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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
History of the "Other Mormons" of Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Community of Christ) and Their Lore,
By C-P Parker "Jerry Parker" (région de l'Abitibi, QC) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Story of the Church (Paperback)
The infamous "King Follet Discourse" is the kind of madly blasphemous text which expresses a polytheistically pagan concept of godhood, that, for purposes of contrast with the Trinitarian moderation of the R.L.D.S. Mormons expressed in nearly any of their classic formulations of belief, provides a stunning example of just how different two faiths which emerged from the same original religious movement can be! Few religiously observant folk are even aware of even the name, much less of the history and rich cultural and intellectual lore of the R.L.D.S. Mormon denomination! Inez Smith Davis, a solidly R.L.D.S.-loyal "true believer", recounts the early history of Mormonism generally, in the first part of this book, then how the R.L.D.S. Church coalesced and flourished under Joseph Smith III (the son of the rogue founding "prophet" of all Mormonism, Joseph Smith Junior) and then developped the original "Restorationist" deposit of Joseph Smith Jr.'s faith legacy. It is best to start with a general survey of what R.L.D.S. Mormonism and its ecclesiastical body were, have been, and have become, to give Amazon's of avid readers a sense of perspective about this lovable oddity among sectarian Christian entities.
The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (a.k.a. Community of Christ) is an interesting, even rather sympathetic such group. It really represented for most of its history what early Mormonism was like, before Joseph Smith Junior became deeply immersed into his polytheistic, polygamous, and Masonically pagan and most gnostic final phase. There are a number of factors to account for this. The "old Mormonism" (my own convenient term) held on and even flourished among several minority Mormon denominations. One factor accounting for this has to do with geographical location. The "old Mormons" were isolated from the L.D.S. Mormons far off in Utah. "Old Mormon" pockets were scattered through the Midwest, as well as Texas and Northern California. The formation of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (and note that they do not use the hyphen between 7th and 8th words of their name) was a coming together of some of these isolated Mormon groups and individuals in the latter part of the 19th century. Another factor which this "old Mormonism" could use to justify its existence and its beliefs is due to Joseph Smith's secrecy about some of the radically unchristian teachings which he promoted clandestinely among select initiates amongst his followers (e.g., polygamy being the one that comes up for discussion most often). Smith was so secretive, in fact, that he never presented to his followers at large, i.e. to "the Church" (of his co-religionists) during his actual lifetime, the weird later "revelations", or, at least, the most bizarre of them, to explain and to promote them publicly to seek the votes of approval that were supposed to seal his teachings as authoritative. Hence, the "old Mormons", logically enough, rejected those strangest of their founding prophet's teachings and even denied that many of them ever were Smith's own as long as they could do so. In fact, Inez Smith Davis makes just such denials herself! Her book, which went through many printings with less, shall it be said, than truly thorough-going revisions after her death, depicts the R.L.D.S. Church, which she so loved and to which she was so unwaveringly loyal, in an "old-fashioned" zealous manner that probably explains why many adherents of the Community of Christ in recent times have felt sufficiently uncomfortable with her ardour in chronicling R.L.D.S. Mormonism's history, so much the case that this zesty history has been allowed to lapse into unavailability (although it had gone through several editions and many printings, even as late as 1996)! Here, this reviewer is discussing the R.L.D.S. Community of Christ with more candidly historical accuracy than one actually encounters in the pages of Davis' own sincere account, in order to orient readers to the reality of what she otherwise chronicles quite well. Since some of Joseph Smith's putative "translations" of supposedly newly discovered "scripture", most notably the "Pearl of Great Price", never came publically before "the Church" for official adoption, the "old