Why do some new religious movements succeed while others fail? Why are notions of deification—the belief that humans progress toward divinity—found in both early Christian history and in early Mormon history? Did the opposition experienced by Joseph Smith and his followers have lasting effects?
In past decades, sociologists were left to answer the first question while theologians and historians addressed the second and third, respectively. In this lecture, Dr. Adam Powell argues that all three questions are very much interrelated. Borrowing from identity theory and the sociology of knowledge, Powell will suggest ways that the social context of the nineteenth century influenced the religious thoughts of early Mormons.