Similarities between ancient and modern temple rituals

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Modern and ancient temple rituals

Important note: Members of FAIR take their temple covenants seriously. We consider the temple teachings to be sacred, and will not discuss their specifics in a public forum.

Question: Do modern Mormon temple rituals have analogues in early Christian practice?

Joseph Smith was indeed inspired to restore something genuinely Christian and genuinely ancient

Latter-day Saint temple ritual, though it has some points of contact with nineteenth century ideas, also seems to have selected precisely those elements with analogues in early Christian practice, suggesting that Joseph Smith was indeed inspired to restore something genuinely Christian and genuinely ancient.

Given the sacred nature of LDS temple worship, this wiki article will avoid the citations of specifics. Instead, we include a list of useful articles and books which the interested reader can consult. Those who have familiarity with the LDS temple ceremony will easily be able to discern the parallels to which the authors allude.

• Matthew B. Brown, "The Israelite Temple and Early Christians," FAIR Conference, 2008.

Hugh Nibley

• Hugh W. Nibley, "The Circle and the Square," in Temple and Cosmos: Beyond This Ignorant Present (Vol. 12 of the Collected Works of Hugh Nibley), edited by Don E. Norton, (Salt Lake City, Utah : Deseret Book Company ; Provo, Utah : Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1992).
• Hugh W. Nibley, "The Early Christian Prayer Circle," in Mormonism and Early Christianity (Vol. 4 of Collected Works of Hugh Nibley), edited by Todd Compton and Stephen D. Ricks, (Salt Lake City, Utah : Deseret Book Company ; Provo, Utah : Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1987), Chapter 3.
• Hugh W. Nibley, "On the Sacred and the Symbolic," in Temples of the Ancient World: Ritual and Symbolism, edited by Donald W. Parry (Deseret Book Co. and FARMS, 1994).
• Hugh W. Nibley, "Sacred Vestments," in Temple and Cosmos: Beyond This Ignorant Present (Vol. 12 of the Collected Works of Hugh Nibley), edited by Don E. Norton, (Salt Lake City, Utah : Deseret Book Company ; Provo, Utah : Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1992).
• Hugh W. Nibley, "What is a Temple?," in Mormonism and Early Christianity (Vol. 4 of Collected Works of Hugh Nibley), edited by Todd Compton and Stephen D. Ricks, (Salt Lake City, Utah : Deseret Book Company ; Provo, Utah : Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1987), Chapter 8.

To see citations to the critical sources for these claims, [[../CriticalSources|click here]]

Notes