Cunning-Folk Traditions and Mormon Authority

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan A. Stapley
Keyword(s):  
Church Leaders ◽  
Early Church ◽  
Lived Religion ◽  
Joseph Smith ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Folk Traditions ◽  
Institutional Structures ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Church

Cunning-folk found what was lost, healed the sick, foretold the future, influenced love, and, perhaps most importantly, battled witches in a time when churches had lost interest in them. When Joseph Smith established Mormonism, American villages lacked cunning-folk, though aspects of their traditions remained on the fringes of society. Smith and other early church leaders translated aspects of this culture into the LDS Church’s liturgy and cosmology. However, he and other church leaders also created alternatives to cunning-folk practice that were more explicitly rooted in the patterns of the Bible. Key to this process of translation and creation was Mormonism’s explicit anticessationism and the establishment of institutional structures that integrated folk practitioners into the church by channeling their impulses into orthopraxic liturgical forms. This context is useful for explaining modern uses of CAM among Mormons and to further contextualize the rise of the priesthood bureaucracy that regulates Mormon lived religion.

Priesthood Ordination

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan A. Stapley
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Black Men ◽  
Church Leaders ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Joseph Smith ◽  
Book Of Mormon ◽  
The Temple ◽  
The Church ◽  
Power And Authority

Early Mormons used the Book of Mormon as the basis for their ecclesiology and understanding of the open heaven. Church leaders edited, harmonized, and published Joseph Smith’s revelation texts, expanding understandings of ecclesiastical priesthood office. Joseph Smith then revealed the Nauvoo Temple liturgy, with its cosmology that equated heaven, kinship, and priesthood. This cosmological priesthood was materialized through sealings at the temple altar and was the context for expansive teachings incorporating women into priesthood. This cosmology was also the basis for polygamy, temple adoption, and restrictions on the participation of black men and women in the church. This framework gave way at the end of the nineteenth century to a new priesthood cosmology introduced by Joseph F. Smith based on male ecclesiastical office. As church leaders expanded the meaning of priesthood to comprise the entire power and authority of God, they struggled to integrate women into church cosmology.

Aftermath

2021 ◽  
pp. 199-206
Author(s):  
Spencer W. McBride
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
The United States ◽  
Church Leaders ◽  
Latter Day Saints ◽  
Decision To Leave ◽  
Joseph Smith ◽  
The Church

This chapter describes the aftermath of the assassination of Joseph Smith. This aftermath includes mourning and a funeral in Nauvoo, debates over who should succeed Smith as the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who the Mormons should vote for in the election, and the decision to leave the United States altogether. The Mormons were contemplating leaving the United States before Smith’s murder, but the violent act seemed to make this departure the only way forward in the minds of many church leaders. They had come to realize that without significant reform, the United States was incapable of protecting them. This chapter also considers the result of the presidential election of 1844 and what became of each of the candidates in the years that followed.

Is There No Blessing for Me?

2019 ◽  
pp. 104-118
Author(s):  
Quincy D. Newell
Keyword(s):  
Salt Lake ◽  
Church Leaders ◽  
Joseph Smith ◽  
The Dead ◽  
To Receive ◽  
The Temple ◽  
The Church

By the 1880s, Jane James began a campaign to get permission to perform the temple rituals she believed were necessary to reach the highest degree of glory after death. She wanted to be sealed to Joseph Smith as a child and to receive her endowment, requests that church leaders denied. In 1888, James received a temple recommend to do baptisms for the dead in the Logan Temple. James’s children, meanwhile, made their ways out of the church. She received a second patriarchal blessing in 1889, which may have encouraged her to persist despite her disappointments. Her ex-husband Isaac James returned to Salt Lake in 1890 and lived with Jane James until his death in 1891. The following year, Jane James’s brother Isaac Manning came to live with her. In 1894, church leaders created a temple ceremony to seal Jane James to Joseph Smith as a servant rather than a child.

