Inventing Mormonism: Tradition and the Historical Record. Salt Lake City, UT: Signature, 1994. 244 pp.

McElveen, Floyd. Will the “Saints” Go Marching In? Glendale, CA: G/L, 1977. 175 pp.

McKeever, Bill, and Eric Johnson. Mormonism 101. Grand Rapids. MI: Baker, 2000. 320 pp.

Millet, Robert L., and Gregory C. V. Johnson. Bridging the Divide: The Continuing Conversation between a Mormon and an Evangelical. Rhinebeck, NY: Monkfish, 2007. 224 pp.

Nuckles, Dave P. I’m A Nomrom: From Mormon Missionary to Christian and Beyond. Kearney, NB: Morris, 2006.

Ropp, Harry L. The Mormon Papers. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1977. 118 pp.

Smith, John L. I Visited the Temple. Clearfield, UT: Utah Evangel Press, 1966. 104 pp.

Tanner, Jerald, and Sandra Tanner. Mormonism: Shadow or Reality? Salt Lake City, UT: Modern Microfilm, 1972. 587 pp.

Mormon Scriptures

Campbell, Alexander. An Analysis of the Book of Mormon. Boston: Greene, 1832. 16 pp.

Givens, Terry. By the Hand of Mormon: The American Scripture That Launched a New World Religion. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. 352 pp.

Kirkham, Francis W. A New Witness for Christ in America: The Book of Mormon. 3rd ed. Independence, MO: Press of Zion’s, 1951. 429 pp.

Nelson, Dee Jay. Joseph Smith’s “Eye of Ra.” Salt Lake City, UT: Modern Microfilm, 1968. 32 pp.

———. A Translation of Facsimile No. 3 in the Book of Abraham. Salt Lake City, UT: Modern Microfilm, 1989. 32 pp.

Nibley, Hugh. Abraham in Egypt. Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret, 1981. 288 pp.

Prince, Walter Franklin. “Psychological Tests for the Authorship of the Book of Mormon.” American Journal of Psychology 28, no. 3 (July 1917): 373–89.

Reynolds, Noel B. Book of Mormon Authorship Revisited: The Evidence for Ancient Origins. Provo, UT: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1997. 574 pp.

Tanner, Jerald, and Sandra Tanner. Did Spalding Write the Book of Mormon? Salt Lake City, UT: Modern Microfilm, 1977. 105 pp.

Polygamy

Anderson, J. Max. The Polygamy Story: Fiction and Fact. Salt Lake City, UT: Publishers Press, 1979. 166 pp.

Bailey, Paul. Grandpa Was a Polygamist: A Candid Remembrance. Los Angeles: Western Lore Press, 1960. 181 pp. Rev. ed., Polygamy Was Better than Monotony. New York: Ballantine, 1972. 180 pp.

Bradley, Martha S. Kidnapped from that Land: The Government Raids on the Short Creek Polygamists. Salt Lake City, UT: University of Utah Press, 1993.

Collier, Fred C. “Re-Examining the Lorin Woolley Story.” Doctrine of the Priesthood 1, no. 2 (February 1981): 1–17.

Compton, Todd. In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith. Salt Lake City, UT: Signature, 1997. 788 pp.

Foster, Lawrence. Religion and Sexuality: Three American Communal Experiments of the Nineteenth Century. New York: Oxford University Press, 1981. 363 pp.

Gordon, Sarah Barringer. The Mormon Question: Polygamy and Constitutional Conflict in Nineteenth-Century America. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002. 337 pp.

Hales, Brian C. Modern Polygamy and Mormon Fundamentalism: The Generations After the Manifesto. Draper, UT: Kofford, 2007. 524 pp.

Hardy, B. Carmon. Solemn Covenant: The Mormon Polygamous Passage. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992.

———. Doing the Works of Abraham, Mormon Polygamy: Its Origin, Practice, and Demise. Norman, OK: Clark, 2007. 447 pp.

The Most Holy Principle. 4 Vols. Murray, UT: Gems, 1970–1975.

Musser, Joseph White. Celestial or Plural Marriage. Salt Lake City, UT: Truth, 1970. 154 pp.

Openshaw, Robert R. The Notes, or, Selected references on the Fulness of the Gospel for Saints and Other Interested Students. Pinesdale, MT: Bitterroot, 1980. 616 pp.

Smith, George D. Nauvoo Polygamy: “…But We Called It Celestial Marriage.” Salt Lake City, UT: Signature, 2008. 672 pp.

Van Wagner, Richard S. Mormon Polygamy: A History. Salt Lake City, UT: Signature, 1986. 313 pp.

Young, Kimball. Isn’t One Wife Enough. New York: Holt, 1954. 476 pp.