The Forms and the Power: The Development of Mormon Ritual Healing to 1847

Abstract:     
As Mormonism grew, Joseph Smith persistently sought to incorporate two elements into the alloy of his people: the power of God and rituals for its implementation. Reformed religion insisted that the days of miracles were past, yet Joseph Smith was unreserved in combining charisma and ritual into a healing liturgy that challenged these norms. Smith drew on the salvific rituals of his church and used them to focus the power of God in his people, to overcome death both spiritually and physically, both after this life and during it. This study delineates this developmental process in Mormonism’s healing liturgy up to the Latter-day Saint settlement of the Great Basin.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 46

Keywords: Mormon, Healing, Liturgy, Ritual, Joseph Smith

Accepted Paper Series