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NOTES AND COMMENTS
Researching Mormonism:
General Conference as
Artifactual Gold Mine
Richard N. Armstrong
FROM ITS BEGINNINGS IN THE SPRING OF 1830, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has grown to more than 9 million members and now adds a million new converts worldwide every three years. On Sunday, 25 February 1996, a milestone was reached when the number of Mormons living in other countries exceeded the number living in the United States. 1 In fact, only about 17 percent of members currently reside in Utah. 2 Clearly, the days of Mormonism as a Utah or American church have passed, and recent growth has been so impressive that non-Mor- mon sociologist Rodney Stark projects church membership to reach 265 million by 2080 and believes that Mormonism is on its way to becoming the next major world religion. 3 In view of these rising numbers, official LDS rhetoric has been in- creasingly recognized (both praised and blamed) as an important factor in a number of state, regional, national, and world issues such as liquor by the drink and pari-mutuel betting in Utah (both defeated), the pro- posed basing of the MX missile system in Utah 4 (defeated), the Equal
- Jay M. Todd, "More Members Now Outside U.S. Than in U. S.," Ensign 26 (Mar. 1996): 76-77.
- Tim B. Heaton, "Vital Statistics," in Encyclopedia of Mormonism, ed. Daniel H. Ludlow, 5 vols. (New York: Macmillan, 1992), 4:1518-37.
- Rodney Stark, "The Rise of a New World Faith," Review of Religious Research 26 (1984): 409-12. See also Armand L. Mauss, ed., "Mormons and Mormonism in the Twenty-first Cen- tury: Prospects and Issues," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 29 (Spring 1996), for a spe- cial issue on the growth of the church.
- Steven A. Hildreth, "The First Presidency Statement on the MX in Perspective," Brigham Young University Studies 22 (Spring 1982): 215-25.
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Rights Amendment 5 (defeated), and various disaster relief efforts (mil- lions of dollars raised and disbursed), among others. Perhaps noting the dynamics of such "political" debates, a number of researchers have studied Mormonism from sociological, legal, cultural, and economic perspectives, to name a few.^6 One prominent non-Mormon historian has even characterized Mormonism as a new world religious tradition. 7 Church founder Joseph Smith is being reassessed by some non-Mormons as, for example, "an authentic religious genius" 8 or as a thinker to be taken seriously since he convincingly addressed knotty problems that other Christian theologians had wrestled with for centu- ries. 9 Such positive acknowledgments depart from condemnations of the past which dismissed Smith as a manipulative charlatan. Given such developments, the church and its leaders will, no doubt, be the objects of growing interest from the scholarly world. However, a full understanding of the rhetorical collectivity 10 of Mormonism, includ- ing the motivations and goals of its leadership, is unattainable without a knowledge of the primary oratory of its leaders from 1830 to the present. Indeed, any scholar studying Mormonism, no matter his or her discipline or religious orientation, needs to familiarize him- or herself with the gen- eral conference rhetoric of its general authorities. General conference may be the most profound, authoritative, and historically persisting source of Mormon leader rhetoric extant and available to LDS and non-LDS re- searchers alike.
- See, for example, Janice Schuetz, "Secular and Sectarian Conflict: A Case Study of Mormons for ERA," Women's Studies in Communication 5 (1982): 41-55; David M. Jabusch, "Mormon Anti-ERA Rhetoric: An Exercise in Piety," paper presented at the meeting of the Speech Communication Association, Anaheim, California, 1985; Richard J. Jensen and John C. Hammerback, "Feminists of Faith: Sonia Johnson and the Mormons for ERA," Communi- cation Studies 36 (1985): 123-37; Tarla Rai Peterson, "Argument Premises Used to Validate Or- ganizational Change: Mormon Representations of Plural Marriage," Journal of Applied Communication Research 18 (1990): 168-84; O. Kendall White, Jr., "Mormonism and the Equal Rights Amendment," Journal of Church and State 31 (Spring 1989): 249-67.
