New Religious Movements

New Religious Movements in the United States

During the 19th century, several new religions emerged in the United States that significantly diverged from traditional Christianity. The most prominent among these were Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Christian Science.

Mormonism

Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon

Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, came from a poor rural family who had moved to New York from Vermont in search of economic opportunities. Smith claimed to receive visions and sought hidden treasures. He declared that an angel named Moroni revealed to him golden tablets inscribed with ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and provided seer stones for translation.

Smith dictated his translation of the tablets from behind a curtain, resulting in the Book of Mormon, published in 1830. The book included testimonies from witnesses who claimed to have seen the tablets before their retrieval by Moroni.

Rise and Expansion

Smith quickly gained followers, including a group already practicing communal living, which the Mormons adopted. They considered their religion a culmination of Christianity, similar to Christianity's relation to Judaism.

Smith's continued visions led him away from orthodox Christianity. After settling in Ohio, he and his followers established an autonomous community in Illinois, complete with its own militia. Smith was proclaimed king of the kingdom of God.

Conflicts and Migration to Utah

Tensions arose with surrounding society, especially after Smith's presidential candidacy announcement. An angry mob lynched Smith and one of his followers. Brigham Young then assumed leadership, guiding the Mormons, known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to Utah.

In Utah, they founded a state that maintained autonomy until the United States annexed the area in 1850. This annexation led to further conflicts.

Polygamy and Assimilation

In 1852, Young announced Smith's previously secret vision reinstituting polygamy. War erupted between the Mormons and the United States in 1857. Over time, the Mormons gradually assimilated into mainstream society, diminishing their emphasis on visions and communal living. In 1890, they officially abandoned polygamy, although it persisted secretly among some members. Their political influence in Utah remained significant, and missionaries spread their faith internationally.

Jehovah's Witnesses

Origins and Early Teachings

The faith of Jehovah's Witnesses emerged from interpretations of scripture seeking hidden clues about future events and the world's end. Charles Taze Russell, the movement's founder, critiqued the religious, political, and social establishment, declaring government, business, and the church as instruments of Satan. He rejected the doctrine of the Trinity and the divinity of Jesus, asserting that Christ's second coming occurred in 1872 and that the end of the world would arrive in 1914.

Transition and Reinterpretation

The year 1914 brought World War I but not the predicted Armageddon. Russell died in 1916 and was succeeded by Joseph F. Rutherford, known as Judge Rutherford. In 1931, Rutherford named the movement Jehovah's Witnesses and reorganized it into a missionary organization, reinterpreting Russell's teachings after the failure of the 1914 prophecy.

Christian Science

Roots and Mary Baker Eddy

Christian Science represents a tradition that considers the material world secondary or illusory. It posits that the purpose of human life involves harmonizing with the universal spirit and interpreting scripture via spiritual insights, unavailable to most Christians. Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, suffered chronic illnesses. After being healed by Phineas Parkhurst Quimby, who believed that illness was error curable through the knowledge of truth, she became his disciple.

Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures

In 1875, After Quimby's death, Eddy published Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. This book, reprinted 381 times during her life, employed traditional Christian terms such as God, Christ, salvation, and Trinity with spiritual interpretations reminiscent of ancient Gnostic interpretations.

Eddy taught that illness was a mental error resulting from a mistaken perspective. Healing required spiritual science, akin to that used by Jesus, rather than physicians or drugs. According to Eddy, this science could also bring happiness and prosperity.

Establishment and Organization

The Church of Christ, Scientist, was founded in 1879, gaining followers nationwide. In 1881, Mary Baker Eddy established a metaphysical college in Boston to train practitioners of Christian Science. She implemented a centralized organization under her control. The church in Boston was designated the mother church, requiring all members of the Church of Christ, Scientist, to belong to it. Eddy ensured doctrinal consistency by banning preaching and instituting prescribed readings from the Bible and her book.

Later Years

Eddy declared that the coming of Christ had taken place in the divine inspiration with which her book was written. To prevent doctrinal variations, she prohibited preaching in her churches, replacing it with prescribed readings of selected texts from the Bible and her book. These texts, chosen by Eddy, continue to be read by her followers. Women have always held prominent positions in the movement. Despite her promises of happiness and health, Mary Baker Eddy's final years were filled with pain and anguish, requiring increased doses of morphine and constant protection from the "animal magnetism" of her enemies.

Overview of New Denominations

Looking back at the course of Christianity in the United States after independence, the emergence of numerous new denominations and movements is notable. These divisions among Christians and the impact of the social and economic order influenced the nation's religion. Some denominations arose from diverse religious traditions brought by immigrants, while others sought to purify the church by creating doctrinally, morally, and worshipfully superior bodies. Still others emerged from political disagreements, especially concerning slavery. Some originated from literal interpretations of scripture, where individuals claimed to have found the key to all of scripture and history. The subsequent decades marked an era of American expansion, leaving a lasting impact on Christian communities worldwide, particularly in Latin America, Asia, and Africa.