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2 Major doctrines 3 External link 4 Related articles |
History
The early history of the Community of Christ is shared with other denominations in the Latter Day Saint movement, which originated in upstate New York under the leadership of Joseph Smith, Jr With the important assistance of Oliver Cowdery and Sidney Rigdon, Smith dictated and published works of scripture, claimed to be visited by angels, and formed a new church. This church grew rapidly, and was chased by angry mobs through various locations including Kirtland, Ohio, Independence, Missouri, and finally Nauvoo, Illinois, until July 26, 1844, when Smith was assassinated in a prison at Carthage, Illinois. See History of the Latter Day Saint movement.
After the death of Joseph Smith, Jr, there was some confusion over who would be his successor, leading to the formation of several factions. The majority of Mormons followed Brigham Young, who led them to the Great Basin area (now Utah) as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. See History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However, a significant fraction of Mormons, including very prominent Mormons and the majority of Joseph Smith's family, followed the leadership of others, leading to such groups as the Strangites and the Hendrickites, who did not follow Brigham Young to Utah.
During the life of Joseph Smith, Jr, he had given a number of conflicting indications to various people at various times regarding who would be his successor. At least twice, he purportedly indicated that his successor would be his son Joseph Smith III, who with his mother Emma Hale Smith were among the prominent Saints who had chosen not to follow Brigham Young to Utah.
In the 1850s, there arose a "Reorganization" movement that believed that Joseph Smith III should be Joseph Smith, Jr's successor. Initially rejecting the idea, Joseph Smith III organized the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on April 6, 1860 at Amboy, Illinois. There is still debate on whether or not Emma Smith Bidamon (who remarried after the death of her husband, Joseph Smith, Jr) was ever an official member of the Reorganized Church, although she played the organ at many of their meetings and appeared supportive of her son. The minutes of the meetings of the 1860 re-organization stated that the church voted to receive her into fellowship, based on her earlier baptism during the live of Joseph Smith, although she was not present.
Joseph Smith III died on December 10, 1914, leaving the Reorganized Church without a leader. His son Frederick Madison Smith was accepted in 1915 as his successor as president. During his presidency, the faith moved its headquarters to Independence, Missouri. After Frederick Smith's death in 1946 he was succeeded by his brother Israel A. Smith, who presided over the church until his death in 1958, when he was succeeded by W. Wallace Smith, his brother, also a son of Joseph III.
In 1976, W. Wallace Smith designated his son Wallace B. Smith as his successor, which he assumed in 1978. While the pattern had previously been for the presidency to be carried along a patriarchal line, Wallace B. Smith had only daughters and no sons. As a result, before Wallace B. Smith retired in April 1996, he designated W. Grant McMurray has his successor, who currently serves as president.
At a World Conference in 2000, the church voted to change its name from the "Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" to its present name, the "Community of Christ", as part of an ecumenical effort to distance itself from Utah Mormons, and strengthen its ties with mainstream Christianity. This change occurred on April 6, 2001.
Major doctrines
The CoC never accepted polygamy; nowadays it has also denounced baptism for the dead, and any other sort of secret temple rituals. It owns two temples - the very first LDS temple in Kirtland, Ohio and a rather new temple in Independence, Missouri—but they are simply public buildings for worship and other public occasions. The Community of Christ accepts the doctrine of the Trinity and a moderate brand of ecumenism. The Book of Mormon is accepted, but many members see it as a book of spiritual rather than historical truth. The church sees its main link to "Mormonism" in the community spirit and the early Mormon idea of "gathering" the church to one place and there living communally.
The scriptures of the Community of Christ include the Inspired Version of the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and Doctrine and Covenants although they include a different subset of the revelations of Joseph Smith than the LDS version. Unlike the LDS, it does not count the Pearl of Great Price among its scriptures, but does recognize the Lectures on Faith. The one aspect in which the CoC is arguably "more Mormon" than the Utah church is its preference for the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible, while the Utah church uses the King James Version of the Bible. One reason for this is that the Community of Christ owns the manuscripts and the copyright for Smith's work, in addition to statements as late as 1844 by Smith about delaying the publishing of the work until it was finished. Smith died prior to finishing and publishing the work. It is interesting to note that the Inspired Version the CoC publishes, uses an earlier version (pre-1842 in most cases) of the manuscripts that does not include references to polygamy, Diety and other passages that support doctrines that are distinctive to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
External link
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