- See, for example, Harold Bloom, "The Religion-making Imagination of Joseph Smith," Yale Review 80 (Apr. 1992): 26-43; Edwin Brown Firmage and Richard Collin Man- grum, Zion in the Courts: A Legal History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830- 1900 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1988); Martin E. Marty, Religion and Republic: The American Circumstance (Boston: Beacon Press, 1987); John Heinerman and Anson Shupe, The Mormon Corporate Empire (Boston: Beacon Press, 1985); Gordon Shepherd and Gary Shepherd, A Kingdom Transformed: Themes in the Development of Mormonism (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1984).
- Jan Shipps, Mormonism: The Story of a New Religious Tradition (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1985).
- Bloom, "The Image-making Imagination of Joseph Smith," 26.
- As quoted in O. Haroldsen, "Good and Evil Spoken Of," Ensign 25 (Aug. 1995): 9-11.
- Jill J. McMillan, "In Search of an Organizational Persona: A Rationale for Studying Organizations Rhetorically," in Lee O. Thayer, ed., Communications in Organizations (Nor- wood, NJ: Ablex, 1987), 21-45.
154 Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought
months, 14 and it was reported that Isaiah 5 was read by Joseph Smith with additional remarks by the twenty-four-year-old prophet. In the early years, probably following the Methodist practice, a chair- man or moderator was elected to preside over the conference who was not necessarily the president of the church. 15 In this case, Joseph Smith was, indeed, elected. However, in the few short months since the organi- zation of the church, Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and others had voiced their discontent with some aspects of Smith's leadership and Hiram Page had claimed to have received revelations for the church through a "seer" stone. In her biography of Joseph Smith, Donna Hill of- fers these details of this pivotal conference:
The membership at once revealed its discontents, and the conference be- came a stormy affair. Oliver rose to protest against Joseph's claim to receive commandments for the whole church. Joseph countered by denouncing Hiram Page's revelations which he said contradicted the New Testament and the latest word of God received by him, their prophet. Hiram and his adherents were adamant, however, and the danger of a schism in the church became apparent. No matter the cost, Joseph felt that the church must hold together. Deciding to risk all, he demanded a vote of confidence from the congregation. Put to the test, the members, including Hiram Page himself, renounced Hiram's stone and revelations, and sustained Joseph as their prophet. 16
Despite such contentions buffeting the infant church, Smith's developing rhetorical skills contributed to his success in keeping the flock together as he happily noted in his journal that the "utmost harmony prevailed, and all things were settled satisfactorily to all present." 17 Nor would this be the last challenge to the prophet and his authority as the very next conference (2 January 1831) seemed to have been called to counter more dissent, this time to a revelation which directed the church to move to Ohio. Despite the debate, it was clear that "the Church became officially constituted with a dynamic and biblically consistent es- chatology" 18 and the Saints did, in fact, move to Ohio. By the fourth con- ference, held in Kirtland, Ohio, in early June 1831 and attended by some 2,000 persons, comments on oratorical style began to appear. For exam-
- Donald Q. Cannon and Lyndon W. Cook, eds (^) v Far West Record: Minutes of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830-1844 (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1983), 3.
- Jay R. Lowe, "A Study of the General Conferences of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830-1901," Ph.D. diss., Brigham Young University, 1972, 23.
- Donna Hill, Joseph Smith: The First Mormon (Garden City, NJ: Doubleday & Co., 1977), 117,118.
- HC, 1:118.
- Lowe, "A Study of the General Conferences," 38.