“Not to Be Trammeled”

2019 ◽  
pp. 241-270
Author(s):  
Terryl Givens ◽  
Brian M. Hauglid
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Latter Day Saints ◽  
Joseph Smith ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Boundary Maintenance ◽  
Articles Of Faith ◽  
The Church

Christian creeds go back to the first Christian centuries. Catholics produced creeds largely to establish the lines demarcating orthodoxy and heresy. Protestants at first were hostile to creeds and often invoked the Bible as the lone and sufficient creed for Christians. Joseph Smith’s hostility to creeds was common, especially among other restorationists. Eventually virtually all Protestants realized that without a creed, boundary maintenance was impossible. Early missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints found it necessary to summarize and define the uniqueness of their message—effectively creating the first creeds. Joseph Smith, explicitly hostile to creeds as too circumscribing of belief, found himself forced by the same imperative to articulate his own summation of Mormon teachings. His Thirteen Articles of Faith are, however, wholly inadequate as a creed, since they omit many of the most core doctrines of the church. They are best understood, in Rodney Stark’s formula, as establishing an optimum tension with competing religious faiths—not too radical and not too familiar.

scholarly journals Future-Day Saints: Abrahamic Astronomy, Anthropological Futures, and Speculative Religion

Religions ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 612
Author(s):  
Jon Bialecki
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Outer Space ◽  
Speculative Fiction ◽  
Church Leaders ◽  
Latter Day Saints ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Church

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, there is an intense interest in creating “speculative fiction”, including speculative fiction about outer space. This article ties this interest to a broader tradition of “speculative religion” by discussing the Mormon Transhumanist Association. An interest in outer space is linked to nineteenth and twentieth-century speculation by Mormon intellectuals and Church leaders regarding “Abrahamic Astronomy”. The article suggests that there is a Mormon view of the future as informed by a fractal or recursive past that social science in general, and anthropology in particular, could use in “thinking the future”.

scholarly journals The Artistic Symbolism of the Chapel’s Lost Interior of the Greek-Catholic Theological Academy in Lviv

2019 ◽  
pp. 99-115
Author(s):  
Roksolana Avdykovych
Keyword(s):  
Church Leaders ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
Interior Decoration ◽  
Artistic Style ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Interior Spaces ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Military ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Church

This paper looks at the artistic design of the chapel of the Greek Catholic Seminary in Lviv that was created after the earlier church was destructed in the military events of 1918. Articles in press written after the ceremony of the consecration, the records of greeting speeches of the church leaders who attended the ceremony, and the essays of art critics provide an important insight into the iconographical programme of the chapel and its functioning as the scared space. Rare photographs of iconostasis and photo-fixations of different stages of the interior decoration supplement the narrative sources. Fragments of the iconostasis are stored in the funds of the National Museum in Lviv. These are the works of Petro Kholodnyi the Elder that managed to survive through the destruction of ‘risky’ artworks of 1952. The wall paintings were bleached during the Soviet period, and currently, they cannot be seen, which complicates the research. In this essay, I seek to reveal the initial intentions of the chapel’s patrons and to highlight how the restored interior serves their educational and ideological purposes. I shall discuss the use of symbols of early Christian or Ukrainian origin through the methodological lenses of Yu. Lotman’s theory on construction of interior spaces, semiospheres and their boundaries, A. Lidov’s concept of hierotopy. I shall address the use of particular symbols and signs and their role and provide explanatory texts from the Bible in order to trace their origin. Particular attention shall be paid to the patron’s understanding and articulation of the main purposes of sacral art and to the impact their understanding might have had on the artistic style. Thus, I shall focus on the use of the elements of Byzantine style in decoration of the chapel, for this style was of primary importance for church leaders and artists involved.

scholarly journals Menerapkan Profil Daud Sebagai Pemimpin di Gereja Orthodox Evangelismos Pargambiran Sumbul, Dairi

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-24
Author(s):  
Parluhutan Manalu
Keyword(s):  
Church Leaders ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Cumulative Percentage ◽  
The People ◽  
God's People ◽  
The Future ◽  
Conducting Research ◽  
The Church

