Item Detail
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32813
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0
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2
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English
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The RLDS Church, Global Denominations, and Globalization: Why the Study of Denominations Still Matters
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Journal of Mormon History
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July 2022
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48
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3
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1-14
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"This articles offers a modest argument for the continuing relevance of studying denominations, past and present. Namely, I argue that the study of American-based Mormon denominations provides a fruitful pathway towards understanding how globalization has reshaped Christian communities. I do so with reference to denominations and denominational belonging in three places: the United States of America, the Republic of India, and the Republic of the Philippines. Then, I make a brief excursus into what scholars mean by globalization and how I apply it. Next, I offer a case study of a church that metabolized the various social, political, and economic forces of globalization-- the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (now called Community of Christ). I offer a sketch of how its self-styled moniker, the 'World Church,' described both its aspirations and new organizational forms in the 1960s and beyond. Finally, I draw upon this case study to articulate the general and generalizable characteristics of the new organizational form created in the post-World War II RLDS Church, an organizational form I call the 'global denomination.' I end this section by arguing for the applicability of my definitional criteria for the global denomination beyond the RLDS Church. Thus, taken together, my four sections offer a case for why the study of denominations still matters." [Author]