Mormonism’s founding stories and doctrines germinated in upstate New York in the early-nineteenth century, where new religious sects produced a rainforest of novel revelations. Much of the teaching reflects the liberal Protestantism of the time: belief in continuing revelation, denial of original sin, and unbridled optimism about human perfectibility. Mix that in with the Bible and other scriptures held to be divinely revealed, and the result is Mormonism.

The Book of Mormon, which for Mormons is equal in authority to the Bible, proclaims itself “another testament of Jesus Christ.” Indeed it is, for it purports to give us another history of what our Lord said and did — not one to replace the witness of the gospels but to supplement it. This third testament contains the stories of Christ’s visits, soon after his Ascension, to the Nephites, a branch of the House of Israel, which came to the Americas around 600 B.C., just prior to the Babylonian captivity. In A.D. 421, the other of the two major Book of Mormon peoples, the Lamanites, defeated the Nephites in battle near present-day Palmyra, New York. Mormon, the vanquished Nephite general, had inscribed the history of his people on golden plates, which his son Moroni buried for safekeeping.

According to official Mormon history, Moroni returned in 1823 as an angel and visited Joseph Smith (1805-1844), the son of a Vermont farmer. Some time earlier, the Smith family had relocated to the Finger Lakes region of New York. When Joseph was fourteen he was visited by God the Father and Jesus, who told him that all existing churches were false and he was to reestablish the true Church. In 1827, at the angel Moroni’s behest, he dug near the crest of a hill near Palmyra and unearthed the golden plates. With them were the Urim and Thummin, flat “seer” stones used as a divine oracle, like those described in the Old Testament (Ex 28:30; Num 27:21; 1 Sam 28:6, among others). Four years later, Joseph took possession of the plates and, using the stones, deciphered the inscriptions from a previously unknown language described as “Reformed Egyptian.” The result was the Book of Mormon, published at Palmyra in 1830.

The Book of Mormon contains many verbatim passages from the New Testament but also much that is alien to historic Christianity. It relates that Jesus visited the Nephites and taught them something very close to the King James Version of the Sermon on the Mount, healed their sick, raised the dead, administered Communion with bread and wine, and commissioned twelve native apostles.

Another significant moment in Mormonism’s development was in 1829 when Joseph Smith reported that John the Baptist had appeared to him and his scribe and ordained them to the Aaronic or Old Testament priesthood. They also claimed to have been visited by the Apostles Peter, James, and John who conferred on them the higher priesthood of Melchizedek.

With this higher calling, Smith founded the LDS on April 6, 1830, at Fayette, New York. He wrote down further revelations from Jesus, which form a major part of Mormon doctrine today: the “Doctrine and Covenants” and the “Pearl of Great Price.” Mormons progressed westward to Ohio, where they built a temple at Kirtland and chose twelve apostles as Smith’s assistants. Some Mormons went to England as missionaries; others continued to Missouri, where they entered into conflict with the old settlers and eventually were expelled.

Most observers were suspicious of Mormonism, especially with its exclusive claims and secret rituals, but especially because of rumors of polygamy — always a controversial subject for Mormons. (Smith had thirty wives.) The legitimacy of polygamy was allegedly revealed to Smith in 1843, but it was only after the largest group of Mormons settled in Utah that polygamy was openly practiced. Under government pressure, the LDS finally gave it up in 1890. Today the LDS does not endorse polygamy, although smaller breakaway sects continue the practice.

Because of this and other controversies, Smith was jailed numerous times, as well as tarred and feathered. On June 27, 1844, while awaiting trial in Carthage, Illinois, he and his brother Hyrum were shot to death by a mob. The LDS was left without a defined leader. Eventually one did emerge: Brigham Young (1801-1877), Smith’s longtime supporter and fellow Vermonter. In 1846, Young led many of the Mormons on a harsh trek westward in order “to get away from Christians and out of the United States.” Survivors of the perilous journey reached the valley of the Great Salt Lake (then a part of Mexico) in 1847 and established a permanent community, bringing a rich harvest from what was barren desert.

Not all LDS members accepted Young’s leadership. The largest of these splinter groups eventually became the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with headquarters near Independence, Missouri. While much smaller than the LDS (only 250,000 members), this group disavows some of Smith’s more esoteric doctrines and is today practically indistinguishable from any mainline Protestant denomination. In 2001 they were renamed the Community of Christ.

Mormons fervidly maintain that they are true Christians, while most Christians say Mormonism is not Christian. We’ll take up this question next time, when we consider the distinctive doctrines, rites, and structure of the LDS.

Father Kocik is a parochial vicar at Santo Christo Parish in Fall River.