Scriptures

The Book of Mormon What is the Book of Mormon? The Book of Mormon, which members of the Church of Jesus Christ accept as scripture alongside the Bible, begins as a clan history, like the patriarchal narratives of Genesis, set close to the year...

Organization

How is the church organized? One of the Articles of Faith (6) states: “we believe in the same organization that existed in the primitive church, namely apostles, prophets, pastors [bishops], teachers, evangelists [patriarchs], and so forth.” The New Testament reveals only a few bare...

Culture

How homogeneous are the Latter-day Saints? Latter-day Saints do not constitute an ethnicity; however, they do diverge—in the United States at least—from national norms across a broad spectrum of cultural and social characteristics. Saints in the United States tend to be overwhelmingly white (86...

Practice

Why did Latter-day Saints practice communalism? From a variety of secular and religious motivations, in the nineteenth century many individuals experimented with communalist societies—Latter-day Saints included. Some Christians looked to the book of Acts for authorization and inspiration, for Luke describes the first Christians...

Beliefs

What are the most distinctive beliefs of Latter-day Saints? One unique teaching of the Latter-day Saints is belief in God as a divine being who exists in eternal relationship with a “Heavenly Mother.” The Church of Jesus Christ has little to say about this...

Polygamy

Why did the Latter-day Saints practice polygamy? Joseph Smith never left a record of his thoughts on the origin of a practice that Latter-day Saints called plural marriage, celestial marriage, or “the principle.” Nor did he ever present to his people or to an...

What Everyone Needs to Know About Mormonism (or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints)

Let’s start with the name: What to call them? It is often the case that a word originally invoked as a term of derision comes to be tolerated—or even embraced—by the group to which it is attached. “Yankee” was not a complimentary label in...

History

What is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? The Church of Jesus Christ is a Christian denomination founded in 1830 by Joseph Smith. Neither Catholic nor Protestant, Latter-day Saints believe their church was founded as a “restoration” of original Christianity, when God...

Conflicts and Challenges

If the church is led by revelation, why has its position on many issues (race, marriage, homosexuality) changed? Latter-day Saints tend to see developments in their church as reflecting changes in policy or practices or procedures rather than doctrines. And those changes occur in...

Questions on the Periphery

Who are the three Nephites? In the closing passages of the Gospel of John, there is a cryptic exchange involving Peter, Jesus, and John. Looking at John, Peter asks Jesus: “what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he...