Item Detail
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22803
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0
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0
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English
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Understanding the Founding and Growth of the Masonic Lodge in Mormon Nauvoo
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Cambridge, Massachusetts
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Bachelor's thesis
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"By 1838, the Mormons' great exodus from New York to Utah had carried them to Nauvoo, Illinois. Nauvoo was to be the Mormon's Zion, and they made their greatest effort to construct God's Kingdom there. In this atmosphere, a Masonic Lodge was founded (15 March 1842). Many scholars have uncovered connections between Freemasonry and Mormonism before and after the lodge founding. But the exact reasons that the Mormons accepted Freemasonry at Nauvoo are not fully understood. Various writers have considered the problem from economic and political standpoints, but these angles ignore the religiosity of the Mormons in Nauvoo. This thesis explains the theological and personal motives that the Nauvoo Mormons (including Joseph Smith) had for founding the Lodge. The doctrinal developments at Nauvoo emphasized the Mormon priesthood, future rituals to be performed in the Temple, and the importance of doing as much as possible to perfect one's self. With these new doctrines and his own secret doctrine of polygamy, Joseph Smith found religious truth and valuable secrecy in Freemasonry. With Smith's approval of Freemasonry and the Church's new doctrine in mind, the Nauvoo Mormons immediately accepted the lodge as a valuable tool to bring about the Kingdom." [Author's abstract]