Keywords

Melchizedek priesthood, latter-day saints, church history, mormon doctrine

Abstract

In Robert Bolt's classic drama A Man for All Seasons, the ever-principled and incomparable Thomas More, England's stout defender of the Holy Catholic faith, responded with unflinching conviction when pressed by the Duke of Norfolk about the reasonability and historicity of the Roman Catholic claim to priesthood legitimacy. "The Apostolic Succession of the Pope is--Why, it's a theory yes; you can't see it; can't touch it; it's a theory. But what matters to me is not whether it's true or not but that I believe it to be true, or rather not that I believe it, but that I believe it.

Original Publication Citation

The Circumference of the Apostleship. A chapter on the restoration of the Melchizedek Priesthood printed in A Firm Foundation: Church Organization and Administration. Eds. David J. Whittaker and Arnold K. Garr. (Provo: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 211): 59-82.