Name of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

The name of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) is derived from an 1838 revelation received by church founder Joseph Smith. Leaders of the LDS Church place great emphasis on the full name of the church and have resisted the application of informal or shortened names, including the "Mormon Church", the "LDS Church", and the "Church of the Latter-day Saints".

Historical names of the church

The LDS Church traces its founding to April 6, 1830, when Joseph Smith and five other men formally established the Church of Christ.[1][2] The church was known by this name from 1830 to 1834.[3][4]

In the 1830s, the fact that a number of churches of the Restoration Movement, including the Campbellites, were also named the "Church of Christ" caused a considerable degree of confusion.[4] In May 1834, the church adopted a resolution that the church would be known thereafter as "The Church of the Latter Day Saints".[4][5] At various times the church was also referred to as "The Church of Jesus Christ",[6] "The Church of God",[6] and "The Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints".[3][4]

Adoption of the current name

In the late 1830s, Smith founded a new headquarters in Far West, Missouri. At Far West on April 26, 1838, Smith recorded a revelation from God renaming the organization the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints".[7][8] The church was known by this name until after Smith's death in 1844; occasionally the name would be written with a hyphen between the words "Latter" and "Day".

After Smith's death, competing Latter Day Saint denominations organized under the leadership of a number of successors. The largest of these, led by Brigham Young, continued using "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" until incorporation in 1851 by the legislature of the provisional State of Deseret, when the church standardized the spelling of its name as "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints", which included a hyphenated "Latter-day" and a British-style lower-case "d".[9] In January 1855, the legislature of Utah Territory re-enacted the charter which incorporated the church under this name.[9]

In 1876, the LDS Church issued a new edition of the Doctrine and Covenants, which contains the text of significant revelations received by Joseph Smith. In this new edition—the first revision since before Smith's death—the capitalization and hyphenation of the church's name in the 1838 revelation to Smith was changed to reflect the name format the church had since adopted:

"[A]nd unto all the elders and people of my Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, scattered abroad in all the world; For thus shall my church be called in the last days, even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."[10]

Until the late-20th century, church publications inconsistently capitalized the word "The" in the name of the church in running text. Today, church publications invariably capitalize the "The" in all contexts.

Today, "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" is a registered trademark owned by the LDS Church. In contrast, "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" is a public-domain name and is used by some smaller Latter Day Saint denominations, including the Strangites.

Meaning of the name

The church teaches that its name is a significant indicator of its origin and mission. The following teachings have been given on the meanings of the various components of the church's name:

Informal and abbreviated names

Since its founding, church leaders have resisted attempts to apply informal or abbreviated names to the LDS Church. Because of the belief in the Book of Mormon among Joseph Smith's followers, in the 1830s people outside the church began to refer to its members as "Mormonites" or "Mormons" and the church as the "Mormon Church". Smith and other church leaders considered these terms to be derogatory and inappropriate. Concerning these names, a church newspaper editorialized in 1834:

"Others may call themselves by their own, or by other names, and have the privilege of wearing them without our changing them or attempting so to do; but we do not accept the above title, nor shall we wear it as our name, though it may be lavished out upon us double to what it has heretofore been."[14]

Today, it remains common for individuals and media outside of the church to refer to it as the "Mormon Church". Media in Utah—including the church-owned Deseret News, KSL-TV, and KSL radio—tend to use "LDS Church" as a short form of the church's name.

Church leaders have resisted these practices and have instructed the members of the church to not refer to the church in these ways.[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] In 2001, the church issued a "style guide" on its name in which it requested that those writing about the church adhere to the following guidelines:

"In the first reference, the full name of the Church is preferred: 'The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints'. Please avoid the use of 'Mormon Church', 'LDS Church' or the 'Church of the Latter-day Saints'. When a shortened reference is needed, the terms 'the Church' or 'the Church of Jesus Christ' are encouraged."[27]

The New York Times reported that the release of the style guide recommendations was a "'deliberate reaffirmation' of a long effort in favor of wider use of the church's full title".[28] Apostle Dallin H. Oaks told the Times that "church leaders decided it was possible to begin using the abbreviated name of Church of Jesus Christ because no other major Christian body in the United States had laid claim to it."[28] Jan Shipps, an expert on the LDS Church, suggested that the continuing efforts of the church to emphasize its full name reflects the long-standing desire of members of the church that their beliefs "be understood as a Christian tradition."[28]

In general, media have not implemented the suggestion to use "Church of Jesus Christ" as a shorthand name for the LDS Church.

