Mormonism and Nicene Christianity (often called mainstream Christianity) have a complex theological, historical, and sociological relationship. Latter-day Saints express their doctrines using biblical terminology. They have similar views about the nature of Jesus's atonement, bodily resurrection, and Second Coming as mainstream Christians. Nevertheless, most Latter-day Saints do not accept the doctrine of the Trinity as codified in the Nicene Creed of 325 and the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed of 381. (arguing that "Mormonism differs from traditional Christianity in much the same fashion that traditional Christianity ... came to differ from Judaism."). Although Latter-day Saints consider the Protestant Bible to be holy scripture, they do not believe in biblical inerrancy. They have also adopted additional scriptures that they believe to have been divinely revealed to Joseph Smith, including the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. Latter-day Saints practice baptism, confirmations and celebrate the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, but they also participate in other religious sacraments.
Focusing on differences, some Christians consider Mormonism non-Christian; others, focusing on similarities, consider it to be a Christian denomination.. Opinions differ among scholars of religion on whether to categorize Mormonism as a separate branch of Christianity or as a "fourth Abrahamic religion" (alongside Judaism, Christianity, and Islam). Latter-day Saints do not accept non-Mormon baptism and most non-Mormon Christians do not accept Mormon baptism. Latter-day Saints regularly proselytize individuals within the Christian tradition, and some traditional Christians, especially evangelicals, proselytize Latter-day Saints. Some view Mormonism as a form of Christianity, but distinct enough from traditional Christianity so as to form a new religious tradition, much as Christianity is more than just a sect of Judaism..
The early Mormonism that originated with Joseph Smith in the 1820s shared strong similarities with some elements of 19th-century American Protestantism.. Latter-day Saints believe that God, through Smith and his successors, restored various doctrines and practices that were lost from the original Christianity taught by Jesus. For example, Smith, as a result of his "First Vision", primarily rejected the Nicene doctrine of the Trinity and instead taught that God the Father, his son Jesus, and the Holy Ghost are three distinct "personages". While the largest Mormon denomination, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), acknowledges its differences with mainstream Christianity, it also focuses on its commonalities, such as its focus on faith in Jesus, following the teachings of Jesus, the miracle of the atonement, and many other doctrines.See, commentary, "Real Differences, Real Similarities and Biblical Christianity". Mormon News Room. October 11, 2007.
Doctrinal comparison While historians recognize the roots of Mormonism in American Protestantism and the Second Great Awakening of the 1820s and 1830s, ("Mormonism springs from the sectarian tradition of the Radical Reformation, in fact from its most extreme fringe."). Mormonism has also been identified as "a radical departure from traditional" (i.e., mainline) Protestant Christianity (describing Smith's theology as "a radical departure from traditional Protestant Christianity".) and a "profoundly primitivist tradition." Nevertheless, Mormonism falls within the scope of the Evangelical Protestantism of the Second Great Awakening in the United States (1800–1840). The conception of God in early Mormonism was very similar to the conception of the Christian God held within Protestant Christianity, although early Latter-day Saints had already begun developing their own distinct doctrine.
Early Joseph Smith era Mormonism arose in the 1820s during a period of radical reform and experimentation within American Protestantism, and Mormonism is integrally connected to the burned-over district, a hotbed of American new religious movements of the time.; . As a form of Christian primitivism, the new faith was one among several contemporary religious movements that claimed to restore Christianity to its condition at the time of the Twelve Apostles. (describing the background of Christian primitivism in New England).
The Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon (1830), which codifies the earliest Mormon doctrine, was intended, in part, to settle ongoing doctrinal disputes among contemporary Christian denominations ("The Book of Mormon settles doctrinal differences among those who accept the Christ it presents. Mormon's purpose is to make clear the true doctrine and to dissolve doctrinal disputes by explaining the gospel of Christ"); ("[T]he Book of Mormon decides controversies in a number of areas, including those argued among early nineteenth century American theologians.") and to create a single shared theology. (noting that the Book of Mormon expresses contempt for sectarianism and arguing that establishing the one true fold and one true faith are the "only real theological themes of the book"); (the Book of Mormon "would seek to heal the wounds of sectarianism and defend God against deism, rationalism, and sectarianism".) Joseph Smith believed in the Bible; . and shared the Protestant tradition that the Bible (excluding the biblical apocrypha) was initially revealed by God to humanity; . and had contained the "fulness of the gospel." Nevertheless, Smith believed the Bible of his era had degenerated from its original form. Smith blamed the Catholic Church for the loss of biblical books and for introducing corruptions and obfuscations in the biblical text.. Smith said that the Book of Mormon revealed "plain and precious things that had been taken away" from the Bible.; . Smith also completed an unpublished revision of the Bible in 1833, (noting that though Smith declared his revision of the Bible complete in 1833, though the church lacked funds to publish it during his lifetime). which he said corrected many of these errorsThe LDS Church has canonized only a small part of this translation. However, see (noting that the most significant parts of Smith's revision of the Bible are found as footnotes and study materials in the LDS Church edition of the Authorized King James Version). and added inspired commentary. Smith endowed the Book of Mormon with status equal to the Bible. ("To defend the Bible's status as revelation, the Book of Mormon demanded equal status.")