Mormons" rejected them, also, with contempt. The outrageous "King Follett Discourse" (pronounced by Joseph Smith, Junior, on the occasion of a funeral) was not even an officially promulgated "revelation" of the usual sort, L.D.S. and/or R.L.D.S., quite apart from the absence of the approval mechanisms for giving it official status as originally construed for such a process, so, needless to say, the R.L.D.S. Mormons reject the "King Follett Discourse" as utterly and completely as one can imagine! Those R.L.D.S. loyalists, like Davis in her history of Mormonism, even deny its authenticity, which, however (and alas!), is beyond doubt. The L.D.S. cult based in Utah came to accept nearly every word that Joseph Smith Junior penned as being of authoritative status. Trash like the "Pearl of Great Price" and much of the content of the L.D.S. cult's own edition of the "Doctrine and Covenants". Of course, there are parts of even the L.D.S. text of the D&C which are compatible with Christian teaching taken in a large sense, and they are included in the R.L.D.S. edition of that work. It is such documents (the "Pearl of Great Price" and others) being accepted by the L.D.S., but rejected by the R.L.D.S., which go far to account for the L.D.S. being polytheistically pagan and for the R.L.D.S. being Trinitarian and Christian; there were initially some slightly peculiar aspects of "old Mormon" trinitarianism, but as time went by the R.L.D.S. sect's teaching tended to coalesce fully into what typifies the Trinitarianian doctrine that all of the Western religious groups, Catholic, Protestant, and sectarian alike accept. Anyway, the R.L.D.S., a.k.a. Community of Christ, has drifted, especially since Inez Smith Davis' own times, into a mild form of prevailing liberalism, bit it still holds to its body of accepted "scripture" and, curiously, adds more of its leaders' more frequent putative revelations to the R.L.D.S. edition of the "Doctrine and Covenants" than the L.D.S. cult has added to its own. The Community of Christ is a very dynamic group, even if much smaller than the L.D.S. cult. It has become considered to be one of the groups of denominations and sects which are called by ecumenists "the Peace Churches". Its folk tend to be well educated, artistic, and progressive in thought, but they are not among the real "lunatics" of radicalism. The R.L.D.S. musical heritage is as rich as that of the famously musical L.D.S. cult. In a way, one cannot help but to hope the best for the R.L.D.S. people, although, of course, it would be marvellous if they would meld into the One Holy Roman and Catholic Church and cease their corporate life as such, which one could say of most other forms of essentially American folk religion! The mostly pan-evangelical "orthodoxy", relatively speaking, that characterises R.L.D.S. Mormonism's founding formulation, is, essentially, a blend of Methodism, Campbellism (e.g., the teaching of the Disciples of Christ denomination in its early days), and of the belief system of the Baptists, but with a burden of inauthentic non-biblical pseudo-scriptures (which only partly coincide with those of the L.D.S. pagan Mormons) added on. Of course, the members of the R.L.D.S. Community of Christ have as much of a spiritual duty to convert to the Catholic faith as any other non-Catholic Christians have such a duty. There is no good excuse, ultimately, to holding to any form of Mormonism, which is tainted at its very source, by Joseph Smith's pretentions, deep personal sinfulness, and egotism. However, do bear in mind that R.L.D.S. Mormons really are Christians of a sort rather than direly lost polytheistic pagans, as the L.D.S. Mormons are. Despite such sentiments about Mormons generally, and the R.L.D.S. believers specifically, this writer thinks about how enchanting it would have been to meet the ever feisty Inez Smith Davis in person and to have discussed all of this with her!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Trinitarian Mormonism's Saga Recounted: the Community of Christ (a.k.a. Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints),
