Item Detail
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18774
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0
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0
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English
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The Mantle of Joseph : Divine Revelation and Dynamic Endurance in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
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Evanston, Illinois
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Northwestern University
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138
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Ph.D. diss.
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This dissertation explores how periodic episodes of conflict and defeat, which appear at first to threaten a religious community, can actually serve to strengthen it. I use historical archives to analyze four critical moments in the 175 year history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly called Mormons. In each of these periods, the church faced external and internal pressures to change core and salient religious beliefs and practices. I answer the question: How do religious beliefs and practices gain strength---remaining salient, distinctive, and demanding of commitment---even as they are undergoing drastic changes. I argue that the Mormon belief in ongoing, new divine revelations serves as a cultural resource and key ritual symbol that allows them to become more Mormon by changing what it means to be Mormon. This argument, which accounts for puzzling Mormon growth that cannot be explained by warring theoretical traditions within the sociology of religion nor by currently fashionable theories in organizations or social movements, can be applied to a wide range of cultural and ideological formations in order to understand the persistence/change dynamic of robust cultures. [Author's abstract]