Mormonism’s status as a Christian faith, and its exact relationship to Christianity, continue to be subjects of long-standing dispute. As prominent scholar Sydney Ahlstrom remarked of Mormonism in his celebrated Religious History of the American People, “One cannot even be sure if the object of our consideration is a sect, a mystery cult, a new religion, a church, a people, a nation, or an American subculture.”
The Catholic and mainline Protestant churches alike have declared in recent years that Mormonism “does not fit within the bounds of the historic, apostolic tradition of Christian faith.” In writing Wrestling the Angel: The Foundations of Mormon Thought, I hoped to illuminate which aspects of the Latter-day Saints (LDS) tradition are continuous with the Christian tradition and which are distinct from the more orthodox varieties. The study may not resolve the question, but it should better inform the debate
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