Temple (Latter Day Saints)
In the
History
The Latter Day Saint movement was conceived as a restoration of practices believed to have been lost in a Great Apostasy from the true gospel of Jesus Christ. Temple worship played a prominent role in the Bible's Old Testament, and in the Book of Mormon.[3]
On December 27, 1832, two years after the organization of the Church of Christ, the church's founder, Joseph Smith, reported receiving a revelation that called upon church members to restore the practice of temple worship. The Latter Day Saints in Kirtland, Ohio, were commanded to:
- "Establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God."[4]
Latter Day Saints see temples as the fulfillment of a prophecy found in
As plans were drawn up to construct a temple in Kirtland, the decision was made to simultaneously begin work on a
Conflict in Missouri led to the expulsion of the Mormons from Jackson County, preventing any possibility of building a temple there, but work on the temple in Kirtland continued. At great cost and sacrifice, the Latter Day Saints finished the Kirtland Temple in early 1836. On March 27, they held a lengthy dedication ceremony and numerous spiritual experiences and visitations were reported.
Conflict relating to the failure of the church's
In 1839, the Mormons regrouped at a new headquarters in Nauvoo, Illinois. They were again commanded to build a "House of the Lord"—this one even larger and greater than those that went before. Plans for the temple in Nauvoo followed the earlier models in Kirtland and Independence with lower and upper courts, but the scale was much increased.
New conflicts arose that led to Smith being
Smith's death resulted in a
Purposes
Temples have held numerous purposes in the Latter Day Saint movement, both historically and their differing expressions today. These purposes include:
- A House of the Lord — Smith reported a revelation in 1836 explaining that the recently dedicated Kirtland Temple was built "that the Son of Man might have a place to manifest himself to his people." (Doctrine and Covenants LDS 109:5). All Latter Day Saint denominations with temples still consider them to be special houses of the Lord.
- A House of Learning — The Kirtland Temple housed the "School of the Prophets."
- Center of the City of Zion — Latter Day Saints often view temples as central to the establishment of Zionic communities. Examples include those in Kirtland, the original (unfinished) Independence Temple, the unfinished temples in Far West and Adam-ondi-Ahman, the original Nauvoo Temple, along with the Salt Lake, St. George Utah, Mesa Arizona, Laie Hawaii temples, and others.
- Headquarters of the church — the Kirtland Temple served as the headquarters of the early church from its completion in 1836 through the end of 1837.
- Sacred spaces for special ordinances — Beginning in Nauvoo, temples were spaces in which to perform special ordinances such as the Ordinance (Mormonism).
LDS Church
The LDS Church has been the most prolific builder of temples in the Latter Day Saint movement. The LDS Church has 335 temples in various phases, which includes 189 dedicated temples (with 184 operating and 5 previously-dedicated, but closed for renovation), 52 under construction, and 94 others announced (not yet under construction). In the LDS Church, temples are not only a House of the Lord, but are also where members of the church make
Upon completion (or after the completion of significant renovations), temples are open to the public for a period of time (an "open house"). During the open house, the church conducts tours of the temple with
History
In 1832, shortly after the formation of the church, Smith said that the Lord desired the Latter Day Saints build a temple;[6] and they completed the Kirtland Temple in 1836. Differing from other churches in the Latter Day Saint tradition, members feel that the first endowment ceremonies were performed in Kirtland, Ohio, although the endowment performed in Kirtland differed significantly from the endowment performed by Smith in Nauvoo. The construction of the Nauvoo Temple and the teaching of the full endowment by Smith are seen as the final steps in restoring the church founded by Jesus Christ following the Great Apostasy. Because it is an integral part of their worship, Mormon pioneers, upon arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, began plans to build temples there, and built the Endowment House to allow members to receive the endowment until the temples were completed.
Construction
Initially, the church constructed temples in areas where there were large concentrations of members:
Temple growth continued in the 1980s,
Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite)
The Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite) performs temple ordinances in its Independence, Missouri, meetinghouse, their only building still in active use,[9] though the church also believes in the principle of constructing special temples such as the ones in Kirtland and Nauvoo. Cutlerites do not designate their meetinghouse as a temple per se, but they believe that it serves precisely the same purpose and that the ordinances performed there are equally as valid as ones done in any pre-1844 temple.[10] These sacred services of the Cutlerites are not open to the public, and participants are forbidden to discuss them outside the room in which they are performed.
