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

Questions for Further Study

• 1. In what ways did Mormonism differ from orthodox Protestantism? What views held by the LDS were regarded as controversial?
• 2. In what sense was the emergence of Mormonism part of the Second Great Awakening?
• 3. Mormons consider the Book of Mormon to be divinely revealed, and thus scriptural, in the same sense that the traditional Bible is regarded as the divinely revealed word of God in the Judeo-Christian tradition. Throughout history, numerous religions have considered various texts scriptural. What in your view defines a scriptural text? How can people know that a text is scriptural?
• 4. In the primary elections leading up to the presidential election of 2008, one of the candidates was Mitt Romney, a businessman, the former governor of Massachusetts, and a Mormon. Some political observers believed that Romney’s Mormonism would stand in the way of his nomination, and in fact Romney did not win the nomination. Do you believe that his religion may have been an obstacle? If so, do you believe this was fair?
• 5. What is the position of the Latter-Day Saints on polygamy? How do you think that the government should respond when a religious practice is contrary to law?