By C-P Parker "Jerry Parker" (région de l'Abitibi, QC) - See all my reviews The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (a.k.a. Community of Christ) is an interesting, even rather sympathetic such group. It really represented for most of its history what early Mormonism was like, before Joseph Smith Junior became deeply immersed into his polytheistic, polygamous, and Masonically pagan and most gnostic final phase. There are a number of factors to account for this. The "old Mormonism" (this writer's own convenient term) held on and even flourished among several minority Mormon denominations. One factor accounting for this has to do with geographical location. The "old Mormons" were isolated from the L.D.S. Mormons far off in Utah. "Old Mormon" pockets were scattered through the Midwest, as well as Texas and Northern California. The formation of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (and note that they do not use the hyphen between 7th and 8th words of their name) was a coming together of some of these isolated Mormon groups and individuals in the latter half of the 19th century. Another factor which this "old Mormonism" could use to justify its existence and its beliefs is due to Joseph Smith's secrecy about some of the radically unchristian teachings which he promoted clandestinely among select initiates amongst his followers (e.g., polygamy being the one that comes up for discussion most often). Smith was so secretive, in fact, that he never presented to his followers at large, i.e. to "the Church" (of his co-religionists) during his actual lifetime, the weird later "revelations", or, at least, the most bizarre of them, to explain and to promote them publicly to seek the votes of approval that were supposed to seal his teachings as authoritative. Hence, the "old Mormons", logically enough, rejected those strangest of their founding prophet's teachings and even denied that many of them ever were Smith's own as long as they could do so. In fact, Inez Smith Davis makes just such denials herself! Her book, which went through many printings and less, shall it be said, than truly thorough-going revisions after her death, depicts the R.L.D.S. Church, which she so loved and to which she was so unwaveringly loyal, in an "old-fashioned" zealous manner that probably explains why many adherents of the Community of Christ in recent times have felt sufficiently uncomfortable with her ardour in chronicling R.L.D.S. Mormonism's history, so much the case that this zesty history has been allowed intermittently to lapse into unavailability since the 1980s (although editions and printings include one that Herald House issued as late as 1996)! Here, this reviewer is discussing the R.L.D.S. Community of Christ with more candidly historical accuracy than one actually encounters in the pages of Davis' own sincere account, in order to orient readers to the reality of what she otherwise chronicles quite well. Since some of Joseph Smith's putative "translations" of supposedly newly discovered "scripture", most notably the "Pearl of Great Price", never came publically before "the Church" for official adoption, the "old Mormons" rejected them, also, with contempt. The outrageous "King Follett Discourse" (pronounced by Joseph Smith, Junior, on the occasion of a funeral) was not even an officially promulgated "revelation" of the usual sort, L.D.S. and/or R.L.D.S., quite apart from the absence of the approval mechanisms for giving it official status as originally construed for such a process, so, needless to say, the R.L.D.S. Mormons reject the "King Follett Discourse" as utterly and completely as one can imagine! Those R.L.D.S. loyalists, like Davis in her history of Mormonism, even deny its authenticity, which, however (and alas!), is beyond doubt. The L.D.S. cult based in Utah came to accept nearly every word that Joseph Smith Junior penned as being of authoritative status. Trash like the "Pearl of Great Price" and much of the content of the L.D.S. cult's own edition of the "Doctrine and Covenants". Of course, there are parts of even the L.D.S. text of the D&C which are compatible with Christian teaching taken in a large sense, and they are included in the R.L.D.S. edition of that work. It is such documents (the "Pearl of Great Price" and others) being accepted by the L.D.S., but rejected by the R.L.D.S., which go far to account for the L.D.S. being polytheistically pagan and for the R.L.D.S. being Trinitarian and Christian; there were initially some slightly peculiar aspects of "old Mormon" trinitarianism, but as time went by the R.L.D.S. sect's teaching tended to coalesce fully into what typifies the Trinitarianian doctrine that all of the Western religious groups, Catholic, Protestant, and sectarian alike accept. Anyway, the R.L.D.S. Church, a.k.a. Community of Christ, has drifted, especially since Inez Smith Davis' own times, into a mild form of prevailing liberalism, bit it still holds to its body of accepted "scripture" and, curiously, adds more of its leaders' more frequent putative revelations to the R.L.D.S. edition of the "Doctrine and Covenants" than the L.D.S. cult has added to its own. The Community