8 - Temples and ritual

Summary

Soteriology, as a technical theological term that describes theories of salvation, is particularly useful when discussing Mormonism precisely because ‘salvation’ applies to only part of the overall scheme of things in the LDS Church but it embraces the whole scheme in other churches. As we have seen in previous chapters, Mormonism uses ‘salvation’ to describe Christ's atonement and the resurrection it brings to all people and goes on to use ‘exaltation’ to account for the ultimate realms of glory in the celestial kingdom obtained through obedience and the fulfilment of the ‘ordinances of the gospel’. It is in and through these ordinances that the ‘principles’ underlying LDS thought become powerfully apparent.

Exaltation is the ultimate word in Mormon soteriology. In order to grasp its import, this chapter will sketch the history not only of the doctrine but also of the temple as the arena of its implementation. ‘Exaltation’ is an instructive doctrine, in the sense that it cannot be explored simply as some abstract idea, but requires an understanding of the theological significance of temples and the way in which the emergence of temple ritual turned Mormonism into a distinctive form of western, Christianly sourced, religion. To document this development is to note the Church's transition from an intrinsically Protestant-like group that is focused on atonement to a movement that is characterized by ‘temple-Mormonism’ and is directed towards exaltation; this style becomes so distinctive that many scholars ponder whether it is Christian at all or whether, perhaps, it has become a religion all of its own.