Rachel Cope - How and What You Worship: The 49th Annual Brigham Young University Sidney B. Sperry Symposium

Introduction

I n 1820 Joseph Smith experienced a glorious theophany that opened an era of restoration. This singular event occurred because one young man acted upon his knowledge of Christ. As a result of such efforts, Joseph received what he had been seeking: forgiveness of his sins. He also received divine instruction, the import of which he only came to understand during the subsequent two decades. While the Father and the Son had appeared to the teenage Joseph and revealed significant truths to him, it took learning, experience, and reflection for him to fully comprehend the profound nature of what he had seen and heard. His efforts to translate the Book of Mormon, organize the Church of Christ, revise the Bible, and restore other sacred scriptures, structures, truths, and practices shed light on his initial encounter with deity. Over time, he achieved a mature understanding of his youthful experience. In his later accounts of what became known as the First Vision, Joseph emphasized the Lords command to not join other churches and the promise that the truth would be made known to him in due time. His successive experiences and ongoing revelations helped him recognize the salience of these early directions. They also gifted him an understanding of what he had heard, as well as what he had seen; they provided him with insight into the nature of God and of Jesus Christ, the beings whom he worshipped and to whom he would consecrate the remainder of his life.

On 6 May 1833, about thirteen years after his First Vision, Joseph received a revelation that expanded his knowledge of Christ and his understanding of how to act upon that knowledge. In drawing upon and clarifying Johannine teachings about the Lord, the latter-day revelation shared truths meant to help early Church members understand and know how to worship and know what [they] worship (Doctrine and Covenants 93:19). This revelatory reworking of the Prologue of John (John 1:118) sheds light not only on the subject of our worship, Christ, but also on the process of how to worship him. Although the immediate context of the revelation remains obscureand perhaps tellingly soit uncovered truths about the nature of Christ, who, according to the account, continued from a grace to grace, until he received a fulness (Doctrine and Covenants 93:13). The revelation went further in linking those truths to the process of worship by instructing its audience to obey Christs commandments, which would allow them to receive grace for grace (93:20). It also clarified that the revealed understanding of the nature of Christ had power to unveil the erstwhile obscured nature of those who worship him.

In addressing both the who and the how of worship, the revelation now known as section 93 of the Doctrine and Covenants deals with concepts that scholars term Christology and praxis . Christology has to do with the study of Christs nature and mission, while praxis involves religious practice and worship. In light of Smiths experiences and revelations, the study of Christ demands attention to the spiritual and intellectual quest (Doctrine and Covenants 88:118) to know the Savior (John 17:3). That section 93 should insist on the how of worship indicates that praxis is inseparable from knowledge of Christ: as King Benjamin taught, it is a mark of discipleship, the outward manifestation of knowledge (Mosiah 5:15). But it is also more encompassing; it is more wholistic. In a revelation dictated by Joseph Smith in 1829, the Lord enjoined those who embark in the service of God to serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength (Doctrine and Covenants 4:2). Praxis , in other words, also comprises the imperceptible workings of both heart and mind. When knowledge and practice combine, the outward manifestation may be insufficient to convey the intensity and beauty of inner devotion (1 Samuel 1:913).

Although something essential about the interaction between knowledge and practice remains hidden from view, the revelations and teachings of Joseph Smith open up vistas on this relationship and constitute a unique textual setting to analyze its meaning and power. Josephs latter-day scriptural productions and instructions on Christ and discipleship in particular prize learning as both a form of worship and a central component in the process of salvation. In one such revelation, the Lord taught the members, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith (Doctrine and Covenants 88:118).

Latter-day Saint commentary on this passage has a long and illustrious history. After citing it in the introduction to the final volume of his Seventys Course in Theology , early twentieth-century historian and writer B. H. Roberts illustrated the connection between study and faith by referencing another revelatory passage, the one in which the Lord explained to Oliver Cowdery that he had failed to translate the Book of Mormon because he had not studied it out in [his] mind (Doctrine and Covenants 9:8).