A Kingdom Transformed Early Mormonism and the Modern LDS Church, New Edition / Gordon Shepherd and Gary Shepherd

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Shepherd, Gordon, 1943- Author.

Shepherd, Gary, 1943- Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Social change.

Latter Day Saint churches.

Christian sociology--Latter Day Saint churches.

Christian sociology--Latter Day Saint churches--History.

Christian sociology.

Latter Day Saint churches--History.

Social change--History.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints--History.

Genre:

History

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xxii, 406 pages)

Edition:

Second edition

Manufacture:

Baltimore, Md. : Project MUSE, 2021

Place of Publication:

Salt Lake City The University of Utah Press [2016]

Summary:

"The evolution of LDS doctrinal emphases uncovered through content analysis. To survive in an often disapproving external social world, the LDS Church has made many adaptive changes in belief, practice, and organization over time. Gordon and Gary Shepherd identify and elucidate these changes through statistical analysis of the rhetoric from General Conference proceedings in their book. The first edition of A Kingdom Transformed, published in 1984, covered the years 1830 to 1979. This new edition revises this earlier work and adds to it by examining the subsequent thirty years of LDS church rhetoric revealing what new trends have emerged and what old ones have continued. It retains the summary and analysis of data from the first 150 years of LDS Church history, but every chapter, including the narrative history of early Mormonism, has been thoroughly rewritten with updated theoretical and empirical support from contemporary research sources. The first edition showed how early twentieth century LDS leaders were fairly liberal in mainstreaming church doctrines and social teaching, but by mid-twentieth century, as the church became more stable, accepted, and successful, church authorities reversed several earlier modifications and began emphasizing a stricter, more conservative theology that coincided with an increasingly conservative political orientation. The new book adds current issues of concern, such as the role of women in the church and international growth versus member retention. It also introduces a new conceptual framework for interpreting findings"

Contents:

1. Mormon Prophetic Rhetoric and the Institution of LDS General Conference2. Parallel Paths : LDS General Conference and Mormon History

3. The Social-Historical Context of Mormon Beliefs

4. Utopia, Family, and Authority : The Major Rhetorical Themes of LDS General Conferences

5. Mormon Commitment Mechanisms

6. Patterns of Mormon Commitment Rhetoric

7. Mormon Accommodation

8. Mormon Responses to Secularization

9. Contemporary Developments : LDS Conference Trends from 1980-2009

Epilogue

Appendix A: Content Analysis Procedures for Obtaining and Evaluating a Representative Sample of LDS General Conference Addresses, 1830-1979

Appendix B: Listing of Addresses in the LDS Conference Sample

Appendix C: General Conference Topic Index with Salience Scores for Thirty-Year Periods, 1830-1979.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 375-391) and index.

First edition had subtitle: Themes in the development of Mormonism

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-60781-445-5

OCLC:

1227051772