Monday 15 July 2013

Latter Day Saints Culture, Literature And Mormon Poems

By Irma Farrell


Latter day Saints poetry, or Mormon poems, is poetry written by the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints about spiritual themes or topics. Latter day Saints have composed religious poetry since the beginning of the Church in the early nineteenth century. For them it is a form of art that can convey messages to the Holy Spirit.

The Elders Journal, which was published in 1838 in Far West, has a tribute John Marsh in a form of a beautiful poem. The author of O, My Father which is Eliza Snow and author of The Spirit of God who is Phelps are some of the early known Mormon poets who are significant in their crafts. David Wright and John Talbot are some of the significant contemporary poets.

Even before The Book of Mormon was published in the 1830s, their literature had already begun. Since then they had included scriptures, dramas, poetry, fiction and others to their literature. Mormonism is a big religious and cultural group that is a large part of the LDS Movement.

It began in New York during the 1820s through the visions of Joseph Smith. Today they are understood to be members of LDS Church, but some of them are either not practicing the religion or independent from the church. They value their family, traditions and religion very much.

During the turn of the 19th century, the similarities between Protestant Christianity and Mormonism were readily apparent. Mormons, like Christians, celebrates the Holy Eucharist and practices baptism and other religious practices, but they still have other practices that most Christians do not know. They believe that the aim of their religion is to restore the original Christianity and the original truth that Jesus Christ taught.

Plural marriage was formerly practiced by the members and was established by Joseph Smith, but in the later century this practice was heavily opposed by the members of the United States Congress. In the 1980 Manifesto of Wilford Woodruff, plural marriage was officially abolished. Although they identify themselves as Christians, there are some beliefs that differ from Christianity.

They believe in the Bible and other scriptures like the Book of Mormon. The book is a sacred text which they believe to contain writings of ancient prophets who live in the continent of America from 2200 BC to 421 AD. It was first published by Joseph Smith on March 1830. It has several original and distinctive discussions on subjects such as the fall of Adam and Eve.

The materialization of Jesus in the American continent after his resurrection is a pivotal situation in the book. Much like the Bible, it is divided into small books with the name of the author as titles and it has chapters and verses. It was first promulgated in English, but has been interpreted 108 other languages today.

In the recent century, the scope of their literature is not restricted to their religion and culture. There is a lot of Mormons who are successful in the mainstream media, for example, Stephanie Meyer who is responsible for the phenomenal Twilight series, and Orson Scott Card who also wrote Enders Game. Their Mormon poems and other literature are just as fascinating as what any culture have.




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