As a historian of religion in the early American republic, much of my research has focused on the connections between Mormonism and Protestantism in the 19th century. I’ve made it a point to emphasize the ways in which early Mormonism was influenced by evangelical Protestantism and have even gone so far as to argue that the early history of the Latter-day Saint movement is best understood not explicitly as a radical break from evangelicalism but rather as part of the larger American Protestant tradition.
There are, of course, theological differences between Mormonism and mainstream Protestantism, and those differences have been more pronounced at certain moments in the past 182 years than they have at others. After an extended period of theological emphasis on the importance of works that many people—including Mormons—understood in explicit contrast to the Protestant emphasis on God’s saving grace, the last thirty or so years have witnessed Mormons, in the words of Richard Bushman, “recovering their own grace theology.” That recovery has come about in part as the result of increased efforts and participation in interfaith dialogue between Latter-day Saints and evangelical Protestants. It has also coincided with a parallel political ecumenism, as Mormons have partnered with evangelical Protestants and other conservative Christians to champion certain social causes and political positions, ranging from opposition to the ERA in the 1970s to the advocacy of solidifying “one man, one woman” as the legal definition of marriage in America.
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