of Christ is a very dynamic group, even if much smaller than the L.D.S. cult. It has become considered to be one of the groups of denominations and sects which are called by ecumenists "the Peace Churches". Its folk tend to be well educated, artistic, and progressive in thought, but they are not among the real "lunatics" of radicalism. The R.L.D.S. musical heritage is as rich as that of the famously musical L.D.S. cult. In a way, one cannot help but to hope the best for the R.L.D.S. people, although, of course, it would be marvellous if they would meld into the One Holy Roman and Catholic Church and cease their corporate life as such, which one could say of most other forms of essentially American folk religion! The mostly pan-evangelical kind of "orthodoxy", relatively speaking, that characterises R.L.D.S. Mormonism's founding formulation, is, essentially, a blend of Methodism, Campbellism (e.g., the teaching of the Disciples of Christ denomination in its early days), and of some of the belief system of the Baptists, but with a burden of inauthentic non-biblical pseudo-scriptures (which only partly coincide with those of the L.D.S. pagan Mormons) added on. Of course, the members of the R.L.D.S. Community of Christ have as much of a spiritual duty to convert to the Catholic faith as any other non-Catholic Christians have such a duty. There is no good excuse, ultimately, to holding to any form of Mormonism, which is tainted at its very source, by Joseph Smith's pretentions, deep personal sinfulness, and egotism. However, do bear in mind that R.L.D.S. Mormons really are Christians of a distinct sort rather than direly lost polytheistic pagans, as the L.D.S. Mormons are. Despite such sentiments about Mormons generally, and the R.L.D.S. believers specifically, this writer thinks about how enchanting it would have been to meet the ever feisty Inez Smith Davis in person and to have discussed all of this with her!
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mormon but Also Trinitarian: the Saga of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a.k.a. Community of Christ,
By C-P Parker "Jerry Parker" (région de l'Abitibi, QC) - See all my reviews The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (a.k.a. Community of Christ) is an interesting, even rather sympathetic such group. It really represented for most of its history what early Mormonism was like, before Joseph Smith Junior became deeply immersed into his polytheistic, polygamous, and Masonically pagan and most gnostic final phase. There are a number of factors to account for this. The "old Mormonism" (this writer's own convenient term) held on and even flourished among several minority Mormon denominations. One factor accounting for this has to do with geographical location. The "old Mormons" were isolated from the L.D.S. Mormons far off in Utah. "Old Mormon" pockets were scattered through the Midwest, as well as Texas and Northern California. The formation of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (and note that they do not use the hyphen between 7th and 8th words of their name) was a coming together of some of these isolated Mormon groups and individuals in the latter half of the 19th century. Another factor which this "old Mormonism" could use to justify its existence and its beliefs is due to Joseph Smith's secrecy about some of the radically unchristian teachings which he promoted clandestinely among select initiates amongst his followers (e.g., polygamy being the one that comes up for discussion most often). Smith was so secretive, in fact, that he never presented to his followers at large, i.e. to "the Church" (of his co-religionists) during his actual lifetime, the weird later "revelations", or, at least, the most bizarre of them, to explain and to promote them publicly to seek the votes of approval that were supposed to seal his teachings as authoritative. Hence, the "old Mormons", logically enough, rejected those strangest of their founding prophet's teachings and even denied that many of them ever were Smith's own as long as they could do so. In fact, Inez Smith Davis makes just such denials herself! Her book, which went through many printings and less, shall it be said, than truly thorough-going revisions after her death, depicts the R.L.D.S. Church, which she so loved and to which she was so unwaveringly loyal, in an "old-fashioned" zealous manner that probably explains why many adherents of the Community of Christ in recent times have felt sufficiently uncomfortable with her ardour in chronicling R.L.D.S. Mormonism's history, so much the case that this zesty history has been