Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Context

The context of the Mormon faith in general and Doctrine and Covenants specifically reaches back to the series of revivals that swept the United States from around 1790 to 1830. This disparate religious renewal is generally called the Second Great Awakening. Various Protestant denominations attempted to enliven and enlighten the people through religious revivals. This open competition between Christian groups and the creative fervor it produced also engendered new and innovative ideas and practices.

The competition between established and new religious groups was especially vehement in the northern area of New York State. The region was named the “burned-over district” in reference to the numerous revival fires that spread through the area. It was to this “burned-over district” that Joseph Smith, Jr., moved with his family in 1816. Smith’s entire family was both excited and confused by the seemingly unlimited religious options open to them. Smith himself was troubled by the various options, with each group claiming to possess the one true way to God. However, one day in 1820, Smith is said to have received an answer to his prayers when he had a vision of a “Father” and “Son” visiting him. The duo informed Smith that all of the present religious groups competing for his devotion were in error and that he must not join any of them. He should rather wait until the true faith was restored to the earth.

This restoration began in the fall of 1823, when the angel Moroni is said to have first visited Smith. According to Smith, Moroni told him of a set of golden tablets that were buried under the hill Cumorah, very close to the Smith family farm. Smith would have to wait four years until he could receive these tablets, and it would take another three years for the tablets, which were written in Reformed Egyptian, to be fully translated. The tablets revealed the ancient story of the lost tribes of Israel, the Lamanites and Nephites, who in 600 BCE came to the land that would later be called America. The two tribes were constantly at war. Jesus was reported to have come to the tribes after his Resurrection, but not even his teachings could deter the groups from their bloody contest. Eventually, the rebellious Lamanites overcame the faithful Nephites, and only the noble warrior Mormon—from whom the work takes its the title—and his son Moroni were left alive. Mormon wrote the epic story of his people on the golden tablets and hid them until God’s appointed time.

The publication of these revelations as the Book of Mormon created a great deal of controversy in the United States, especially along the frontier. Many thousands of people flocked to the new Christian movement, yet many others were appalled by the religious innovation and the claim that any work outside of the Bible could be considered true revelation. As opposition to Smith and his new Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints rose, Smith decided to move the group to Kirtland, Ohio, so that they could receive a fresh start and begin to restore the ancient ways of God on earth. Around this time Smith made it known to his followers that he had been blessed not only with the gift of translation but also with direct revelation from God. In Kirtland, Smith began disclosing additional aspects of the “true” faith. These revelations sometimes dealt with practical matters of church organization, but they also revealed completely new practices and beliefs to Protestant Americans.

The revelations were eventually collected into the work known as Doctrine and Covenants and served to further define the boundaries of the LDS church. They also further distanced Mormons from the Protestant mainstream, so much so that many considered the Mormons to be a sect wholly apart from Christianity itself. However, Smith and his followers insisted that they could do nothing but follow the word of God as it was revealed through Smith and defined themselves over and against the greater culture. This divide between the LDS church and the greater American culture persisted into the twentieth century and, as of the early twenty-first century, had only recently begun to be bridged. The public at large still has very little understanding of actual Mormon practice and belief, and Mormons themselves often exacerbate this ignorance. As such, Doctrine and Covenants is the most concise source for Mormon customs and theology and the clearest window into their sometimes enigmatic world.