Know Your Religions: A Comparative Look at Mormonism and the Community of Christ (Vol. 2 in the Know Your Religions Series.)

By Richard G. Moore

Reviewed by Lavina Fielding Anderson
On 11/14/2009

Millennial Press, 2009 Paperback:
239 pages
ISBN-10: 1932597670
ISBN-13: 978-1-93259-767-7 Price: $14.95

This volume is a careful and respectful comparison of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Community of Christ. Richard Moore is a Latter-day Saint. His biographical note lists growing up in Utah Valley, serving a mission, graduating twice from BYU, teaching more than thirty years in the LDS Church Educational System, and currently serving at BYU as a religion instructor. However, an indication of the balance striven for -- and achieved -- is signalled by back-cover endorsements from Lachlan Mackay, head of Community of Christ's historic sites, now serving in Nauvoo at the Joseph Smith Historic Site, and Andrew Shields, Community of Christ World Church Secretary. And as if that weren't enough, the enthusiastic foreword is by William D. Russell, well-known to Mormon history and Sunstone audiences and an emeritus professor of American history and government at Graceland University. From my own interest in and exposure to Community of Christ, I can soundly second Bill's endorsement that this book is "a source that readers can trust as honest and unbiased" (xiii).

First, to clear up a possible question about the Volume 2 part. There is no Volume 1 dealing with the Community of Christ. The end matter lists as "other titles" books dealing with Mormonism and Catholicism, Asian religions, Islam, Protestantism, Judaism, and Jehovah's Witnesses, but there is no indication which would be Volume 1 in this series.

Moore defines his own purpose and that of the series as being "to explain to Mormons the doctrines and religious beliefs of their non-Mormon brothers and sisters, not in a critical or competitive way, but in a simply comparative manner so as to increase knowledge and foster greater understanding" (xv). Even without this statement, it would be clear that his primary audience is Latter-day Saints, since, to my ear, he works harder to explain Community of Christ positions more clearly and thoroughly than the LDS positions, on the assumption that his readers will already have a good grasp of LDS positions. It would be interesting to test this perception with a Community of Christ reader, but meanwhile, Bill Russell's and Andrew Shields's encomiums stand. An indication of the care Moore has taken with the Community of Christ position is how frequently he quotes both men, often in conversations and emails, providing reassurance about up-to-the-minute information.

The timeliness of the analysis is not the least of this book's contributions to understanding Community of Christ's position, since as Russell points out: (1) "the Community of Christ has undergone radical change over the past forty or fifty years" and (2) "church leaders and world conferences do not take official positions on... theological controversies like the virgin birth of Jesus" (xii).

One of the persistent stumbling blocks for me was nomenclature. The second footnote in the book quotes Shields's explanation that the correct name of the Church is "Community of Christ and not ‘the' Community of Christ" (xv). (Ironically, the "the" appears on the cover and title page, which may be some indication that this nonintuitive use, which violates ingrained habits of English usage, will have hard sledding for awhile. The "the" was used routinely immediately after the name change from Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 2001, and I don't recall seeing an explanation in the Herald of the change. I noticed "the's" omission from references to the church in Section 163, a landmark revelation on stewardship and actively working for peace and ameliorating the world's suffering, that was canonized in 2007. Obviously, the change has theological implications, and I would like to see them teased out and explicated.

The book begins with a "brief history" of Community of Christ that moves naturally into the historical questions of succession, organizational structure, and the shared past that branched into distinctive and, for about a century, hostile paths. Those with historical interests will be particularly interested in the different attitudes and orthodoxies each church has developed about church history.

Next follow a dozen chapters on basic theological positions: the role of Joseph Smith (Community of Christ historian Mark Scherer explains the primacy given to "the teachings of a Carpenter from Nazareth and not a Prophet from Palmyra," 65), priesthood and authority, the nature of God, humankind's origin, nature, and destiny, the plan of salvation, and the nature and use of scripture.

Space precludes a point-by-point comparison of the dozens of points of harmony and (more interestingly) difference, but a couple of examples will suffice. Priesthood in the LDS Church is not open to women and is transferred, in quite predictable (for active boys) at given ages by ordination, and exists only in the LDS Church. In Community of Christ, priesthood "is now viewed as callings within the ministry. God calls an individual to specific responsibilities according to the person's particular gifts and abilities." Church administrators "assess congregational needs, choose a person to meet those needs, and seek confirmation from God that this person is the one to be called to a specific function. Worthiness is determined, and the person is called to that position and ordained to the necessary priesthood" (72). My understanding is that the person's willingness to accept the call is based in large part on a parallel divine confirmation and that the congregation plays a far-from-pro-forma role in hearing the story of the calling and voting to accept or reject that calling. These crucial steps do not appear in the text. Moore correctly notes that women have been eligible for priesthood since the canonization of Section 156 in 1984. Currently, Becky Savage is a counselor in Prophet-President Stephen M. Veazey's First Presidency, and four women serve as apostles. In fact, "women have held every priesthood office in the Community of Christ except prophet-president" (73n188).