allowed intermittently to lapse into unavailability since the 1980s (although editions and printings include one that Herald House issued as late as 1996)! Here, this reviewer is discussing the R.L.D.S. Community of Christ with more candidly historical accuracy than one actually encounters in the pages of Davis' own sincere account, in order to orient readers to the reality of what she otherwise chronicles quite well. Since some of Joseph Smith's putative "translations" of supposedly newly discovered "scripture", most notably the "Pearl of Great Price", never came publically before "the Church" for official adoption, the "old Mormons" rejected them, also, with contempt. The outrageous "King Follett Discourse" (pronounced by Joseph Smith, Junior, on the occasion of a funeral) was not even an officially promulgated "revelation" of the usual sort, L.D.S. and/or R.L.D.S., quite apart from the absence of the approval mechanisms for giving it official status as originally construed for such a process, so, needless to say, the R.L.D.S. Mormons reject the "King Follett Discourse" as utterly and completely as one can imagine! Those R.L.D.S. loyalists, like Davis in her history of Mormonism, even deny its authenticity, which, however (and alas!), is beyond doubt. The L.D.S. cult based in Utah came to accept nearly every word that Joseph Smith Junior penned as being of authoritative status. Trash like the "Pearl of Great Price" and much of the content of the L.D.S. cult's own edition of the "Doctrine and Covenants". Of course, there are parts of even the L.D.S. text of the D&C which are compatible with Christian teaching taken in a large sense, and they are included in the R.L.D.S. edition of that work. It is such documents (the "Pearl of Great Price" and others) being accepted by the L.D.S., but rejected by the R.L.D.S., which go far to account for the L.D.S. being polytheistically pagan and for the R.L.D.S. being Trinitarian and Christian; there were initially some slightly peculiar aspects of "old Mormon" trinitarianism, but as time went by the R.L.D.S. sect's teaching tended to coalesce fully into what typifies the Trinitarianian doctrine that all of the Western religious groups, Catholic, Protestant, and sectarian alike accept. Anyway, the R.L.D.S. Church, a.k.a. Community of Christ, has drifted, especially since Inez Smith Davis' own times, into a mild form of prevailing liberalism, bit it still holds to its body of accepted "scripture" and, curiously, adds more of its leaders' more frequent putative revelations to the R.L.D.S. edition of the "Doctrine and Covenants" than the L.D.S. cult has added to its own. The Community of Christ is a very dynamic group, even if much smaller than the L.D.S. cult. It has become considered to be one of the groups of denominations and sects which are called by ecumenists "the Peace Churches". Its folk tend to be well educated, artistic, and progressive in thought, but they are not among the real "lunatics" of radicalism. The R.L.D.S. musical heritage is as rich as that of the famously musical L.D.S. cult. In a way, one cannot help but to hope the best for the R.L.D.S. people, although, of course, it would be marvellous if they would meld into the One Holy Roman and Catholic Church and cease their corporate life as such, which one could say of most other forms of essentially American folk religion! The mostly pan-evangelical kind of "orthodoxy", relatively speaking, that characterises R.L.D.S. Mormonism's founding formulation, is, essentially, a blend of Methodism, Campbellism (e.g., the teaching of the Disciples of Christ denomination in its early days), and of some of the belief system of the Baptists, but with a burden of inauthentic non-biblical pseudo-scriptures (which only partly coincide with those of the L.D.S. pagan Mormons) added on. Of course, the members of the R.L.D.S. Community of Christ have as much of a spiritual duty to convert to the Catholic faith as any other non-Catholic Christians have such a duty. There is no good excuse, ultimately, to holding to any form of Mormonism, which is tainted at its very source, by Joseph Smith's pretentions, deep personal sinfulness, and egotism. However, do bear in mind that R.L.D.S. Mormons really are Christians of a distinct sort rather than direly lost polytheistic pagans, as the L.D.S. Mormons are. Despite such sentiments about Mormons generally, and the R.L.D.S. believers specifically, this writer thinks about how enchanting it would have been to meet the ever feisty Inez Smith Davis in person and to have discussed all of this with her!
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