Brigham Young University BYU ScholarsArchive Theses and Dissertations 2010-07-07 Doctrine and Covenants Section 110: From Vision to Canonization Trever Anderson Brigham Young University - Provo Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd Part of the History of Christianity Commons BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Anderson, Trever, "Doctrine and Covenants Section 110: From Vision to Canonization" (2010). Theses and Dissertations. 2120. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/2120 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Doctrine and Covenants Section 110: From Vision to Canonization Trever R. Anderson A Thesis submitted to the faculty of Brigham Young University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Religious Education Richard E. Bennett, Chair Robert C. Freeman Kip Sperry Religious Education Brigham Young University August 2010 Copyright © 2010 Trever R. Anderson All Rights Reserved ABSTRACT Doctrine and Covenants Section 110, From Vision to Canonization Trever R. Anderson Religious Education Master of Religious Education This thesis answers the question of how a vision recorded in Joseph Smith’s journal found its home in the Doctrine and Covenants and become recognized as canonized scripture. The April 3, 1836, journal entry became known as Section 110. Section 110 serves as a foundation for the current practices and doctrines of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, involving temple building and temple ordinances. Thus it is important to understand the history of this Section from journal entry to canonization because it is an example of recovering revelation. This thesis also explores contributing factors that could have led to the rediscovery of the 1836 vision. While Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery were in the Kirtland Temple with veils drawn around them at the Melchizedek Priesthood pulpits on April 3, 1836, they both saw Jesus Christ, Moses, Elias, and Elijah. Jesus Christ accepted the newly built temple and Moses, Elias, and Elijah committed keys to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. The vision was recorded, but as of yet, there is no evidence that the vision was publicly taught by Joseph Smith nor by Oliver Cowdery. This thesis follows the pattern established by Section 110 and the reclamation of the revelation and looks at how this section paved the way for other revelations and visions to move from handwritten pages to doctrinal levels of canonization, such as Sections 137 and 138. Joseph Smith had the vision recorded in his journal by Warren Cowdery, who served as a scribe to him. Joseph Smith also had the journal entry written in the Manuscript History of the Church. Although Joseph Smith did not publically declare that the 1836 vision had occurred to him and Oliver Cowdery, he still taught about the visitors in the vision and of their importance. After Joseph Smith’s death, the leaders of the Church had his history printed in Church owned newspapers. The first time the vision was published in print was on November 6, 1852, in Salt Lake City, Utah, in the Deseret News. Outside influences of the late 1850s through the 1860s put pressure on the Church. Some of these potentially destructive influences were the Utah War, Civil War, transcontinental railroad, Spiritualism movement, and the lack of understanding of the foundational doctrines of the Church by the rising generation that had been a part of the Church from its beginnings with Joseph Smith as its Prophet. This thesis explores these potentially destructive forces on the Church and its doctrine, and looks at how the leadership of the Church responded to them and how their response influenced the canonization of the 1836 vision. Under the direction of Brigham Young, Orson Pratt oversaw the publication of the new 1876 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants. This new edition contained twenty-six new sections, including Section 110. After the death of Brigham Young in 1877, John Taylor sat at the head of the Church as president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. While Orson Pratt was in England, preparing to print a new edition of the Book of Mormon on electrotype plates, he asked John Taylor about printing the Doctrine and Covenants with the electrotype plates as well. John Taylor agreed on condition that Orson Pratt add cross references and explanatory notes, as he had done with the Book of Mormon. Using the 1876 edition, Orson Pratt made the requested additions and the new edition of the Doctrine and Covenants was printed in 1880 and canonized on October 10, 1880, in a General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where all present voted unanimously to accept the 1880 edition as canonized scripture. Keywords: Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, Wilford Woodruff, Orson Pratt, Warren Cowdery, Doctrine and Covenants 110, Section 110, 1836 Vision, Moses, Elias, Elijah, Kirtland Temple, Nauvoo Temple, Salt Lake Temple, St. George Temple, keys, temple ordinances, endowments for the dead, baptisms for the dead, sealing, Doctrine and Covenants 1876 edition, Doctrine and Covenants 1880 edition, canonization ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am very grateful for my lovely wife and all of her support. She was a great editor and I thank her for her patience in trying to explain the difference between the active and passive voice to the passive voice trained scientist. She spent countless hours helping me with no compliant. I am also grateful for the sacrifice my children had to make in order for me, their dad, to complete his masters. Thank you so much Cory, Kyle, Brett, Jessica, and Jared. I am also grateful for my parents and their support, encouragement, and many prayers. I am deeply grateful for Professor Richard Bennett, my committee chair and friend, for his patience and belief in the topic of this thesis. I am grateful for his words of encouragement on those discouraging days when I was wondering if I chose the wrong topic to write a thesis on because of the vast amount of research required. Bennett is an amazing mentor and I have learned much from him, not only academically, but what it means to be a Christ-like individual. I am grateful I was able to learn at the feet of an amazing scholar. I am also grateful for Professor Robert Freeman and Professor Kip Sperry, for their time and many suggestions. I learned much from them and this thesis benefited from their expertise. I am thankful for the many scholars who have helped me through e-mail, telephone calls. Special thanks to Andrew Ehat, Robert Woodford, Richard L. Anderson and the scholars at the Church History Library and Special Collections at Brigham Young University. I am grateful for Professor Richard Draper, for creating the belief in me that I could succeed academically and the drive to make it happen. I will always treasure his loving friendship. I am very grateful for my colleagues and their help. A special thanks to Tim Benedict, who pointed me to some great sources and discussed the topic of the thesis with me, giving me new things to think about. Lastly, I am very grateful for all the professors who I was able to learn from in this masters program. I am a better teacher and a better follower of Christ because of their examples and their mastery of the subject matter. I have learned lifelong lessons from each of them. TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments......................................................................................................................... iv Chapter 1: The Provenance of Doctrine and Covenants Section 110 ............................................ 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1 The Provenance of Doctrine and Covenants 110 ............................................................... 3 Manuscript History of the Church ..................................................................................... 7 Deseret News ..................................................................................................................... 9 Millennial Star ................................................................................................................... 9 “Historical Record” ............................................................................................................ 9 History of the Church....................................................................................................... 10 “Journal History of the Church” ...................................................................................... 11 Doctrine and Covenants ................................................................................................... 12 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 13 Chapter 2: Teaching of the Doctrine of the 1836 Vision Between 1836 and 1844 ..................... 14 Why the Delay in Teaching About the 1836 Vision? ...................................................... 17 The 1836 Vision – An Unexpected Event? ...................................................................... 21 Earliest Evidence Joseph Smith Discussed the 1836 Vision with Close Associates ....... 26 What Joseph Smith Taught About Moses and the Gathering