Portal:History of the Latter Day Saint movement

For a topic timeline on this subject, see Timeline of Mormonism

History of the Latter Day Saint movement An 1893 engraving depicting Joseph Smith's description of receiving artifacts from the angel Moroni. The Latter Day Saint movement is a religious movement within Christianity that arose during the Second Great Awakening in the early 19th century and that led to the set of doctrines, practices, and cultures called Mormonism, and to the existence of numerous Latter Day Saint churches. Its history is characterized by intense controversy and persecution in reaction to some of the movement's doctrines and practices and their relationship to mainstream Christianity (see Mormonism and Christianity). The purpose of this article is to give an overview of the different groups, beliefs, and denominations that began with the influence of Joseph Smith. The founder of the Latter Day Saint movement was Joseph Smith, who was raised in the burned-over district of Upstate New York. Smith stated that, in response to prayer, he saw God the Father and Jesus Christ, as well as angels and other visions. This eventually led him to a restoration of Christian doctrine that, he said, was lost after the early Christian apostles were killed. In addition, several early leaders made marked doctrinal and leadership contributions to the movement, including Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Brigham Young. Modern-day revelation from God continues to be a principal belief of the Mormon faith. Mormon history as an academic field is called Mormon studies. (Full article...) (Read More ...) Selected article Mormon handcart pioneers are memorialized on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Mormon religion is predicated on what are said to be historical events such as the First Vision of Joseph Smith and the historicity of the Book of Mormon, which describes a detailed pre-Columbian history of the Americas. Joseph Fielding Smith, the tenth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), declared that "Mormonism, as it is called, must stand or fall on the story of Joseph Smith. He was either a prophet of God, divinely called, properly appointed and commissioned, or he was one of the biggest frauds this world has ever seen. There is no middle ground." As Jan Shipps has written, "Mormonism, unlike other modern religions, is a faith cast in the form of history," and until after World War II, Mormons did not critically examine the historical underpinnings of their faith; any "profane" investigation of the church's history was perceived "as trespassing on forbidden ground." Although traditional Christianity is likewise a history religion, few primary sources survive from two or three millennia ago, and biblical places such as Jerusalem, Jericho, and Bethlehem, are acknowledged to exist by scholars of every religious persuasion. Likewise, the Assyrian and Babylonian empires mentioned in the Bible are treated in all histories of the ancient Near East. By contrast, locations of Book of Mormon places are disputed even by Mormons, and the existence of those places is not acknowledged by any non-Mormon scholars. Martin Marty, a Lutheran scholar of American religion, has observed that LDS beginnings are so recent "that there is no place to hide. ... There is little protection for Mormon sacredness." (Full article...) Portal:History of the Latter Day Saint movement/box-footer Selected biography George Quayle Cannon (January 11, 1827 – April 12, 1901) was an early member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), and served in the First Presidency under four successive presidents of the church: Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, and Lorenzo Snow. He was the church's chief political strategist, and was dubbed "the Mormon premier" and "the Mormon Richelieu" by the press. He was also a five-time Utah territorial delegate to the U.S. Congress. (Full article...) Portal:History of the Latter Day Saint movement/box-footer Selected Location LDS Church History Library The Church History Library (CHL) is a research center and archives building housing materials chronicling the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). The library is owned by the Church and opened in 2009 in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah. (Full article...) Portal:History of the Latter Day Saint movement/box-footer Categories History of the Latter Day Saint movement 19th-century Mormonism 20th-century Mormonism 21st-century Mormonism History books about the Latter Day Saint movement History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints) Danites Defunct Latter Day Saint organizations Latter Day Saint denominations Historians of the Latter Day Saint movement Mormonism and law LGBT Mormon history Mormon fundamentalism Mormon museums 1838 Mormon War Mormonism and women Significant places in Mormonism Topics History of the Latter Day Saint movement: Early participants in the Latter Day Saint movement - Mormonism and history - New Mormon history - History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - History of the Community of Christ 19th-century Mormonism: 1886 Revelation - Late Corp. of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints v. United States · Latter Day Saint polygamy in the late-19th century - Temple Lot Case - Mormon pioneers 20th-century Mormonism: 1978 Revelation on Priesthood - Good Neighbor policy (LDS Church) - Indian Placement Program - September Six - Davis v. United States (1990) 21st-century Mormonism: Feminist Mormon Housewives - Ordain Women - Perpetual Education Fund Mormonism in the 19th century - Mormonism in the 20th century - Mormonism in the 21st century Wikipedia Books on Mormonism Related portals WikiProjects History Latter Day Saint movement Things to do Suggest new feature articles and pictures. Contribute to the wikiprojects Wikimedia The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject: Commons Free media repository Wikibooks Free textbooks and manuals Wikidata Free knowledge base Wikinews Free-content news Wikiquote Collection of quotations Wikisource Free-content library Wikiversity Free learning tools Wiktionary Dictionary and thesaurus