The Ancient Doctrine of the Two Ways and the Book of Mormon

Authors

Noel B. Reynolds, Brigham Young University

Keywords

Mormon studies, Book of Mormon, covenants, good and evil

Abstract

From its opening pages to the end, the Bible describes a bifurcated world in which God bids, commands, and teaches the people he has created to follow him in the way of righteousness, and in which the devil leads people into wickedness. And while great blessings and cursings are promised and realized in this life according to which way people choose to live their lives, the final judgment comes after this life when all will be judged according to whether they chose to follow good or evil. This way of seeing things surfaces explicitly in various texts and is known among scholars as the Doctrine of the Two Ways. It tends to appear in pedagogical contexts—and especially when God or his prophet is calling the wayward to repentance or to a renewal of covenants. This motif of an ongoing competition between good and evil for the souls of God’s children is not unique to the Bible but also occurs in the literature of many ancient cultures.

Recommended Citation

Reynolds, Noel B. (2017) "The Ancient Doctrine of the Two Ways and the Book of Mormon," BYU Studies Quarterly: Vol. 56: Iss. 3, Article 4.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol56/iss3/4