Armstrong: Researching Mormonism 155
pie, Jared Carter reported that although Joseph Smith "was not naturally a talented speaker,... [he] spoke as I have never heard man speak for God before." 19 Parley P. Pratt confirmed this perception when recalling that "much instruction was given by President Smith, who spake in great power, as he was moved by the Holy Ghost." 20 This observation is in har- mony with one scholar's assessment of early Mormon preaching when she reported that "Some Mormons, believing as they did in divine inspi- ration at the moment of delivery of a sermon, felt no need to supplement the efforts of the Holy Spirit." 21 In other words, most early church leaders eschewed advance preparation and spoke as they believed the Spirit di- rected in an obvious extemporaneous fashion. At any rate, the most sin- gular event of this first Ohio conference was Joseph Smith's announcement that several brethren were to be ordained to the high priesthood. 22 The fifth general conference, 4 August 1831, was held in Kaw Town- ship, twelve miles west of Independence, Missouri, with only thirty-one people in attendance. 23 Lands had been purchased and Sidney Rigdon, a confidant of and assistant to Joseph Smith, had consecrated the land for the eventual removal of the church to Missouri. It was noted that Joseph Smith had dedicated the temple site in Independence, but little else was recorded. Still, another historian called the progress of the church phe- nomenal during this period and credited the conferences as "a most im- portant organizational device through which this progress had been attained." 24 He also characterized this period of conference holding as predictably intermittent:
During this period of Church history, and for some time to come, there seems to have been no consistent pattern for holding conferences. They were often quite irregular with respect to time, place, content, and form. The Church was undergoing rapid change as a result of numerical and geographical growth. The conference was the chief device for making the necessary adjust- ments and coping with numerous emergencies as well as implementing the new programs and principles of the Church. This is the probable explanation for there being more conferences (approximately thirteen) of a more or less
- Ibid., 41.
- Parley P. Pratt, Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1994), 53.
- Barbara J. M. Higdon, "The Role of Preaching in the Early Latter Day Saint Church, 1830-1846," Ph.D. diss., University of Missouri, 1961, 73.
- Bruce N. Westergren, ed., From Historian to Dissident: The Book of John Whitmer (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1995), 69.
- Cannon and Cook, Far West Record, 10.
- Lowe, "A Study of the General Conferences," 56.
Armstrong: Researching Mormonism 157
in their respective offices."^30 This form of discipline effectively restrained these men from preaching or otherwise acting in an office to which they had been appointed or "set apart." Following the 1847 migration of the Mormons to the Great Salt Lake Valley,^31 the judicial function was eventually transferred from gen- eral conference to separate church courts where "the priesthood re- tained exclusive jurisdiction over secular as well as religious cases throughout the 1890's." 32 Scholars of Mormon jurisprudence and legal sociologists would do well to study the history and workings of general conference to comprehend fully the development and impact of church courts. A conference held on 25 January 1832 at Amherst, Ohio, was signif- icant because Joseph Smith was ordained president of the high priest- hood. Then, three months later, on 26 April 1832, a conference in Independence allowed the Missouri Saints to sustain Smith also as pres- ident of the high priesthood 33 which "ordination carries with it the of- fice of president over the entire church." 34 The revelation in the Doctrine and Covenants addressing this facet of church government reads: "And again, the duty of the President of the office of the High Priesthood is to preside over the whole church, and to be like unto Moses—behold, here is wisdom; yea, to be a seer, a revelator, a transla- tor, and a prophet, having all the gifts of God which he bestows upon the head of the church" (107:91-92). Previously Smith had been recog- nized only as First Elder of the church, but here he assumed the mantle of president.
Up to this time, primary leadership authority had been shared with Oliver Cowdery, Second Elder and assistant church president. In addi- tion, Sidney Rigdon, a former Campbellite minister and early convert known for his dynamic and persuasive oratory was one of the top lead- ers and a close confidant of the prophet as well. Therefore, this confer- ence was instrumental in cementing Smith's position as the ultimate authority in the church. Though a form of shared governance is prac-
- Cannon and Cook, Far West Record, 12.
- Before the coming of the railroad to Utah in 1869, this migration included at least 60,000 Latter-day Saints making the trek by wagon, handcart, and foot. About 10 percent of this number died en route and were buried along what is now the Mormon Pioneer Trail. For a brief description of the migration, see Leonard J. Arrington, Brigham Young: An American Moses (Urbana: University of Illinois Press), 283-86.
- Firmage and Mangrum, Zion in the Courts, xiv.
- Cannon and Cook, Far West Record, 44.
- William E. Berrett, The Latter-day Saints: A Contemporary History of the Church of Jesus Christ (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1985), 124.
