Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface and acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction
- Historical background
- Early stages of relationships
- Home environments of plural families
- Managing everyday life
- Social-emotional and family relationships
- Appendix A Methodology and procedure
- Appendix B Demographics of Mormon polygyny
- Notes
- References
- Index
Historical background
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 May 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface and acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction
- Historical background
- Early stages of relationships
- Home environments of plural families
- Managing everyday life
- Social-emotional and family relationships
- Appendix A Methodology and procedure
- Appendix B Demographics of Mormon polygyny
- Notes
- References
- Index
Summary
The chapters in this section are a prelude to our study of the day-to-day life of contemporary Mormon plural families. They provide the historical and religious contexts in which contemporary plural families are embedded. The more than 160-year history of the Mormon religion, the rise and fall of the practice of polygyny in the 19th century, and its revival in the fundamentalist movement of the 20th century are ever present in the minds of today's practitioners of plural marriage. Thus the relationships between husbands and wives and between wives in present-day Mormon plural families cannot be fully understood without some knowledge of the historical events underlying their beliefs and practices.
Chapter 2 summarizes the early years of Mormon history and religion, especially the emergence of polygyny as a theological doctrine, the eventual settlement of the Mormons in Utah after years of migration, and the practice of polygyny up until 1890, when the LDS Church renounced the practice as a result of enormous legislative pressure from the U.S. government and the desire of the Mormons to achieve statehood.
Chapter 3 tells the story of the revival and growth of modern fundamentalism in the 20th century up to the present, in spite of arrests, raids, and prosecution by civil authorities, and overt opposition and renunciation by the main LDS Church.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Polygamous Families in Contemporary Society , pp. 19 - 20Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1996