Nature of God The faith's earliest theology, as reflected in the Book of Mormon and contemporaneous writings by Joseph Smith, was an unsophisticated version of Trinitarianism or Monarchianism. (describing the pre-1835 theology as "essentially trinitarian"); (calling Book of Mormon theology "layman's Trinitarianism"); ("The Book of Mormon, revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants prior to 1835, and Smith's 1832 account of his First Vision all reflect 'trinitarian' perceptions."); ("While the Book of Mormon theology does not reflect a truly orthodox trinitarian view as codified in the Athanasian creed, it does reflect the common Christian layman's perception that is some manner, the Father and the Son were both representations of one God."); (noting that Book of Mormon theology was similar to trinitarianism, but ultimately was "modalistic Monarchianism"). According to Kurt Widmer, "early Latter-day Saints were reacting against a heavily intellectualized and theologized Trinitarian concept of God", and the nature of God was not at first of central importance to Smith. ("What is apparent is that early Mormons were reacting against a heavily intellectualized and theologized Trinitarian concept of God.").
In 1834, Smith and his associate Sidney Rigdon developed the Lectures on Faith that they later incorporated into the Doctrine and Covenants (1835). These lectures described "two personages" in the heavens: the Father, "a personage of spirit, glory, and power," and the Son, "a personage of tabernacle" who "received the fulness of the glory of the Father—possessing the same mind with the Father, which mind is the Holy Spirit." This has sometimes been described as a form of Binitarianism. ("By the close of the Kirtland era, in 1839, the Church would have shifted from modalism to a binatarian position on God."); ("Some writers on Joseph Smith and the development of LDS theology point to Lecture 5 as leading evidence that in the mid-1830s Joseph was following the binitarian doctrine of the godhead being promoted by Christian Primitivists of that decade."); ("These Lectures on Faith...are more Binitarian than Trinitarian....").
Other points of doctrine Early Mormon soteriology, although not following a preexisting tradition, was generally Arminian in tendency. (noting that early Mormon doctrine "saw man as a creature of God, but capable of sanctification"); (noting similarities with Arminianism, and disagreeing that the Book of Mormon incorporates Calvinist doctrine); (arguing that while the Book of Mormon agrees with some tenets of Arminianism, it "integrates doctrines from a variety of preexisting theological perspectives and some apparently unique teachings"). Early Mormonism agreed with Methodists and the Disciples of Christ in rejecting Calvinistic doctrines in favor of Christian perfection and free will (called agency).; (noting, in addition, that the "Book of Mormon seems to contradict all five points of Calvinism"); ("[I]n the debate over human freedom, the Book of Mormon tends to resolve the issues similarly but not identically to the Methodist brand of Arminianism."). Also, while the Book of Mormon affirmed the doctrine of original sin, (Book of Mormon "affirms original sin (2 Ne. 2), [and] human depravity (Mosiah 16:3) ..."); ; ("[A]lthough the Book of Mormon promulgates a notion of 'original sin', it is a 'hypothetical original sin' which does not actually afflict persons unless they reject the atonement."); (describing the Book of Mormon as pessimistic about fundamental human nature, and the inability to overcome depravity through willfulness alone). it also agrees with other Arminian denominations that children are incapable of sin and in a state of grace.
Like other Christian primitivists, Smith rejected the authority of normative Christianity's interpretation of the Bible (comparing the earliest Mormonism with the Disciples of Christ's view of Biblical authority).—though he also maintained (as did the Shakers) that interpretation of the Bible should be guided by new and continuing revelation. ("Like Shakers, [Smith] would restore the church and be led to the correct interpretation by new and constant revelation.") Initially, the authority of Smith's faith was based on correct doctrine ("Like other Protestants, he would see correct doctrine as a mark of the true church.") and his own claim of prophethood. (describing Smith's earliest authority as charismatic authority); (noting that Smith based his authority, in part, on signs of divine approbation and special revelations, and that "[a]t first the Prophet had little to offer [converts] beyond baptism and his own impressive personality.") Then, during the early 1830s, Smith added to this authority apostolic succession, represented by angelic apostles and prophets who Smith said had ordained him. ("Like other Protestants, he would see correct doctrine as a mark of the true church. But Smith added something else: a new scripture and a dual priesthood based not on apostolic succession, as in the case of the Roman Catholic claim to authority, but on prophetic succession."); (Smith "claimed prophetic succession through a dual priesthood that allegedly existed among the Hebrews."); (In 1834, Smith first began claiming that his authority arose within a line of succession through angelic visitors.).
Latter Joseph Smith era