Andrew Bolton - Restorations: Scholars in Dialogue from Community of Christ and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Cover painting: Kirtland Ohio Temple . Courtesy of Brent Borup. www.BrentBorup.com.

Published by the Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, in cooperation with John Whitmer Books in Independence, Missouri, and Deseret Book Company, Salt Lake City, Utah.

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Cover and interior design by Carmen Durland Cole.

ISBN 978-1-9503-0431-8 | eISBN 978-1-64933-170-0

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Bolton, Andrew, 1950 editor. | Griffiths, Casey Paul, editor.

Title: Restorations : scholars in dialogue from Community of Christ and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints / edited by Andrew Bolton, Casey Paul Griffiths.

Description: Provo, Utah : Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University ; Salt Lake City, Utah : Deseret Book Company, [2022] | Includes index. | Summary: This book contains reflections from two groups of scholars who trace their beginnings to the early Saints who built the Kirtland Temple. These scholars come from the two largest branches of the Restoration movement, Community of Christ and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who have often found themselves on the opposite sides of many issues. This book is filled with honest, frank conversations between people of the two faiths but also collegiality and friendship. Centered on twelve themes, this dialogue is about bringing together informed scholars from the two churches working together, with good will, to accurately understand each other Provided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2022004234 | ISBN 9781950304318 (paperback) | eISBN 978-1-64933-170-0 (eBook)

Subjects: LCSH: Community of ChristRelationsChurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. | Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsRelationsCommunity of Christ. | Community of ChristDoctrines. | Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsDoctrines.

Classification: LCC BX8647 .R47 2022 | DDC 264/.093dc23/eng/20220308

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022004234

Contents

Introduction

Sacred Spaces of Dialogue and Meeting

T he Kirtland Temple, Ohio, built on the highest ground available, rises majestically above trees and other buildings. It was dedicated with prayer, song, and preaching in 1836 by the rejoicing Saints. Architecturally, the temple is a grand structure mixing Federal, Greek Revival, and Gothic Revival styles that creates a new fusion of beauty and reverence. It was built at great sacrifice by the early Latter Day Saints who felt they were restoring the Acts 2 church, complete with a temple and consecration of goods in the cause of Zion. Over time, the appearance of the temple has undergone many changes. According to contemporary accounts, the walls of the temple were bluish gray, the roof was red, and the doors were olive green. The doors remain the same color today, but much about the structure evolved and changed over the years. Today the temple is covered with a beautiful white stucco, allowing it to gleam brightly in the sunlight. But underneath the smooth surface created by the stucco, the actual walls of the temple consist of random-sized stones, cemented together and held in place as much by the faith of its early builders as the mortar they placed between the stones. This House of the Lord It is a place where all people can find a home for thought, contemplation, and reflection on the things of a higher and better world, including Community of Christ and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Although with a common early history, both churches, like the Kirtland Temple itself, have much more complexity beneath the surface.

This book contains reflections from two groups of scholars who both trace their beginnings to the early Saints who built the Kirtland Temple. They come from the two largest branches of the Restoration movement, Community of Christ and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who have often found themselves on the opposite sides of many issues. They may both be part of the same original family, but, like many families, find themselves at times divided with contention and bad feelings. In different eras, contention centered on the shared sacred spaces of both groups, including the Kirtland Temple itself. Geography, in part, explains our differences.

Today the mountain Saints and the prairie Saints are both worldwide Saints. Now, more than two hundred years since the first revelatory experiences of Joseph Smith Jr., perhaps a family reunion of sorts is in order. The conversation between the scholars who wrote this book began tentatively in 2016. We carried many misunderstandings and misconceptions into our first conversations. Over time we gradually grew to respect each other and even became comfortable enough to engage in some good-natured teasing in our fellowship together. This book is filled with honest, frank conversations but also collegiality and friendship. From the beginning we all acknowledged that our work was not about uniting the two churches or converting each other. Each faith has a unique and vibrant character that has flourished under greatly different circumstances. This dialogue is about bringing together informed scholars from the two churchesscholars who are working together, with goodwill, to accurately understand each other. We now warmly invite you into our shared conversation on twelve themes, from Jesus Christ to Zion.

The two churches hold fourteen years (183044) of shared history and then nearly two centuries of separate development and growth. Yet those shared years, brief though they were, created a bond between the two churches. Like two family members who come together in their mature years to reconcile their differences and embrace shared history, we have experienced an abiding sense of fellowship and understanding in our dialogues together. Those shared, sacred spaces will always connect us, but we are only now finding that members from the two faiths can find connection, peace, and the grace of Jesus Christ as they create a new sacred space together. Perhaps oldest enemies can become respectful friends.

Notes