158 Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought
ticed at the highest echelons of the church today, there is no doubt that the prophet has the final word on any issue before the church. 35 This con- cept was still forming prior to the 25 January 1832 general conference. Although the 6 April 1833 conference held on the ferry on the Big Blue River in Missouri had been convened to celebrate the birthday of the church, it was otherwise uneventful. Subsequently, a number of assorted conferences transpired during the 1834-37 period. Only single general conferences were held in 1834,1835, and 1836, but the 3 May 1834 confer- ence was notable in that the name of the church was changed from "Church of Christ" to "The Church of the Latter-day Saints." The 17 Au- gust 1835 "general assembly" was distinguished by the official accep- tance of the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, 36 although, interestingly, Joseph Smith at the time was away on church business in Michigan. The 3 September 1837 conference was called to deal with dissension and apostasy caused by the failure of the chief Mormon financial institu- tion. Some members who had invested in the bank were disillusioned with Smith when the bank he supported failed. Though the prophet often cautioned members to differentiate the spiritual from the secular, some could not accept the fact that their prophet was fallible in business. On 7 November 1837 another conference was held, this time in Far West, Mis- souri, to prepare the Saints for the transfer of church headquarters from Ohio to Missouri. Apparently Smith had felt it prudent to leave Kirtland in consequence of the anger directed at him by some unhappy investors. The 6 April 1838 meeting is seen by some as marking the beginning of the "whole modern conference system of the Church." 37 This seems an accurate assessment since more preaching and less business marked this conference, with Smith speaking at least four times, along with other leaders. This development appears to have signaled the start of the
- Though there have been reminders of late in general conference that all members of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles are sustained as "prophets, seers and revelators" and that no major policies are enacted unless there is unanimity among the "Brethren," there can be little doubt that when the president of the church feels inspired that the church ought to move in a particular direction, the church moves in that direction. Many members are familiar with the maneuvering over succession to the office of president which followed Smith's assassination in 1844. Succession and reorganization issues are treated in a number of sources, but sufficient explanations are contained in James B. Allen and Glen M. Leonard, The Story of the Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1992), 213-15,265, 383, 387, 410; Linda King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery, Mormon Enigma; Emma Hale Smith (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994), 175; D. Michael Quinn, The Mormon Hierar- chy: Origins of Power (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1994), 245-63; and Ronald K. Esplin, "Joseph, Brigham and the Twelve: A Succession of Continuity," Brigham Young University Studies 21 (Summer 1981): 301-41.
- Lowe, "A Study of the General Conferences," 119.
- Ibid., 131.
160 Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought
because "conferences became a time for instruction rather than business, Joseph Smith was nominated as a candidate for the presidency of the United States and it was the last conference over which he presided." 43 This conference was also notable for the prophet's King Follett discourse wherein he "spoke concerning some twenty-seven doctrinal subjects, in- cluding the character of God, the origin and destiny of man, the unpar- donable sin, the resurrection of children." 44 This sermon 45 would crown his prophetic career. With the repeal of the Nauvoo Charter, the city was left without a po- lice force, so "by the April 1845 general conference, the Saints had begun to employ a 'whistling and whittling' brigade to unnerve outsiders and discourage non-Mormons from coming to Nauvoo." 46 Owing to the un- settled state of affairs brought on by the church's forced emigration from Nauvoo, no conference was held in 1846, but a December 1847 conference in the Valley of the Great Salt Lake was significant because Brigham Young was sustained as president of the church by the general member- ship after having been ordained president on 5 December in Kanesville, Iowa, by the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. 47 The Twelve had adminis- tered church affairs since Smith's death over three years earlier, but an 1850 conference saw the church president sustained for the first time as the "prophet, seer and revelator." By the 1850s the conference schedule was firmly stabilized on a semi- annual basis and, as historians have noted, conference time "became a time of reunion and socializing. The conference became one of the great symbols of Mormon unity as well as a cohesive force in building a sense of community." 48 Nearly three decades of conferences are briefly summa- rized in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism: "The conferences from 1848 to 1877 considered pressing needs such as emigration from the east and for- eign countries, colonization, and missionary work. Assignments to colo- nize and calls to serve missions were frequently announced from the
- Kenneth W. Godfrey, "150 Years of General Conference," Ensign 11 (Feb. 1981): 68.
- Donald Q. Cannon, "The King Follett Discourse: Joseph Smith's Greatest Sermon in Historical Perspective," Brigham Young University Studies 18 (1978): 179.