Another example is the chapter on "Dissidents," which acknowledges that both churches struggle with their "fundamentalists" -- scripture and history traditionalists in Community of Christ but polygamists in the LDS Church. Revealingly, Moore comments: "I was surprised to see how willing the [Community of Christ] was to publish varying views concerning doctrines and other issues in... the Herald. Controversial topics and disagreements with Community of Christ leaders and decisions are openly addressed. I believe this comes from Community of Christ's desire to get everyone involved in the discernment process. It appears that the opinions of members concerning doctrine and policy are listened to and considered" (168n502). Moore's "surprise" speaks unintentional volumes about the LDS Church.

I was most interested in the next five chapters, which moved away from theology and more into what constitutes the shape of daily living in both churches: sacraments and ordinances, temples, commandments, dissidents, the concept of Zion. "The LDS Church teaches the absolute necessity of ordinances for salvation" for both the living and the dead, while Community of Christ views ordinances "more as blessings and support to a person's spirituality in this life than as necessities for salvation," marriage is sacred but not eternal, nor does Community of Christ perform ordinances for the dead (106). Where the Word of Wisdom is concerned, it has never been "an official commandment" in Community of Christ, so there is "no restriction of coffee and tea" although part of appraising a potential priesthood hold includes "good stewardship of health... and refraining from the use of alcohol and tobacco" (154).

The chapter on "Future Challenges of Community of Christ" lists seven (or possibly eight) problematic areas, including decreased funding through decreased membership, the place of homosexuals, the possible loss of canonical status for the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants, its current focus on international membership, membership requirements, and ecumenical outreach. Certainly, the LDS Church has counterpart positions/challenges on all of these issues, including a flattening growth curve, but Moore had no comparative section describing future LDS challenges. The LDS reader's conclusion may, inaccurately, be a complacent view that only Community of Christ faces these challenges.

One of the most valuable sections of the book is the appendices. Appendix A, "A Statement of Belief," developed and published in 1970, is an update to the original "Epitome of Faith" which was based on Joseph Smith's Wentworth Letter. Appendix B, "Scripture in the Community of Christ" (2005) is excerpted from the Church Administrator's Handbook and would sound familiar to a Mormon's ear except, possibly, for two points: "...scripture does not come to us apart from the humanity of the writers, but in and through that humanity" and.... The authority of scripture is not the authority to oppress, control, or dominate" (192). While most Latter-day Saints would subscribe to these points in principle, I believe that their application in the two churches is very different.

Appendix C is a brand-new "Principles of History," presented at the 2008 World Conference by Prophet/President Stephen M. Veazey. Appendix D contains excerpts from the theologically important "We Share: Identity, Mission, Message, and Beliefs," also published in 2008. Particularly important are its nine "Enduring Principles": grace and generosity, sacredness of creation, continuing revelation, worth of all persons, all are called, responsible choices, pursuit of peace (shalom), unity in diversity, and blessings of community. (More information is available on these documents, including official commentary, at http://cofchrist.org.)

On the bookmaking side, I saw no reason for three departures from the usual conventions. First, the chapters are unnumbered, making quick reference more difficult. Second, although the book commendably has a bibliography and citations for all direct quotations, it rather tediously numbers footnotes consecutively throughout the volume (1 to 539). Furthermore, it cites the Encyclopedia of Mormonism by volume and page but omits the title of the item and its author, obscuring some important markers of reliability. Third, the book lacks an index, which greatly limits its effectiveness as a reference work. I sincerely hope that Millennial Press will reconsider all three of these limitations in future works.

But these lamentations should not obscure the genuine and far-reaching contribution of this volume. Even well-informed readers will enjoy this review and can read it without being braced for hidden snarkiness or mentally keeping a running list of corrections. And perhaps not the least of its contributions is Moore's gently phrased suggestion, tucked into note 538: "It seems to me that some of those who are bothered by the conservative nature of the LDS Church and the lack of democracy in the church's decisions would find themselves very comfortable as members of Community of Christ. On the other hand, some of the traditionalists in Community of Christ who are irritated by the direction their church has taken might find far more shared beliefs in the LDS Church" (183).


Copyright 2009