scholarly journals “This Incredible Monster Was Always in the Way”: The Moral Career of a Sexual Sinner in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason Sumerau ◽  
Ryan Cragun ◽  
Harry Barbee
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Scientific Study ◽  
Latter Day Saints ◽  
Religious Leaders ◽  
Symbolic Interactionist ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Moral Career ◽  
The Church ◽  
Interactionist Approach ◽  
The Way

This article elaborates a symbolic interactionist approach to the scientific study of sexual sin. We draw on archival materials from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), and explore recurring themes within the archival materials that signify and outline stages of a sexual sinners’ moral career. Our findings demonstrate how LDS leaders constructed a sinner’s moral career as characterized by (1) seeking out sinful temptation; (2) causing social and spiritual destruction; and (3) seeking and finding redemption. Further, we draw out implications for understanding the ways religious leaders conceptualize sexual sins for their followers, and the usefulness of conceptualizing various religious traditions, adaptations, and conceptualizations of sin as moral careers.

scholarly journals “How Low Can Humans Plunge!”: Facilitating Moral Opposition in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-59
Author(s):  
J. E. Sumerau ◽  
Ryan T. Cragun
Keyword(s):  
Social Inequality ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Sexual Minorities ◽  
Latter Day Saints ◽  
Religious Leaders ◽  
Negative Outcomes ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
The Past ◽  
Lds Church ◽  
The Church

In this article, we examine how religious leaders teach their followers to protect themselves and others from pornography. Based on archival materials from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS, LDS Church, or Mormons), we analyze how LDS leaders, responding to the expansion of pornographic influence over the past 40 years, facilitated moral opposition to pornography by teaching their followers to (1) set moral examples for others, (2) save their women, and (3) protect their children. In so doing, however, LDS leaders, regardless of their intentions, reproduced cultural and religious discourses that facilitate the subordination of women and sexual minorities. Likewise, these discourses suggest strong negative outcomes associated with pornography. In conclusion, we draw out implications for understanding the facilitation of moral opposition across religious traditions, and the consequences these actions may have for the reproduction or reduction of social inequality.

scholarly journals The Role of Religious Leaders in Religious Heritage Tourism Development: The Case of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Religions ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 256
Author(s):  
Daniel H. Olsen ◽  
Scott C. Esplin
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Heritage Tourism ◽  
Latter Day Saints ◽  
Religious Institutions ◽  
Religious Leaders ◽  
Sacred Sites ◽  
Heritage Sites ◽  
Religious Rituals ◽  
The Church

For centuries, people have traveled to sacred sites for multiple reasons, ranging from the performance of religious rituals to curiosity. As the numbers of visitors to religious heritage sites have increased, so has the integration of religious heritage into tourism supply offerings. There is a growing research agenda focusing on the growth and management of this tourism niche market. However, little research has focused on the role that religious institutions and leadership play in the development of religious heritage tourism. The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of religious leaders and the impacts their decisions have on the development of religious heritage tourism through a consideration of three case studies related to recent decisions made by the leadership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

First Vision

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Harper
Keyword(s):  
Collective Memory ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Information Age ◽  
Memory Studies ◽  
Latter Day Saints ◽  
Joseph Smith ◽  
Privileged Position ◽  
The World ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Way

Joseph Smith, the founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, remembered that his first audible prayer, uttered in spring 1820, resulted in a vision of heavenly beings who forgave him and told him Christianity had gone astray. “The Mormon narrative,” according to a 2012 blog post, “seems to always start with a young boy who asked God a question one spring morning in 1820.” That is true if one qualifies the always, for it has not always been so. When and why and how did Joseph Smith’s “first vision,” as Latter-day Saints or “Mormons” know the event, become their seminal story? What challenges did it face along the way? What changes did it undergo as a result? Can it possibly hold its privileged position against the tides of doubt and disbelief, memory studies, and source criticism—all in the information age? First Vision tells how Joseph Smith—by remembering his past in various present contexts—opened the way for alternatives, how saints chose the collective memory they did, and what difference it has made for them and their critics. This book is the biography of a contested memory and how it was born, grew, changed the world, and was changed by it.

Mormonism (or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terryl Givens
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
First Century ◽  
Latter Day Saints ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Book Of Mormon ◽  
The Face ◽  
Religious Sect ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
The Church

Mormonism, or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is America's most successful-and most misunderstood-home grown religion. The church today boasts more than 15 million members worldwide, a remarkable feat in the face of increasing secularity. The growing presence of Mormonism shows no signs of abating, as the makeup of its membership becomes progressively diverse. The heightened contemporary relevance and increasingly global membership of the Church solidifies Mormonism as a religious sect much deserving of awareness. Covering the origins, history, and modern challenges of the church, Mormonism: What Everyone Needs to Know offers readers a brief, authoritative guide to one of the fastest growing faith groups of the twenty-first century in a reader-friendly format, providing answers to questions such as: What circumstances gave rise to the birth of Mormonism? Why was Utah chosen as a place of refuge? Do you have to believe the Book of Mormon to be a Latter-day Saint? Why do women not hold the priesthood? How wealthy is the church and how much are top leaders paid? Written by a believer and the premier scholar of the Latter-day Saints faith, this remarkably readable introduction provides a sympathetic but unstinting account of one of the few religious traditions to maintain its vitality and growth in an era of widespread disaffiliation.

Utilizing Brief Spiritual Assessments with Clients who belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 30-44
Author(s):  
Gordon Limb ◽  
David Hodge ◽  
Richard Alboroto
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
The United States ◽  
Assessment Instrument ◽  
Latter Day Saints ◽  
Church Culture ◽  
Spiritual Assessment ◽  
Mental Health Settings ◽  
Consistency Strengths ◽  
Growing Churches ◽  
The Church

 In recent years social work has increasingly focused on spirituality and religion as key elements of cultural competency.  The Joint Commission—the nation's largest health care accrediting organization—as well as many other accrediting bodies require spiritual assessments in hospitals and many other mental health settings. Consequently, specific intervention strategies have been fostered in order to provide the most appropriate interventions for religious clients. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the fourth largest and one of the faster growing churches in the United States.  In an effort to facilitate cultural competence with clients who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ, a brief spiritual assessment instrument was developed.  This mixed-method study asked experts in Church culture (N = 100) to identify the degree of cultural consistency, strengths, and limitations of the brief spiritual assessment instrument. Results indicate that the framework is consistent with Church culture and a number of practice-oriented implications are offered.

Pkejudice and Racial Identity among White Latter-Day Saint College Students: An Exploratory Study

1996 ◽  
Vol 79 (3) ◽  
pp. 1025-1026
Author(s):  
Timothy B. Smith ◽  
Richard N. Roberts
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Racial Identity ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Black People ◽  
Black Culture ◽  
Latter Day Saints ◽  
Racial Tolerance ◽  
The Church

Previous research has documented increases in racial tolerance of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons or LDS). In the present study, 211 LDS college students held predominantly tolerant attitudes on racial identity which were similar to those of 78 non-LDS peers; however, the LDS subjects expressed more naivete, curiosity, and confusion regarding black people and black culture.

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