The purpose of this research is to create a leader who is humble and sincere in leading God's people and who is responsible for his people. A leader is very important in an organization, group or in a church so he is required to be truly responsible for leading or directing the people he leads, this can be done by understanding David's profile as a leader. After conducting research by asking 8 questions with 8 respondents, the cumulative percentage of 72.665% was obtained, which means that the church leaders in the Orthodox Church Evangelismos Pargambiran, Sumbul, Dairi implemented David's leadership well in leading and carrying out tasks that had entrusted by God to him. The author's hopes for the future can be emulated: David's profile as a leader so as to realize leaders who are truly humble and responsible in leading their people. Abstrak Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mewujudkan pemimpin yang rendah hati dan dan tulus dalam memimpin umat Allah dan yang bertangung-jawab atas umatnya. Seorang pemimpin sangat penting dalam sebuah organisasi, kelompok ataupun dalam sebuah gereja sehingga dia dituntut untuk sungguh-sunguh bertanggung-jawab dalam memimpin atau mengarahkan orang-orang yang dipimpinnya, hal ini dapat dilakukan dengan memahami profil Daud sebagai Pemimpin. Setelah dilakukan penelitian dengan mengajukan 8 buah pertanyaan dengan 8 orang responden diperoleh hasil akumulatif presentase sebesaar 72,65625% yang artinya bahwa pemimpin gereja yang ada di Gereja Orthodox Evangelismos Pargambiran, Sumbul, Dairi menerapkan dengan baik kepemimpinan Daud dalam memimpin dan dalam melaksanakan tugas yang telah dipercayakan oleh Allah kepadanya. Harapan penulis ke depan bisa diteladani: Profil Daud sebagai pemimpin sehingga dapat mewujudkan pemimpin-pemimpin yang benar-benar rendah hati dan bertanggungjawab dalam memimpim umatnya.

Barth and Patristic Theology

2019 ◽  
pp. 69-85
Author(s):  
Tom Greggs
Keyword(s):  
Early Church ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Hypostatic Union ◽  
Critical Heritage ◽  
The Church

This chapter examines Barth’s approach to patristic theology as well as his engagement with key doctrines and councils of the patristic era. It is clear in relation to Barth’s use of, and engagement with, the patristic fathers that the Bible is always sovereign over the church and its teachings; even so, the patristic witness is thought to proffer an authoritative reading of Scripture. This chapter, therefore, explores Barth’s approach to the patristic fathers in relation to the ‘Scripture principle’ and Barth’s Protestant, modern, and critical heritage. Having outlined Barth’s orientation, the chapter considers Barth’s approach to the major councils and definitions of the early church. It pays particular attention to the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed in relation to the divinity of Christ and the Symbol of Chalcedonian in relation to the hypostatic union.

scholarly journals Transformerende riglyne vir die kerk uit Lukas 14: Mense is belangriker as reels en grense

1997 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Piet Van Staden
Keyword(s):  
Social Behaviour ◽  
Personality Type ◽  
Church Leaders ◽  
First Century ◽  
Western World ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
Mediterranean Culture ◽  
The Future ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
The Church

Transformative guidelines for the church from Luke 14:People are more important than rules and boundaries. It has been shown by scholars that Mediterranean culture of the first century exhibits certain distinctive characteristics in personality type and in concomitant social behaviour. Generally speaking, Mediterranean people can be described as of the interdependent personality type as opposed to the independent type of the modem Western world. The New Testament as a collection of documents reflects the values that prevailed at the time of writing. More importantly, each of these documents reflects an interpretive evaluation of past events for contemporary society, and at the same time intrinsically contains a vision for the future. In this article I wish to explore the implications of the Gospel of Luke's transformational guidelines for the church leaders of his day. His vision for the future of the church, I believe, can be presented in the form of the conviction: People are more important than rules and boundaries.

scholarly journals Lessons from the Early Church for Today’s Evangelical Christianity

Kairos ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-90
Author(s):  
Ervin Budiselić
Keyword(s):  
Biblical Interpretation ◽  
Early Church ◽  
Evangelical Christianity ◽  
Christian Doctrine ◽  
Historical Process ◽  
Rule Of Faith ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church

Presuming that within Evangelical Christianity there is a crisis of biblical interpretation, this article seeks to address the issue, especially since Evangelicals view the existence of the church as closely connected to the proclamation of the Truth. Starting with a position that Evangelical hermeneutics is not born in a vacuum, but is the result of a historical process, the first part of the article introduces the problem of sola and solo scriptura, pointing out some problematic issues that need to be addressed. In the second part, the article discusses patristic hermeneutics, especially: a) the relationship between Scripture and tradition embodied in regula fidei and; b) theological presuppositions which gave birth to allegorical and literal interpretations of Scripture in Alexandria and Antioch. In the last part of the article, based on lessons from the patristic era, certain revisions of the Evangelical practice of the interpretation of Scripture are suggested. Particularly, Evangelicals may continue to hold the Bible as the single infallible source for Christian doctrine, continue to develop the historical-grammatical method particularly in respect to the issue of the analogy of faith in exegetical process, but also must recognize that the Bible cannot in toto play the role of the rule of faith or the analogy of faith. Something else must also come into play, and that “something” would definitely be the recovery of the patristic period “as a kind of doctrinal canon.”

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