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Mormon studies
Mormon studies is the interdisciplinary academic study of the beliefs, practices, history and culture of individuals and denominations belonging to the Latter Day Saint movement, a religious movement associated with the Book of Mormon, though not all churches and members of the Latter Day Saint movement identify with the terms Mormon or Mormonism. Denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement include the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), by far the largest, as well as the Community of Christ (CoC) and other smaller groups, include some categorized under the umbrella term Mormon fundamentalism.
Before 1903, writings about Mormons were mostly orthodox documentary histories or anti-Mormon material. The first dissertations on Mormons, published in the 1900s, had a naturalistic style that approached Mormon history from economic, psychological, and philosophical theories. While their position within Mormon studies is debated, Mormon apologetics have a tradition dating back to Parley P. Pratt's response to an anti-Mormon book in 1838.
The amount of scholarship in Mormon studies increased after World War II. From 1972 to 1982, while Leonard Arrington was a Church Historian in the history department, the LDS Church Archives were open to Mormon and non-Mormon researchers. Researchers wrote detached accounts for Mormon intellectuals in the "New Mormon history" style. Many new publications started to publish history in this style, including Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, BYU Studies Quarterly, and Exponent II. Some general authorities in the church did not like the New Mormon history style, and Arrington and his remaining staff were transferred to Brigham Young University (BYU) in 1982, where they worked in the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Church History. The institute continued to support scholarship in Mormon history until 2005, when the institute closed and employees transferred to the LDS Church Office Building.
In the late 1980s and 1990s, several other incidents made BYU faculty reluctant to voice unorthodox ideas about church history. Around 1990, BYU professors were asked not to contribute to Dialogue or Sunstone. Two historians were excommunicated in 1993, probably for their published unorthodox views.[citation needed] BYU Studies and other LDS church-sponsored publishers published more "faithful" scholarship at this time. Presses outside of Utah started to publish more books in Mormon studies.
Before World War II, church histories were mostly either orthodox Mormon or anti-Mormon and written by faithful Mormons or hostile non-Mormons, respectively. A few writers in the first era of church history (1830–1905) wrote about Mormons as a curiosity and focused on their peculiar ways.
Non-Mormons wrote for a non-Mormon public about how "primitive and dangerous" Mormons were in "extreme terms." Eber D. Howe published Mormonism Unvailed, or a Faithful Account of that Singular Imposition and Delusion in 1834, which claimed that Sidney Rigdon was the original author of the Book of Mormon and that Joseph Smith was a "vile wretch." Howe included affidavits from people who knew Joseph Smith collected by ex-Mormon Philastus Hurlbut. The book influenced future anti-Mormon literature by La Roy Sunderland, John Bennett, and John A. Clark. Origen Bacheler examined the Book of Mormon itself in Mormonism Exposed Internally and Externally, arguing that the book was inconsistent with the Bible and was written by Joseph Smith himself.
In the 1960s, ex-Mormons Jerald and Sandra Tanner continued that anti-Mormon tradition by reprinting anti-Mormon works in the public domain as well as important but unflattering documents from LDS history through Utah Light House Ministry. They published their own criticisms of the LDS church as well, which, unlike early anti-Mormon works, cite historical documents. Ed Decker, an excommunicated Mormon, made two anti-Mormon films: The God Makers (1982) and The God Makers II (1993). The films described Mormons as being a cult, abusing women and children, manipulating news outlets, and practicing Satanism. The God Makers II received criticism from other anti-Mormons, including Jerald and Sandra Tanner, who stated it contained inaccuracies.
Official recorders have existed since Joseph Smith organized the Church of Christ on April 6, 1830. Church records continue to the present and are kept in the LDS church archives. The first official church history was published in 1842 when Smith and his associates began writing History of Joseph Smith as an official diary of Joseph Smith. This history was published in Times and Seasons in Nauvoo, and then in Deseret News and Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star up until 1863. History of Joseph Smith was followed by History of Brigham Young, which was also published in Deseret News and Millennial Star over the next two years. Church Historians and their assistants edited the material, which was published in official publications. Andrew Jenson made sizable contributions to documentary church history with the Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia (1901–36), Encyclopedic History of the Church (1941), and an unpublished "Journal History of the Church" containing over 1,500 scrapbooks filled with published and unpublished records of daily activities in the church. Jenson made a special report on the Mountain Meadows Massacre, and parts of the report were not openly used until Massacre at Mountain Meadows (2008) by Richard E. Turley, Ronald W. Walker, and Glen M. Leonard.
