Doctrine: Models to Evaluate Types and Sources of Latter-day Saint Teachings

Authors

Anthony Sweat, Brigham Young UniversityFollow
Michael Hubbard MacKay, Brigham Young UniversityFollow
Gerrit J. Dirkmaat, Brigham Young UniversityFollow

Keywords

religious doctrine, Latter-day Saint teachings

Document Type

Article

Abstract

In early 1833, the presiding elder of a small branch in Benson, Vermont, wrote to his brother at Church headquarters in Kirtland, Ohio, hoping to receive guidance from Joseph Smith on a very important question: How do I know what teachings in my branch I should accept as doctrine? He was writing because Jane Sherwood, a woman in his congregation, asserted that she had seen visions of angels and of God that had given her revelation “concerning that which must come hereafter, p[u]rporting indeed that the power of God’s Judgment has come & astonishing things soon are to take place.”

BYU ScholarsArchive Citation

Sweat, Anthony; MacKay, Michael H. and Dirkmaat, Gerrit J. "Doctrine: Models to Evaluate Types and Sources of Latter-day Saint Teachings." Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel 17, no. 3 (2016): 101-125. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/re/vol17/iss3/8