- See also Clarissa I. Whitney, "A Critical Analysis of the Forensic and Religious Speaking of Joseph Smith," M.A. thesis, California State College at Fullerton, 1967,70-100, for an insightful rhetorical analysis of the King Follett discourse; and Van Hale, "The Doctrinal Impact of the King Follett Discourse," Brigham Young University Studies 18 (1978): 209-23, for a detailed examination of the doctrinal implications of the address.
- Marshall Hamilton, "From Assassination to Expulsion: Two Years of Distrust, Hos- tility, and Violence," Brigham Young University Studies 32 (Winter 1992): 229-37.
- Gail Geo. Holmes, "A Prophet Who Followed, Fulfilled, and Magnified: Brigham Young in Iowa and Nebraska," in Susan Easton Black and Larry C. Porter, eds., Lion of the Lord: Essays on the Life and Service of Brigham Young (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co.), 145,146.
- Allen and Leonard, The Story of the Latter-day Saints, 286.
Armstrong: Researching Mormonism 161
conference pulpit without prior notice." 49 That these public "calls from the pulpit" were accepted without question is a telling measure of the de- votion church leaders of that era enjoyed from the membership. Even though it would not be completed until 1875, the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City was first used for a general conference in 1867 which lasted four days instead of the usual three, due to a vote of the conference to extend the proceedings. 50 General conference continued in this vein until the polygamy issue forced a traumatic interregnum, especially for Mormonism's presiding officers. Edwin Firmage and Garth Mangrum describe government actions during this period intended to force Mor- mon compliance with federal mandates:
The vengeance of a state repudiated in every measure of governance by a re- calcitrant people insured that no stone would remain unturned in the process of demanding compliance. Incarcerating practicing polygamists was not enough. The Poland Act of 1874 disqualified Mormon jurors and restricted the jurisdiction of Mormon-controlled probate courts. The Edmunds Act of 1882 disfranchised many Mormons. Federal judges refused to naturalize Mormon immigrants. The Edmunds-Tucker Act of 1887 dissolved the church corporation. 51
In consequence, many general authorities went into exile where they were pursued by federal marshals for their arrest on "unlawful co-habita- tion" charges. Thus on the run, many leaders found their ability to ad- dress general conference severely limited and only undertaken at great risk to their freedom. James Allen and Glen Leonard describe the stand- off's effect on general conference:
The crusade disrupted many normal activities including the custom of hold- ing general conference in Salt Lake City. Between 1884 and 1887 Church lead- ers considered it prudent to hold these meetings in Logan, Provo, and Coalville in order, if possible, to relieve those who attended from pressures of possible arrest. Federal officers, nevertheless, continued to show up at con- ference sites in hope of apprehending fugitives, though they usually left empty-handed. The conferences were sparsely attended by Church officials for most were in hiding. Apostle Franklin D. Richards, immune from prose- cution by special arrangement with the government, presided over some of them. Guidance to the conferences came in the form of general epistles, signed by President Taylor and his first counselor, George Q. Cannon. Joseph F. Smith was in Hawaii as a missionary. To the Saints, continuing to hold cori-
- Burnett, "General Conference," 308.
- Godfrey, "150 Years of General Conference," 69.
- Firmage and Mangrum, Zion in the Courts, 10.