Cutlerite meetinghouses are constructed with a main-floor chapel that is always open to the public unless baptisms for the dead are being performed; a second-floor room, which is closed to the public at all times, is reserved for the ordinances of the endowment. Cutlerites do not use the term "endowment" to refer to these rituals; they generally refer to them as "the priesthood ordinances". A rectangular-shaped baptismal font is accessed through a trap door beneath the floor of the main-floor chapel, which is used for baptisms of both the living and the dead. Eternal marriages are not performed by the Cutlerites, as they have always rejected that particular doctrine.[10]
Community of Christ
Community of Christ (formerly the RLDS Church) currently maintains one temple. Unlike those of the LDS Church, the temple is open to the public. Many religious functions take place including
During its 1994 World Conference, Community of Christ dedicated the Independence Temple located in Independence, Missouri. The Community of Christ describes this temple as a house of worship and education "dedicated to the pursuit of peace".[11] The church holds a Daily Prayer for Peace at 1:00 p.m. Central Time in the temple's 1,600 seat sanctuary.
From around 1901 to 2024, the temple built in Kirtland, Ohio, was owned and maintained by Community of Christ. This was the first temple built by the Latter Day Saint movement and the only temple completed in the lifetime of Joseph Smith. The LDS Church and Community of Christ announced on March 5, 2024 that ownership of the site had transferred to the former as part of a $192.5 million acquisition of historic sites and objects.[12][13]
Other denominations with temples
Four additional
- The Church of Christ (Wightite) built a temple near Zodiac, Texas, about three miles from Fredericksburg, at a colony founded by Lyman Wight. The only remaining material infrastructure of the colony is the Mormon Mill cemetery near Hamilton Creek, about fifty miles east by north of Fredericksburg.[14]
- The Mormon fundamentalistssects built a temple of their own.
- The Apostolic United Brethren built a temple in Ozumba, Mexico, in the 1990s, and has had an endowment house in Utah since sometime in the 1980s.
- The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) built a temple at their settlement near Eldorado, Texas, in 2004. The architectural footprint of the FLDS temple roughly matches that of the original Nauvoo Temple.
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FLDS Temple
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Righteous Branch temple
Unsuccessful attempts at building temples
During the life of Joseph Smith, a few years before the Kirtland temple was built, Smith dedicated a location in Independence, Missouri, for the building of a special temple, which was to be the center of a New Jerusalem. However, hostile action by non-Mormon citizens resulted in the expulsion of all Latter Day Saints from the area in 1833, and the planned temple did not proceed beyond the laying of cornerstones. As of 2011, the lot for this temple is owned and maintained by the Church of Christ (Temple Lot). The Temple Lot church endeavored to construct a temple beginning in 1929, as a result of a revelation that apostle Otto Fetting was said to have received from John the Baptist. A hole for the proposed temple basement was excavated, and architects' drawings were done, but no further work was completed due to a chronic lack of funding and the expulsion of Fetting and his followers (about one-third of the Temple Lot organization at the time) from the Temple Lot church. In 1946, the City of Independence had the hole filled in, and the lot today is mostly covered with grass, with the Church of Christ's meetinghouse and a few trees at the northeast corner.[16] Today, the Temple Lot church has no plans to build a temple but sees itself as the steward of the lot until the various Latter Day Saint factions unite around the time of Jesus Christ's Second Coming.
The
Performing ordinances in other buildings
From 1855 to 1889, the LDS Church performed ordinances in the Endowment House to allow members to receive the endowment during construction of temples in Utah. Before the Endowment House was built, the Council House was similarly used, between 1850 and 1855.
Historically, there were other locations where ordinances for the living were performed, both indoors and out, as recorded in pioneer journals. One of these is a building known as the Endowment House in Spring City, Utah, built by Orson Hyde.[18] The building is still standing at 85 West 300 South.
