Item Detail
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13281
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20
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0
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English
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Images of the New Jerusalem : Latter Day Saint Faction Interpretations of Independence, Missouri, 1830-1992
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Knoxville
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University of Tennessee Press
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"Only a few places are perceived as sacred in North America. Foremost among these is Independence, Missouri, which is held in esteem by most Latter Day Saint groups. It was for Independence that Joseph Smith planned his original New Jerusalem, a site to be developed preparatory to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. This study examines the plural religious beliefs towards Independence, and how the Latter Day Saint factions have developed differing millennial geographies and coped with one another's perceptions of place. The basic thrust of this work is historical, and a variety of historical and contemporary sources have been used. Joseph Smith's early New Jerusalem was to be an ideal settlement where the best qualities of the nineteenth century American pastoral and urban psyche were to be mixed. Cultural conflict with Missouri Southerners caused the expulsion of the Saints who yearned to return to their ideal millennial settlement. Latter Day Saint groups gradually returned to Independence, but not before great splintering took place. Distinct factions developed, which, in turn, have gone through further splinterings leaving multiple interpretations of the millennial sacred space around Independence. The factions' viewpoints were culled through publications and interviews and contrasted with official church doctrines. Landholdings were mapped as additional evidence of sacred space. Not wanting to appear too fanatical, the LDS Church, based in Salt Lake City, remains relatively silent on the New Jerusalem. Since the LDS Church holds the largest amount of land in northwestern Missouri, members tend to uphold a sacred region consisting of several counties. The RLDS Church, headquartered in Independence, is gradually dropping millennial claims. Though strengthening its presence in Independence, it is gradually abandoning wider views of sacred space. Breakoff groups from the RLDS Church reject liberal change and maintain many fundamentalist doctrines. The Temple Lot family of churches views only a small two acre spot as sacred. Over time, a religious ecology has developed between Latter Day Saint groups where each takes turns in the public spotlight. As of this time, a number of social and political mechanisms have kept inter-group conflict to a minimum." [Author's abstract]
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