Armstrong: Researching Mormonism 163
persevered as an important institutional and cultural custom on a twice yearly basis. As late as 1938 the church's twenty-six general authorities still sat on padded red benches in the Tabernacle instead of the familiar red arm chairs of today, and every one of them spoke at conference,^57 often with no advance preparation. Before the advent of electronic broadcasting im- posed strict time limits on speakers, church leaders commonly spoke at length with sessions continuing until the last speaker had spoken his peace. Barbara Higdon describes the process that characterized the ora- torical efforts of general conference speakers in the early years and which carried on into the twentieth century:
Rejecting both the Puritan tradition of painstakingly studied sermons deliv- ered either in a form fixed by memorization or from detailed notes and the widely accepted Protestant practice of presenting homilies carefully pre- pared beforehand but not rigidly planned in final form, the Mormons ad- hered to the tradition of George Whitefield and his descendants who spoke without forethought, giving the spirit of God credit for their fluency. The em- phasis on general intellectual cultivation, however, suggests that the Mor- mons did not conceive of the preacher's mind as a tabula rasa on which the Holy Ghost inscribed a sermon. Rather, the Doctrine and Covenants clearly stated that a man should help himself through wide study. The Spirit would then assist him in selecting the pieces of knowledge to be used in a given ad- dress. In this procedure the prophetic statements provided a means by which the speaker could make use of his subconscious resources.^58
Coverage expanded in 1924 when conferences were first broadcast over radio with even greater reach attained in 1949 when conference ses- sions began to be televised. Also in 1924 a microphone was first used to amplify speakers' voices for the benefit of the audience. In 1947 President George Albert Smith told the conference that he, a few weeks previously, had delivered a sermon by short wave radio to a gathering of 203 LDS servicemen in Japan and predicted that "it will not be long until, from this pulpit and other places that will be provided, the servants of the Lord will be able to deliver messages to isolated groups who are so far away they cannot be reached. In that way and other ways, the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord ... will be heard in all parts of the world, and many of you who are here will live to see that day." 59 The accuracy of this pre- diction is evident in the following information on current general confer- ence coverage.
- Heidi S. Swinton, In the Company of Prophets (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co.), x.
- Higdon, "The Role of Preaching in the Early Latter Day Saint Church," 26.
- Conference Report of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, October 1946 (Salt Lake City: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1946), 6; hereafter CR.
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The April 1959 conference saw the last public accounting of annual church expenditures. The first color telecast transpired in 1967, and con- ference was first heard live in Europe in 1965 when Elder Ezra Taft Ben- son arranged for a radio station in Frankfort to carry the proceedings. 60 In 1962 conferences were simultaneously translated into several lan- guages other than English, and by 1996 conference was available in thirty-four languages. In 1977 general conference was reduced from three to two days in length with sessions on Saturday and Sunday only. Today conference is transmitted, via satellite, to more than 1,200 cable systems and to more than 3,000 church buildings where listeners in virtually any part of the country and many offshore locations can watch the Salt Lake City-based sessions as they transpire. The physical setting for general conference for over a century has, of course, been the familiar Mormon Tabernacle with its famous choir and organ on Temple Square in the heart of Salt Lake City. However, in the April 1996 conference President Gordon B. Hinckley announced that a much larger building was in the planning stages which would be used for conference and for other church and selected community events. In addition to the 6,000 conference attendees seated in the Tabernacle, other buildings on the square receive conference via television while the audio portion is piped throughout the grounds for the benefit of members un- able to sit inside. LDS church-owned, and NBC affiliate, KSL-TV in Salt Lake City broadcasts general conference live. General authorities are seated on the stand in order of rank with the First Presidency and Quo- rum of the Twelve Apostles occupying the top tier, the two quorums of Seventy in the middle, and the Presiding Bishopric close to the main floor. Members of the presidencies of the auxiliary organizations pre- sided over by women are also seated on the stand on a level with the Pre- siding Bishopric, while various guests such as government officials and other dignitaries are provided reserved seating in the first few rows of the Tabernacle. As Jan Shipps has observed, the overall effect is remark- able:
Gathered there quite literally in the center of the Mormon world, Latter-day Saints participate in a direct and primary experience of community which, while corporate, is in a way often as powerful, meaningful, and profound as the spiritual experiences sometimes accompanying the performance of the secret sacred temple rites, which center on individuals in the context of fam- ily and not on the congregation. 61
- Sheri L. Dew, Ezra Taft Benson: A Biography (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1987),
- Shipps, Mormonism, 136.