The Endowment House in Salt Lake City was razed in 1889 after church president Wilford Woodruff learned that plural marriages were being performed there without the authorization of the First Presidency.
See also
Notes
- LDS Church. 15 November 2007. Retrieved 2012-10-10.
- ^ Temple School, Community of Christ, (retrieved February 14, 2010)
- Tambuli, July 1984, pp. 6–10, 24–26
- ^ Doctrine and Covenants (1835 ed.) VII:36; LDS Church ed. 88:119; Community of Christ ed. 85:36b.
- LDS Church. 2012-09-17. Retrieved 2012-10-10.
- ^ Recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants, Smith wrote that the Lord commanded the Saints to "establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God;" (see Doctrine and Covenants 88:119–120)
- ^ Hinckley announced the use of smaller standardized temples in 1997 (Gordon B. Hinckley. "Some Thoughts on Temples, Retention of Converts, and Missionary Service". 167th Semiannual General Conference, October 1997. Retrieved 2006-10-30.). The base design is about 10,700 square feet (990 m2), and temples built from the design are generally between 10,000 and 18,000 square feet (930 and 1,700 m2). These temples generally do not include a large laundry facility, do not provide members with the ability to rent temple clothing, nor provide a cafeteria for members (Almanac, 2000).
- ^ Gordon B. Hinckley. "New Temples to Provide 'Crowning Blessings' of the Gospel". 168th Annual General Conference, April 1998. Retrieved 2006-10-30.
- ^ A second meetinghouse exists in Clitherall, Minnesota, but it is not currently in use.
- ^ a b Shields, Steven L. (1982). Divergent Paths of the Restoration. Provo, Utah: Restoration Research. p. 63.
- ^ Doctrine and Covenants, Section 156:5. See also Robinson, Kenneth N. (June 2006). "A People of the Temple". Archived from the original on 2007-09-29.
- ^ Walch, Tad (March 5, 2024). "Church Announces Purchase of Historic Kirtland Temple, Other Historic Sites and Manuscripts". Deseret News
- ^ Herrera, Sam (March 5, 2024). "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Acquires Buildings, Manuscripts, Kirtland Temple from Community of Christ". KSL
- ISBN 978-1-58544-184-6
- ^ Utah Attorney General's Office; Arizona Attorney General's Office; Family Support Center (January 2011). The Primer, Helping Victims of Domestic Violence and Child Abuse in Polygamous Communities (PDF) (Report). p. 23. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-01-27.
- ^ Jackson County Temple Lot Saga, Deseret News, 22 June 2009.
- ^ Voree Temply by John Hamer, in By Common Consent, 17 October 2008.
- Sunstone11 (July–August, 1978): 9-10.
References
- David Buerger, "The Mysteries of Godliness: A History of Mormon Temple Worship"; ISBN 1-56085-176-7; (paperback)
- ISBN 1-55517-339-X
- Journal of Mormon History. 24 (1): 135–176. Archived from the originalon 2011-06-13..
- Laurie Smith Monesees, The Temple: Dedicated to Peace, ISBN 978-0-8309-0648-2
- ISBN 0-88494-411-5
- Intellectual Reserve.
- ISSN 1874-6691.
- Elwin C. Robison, The First Mormon Temple: Design, Construction, and Historic Context of the Kirtland Temple, Provo, Utah: ISBN 0-8425-2333-2
- Speek, Vickie Cleverley. "God Has Made Us a Kingdom" James Strang and the Midwest Mormon. Signature Books.
- ISBN 1-56085-114-7; (hardback)
- "The Temple" British Broadcasting BBC, 2005-11-09. Article on Mormon temple worship from BBC Religion & Ethics website, last accessed 2006-09-19.
Further reading
- Hawthorne, Christopher (14 February 2002). "Latter-Day Fortresses: The spooky charisma of Mormon temples". Slate. New York City. Archived from the original on 9 September 2005. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
- Jackson, Richard W. (2007) [2003]. "Places of Worship: 150 Years of Latter-day Saint Architecture" (PDF). lib.byu.edu/collections/digital. .