A Grand American Enigma Volume 1: Exploring the Foundations of the Latter-day Saints (A Grand American Enigma, Volumes 1, 2, 3, & 4) - 7259

In the early nineteenth century of antebellum America, Mormonism arose as a specter on the stage of religious absolutism, demanding recognition as “the only true and living Church upon the face of the whole earth,” while shamelessly unhinging the “entire gospel framework” of the doctrinal creeds and “Councils of Antiquity,” reconfiguring Christian orthodoxy and the very nature of the Godhead. Joseph Smith (1805-1844), Mormonism’s founding Prophet and first President, contravened the mores of conventional wisdom and clearly defined Biblical mandates by reinterpreting and profusely adding to, what orthodox Christians believe is, the already complete and unamenable corpus of the Scriptural canon. In addition to the Bible (The LDS Church uses the Authorized King James Version as its official Bible for historical continuity with the so-called “restoration”), the Latter-day Saints have canonized the Book of Mormon, the Pearl of Great Price and the Doctrine and Covenants. Joseph Smith shamelessly, and devil-may-care, exploited and redefined the norms of commonly held beliefs, implicitly demanding that his followers commit themselves to a totally new paradigm of who God is and how it is that God saves. Smith boldly asserted his calling and preeminence as the chosen arbiter (appointed by Moroni, an “angelic” messenger) heralding in the so-called “Restoration” of the Kingdom of God, establishing the ideal theocratic society (a “theocratic-democracy,” or as some have suggested, a theocratic despotism) in what the Mormon Church has defined as “The Last Dispensation.”
ASIN: B0C91TNLT7
VSKU: BVV.B0C91TNLT7.VG
Condition: Very Good
Author/Artist:McIsaac, Edward Eugene
Binding: Paperback