Item Detail
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18264
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10
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0
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English
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A Defense of the Authority of Church Doctrine
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Dialogue : A Journal of Mormon Thought
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Winter 2007
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40
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no.4
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1-28
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When citing what makes the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints different from other religions many adherents will list elements that all relate back to authority. Mormonism involves "claims of one sort or another to special authority." Oman is concerned especially with the authority that results or is based upon Church doctrine. Authority based on Church doctrine allows an individual to exclude possible actions or beliefs, and not always because these actions or beliefs are inherently wrong in all circumstances, but because Church doctrine suggests that certain reasons or actions do not matter or should not be considered or are wrong under certain circumstances. But the doctrine of the Church can be difficult to determine and can be open to interpretation so according to Oman, "in order to show that the authority of Church doctrine is justified, we need to have arguments for why it should act as an exclusionary reason." He presents three such arguments. They are "that covenants, divine involvement in the production of Church doctrine, and participation in the Church all justify treating Church doctrine as authority." And although Church doctrine will be fallible because it comes through imperfect individuals, members of the Church should follow doctrine because "to be justified in following something, one must only believe that it is more reliable than the alternatives."
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A Theology of Possibilities : Mormon Doctrine and Open Folk Beliefs
Authority in Mormonism : A Rational Choice Analysis
In God’s Image and Likeness: Ancient and Modern Perspectives on the Book of Moses
Jurisprudence and the Problem of Church Doctrine
Mormonism at the Crossroads of Philosophy and Theology
Philosophical Theology for Mormons : Some Suggestions from an Outsider
The Challenges of Defining Mormon Doctrine
"The Living Oracles" : Legal Interpretation and Mormon Thought
"The Spiritual Concept of Form and Function as One" : Structure, Doctrine, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Toward a Theology of
Dissent: An Ecclesiological
Interpretation