Summary of Terryl L. Givens's Wrestling the Angel

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 The founding of Mormonism is tied to a series of key truth claims that form part of a historical record. However, Mormonism’s transmission history allows for some degree of equivocation or mythologizing when it comes to the particular claims of the Mormon message.

#2 Smith’s prophetic career was marked by several stages, each marked by substantial doctrinal developments of increasing boldness. The seeds of all his furthest-reaching innovations are present as early as 1830.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Apr 28, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669395980

IRB Media

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Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The founding of Mormonism is tied to a series of key truth claims that form part of a historical record. However, Mormonism’s transmission history allows for some degree of equivocation or mythologizing when it comes to the particular claims of the Mormon message.

#2

Smith’s prophetic career was marked by several stages, each marked by substantial doctrinal developments of increasing boldness. The seeds of all his furthest-reaching innovations are present as early as 1830.

Insights from Chapter 2

#1

The term theology is used by Mormons to describe reasoned discourse about God, and they have never had a set of dogmatic beliefs. The Articles of Faith, which were created in 1842, were intended to find a balance between total conformity and radical difference.

#2

The church’s history of relying on the principle of continuing revelation has resulted in a tradition of teachings that is extremely fluid and difficult to pin down. The most important vehicle for asserting the authority of church teachings or revelations is canonization, but this has not occurred very often since Joseph Smith’s era.

#3

Christian theology was generally too reticent in probing beyond the bounds of the biblically revealed. Mormonism, on the other hand, expands its purview in both directions - pre-Creation and post-redemption.

#4

The Book of Mormon, Smith’s first and major scriptural production, did not serve as the primary basis for Mormon theology. The Doctrine and Covenants, which was a more self-conscious exposition of Mormon doctrine, was published in 1834.

#5

The lectures were not intended to be a comprehensive theological exposition of Mormonism, but rather to aid missionaries in a measure in doctrine. However, Smith’s teachings have always been heavily influenced by Parley Pratt, who published his influential Voice of Warning in 1837.

#6

Parley Pratt, the founder of Mormonism, was a missionary and systematizer of Smith’s teachings. He defined the essential features of the Kingdom of God, and confirmed its organization and offices as consistent with the New Testament pattern.

#7

The Pearl of Great Price, which was published in 1880, was written by Joseph Smith’s successor, Brigham Young. It was a virtual fifth scriptural volume of the church. The Seer, which was published by Orson Pratt, was a defense of three Mormon teachings: the ancient Patriarchal Order of Matrimony, or Plurality of Wives, the Celestial origin and pre-existence of the spirits of men, and their final redemption and exaltation as gods.

#8

After polygamy was ended, the focus of Mormon theology shifted from the relational to the personal. Theology became what happens when revelation fails, and Mormonism began to separate itself from Christianity.

#9

A brief efflorescence of Mormon thought occurred when three luminaries produced intellectually rigorous attempts to systematize and elaborate a comprehensive theology. However, the church’s official imprimatur marked these works as authoritative teaching rather than speculative theology.

#10

The 1930s saw the emergence of higher criticism, which marked a new direction in church orthodoxy. The Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy in Protestantism spread to the Mormon Church in the 1920s and ’30s, and resulted in a period of retrenchment.

#11

The book’s success is a testament to the human proclivity for dogma. Mormonism has no creed. But McConkie did more to shape popular conceptions of Mormon teaching than any figure in the twentieth century.

#12

The Mormon faith tradition has a history of developing and changing its theological foundations. The question is how to establish general grounds for their relative authority.

#13

The Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price are the four standard works of Mormonism. They have paramount authority in shaping Mormon teachings and grounding their authority.

#14

Smith’s successors were also divided on how inspired some of Smith’s pronouncements were. The King Follett Discourse, which was published just