Notes

  1. ↑ Doctrine and Covenants 20:1.
  2. ↑ "Chapter 2: Establishing the Foundations of the Church", Our Heritage: A Brief History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City, Utah: LDS Church, 1996).
  3. 1 2 3 Susan Easton Black, "Name of the Church" in Daniel H. Ludlow ed., Encyclopedia of Mormonism (Macmillan: New York, 1992) p. 979.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Richard Lloyd Anderson, "I Have a Question: What changes have been made in the name of the Church?", Ensign, January 1979.
  5. ↑ "Minutes of a Conference", Evening and Morning Star, vol. 2, no. 20, p. 160 (May 1832).
  6. 1 2 Joseph Smith (B.H. Roberts ed.), History of the Church 3:24, footnote.
  7. ↑ Manuscript History of the Church, LDS Church Archives, book A-1, p. 37; reproduced in Dean C. Jessee (comp.) (1989). The Papers of Joseph Smith: Autobiographical and Historical Writings (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book) 1:302–03.
  8. ↑ H. Michael Marquardt and Wesley P. Walters (1994). Inventing Mormonism: Tradition and the Historical Record (Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books) p. 160.
  9. 1 2 J. Reuben Clark Law Society, "Law and the Church as an Institution", jrcls.org.
  10. ↑ Doctrine and Covenants 115:3–4.
  11. 1 2 3 Russell M. Nelson, "'Thus Shall My Church Be Called'", Ensign, May 1990.
  12. 1 2 3 4 M. Russell Ballard, "The Importance of a Name", Liahona, November 2011.
  13. ↑ Harold B. Lee, "The Way to Eternal Life", Ensign, November 1971.
  14. ↑ "The Saints", Evening and Morning Star, vol. 2, no. 20, pp. 158–59 (May 1834) (italics and bold in original).
  15. ↑ George Albert Smith, Conference Report (April 1948) p. 160: "Don't let the Lord down by calling this the Mormon Church. He didn't call it the Mormon Church. It is all right for us to believe in the Book of Mormon. He expects us to do that, but he told us what to call this Church."
  16. ↑ Harold B. Lee, "The Way to Eternal Life", Ensign, November 1971: "When [the Lord] revealed the name by which the Church was to be called, he used some interesting expressions. ... He didn’t say Mormon Church; he didn’t say LDS Church, but the clear, firm, unequivocal statement, 'even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.'"
  17. ↑ Marion G. Romney, "We, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints", Ensign, May 1979: "Members of the Church do not resent being referred to as Mormons, nor does the Church resent being referred to as the Mormon church. As we have said, however, it is not the correct name of the Church. Its correct name is ... 'The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints'".
  18. ↑ Member–Missionary Class—Instructor’s Guide (Salt Lake City, Utah: LDS Church, 1982) p. 2: "We feel that some may be misled by the too frequent use of the term 'Mormon Church'".
  19. ↑ Russell M. Nelson, "'Thus Shall My Church Be Called'", Ensign, May 1990: "Note carefully the language of the Lord. He did not say, 'Thus shall my church be named.' He said, 'Thus shall my church be called.' ... Before any other name is considered to be a legitimate substitute, the thoughtful person might reverently consider the feelings of the Heavenly Parent who bestowed that name."
  20. ↑ Boyd K. Packer, "What Every Elder Should Know—and Every Sister as Well: A Primer on Principles of Priesthood Government", Ensign, February 1993: "Rather than using 'Mormon Church,' we should call the Church by its name—The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 'for thus,' the Lord told us in a revelation, 'shall my church be called in the last days.'"
  21. ↑ Dallin H. Oaks, "'Another Testament of Jesus Christ'", Ensign, March 1994: "The First Presidency has requested that we not refer to ourselves as 'the Mormon Church' but by the name the Lord gave his church by revelation: 'The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints'".
  22. ↑ "Church should be called by its revealed name" [editorial], Church News, February 17, 2001.
  23. ↑ First Presidency (Gordon B. Hinckley, Thomas S. Monson, and James E. Faust), "Letter to Members of the Church", February 23, 2001: "The use of the revealed name, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is increasingly important in our responsibility to proclaim the name of the Savior throughout all the world. Accordingly, we ask that when we refer to the Church we use its full name wherever possible."
  24. ↑ Boyd K. Packer, "Guided by the Holy Spirit", Liahona, May 2011: "Obedient to revelation, we call ourselves The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints rather than the Mormon Church. It is one thing for others to refer to the Church as the Mormon Church or to us as Mormons; it is quite another for us to do so."
  25. ↑ M. Russell Ballard, "The Importance of a Name", Liahona, November 2011: "While Mormon is not the full and correct name of the Church, and even though it was originally given by our detractors during our early years of persecution, it has become an acceptable nickname when applied to members rather than the institution. We do not need to stop using the name Mormon when appropriate, but we should continue to give emphasis to the full and correct name of the Church itself. In other words, we should avoid and discourage the term 'Mormon Church.'"
  26. ↑ M. Russell Ballard, "Following Up", Liahona, May 2014: "[T]he Lord makes clear that [the full name of the church] is not only a formal title but also the name by which His Church is to be called. Given His clear declaration, we should not refer to the Church by any other name, such as 'Mormon Church' or 'LDS Church.'"
  27. ↑ "Style Guide – The Name of the Church", mormonnewsroom.org.
  28. 1 2 3 Gustav Niebuhr, "Adapting 'Mormon' to Emphasize Christianity", The New York Times, February 19, 2001.
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