Date of Award
Fall 2022
Degree Type
Open Access Master's Thesis
Degree Name
Religion, MA
Program
School of Arts and Humanities
Advisor/Supervisor/Committee Chair
Matthew Bowman
Dissertation or Thesis Committee Member
Daniel Ramírez
Terms of Use & License Information
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.
Rights Information
© 2022 Stephen Cameron
Subject Categories
Religion
Abstract
Building Zion, for Mormonism, is a crucial element in both temporal and spiritual matters. Joseph Smith established the foundation upon which the religion would build decades after his death. Three successor groups, each claiming to be the true inheritor of Smith's prophetic mantle, from Brigham Young and the Utah Pioneers to the early Short Creek fundamentalists and lastly, the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, took on the challenge of creating Zion on earth through the creation of sacred spaces and sacred communities. By using Mircea Eliade and Mary Douglas to frame the discussion, this study will attempt to piece together how different groups utilized the efforts of their joint founder in response to the social challenges they each faced.
ISBN
9798351420240
Recommended Citation
Cameron, Stephen. (2022). Building Zion: Sacred Space, the United Order, and Mormon Successor Groups. CGU Theses & Dissertations, 441. https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/441.
