Restoring What Was Lost: The Endowment

I argue that a key indicator that JS was not simply seeking to restore biblical practice, but sought instead to restore doctrines and practices that he believed were MISSING from the Bible is the endowment. It’s clearly not in the Bible, though I argue Smith’s sources convinced him that Christians had an initiation rite that other evil early Christians had suppressed.

I note in chapter seven of my dissertation that the structure of the endowment is like the structure of the Eleusinian mysteries described under the entry on “mysteries” in the 1792 Encyclopedia Britannica (volume 12:577-97). Michael Quinn made this point in his Magic World View that I fleshed out in my dissertation (Quinn, first ed., 184-90).  

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Stephen Webb on Platonic Corruption

Here I quote a few paragraphs from my dissertation (36-38) in which I look at a couple of Stephen Webb’s books. Webb, though Catholic, borrowed from Mormon thinkers on asserting the claim of Platonic corruption of Christianity related to materiality and God’s body. I note that Webb, like Roberts, presented some contradictory claims.

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BH Roberts on Plato and the Apostasy

I want to finish my train of thought that Mormons claiming Greek philosophy was central to the apostasy is problematic. Again, this was a common Protestant claim, and I argue that Joseph Smith knew of the claim and rejected it, seeking to embrace the “ancient theology” instead.

I once saw a video of Mormon thinkers attributing the embraced of the Platonic-corruption idea to B H. Roberts’s Outlines of Ecclesiastical History (1893), so this post takes a look at what Roberts said on the topic. I argue that Robert’s statements inadvertently highlight the problems with the claim of linking Greek philosophy to the corruption of Christianity.

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New Release: Carry On: The Latter-day Saint Young Women’s Organization, 1870-2024

The Church Historian’s Press of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recently released a history of the Church’s Young Women’s Organization from 1870-2024. The book is a significant milestone for many reasons, not least that the LDS Church is addressing the history of its youth adherents in an official capacity for the first time. Recognizing the contributions, power, and experiences of young women highlights the Church History Department’s (and thus, the LDS Church’s) decade-long commitment to understanding and celebrating the experiences of a broader swath of its membership than it ever has before. Addressing and celebrating young women’s experiences and their ecclesiastical leaders at the global level shines a new light on what it meant to be a Latter-day Saint growing up in the Church in the United States as well as across the world.

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Call for Applicants: History Curator–Church History Museum

History Curator – Church History Museum

See here for full details.

Salt Lake City, UT, United States (On-site)

To meet the needs of the Church, we seek to build teams that represent the diverse perspectives, broad life experiences and backgrounds of our global Church membership. With that in mind, we encourage all qualified applicants to apply.

Job Description

The Church History Museum is seeking a curator of history to join its staff. The mission of the museum is to provide opportunities for our patrons to connect to the history of the Church and the growing spiritual, artistic, and cultural legacies of the Latter-day Saints throughout the world.

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