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Mormon studies
Mormon studies is the interdisciplinary academic study of the beliefs, practices, history and culture of individuals and denominations belonging to the Latter Day Saint movement, a religious movement associated with the Book of Mormon, though not all churches and members of the Latter Day Saint movement identify with the terms Mormon or Mormonism. Denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement include the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), by far the largest, as well as the Community of Christ (CoC) and other smaller groups, include some categorized under the umbrella term Mormon fundamentalism.
Before 1903, writings about Mormons were mostly orthodox documentary histories or anti-Mormon material. The first dissertations on Mormons, published in the 1900s, had a naturalistic style that approached Mormon history from economic, psychological, and philosophical theories. While their position within Mormon studies is debated, Mormon apologetics have a tradition dating back to Parley P. Pratt's response to an anti-Mormon book in 1838.
The amount of scholarship in Mormon studies increased after World War II. From 1972 to 1982, while Leonard Arrington was a Church Historian in the history department, the LDS Church Archives were open to Mormon and non-Mormon researchers. Researchers wrote detached accounts for Mormon intellectuals in the "New Mormon history" style. Many new publications started to publish history in this style, including Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, BYU Studies Quarterly, and Exponent II. Some general authorities in the church did not like the New Mormon history style, and Arrington and his remaining staff were transferred to Brigham Young University (BYU) in 1982, where they worked in the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Church History. The institute continued to support scholarship in Mormon history until 2005, when the institute closed and employees transferred to the LDS Church Office Building.
In the late 1980s and 1990s, several other incidents made BYU faculty reluctant to voice unorthodox ideas about church history. Around 1990, BYU professors were asked not to contribute to Dialogue or Sunstone. Two historians were excommunicated in 1993, probably for their published unorthodox views.[citation needed] BYU Studies and other LDS church-sponsored publishers published more "faithful" scholarship at this time. Presses outside of Utah started to publish more books in Mormon studies.
Before World War II, church histories were mostly either orthodox Mormon or anti-Mormon and written by faithful Mormons or hostile non-Mormons, respectively. A few writers in the first era of church history (1830–1905) wrote about Mormons as a curiosity and focused on their peculiar ways.
Non-Mormons wrote for a non-Mormon public about how "primitive and dangerous" Mormons were in "extreme terms." Eber D. Howe published Mormonism Unvailed, or a Faithful Account of that Singular Imposition and Delusion in 1834, which claimed that Sidney Rigdon was the original author of the Book of Mormon and that Joseph Smith was a "vile wretch." Howe included affidavits from people who knew Joseph Smith collected by ex-Mormon Philastus Hurlbut. The book influenced future anti-Mormon literature by La Roy Sunderland, John Bennett, and John A. Clark. Origen Bacheler examined the Book of Mormon itself in Mormonism Exposed Internally and Externally, arguing that the book was inconsistent with the Bible and was written by Joseph Smith himself.
In the 1960s, ex-Mormons Jerald and Sandra Tanner continued that anti-Mormon tradition by reprinting anti-Mormon works in the public domain as well as important but unflattering documents from LDS history through Utah Light House Ministry. They published their own criticisms of the LDS church as well, which, unlike early anti-Mormon works, cite historical documents. Ed Decker, an excommunicated Mormon, made two anti-Mormon films: The God Makers (1982) and The God Makers II (1993). The films described Mormons as being a cult, abusing women and children, manipulating news outlets, and practicing Satanism. The God Makers II received criticism from other anti-Mormons, including Jerald and Sandra Tanner, who stated it contained inaccuracies.
Official recorders have existed since Joseph Smith organized the Church of Christ on April 6, 1830. Church records continue to the present and are kept in the LDS church archives. The first official church history was published in 1842 when Smith and his associates began writing History of Joseph Smith as an official diary of Joseph Smith. This history was published in Times and Seasons in Nauvoo, and then in Deseret News and Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star up until 1863. History of Joseph Smith was followed by History of Brigham Young, which was also published in Deseret News and Millennial Star over the next two years. Church Historians and their assistants edited the material, which was published in official publications. Andrew Jenson made sizable contributions to documentary church history with the Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia (1901–36), Encyclopedic History of the Church (1941), and an unpublished "Journal History of the Church" containing over 1,500 scrapbooks filled with published and unpublished records of daily activities in the church. Jenson made a special report on the Mountain Meadows Massacre, and parts of the report were not openly used until Massacre at Mountain Meadows (2008) by Richard E. Turley, Ronald W. Walker, and Glen M. Leonard.