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The practical efficacy of this insight is confirmed by a Mormon histo- rian who is convinced that "It was through the instrumentality of confer- ence that church leaders were able to effect the central planning and direction of the manifold temporal and spiritual interests of their follow- ers." 63 Sociologists Gary and Gordon Shepherd lend credence to both claims by concluding, following their exhaustive quantitative analysis of general conference topics, that
[bjecause of Mormons' paramount belief in modern revelation, we conclude that leader rhetoric has played a particularly meaningful part in the institu- tional history of the Mormon Church. It is also our opinion that the pub- lished proceedings of the general conferences, which have been regularly convened since 1830, are the documentary source that provides the most comprehensive and meaningful record of Mormon rhetoric over the entire course of Mormon history.^64
Furthermore, Charles Tate, commenting on the value of conference ad- dresses in their subsequent published form, asserts: "Those publications are significant resources for the study of the theology, progress, and de- velopment of the Church." 65 For another scholar, "General conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints continues today as a vital doctrinal and social institution. It touches the lives of hundreds of thou- sands of Latter-day Saints worldwide." 66 And how do LDS presidents themselves approach or perceive gen- eral conference? In the October 1870 conference Brigham Young sug- gested some topics he would like to hear the general authorities address:
As our brethren of the Twelve will address us during the Conference, I feel like giving them a few texts to preach upon if they choose to do so. I should have no objection to hear them discourse upon union of action, or concentra- tion of faith and action, or, as some call it, co-operation. That is one item. I would also like to hear them give instructions with regard to our traditions; instruction on this subject is necessary all the time. We must overcome them and adopt the rules laid down in revelation for the guidance of man's life here on the earth. 67
From Young's prescriptive direction for conference topics, confirming Higdon's description of early Latter-day Saint preaching style, we move to the thoughts of President David O. McKay in the 1950s who listed six
- Leonard J. Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom: An Economic History of the Latter-day Saints, 1830-1900 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1958), 32.
- Shepherd and Shepherd, A Kingdom Transformed, 3.
- Charles D. Tate, Jr., "Conference Reports," in Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 1:305.
- Burnett, "General Conference," 308.
- JD 13:262.
Armstrong: Researching Mormonism 167
specific purposes for holding general conferences:
Among the purposes of these general conferences are, in summary, as fol- lows: (1) To inform the membership of general conditions—whether the Church is progressing or retro-gressing, economically, ecclesiastically, or spir- itually. (2) To commend true merit. (3) To express gratitude for divine guid- ance. (4) To give instruction "in principles, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel." (5) To proclaim the restoration, with divine authority to administer in all the ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and to declare, quoting the Apostle Peter, that "there is none other name given among men" than Jesus Christ, "whereby we must be saved." (Acts 4:12) (6) To admonish and inspire to continue to greater activity.^68
Recently, President Gordon B. Hinckley commented on conference in a similar fashion:
My brethren and sisters, it is wonderful that we have the opportunity of meeting together each six months in these great world conferences. We gather from over the earth to bear our testimonies one to another, to hear in- struction, to mingle as brethren and sisters. We partake of that sociality which is so pleasant and so important a part of the culture of this great orga- nization. For more than a century these gatherings have originated in this historic Tabernacle. From this pulpit has gone forth the word of the Lord. Through the years the speakers have come on the stage and then moved on. The per- sonalities are different. But the spirit is the same. It is that spirit referred to when the Lord said, "He that preacheth and he that receiveth, understand one another, and both are edified and rejoice together" (D&C 50:22).^69
Surely much may be learned about Mormonism as these various func- tions are revealed by LDS prophets and their associates every six months. General conference oratory is the paramount source of authoritative and continuously available Mormon leader rhetoric and any scholar re- searching almost any aspect of Mormonism ought to be familiar with this primary corpus of Mormon thought. 70 For example, even in my brief chron-
- CR, 1954.
- CR, Oct. 1995.
- Although there is some variation in the historical accounts, it appears that the pro- ceedings of LDS general conferences were first published in self-contained booklet form in April 1880, the church's jubilee year, and then again in October 1897. Since 1897 the confer- ence reports have been consistently published in booklet form. In addition to the booklets called Conference Reports, conference addresses were published, beginning in 1942, in the of- ficial monthly LDS magazine, the Improvement Era. Since replacing the Improvement Era in 1971, the Ensign magazine has devoted two issues each year to publishing these addresses. In addition, official Conference Reports booklets are mailed to stake presidents and bishops/ branch presidents and others every six months. The magazines and Conference Reports are
