Historians have long noted Joseph Smith's early interest in Methodism. Demographic studies of early Mormon converts have demonstrated further that many of those attracted to the Mormon message on both sides of the Atlantic came from Methodist backgrounds. These two points, and the many similarities between Methodist and Mormon beliefs and practices, have led many scholars to suggest that Smith's church was influenced by the Methodists who joined the movement. This thesis explores the Methodist backgrounds of those Methodists who converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1830, when Joseph Smith formally organized his church(originally called the Church of Christ), to 1838, when the Latter-day Saints moved to Nauvoo, Illinois, and the church experienced a transformation in its theology, worship practices, and organizational structure. I argue that Methodism fundamentally shaped the ways that early Mormonism developed in its first eight years. This was a result of both Methodism's rapid growth and expansive influence in antebellum America and the many early Mormon converts who had previously affiliated with Methodism. This thesis contains four chapters. Chapter 1 examines the historiography on the subject, summarizing the demographic studies previously conducted and the conclusions drawn by other historians. It also provides the theoretical framework that shaped the thesis. Chapter 2 analyzes the conversion narratives of the early converts to Mormonism who came from Methodist backgrounds. I show that these converts generally maintained a positive view of Methodism even after their conversion to Mormonism, and viewed their belief in dreams and visions and the acceptance of charismatic religious experience they were taught while Methodists as instrumental in their eventual acceptance of the Mormon message. Chapter 3 explores an extended analysis of Joseph Smith's various recollections of his "first vision" within the context of Methodist conversion narratives of the era. By analyzing the first vision within the Methodist context, I seek to harmonize key discrepancies in Smith's early and later narratives while still allowing each version to speak for itself. Chapter 4 surveys early Mormon church organization and worship and compares it to that of early American Methodism in an effort to better contextualize early Mormonism within the culture from which it arose and developed. This chapter concludes with a brief summary of the lasting influence of Methodism on Mormon religiosity.

Proselyting has always been an important part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and in recent history the proselyting message has remained primarily the same. But that was not the case in the earliest days of the Church. When Joseph Smith received his First Vision and started to share that experience to others, the proselyting message of the Church was born. But that message, the message of the Restoration, did not linger on that event for too long. In fact the message of the Restoration underwent a series of evolutions and modifications as the Lord continued to reveal His will to the Church. At times these changes were small and seemed to be the next natural step in the development of the Church and its teaching, and at other times the change was more dramatic. But with every change the Lord was directing the work and had a purpose for the change. The members of the Church did not always understand the reason for the change, but God did and because of His careful crafting of the messages of the Restoration, the Church and its message grew in strength and number.

This project uses a qualitative research approach to understanding Mormon women's uses and gratifications of magazines. The first study provides a retrospective look at the uses and gratifications of readers of the Relief Society Magazine (1915–1970) in order to understand where media targeted to Mormon women has been. Through interviews, focus groups and questionnaires, the study finds the main reasons Mormon women read the Relief Society Magazine was to provide (a) a handbook for daily life, (b) a community, (c) intellectual stimulation, (d) an aspirational ideal, and (e) an escape from daily life. When the magazine ceased publication, readers felt a sense of loss and recognized a need to move on. The second study researches Mormon women's current uses and gratifications of media, with a focus on magazine use. Through focus groups and questionnaires, the main uses and gratifications of current media among Mormon women include (a) interaction, (b) cognition, (c) and diversion. Mormon women's media use is also influenced by warnings from others about the dangers of particular media or too much media use. This project then presents the concept and design for a new magazine targeted to Mormon women and seeks to fulfill the needs and gratifications found in the research discussed here.

This paper focuses on the Church's struggle in establishing itself in Germany with cultural, social, political and religious problems. The cultural and social problems focus primarily on the interaction between Mormon-American missionaries and leaders who preached Mormonism in a society somewhat different from their own. The political problems concern historical events such as the first world war, the inflation of 1923 in Germany, and the rise of Hitler, while the religious problems focus on the Church's interaction with other faiths who generally opposed it and the struggle of missionaries to establish congregations.

The purpose of this work was to plan and execute a mural for the Latter Day Saint Temple at St. George, Utah, depicting the ground breaking ceremony for the building of the Temple. The picturization of the event should be historically true, so far as possible, without sacrificing quality of design. Value, pattern, color, and idea should conform to the character and design of the building, and to the ceremonies performed therein.

