Mormonism : a very short introduction

145 Pages·2008·0.888 MB·English

by  Richard Lyman Bushman

Mormonism:AVeryShortIntroduction
VERYSHORTINTRODUCTIONSareforanyonewantingastimulating
andaccessiblewayintoanewsubject.Theyarewrittenbyexperts,and
havebeenpublishedinmorethan25languagesworldwide.
Theseriesbeganin1995,andnowrepresentsawidevarietyoftopicsin
history,philosophy,religion,science,andthehumanities.Overthenextfew
yearsitwillgrowtoalibraryofaround200volumes—aVeryShort
IntroductiontoeverythingfromancientEgyptandIndianphilosophyto
conceptualartandcosmology.
VeryShortIntroductionsavailablenow:
AFRICANHISTORY CHRISTIANITY LindaWoodhead
JohnParkerandRichardRathbone CLASSICS
AMERICANPOLITICALPARTIES MaryBeardandJohnHenderson
ANDELECTIONS L.SandyMaisel CLASSICALMYTHOLOGY
THEAMERICANPRESIDENCY HelenMorales
CharlesO.Jones CLAUSEWITZ MichaelHoward
ANARCHISM ColinWard THECOLDWAR RobertMcMahon
ANCIENTEGYPT IanShaw CONSCIOUSNESS SusanBlackmore
ANCIENTPHILOSOPHY JuliaAnnas CONTEMPORARYART
ANCIENTWARFARE JulianStallabrass
HarrySidebottom CONTINENTAL
ANGLICANISM MarkChapman PHILOSOPHY SimonCritchley
THEANGLO-SAXONAGE JohnBlair COSMOLOGY PeterColes
ANIMALRIGHTS DavidDeGrazia THECRUSADES ChristopherTyerman
ANTISEMITISM StevenBeller CRYPTOGRAPHY
ARCHAEOLOGY PaulBahn FredPiperandSeanMurphy
ARCHITECTURE AndrewBallantyne DADAANDSURREALISM
ARISTOTLE JonathanBarnes DavidHopkins
ARTHISTORY DanaArnold DARWIN JonathanHoward
ARTTHEORY CynthiaFreeland THEDEADSEASCROLLS TimothyLim
THEHISTORYOFASTRONOMY DEMOCRACY BernardCrick
MichaelHoskin DESCARTES TomSorell
ATHEISM JulianBaggini DESIGN JohnHeskett
AUGUSTINE HenryChadwick DINOSAURS DavidNorman
BARTHES JonathanCuller DOCUMENTARYFILM
BESTSELLERS JohnSutherland PatriciaAufderheide
THEBIBLE JohnRiches DREAMING J.AllanHobson
THEBRAIN MichaelO’Shea DRUGS LeslieIversen
BRITISHPOLITICS AnthonyWright THEEARTH MartinRedfern
BUDDHA MichaelCarrithers ECONOMICS ParthaDasgupta
BUDDHISM DamienKeown EGYPTIANMYTH GeraldinePinch
BUDDHISTETHICS DamienKeown EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY
CAPITALISM JamesFulcher BRITAIN PaulLangford
THECELTS BarryCunliffe THEELEMENTS PhilipBall
CHAOS LeonardSmith EMOTION DylanEvans
CHOICETHEORY MichaelAllingham EMPIRE StephenHowe
CHRISTIANART BethWilliamson ENGELS TerrellCarver
ETHICS SimonBlackburn THEKORAN MichaelCook
THEEUROPEANUNION LINGUISTICS PeterMatthews
JohnPinderandSimonUsherwood LITERARYTHEORY JonathanCuller
EVOLUTION LOCKE JohnDunn
BrianandDeborahCharlesworth LOGIC GrahamPriest
EXISTENTIALISM ThomasFlynn MACHIAVELLI QuentinSkinner
FASCISM KevinPassmore THEMARQUISDESADE JohnPhillips
FEMINISM MargaretWalters MARX PeterSinger
THEFIRSTWORLDWAR MATHEMATICS TimothyGowers
MichaelHoward MEDICALETHICS TonyHope
FOSSILS KeithThomson MEDIEVALBRITAIN
FOUCAULT GaryGutting JohnGillinghamandRalphA.Griffiths
FREEWILL ThomasPink MODERNART DavidCottington
THEFRENCHREVOLUTION MODERNCHINA RanaMitter
WilliamDoyle MODERNIRELAND SeniaPaˇseta
FREUD AnthonyStorr MOLECULES PhilipBall
FUNDAMENTALISM MaliseRuthven MUSIC NicholasCook
GALILEO StillmanDrake MYTH RobertA.Segal
GAMETHEORY KenBinmore NATIONALISM StevenGrosby
GANDHI BhikhuParekh THENEWTESTAMENTAS
GEOPOLITICS KlausDodds LITERATURE KyleKeefer
GERMANLITERATURE NicholasBoyle NEWTON RobertIliffe
GLOBALCATASTROPHES BillMcGuire NIETZSCHE MichaelTanner
GLOBALIZATION ManfredSteger NINETEENTH-CENTURY
GLOBALWARMING MarkMaslin BRITAIN ChristopherHarvie
THEGREATDEPRESSIONANDTHE andH.C.G.Matthew
NEWDEAL EricRauchway NORTHERNIRELAND MarcMulholland
HABERMAS JamesGordonFinlayson NuclearWeapons
HEGEL PeterSinger JosephM.Siracusa
HEIDEGGER MichaelInwood THEOLDTESTAMENT
HIEROGLYPHS PenelopeWilson MichaelD.Coogan
HINDUISM KimKnott PARTICLEPHYSICS FrankClose
HISTORY JohnH.Arnold PAUL E.P.Sanders
HIV/AIDS AlanWhiteside PHILOSOPHY EdwardCraig
HOBBES RichardTuck PHILOSOPHYOFLAW
HUMANEVOLUTION BernardWood RaymondWacks
HUMANRIGHTS AndrewClapham PHILOSOPHYOFSCIENCE
HUME A.J.Ayer SamirOkasha
IDEOLOGY MichaelFreeden PHOTOGRAPHY SteveEdwards
