History & Political Science Faculty Research & Publications
Sins of Christendom: Anti-Mormonism and the Making of Evangelicalism
Document Type
Book
Publication Date
2024
Abstract
Evangelical criticism of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints dates back to the earliest days of the Church. Nathaniel Wiewora uses the diverse animus expressed by evangelicals to illuminate how they used an imaginary Church as a proxy to disagree, attack, compromise, and settle differences among themselves. As Wiewora shows, the evangelical practice to contrast itself with the emerging faith not only encompassed but also went beyond religious matters. If Joseph Smith was accused of muddling religious truth, he and his followers also faced accusations of immoral economic practices and a sinful regard for wealth that reflected worries within the evangelical world. Attacks on Latter-day Saints’ emotional religious displays, the Book of Mormon’s authenticity, and the dangerous ideas represented by Nauvoo paralleled similar conflicts. Wiewora traces how the failure to blunt the Church’s success led evangelicals to change their own methods and pursue the religious education infrastructure that came to define parts of the movement.
Creative Commons Usage License
All Rights Reserved
Copyright held by
University of Illinois Press
Recommended Citation
Wiewora, N. (2024). Sins of Christendom: Anti-Mormonism and the Making of Evangelicalism. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.harding.edu/history-polsci-facpub/7