The Lord has not left women to wonder how to perform during mortality. The teachings of the ten presidents of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have given very satisfying answers to most questions, and have invited women to ask God for inspiration of their own for further, personalized direction.The counsel of the prophets gives women directions concerning whom, when, and where to marry. However, if the proper opportunities for a Church-recommended marriage don't present themselves, women are told to be patient and to spend their time giving one of the several services for which they are naturally gifted. Then if they prove worthy they have been promised complete fulfillment as wives and mothers in future realms.Instructions have been given to women on how to perform as helpmeets to their husbands, mothers to their children, homemakers, and good neighbors. Their questions have been answered on birth control, other careers, and dress fashions.The study concludes with a word picture of women's complete existence from their spiritual birth to their chances of an eternity as exalted beings.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been organized for over one hundred and thirty-six years. The history of nearly a century of that time--1866 to the present--has not been adequately dealt with in any single book currently available for use on the high school level as an L. D. S. seminary text. The objective of this field project was to produce textual materials covering a fifty-three year portion of this period--the portion 1898-1951.Church history material relative to this period was gathered and organized in a biographical framework centering in the lives and administration of the four individuals who presided over the Church during that time--Lorenzo Snow, Joseph F. Smith, Heber J. Grant, and George Albert Smith.While this historical information was being gathered a study was conducted relative to four major aspects of readability--content, style, format, and organization. This initial study consisted of a review of available literature concerning readability, and a poll of student preference regarding textbook format. As a result of this study recommendations were made relative to most facets of text production.The textual material produced was submitted to a field test and refined in the following manner:(1) Initially it was evaluated by means of the Dale-Chall readability formula for the purpose of predicting the grade level at which it could be read and understood. The objective of this first step was to bring the comprehension level of the text to a late ninth grade level.(2) Secondly, the material was read and evaluated by over 430 students. These students appraised each section in the four proposed chapters, registering whether they felt the material was satisfactory, extremely interesting, or needed revision to make it acceptable to them.(3) Results of this poll were tabulated and the chapters revised. Each section which was recommended for revision by 16.7% or more of these students were rewritten according to recommendations made in the evaluation.(4) Lastly, the revised textual material was checked by means of both the Flesch reading ease formula and the Flesch human interest formulas. Each addition or revision was rewritten until it registered at a late ninth grade level or lower on the Flesch reading ease scale, and at a style level of "interesting" or higher on the Flesch human interest scale.A suggested list of types of illustration to accompany the text was included as a final step.

The summer of 2002 marked the 26th anniversary of the youth camp “Especially for Youth” (EFY). Over 34,000 teenagers from across the United States, Canada and several foreign countries gathered on thirty-one different college campuses to attend one of the sixty-four sessions of the five-day program. Since the first session in 1976, Especially for Youth has enjoyed steady increases in attendance and popularity. Beginning in the early 1980s, the program's success reached the point that applicants were turned away because there was not enough space to house all those who wanted to attend.EFY is sponsored by Brigham Young University (BYU) Division of Continuing Education. Programs within the Division with a religious emphasis fall under the direction of the Church Educational System (CES).This thesis is an attempt to gather basic, historically significant information about the first eleven years of Especially for Youth (1976-1986). Primary sources include Continuing Education administrators, former counselors and participants, and Division of Continuing Education Annual Reports.

This work is the first of its kind on women in the Book of Mormon. It (1) is an exhaustive treatment of the book's female characters, (2) analyzes how women function in the text, and (3) delineates the text's female-inclusive language. This thesis contains a complete list and discussion of the identifiable women in the Book of Mormon (Chapter 1); provides a compilation and treatment of the book's gender-inclusive language—comprising over 200 words and more than 5,000 references to them—and its bearing on the doctrines and depictions of women in the narrative (Chapter 2); and illustrates the significant influence individual women had on the Nephite-Lamanite-Jaredite civilization (Chapter 3). This study concludes with a chapter that attempts to account for the scarcity of women's stories in the narrative and the minimal knowledge we are provided about them compared to men. Readers will find overwhelming evidence from this thesis that women figure more prominently in the narrative than we often realize. This work offers a compelling argument for the pervasive and powerful presence of women in the Book of Mormon.

This thesis is in three parts. The first part looks at the historical scholarship on writings opposed to Mormonism, especially those from the nineteenth century. The conclusion is that, despite hundreds of works written against Mormonism in its early years, the historical scholarship has not done justice to the writings or people involved. The vast majority of the writings and writers have not been analyzed, and those that are discussed are usually the most sensational and not representative of the genre.The second part of this thesis is a a case study giving an example of the kind of work the author feels needs to be done to make up for the deficiency in this area. Specifically this part examines the religious concerns of critics who wrote in the United States and Great Britain between 1844 and 1857. The evidence clearly shows that there were many writers who expressed religious concerns about Mormonism. Criticisms were made against Mormon religious practices such as polygamy, temple ceremonies and baptism for the dead, and against Mormon religious beliefs such as the role of Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, and Mormon doctrines on God and the Bible.The third section contains two appendices. The first is a bibliography of imprints written against the Mormons between 1844 and 1857. The second is a bibliography of all secondary literature about opposition to Mormonism.