Category Archives: Community of Christ
Wednesday’s Book Review: “The Nauvoo City and High Council Minutes”
The Nauvoo City and High Council Minutes. Edited by John S. Dinger. Foreword by Morris A. Thurston. Signature Books, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2011. Preface, introduction, city and stake councilmen, appendices, index. Hardcover with dustjacket. ISBN: 978-1-56085-214-8. $49.95. Nauvoo, Illinois, in … Continue reading
An Iowa Sheriff Comments on the Mormons in Nauvoo, Illinois
In 1995 I published with John E. Hallwas a documentary history about the Mormon experience in Illinois in the 1840s. The book, Cultures in Conflict: A Documentary History of the Mormon War in Illinois (Utah State University Press). In this book … Continue reading
The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints/Community of Christ and African American Members
The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (renamed the Community of Christ in 2000), one of the inheritors of the legacy of early Mormonism who developed a moderate theological position and coalesced as a recognizable group beginning … Continue reading
The Latter-day Saint Movement and the Concept of a “Chosen People”
Perhaps the single most important tenet of Joseph Smith Jr.’s (1805-1844) theology in founding the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) was the identification of his followers as a “latter-day Israel.” This identification drove much of the rest of … Continue reading
Was the United States Founded as a Christian Nation?
Why do some Americans insist that the United States was founded as a Christian nation? And what does that mean anyway? How does a Christian nation act? Why does one segment—a very vocal segment—of modern American society insists that the … Continue reading
Jeffrey Lundgren, Reorganized Church Dissidents, and Modern Blood Atonement Killings
This is a horror story worthy of anything Stephen King could write. Tragically it is not fiction. Jeffrey D. Lundgren and his followers in Kirtland, Ohio, former members of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (renamed … Continue reading
Mormon Nauvoo and the Problem of Theft of Non-Mormon Property
Shortly after the Mormons arrived in Illinois in 1839 and founded the city of Nauvoo, and before much political antagonism had developed residents in some townships noted a significant increase in theft. Livestock, food, clothes, and other items were taken, … Continue reading
What Were the Origins of Mormon/Non-Mormon Conflict in 1840s Nauvoo?
The non-Mormons of Hancock County, Illinois, in the early 1840s probably disliked the Mormons from the first, in the same way that most Americans have generally disliked what they have viewed as religious fanaticism, but they were initially disposed toward toleration … Continue reading
Mormonism and the Founding of Nauvoo
During the bitter winter of 1838-1839 some 5,000 Latter-day Saints crossed the Mississippi River from Missouri and settled in western Illinois. Since the organization of the Mormon church almost ten years before, this group of religious pioneers, led by Joseph … Continue reading
Fawn Brodie and Interpretations of the Origins of Mormon Polyamy?
The place of plural marriage in the early history of the Mormon church has been an important topic of analysis for historians since it first appeared in Nauvoo, Illinois, in the 1840s. It has also been one of the most contentious … Continue reading
