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Group guide

Mormonism (LDS Church)

Official church name: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Common and historical terms: Mormon · Mormons · Mormon Church · Mormonism · LDS

These terms come from the Book of Mormon and were widely used by the public, church members, and church leaders. In 2018, church leadership renewed its request to use the full official name. This guide keeps both the familiar terms and the official name visible.

This record focuses on the Utah-based church, the largest body in the broader Latter Day Saint movement. Other churches in that movement are distinct organizations.

Mormonism is the familiar name for the religious tradition centered on the Book of Mormon. This record focuses on its largest body, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: a nineteenth-century restorationist church founded through Joseph Smith that uses additional scriptures and teaches a Godhead of three separate divine beings united in purpose rather than the Nicene Trinity.

New religious movementOutside historic Nicene Christianity

60-second overview

Mormonism is the familiar name for the religious tradition centered on the Book of Mormon. This record focuses on its largest body, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: a nineteenth-century restorationist church founded through Joseph Smith that uses additional scriptures and teaches a Godhead of three separate divine beings united in purpose rather than the Nicene Trinity.

History and identity

“Mormon,” “Mormons,” “Mormon Church,” “Mormonism,” and “LDS” are longstanding public and historical terms derived from the Book of Mormon. Church members and leaders also used them widely, especially during the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. In 2018, church leadership renewed its request to use the full official name. This guide retains the familiar terms for education and search while displaying the official name and distinguishing this church from other Latter Day Saint bodies. Latter-day Saints use the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price in addition to the Bible. They teach a universal apostasy followed by restoration of priesthood authority, temple ordinances, pre-mortal existence, continuing revelation, and exaltation. Official teaching says the Father and Son have tangible bodies and the Holy Ghost is a spirit personage. The church’s history includes plural marriage and racial restrictions. Joseph Smith introduced plural marriage and was sealed to more than thirty women; the church’s own history says the youngest was several months short of her fifteenth birthday and that some women were already married. The Utah church continued plural marriage in the nineteenth century before ending new plural marriages and later disciplining members who continued them. From the mid-1800s until 1978, Black members of African descent were barred from priesthood ordination and Black men and women were barred from temple endowment and sealing ordinances. The restriction ended in 1978, and the church now disavows earlier racial theories used to justify it.

Core teachings and practices

  • Additional scriptures and continuing prophetic authority.
  • A history of plural marriage and of racial priesthood and temple restrictions that remained in place until 1978.
  • Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are three separate beings.
  • Restored priesthood and temple ordinances.
  • Exaltation and a distinctive account of human pre-existence and destiny.

Variation across churches

Moderate variation within the group

What it shares with the Reformed Baptist Base Beliefs

Some Christian vocabulary or practices may overlap, but this guide does not let secondary similarities override the stated difference at the doctrine-of-God or Christology boundary.

Important differences from the Reformed Baptist Base Beliefs

From the guide’s base beliefs and the historic Nicene churches, this body is outside Nicene Christianity because its doctrine of God, revelation, humanity, and salvation differs fundamentally from the creedal Christian framework. Do not use the inaccurate sensational shorthand that members are officially promised “their own planets”; explain exaltation from official sources.

How it relates to historic Nicene Christianity

Outside historic Nicene Christianity

because it teaches a non-Nicene Godhead together with additional restoration scriptures and authority

Boundary guide
Related organizations

Organizations

Organizations are shown only when their tags share this record’s accepted labels; they are not automatically denominations or representatives.

Sources

The group’s own sources come first, followed by outside context and the guide’s comparison.

  1. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — Godhead
    VerifiedOfficial doctrine
  2. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — Scriptures
    VerifiedOfficial scripture collection
  3. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — Gospel Principles, Chapter 47: Exaltation
    VerifiedOfficial doctrine
  4. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — Name of the Church
    VerifiedOfficial history
  5. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo
    VerifiedOfficial history
  6. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — Race and the Priesthood
    VerifiedOfficial history
  7. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion — Mormonism
    VerifiedAcademic
  8. U.S. National Park Service — Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail: History and Culture
    VerifiedReputable secondary source
  9. PBS American Experience — Mormon controversies, polygamy, and race
    VerifiedReputable secondary source
  10. The Episcopal Church — The Creeds
    VerifiedOfficial doctrine
  11. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — Gospel Principles
    VerifiedOfficial doctrine
  12. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — Baptism Study Guide
    VerifiedOfficial doctrine
  13. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — Endure to the End Study Guide
    VerifiedOfficial doctrine
  14. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — Sacrament
    VerifiedOfficial doctrine
  15. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — Foreordination
    VerifiedOfficial doctrine
  16. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — Spiritual Gifts
    VerifiedOfficial doctrine
  17. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — Articles of Faith
    VerifiedReputable secondary source
  18. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — Sunday Meetings / Sacrament Meeting
    VerifiedOfficial doctrine
  19. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — Restoration of the Gospel Study Guide
    VerifiedOfficial doctrine
  20. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Newsroom — Modern Prophets and Continuing Revelation
    VerifiedOfficial doctrine