The Development of the Mormon Temple Endowment Ceremony

Abstract

A reprint of The Development of the Mormon Temple Endowment Ceremony by David John Buerger, which was first published in Vol. 20, No. 4 (Winter 1987) of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, is presented. For faithful Latter-Day Saints, the temple endowment ceremony is one of the most sacred and powerful ordinances received in mortality. One authoritative source called it the temporal stepping stone which all people must pass to achieve exaltation with God the Father and Jesus Christ. Buerger details the history of the endowment, including its introduction by Joseph Smith, its origins, changes made since its inception in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the effect of modern technology on the ritual, and some possible directions for the future which seem to be indicated by current trends.