Authority and priesthood were concepts that developed gradually in Mormon theology, not as thunderbolts but as ideas that acquired meaning and momentum over time. Acting initially on the basis of implied leadership, Joseph Smith moved toward explicit angelic authority and an increasingly defined structure drawn from biblical models. All the while the structure of higher and lower priesthoods fluctuated in response to pragmatic needs. Priests were needed to perform ordinances, teachers to lead congregations, bishops to manage church assets, and elders to proselytize--responsibilities which would be redistributed repeatedly throughout Smith's fourteen-year ministry. Gregory Prince charts these developments with impressive interpretative skill. Besides the obvious historical significance, he underscores the implications for current Mormon governance. For instance, where innovations have characterized the past, one need not be bound by custom or surprised when church leaders instigate change.
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Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe in continuing revelation, the principle that God can change doctrine and practices through direct communication with prophets. At the same time, most Mormons resist the view that doctrines and practices, once inaugurated, have changed over time. Most prefer to ground their faith on the proposition that once God has revealed a doctrine or practice it has remained generally unchanged. In large part the difficulty Mormons have in accepting change over time has resulted from the failure to recognize the difference between history and narrative tradition. Indeed, many within the Mormon community equate the questioning of traditional stories with attack on the faith. In view of the recent controversies over the attempts to write national history standards and the Enola Gay episode, this should not surprise most historians. After all like most people most Mormons know little and care less about historical or critical theory. In fact, if most historians understood more about the deep attachment people have to receive stories, they would have less difficulty predicting public responses to revisionism. Like many religious peoples, Mormons legitimate their past by learning stories that embody the community traditions. A major difference is that, like most events in the American past but unlike events undergirding communities based on oral or mythic traditions, the founding events of Mormonism took place in recent history and are generally quite well documented. Indeed, participants in the events generally wrote down the common stories a few years after they happened. For Mormons this is extremely important since memory stories understood as history rather than theology confirms practices and doctrines. For instance, Mormons talk about the restoration of the priesthood the authority to act for God on earth. Most members would say that John the Baptist restored the Aaronic or lesser priesthood to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in an epiphany in May 1829 and that Peter, James and John restored the Melchizedek or higher priesthood a month later. In this book, Gregory A. Prince has returned to the historical record in an attempt to understand the texts remaining from the founders and to reconstruct the events covered in the popular stories. In many cases he has found that the traditional narrative either glosses over much of the complexity of the historical past or that the events did not take place in the way generally believed. Beginning with a discussion of the restoration of authority, Prince considers the unfolding of other ordinances and practices in Mormonism. In the case of the restoration of the priesthood, for instance, Prince shows that although Smith and Cowdery reported the receipt of the priesthood through revelation, they did not link the events to epiphanies until 1835. Most refreshingly, readers should not expect to find in Power From On High a book written to debunk or attack Mormonism. Rather, it is written by a believer who understands the Mormon community. Nevertheless, though Prince finds that epiphanies and revelations occurred, he also finds that many of the traditional stories are quite inaccurate. I recommend Power From On High most emphatically for any reader interested in the history of American religion in general and Mormonism in particular. --Journal of American History, Thomas G. Alexander
About the Author
Gregory A. Prince is the director of pharmaceutical research for Virion Systems in Maryland, a visiting professor of pathology at the UCLA School of Medicine, and a research professor of pediatrics at the armed forces University of Health Sciences (USHUS). He is the author ofHaving Authority: The Origins and Development of Priesthood During the Ministry of Joseph Smith, Power From On High: The Development of Mormon Priesthood, and David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An impressive result of research into the development of Mormon priesthood,
By Matthew Bryde (Australia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Power from on High: The Development of Mormon Priesthood (Hardcover)
This book covers the history and progression of the restoration of the priesthood and associated ordinances.
LDS author Gregory Prince apparently spent 8 years scanning more than a half million pages of research to produce this work on early Mormon priesthood development. The focus of this book is to chronologically organise early developments as they were written, not necessarily as they reportedly occurred. As a typical example, the term "Melchizedek Priesthood" did not exist within Mormonism until 1835, but in referring to earlier events, people who wrote after 1835 tended to use that term retroactively. Prince shows that authority and priesthood were concepts that developed gradually, not as instant "restorations" but as ideas that acquired definition and evolution as time passed: "All the while the structure of higher and lower priesthoods fluctuated in response to pragmatic needs. Priests were needed to perform ordinances, teachers to lead congregations, bishops to manage church assets, and elders to proselytize - responsibilities which would be redistributed repeatedly throughout Smith's fourteen-year ministry." While occasionally the author supplies his own interpretation on what he is quoting, he generally allows the reader to make their own assessment of the quoted historical record. This is an impressive result of thorough research which I highly recommended.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Valuable Research into the Restoration of the Priesthood,
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This review is from: Power from on High: The Development of Mormon Priesthood (Hardcover)
Members of the Mormon Priesthood (virtually all men and boys in the church) are familiar with the visit to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery by John the Baptist wherein they received the priesthood and authority to baptize from the angelic visitor. Less clear is the restoration of the higher priesthood with the "keys" to the saving ordinances of the church. For example, we don't know the date that Peter, James, and John restored the authority to bestow the holy ghost as practiced in the New Testament.
Gregory Prince shows that the development of the Mormon Priesthood was a process, not an event. There were several visitations and ordinations. In fact, the higher priesthood--the Melchezidek--was more accurately restored by Elijha, in the sense that the Prophet Joseph received more keys from Elijha than from Peter, James, and John. Likewise, we see that the offices of the Priesthood were revealed and put into practice over time. Section 107 of the Doctrine and Covenants didn't suddenly appear with the outlines of a perfect organization. Questions of precedence were worked out through further revelations over time. From the beginning the Mormon Priesthood was bestowed upon all men (and some boys) in the fledgling church. It was a gift and a source of power for every man, just as it is today. Women, too, recieved this "power from on high" to bless the sick and to perform washings and annointings in the temple. The author shows that although Women recieved "power from on high" they were not ordained to any priesthood offices, and neither was Joseph inclined to do so at any time in the future. The research in this book is exact and comprehensive. The book has a dry tone and sparse style. It sticks to the facts, and is true to it's thesis. A good resource for anyone who wants to understand in more depth how we got this all-important doctrine and resource. It is remarkable that one can read the revelations, statements, and diary entries in this book and visit any Mormon church on Sunday and see the very same offices, keys, and organization practiced 170 years later. This book is primarily of interest to members of the LDS church, but it is also a good historical reference that may be of assistance to researchers.
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