INDIANPHILOSOPHY SueHamilton PLATO JuliaAnnas
INTELLIGENCE IanJ.Deary POLITICALPHILOSOPHY DavidMiller
INTERNATIONAL POLITICS KennethMinogue
MIGRATION KhalidKoser POSTCOLONIALISM RobertYoung
INTERNATIONAL POSTMODERNISM ChristopherButler
RELATIONS PaulWilkinson POSTSTRUCTURALISM
ISLAM MaliseRuthven CatherineBelsey
JOURNALISM IanHargreaves PREHISTORY ChrisGosden
JUDAISM NormanSolomon PRESOCRATICPHILOSOPHY
JUNG AnthonyStevens CatherineOsborne
KABBALAH JosephDan PSYCHIATRY TomBurns
KAFKA RitchieRobertson PSYCHOLOGY GillianButlerand
KANT RogerScruton FredaMcManus
KIERKEGAARD PatrickGardiner THEQUAKERS PinkDandelion
QUANTUMTHEORY SOCIALISM MichaelNewman
JohnPolkinghorne SOCIOLOGY SteveBruce
RACISM AliRattansi SOCRATES C.C.W.Taylor
THERENAISSANCE JerryBrotton THESPANISHCIVILWAR
RENAISSANCEART HelenGraham
GeraldineA.Johnson SPINOZA RogerScruton
ROMANBRITAIN PeterSalway STUARTBRITAIN JohnMorrill
THEROMANEMPIRE TERRORISM
ChristopherKelly CharlesTownshend
ROUSSEAU RobertWokler THEOLOGY DavidF.Ford
RUSSELL A.C.Grayling THEHISTORYOFTIME
RUSSIANLITERATURE CatrionaKelly LeofrancHolford-Strevens
THERUSSIANREVOLUTION TRAGEDY AdrianPoole
S.A.Smith THETUDORS JohnGuy
SCHIZOPHRENIA ChrisFrith TWENTIETH-CENTURY
andEveJohnstone BRITAIN KennethO.Morgan
SCHOPENHAUER ChristopherJanaway THEVIKINGS JulianRichards
SHAKESPEARE GermaineGreer WITTGENSTEIN A.C.Grayling
SIKHISM EleanorNesbitt WORLDMUSIC PhilipBohlman
SOCIALANDCULTURAL THEWORLDTRADE
ANTHROPOLOGY ORGANIZATION
JohnMonaghanandPeterJust AmritaNarlikar
Availablesoon:
1066 Memory
GeorgeGarnett JonathanFoster
Expressionism Mormonism
KaterinaReed-Tsocha RichardLymanBushman
Galaxies NelsonMandela
JohnGribbin EllekeBoehmer
Geography NuclearWeapons
JohnMatthews&DavidHerbert JosephM.Siracusa
HistoryofLife ScienceandReligion
MichaelBenton ThomasDixon
HistoryofMedicine Sexuality
WilliamBynum V´eroniqueMottier
Law TheUnitedNations
RaymondWacks JussiM.Hanhim¨aki
TheMeaningofLife TheVietnamWar
TerryEagleton MarkAtwoodLawrence
Formoreinformationvisitourwebsite
www.oup.co.uk/general/vsi/
Richard Lyman Bushman
MORMONISM
A Very Short Introduction
1
3
OxfordUniversityPress,Inc.,publishesworksthat
furtherOxfordUniversity’sobjectiveofexcellence
inresearch,scholarship,andeducation.
Oxford NewYork
Auckland CapeTown DaresSalaam HongKong Karachi
KualaLumpur Madrid Melbourne MexicoCity Nairobi
NewDelhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto
Withofficesin
Argentina Austria Brazil Chile CzechRepublic France Greece
Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore
SouthKorea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam
Copyright(cid:1)2008byRichardLymanBushman
PublishedbyOxfordUniversityPress,Inc.
198MadisonAvenue,NewYork,NY10016
www.oup.com
OxfordisaregisteredtrademarkofOxfordUniversityPress
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,
storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,
electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recording,orotherwise,
withoutthepriorpermissionofOxfordUniversityPress.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Bushman,RichardL.
Mormonism:averyshortintroduction/RichardLymanBushman.
p.cm.—(Veryshortintroductions)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN 978–0–19–531030–6(pbk.)
1.ChurchofJesusChristofLatter-daySaints.
2.MormonChurch.I.Title.
BX8635.3.B872008
289.3—dc22
2007044444
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
onacid-freepaper
For Jed Woodworth
Comrade and Friend
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
Listofillustrations xi
Preface xii
1 Introduction
WhatsetsMormonsapart? 1
2 Revelation
HowJosephSmith’srevelationssetthe
patternforeveryMormontoseekinspiration 16
3 Zion
HowtheorganizationoftheCityofZionconstituted
Mormonsasapeopleaswellasachurch 35
4 Priesthood
HowtheMormonpriesthoodisbothhierarchical
anddemocratic 49
5 Cosmology
HowMormonsunderstandthemeaningoflife 64
6 Nineteenth-centuryUtah
Howoldidealsandnewstrugglesformed
Mormonidentity 81